History
Here we bring you the fascinating world of history, U.S. history, archeological history, anthropological, natural, and historical figures. To know where we’re going we must first understand where we’ve been.
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The Hidden History of Bermuda Is Reshaping the Way We Think About Colonial America
Andrew Lawler / Smithsonin MAGAZINE
A sudden roar broke the muggy stillness, making me jump.
A young woman squatting in a shallow trench reassured me. “No worries,” she said, gesturing with a trowel into a nearby thicket. “Our tools here are chainsaws and leaf blowers.” Whisk brooms, dental picks and spoons are also part of the arsenal. A few dozen yards away, in a dirty T-shirt, faded camo shorts and black work boots, Michael Jarvis hacked away at thick brush with a gas-powered saw. In this clearing on Smith’s Island, in Bermuda, Jarvis—“Chainsaw Mike” to his students—is unearthing one of the first New World towns built by English colonizers.
The settlement was established in 1612, a mere five years after the founding of the Jamestown colony in Virginia and eight years before the Pilgrims stepped ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts. It was abandoned soon afterward for another location on a nearby island. Its very existence was forgotten for four centuries; even its name remains unknown.
With its pink sands and azure waters, Bermuda has long been a favorite among…Read more here.
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Ancient Ingenuity Revealed: Archaeologists Unveil Secrets of Tartessian Construction
By University of Helsinki – SciTechDaily
The Tartessians’ use of sustainable construction techniques and organized labor at the Casas del Turuñuelo site in Spain has been detailed in recent research, offering valuable lessons for modern construction.
Groundbreaking research by an international team reveals the construction process of the Casas del Turuñuelo site in Guareña, Badajoz, Spain, which stands as the best-preserved earthen building in the western Mediterranean.
The study, conducted by researchers from the Universities of Helsinki and Murcia, alongside the Institute of Archaeology (CSIC – Junta de Extremadura), sheds light on the advanced, sustainable construction methods and societal organization that allowed the Tartessians to thrive. Read more here.
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The ‘Penicillin Girls’ Made One of the World’s Most Life-Saving Discoveries Possible
Ashley Braun / Smithsonian MAGAZINE
For many people, a bloom of mold symbolizes failure. But this small medallion of mold, its two dots of Penicillium notatum blossoming like fungal flowers frozen in eternal spring, represents an astounding success. It’s the mycelial spark that touched off an antibiotic revolution.
Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming recognized the potential of Penicillium mold when he found it growing in his less-than-tidy lab at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London in 1928. While experimenting on the disease-causing Staphylococcus aureus bacterium, the sharp-eyed Fleming noticed protective halos around some flecks of blue-green mold, which were inhibiting the bacteria’s growth. He first colorfully dubbed the substance “mold juice,” later changing it to “penicillin,” after the fungus that produced it. Fleming announced his discovery’s infection-fighting potential to little fanfare and then, with the help of two young researchers, tried purifying penicillin in the 1930s, but he was unsuccessful. Read more here.
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Why the Gettysburg Address Is One of the Most Famous Speeches in History
By: Christopher Klein – history.com
On the morning of November 19, 1863, approximately 15,000 people descended upon Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to officially dedicate its National Cemetery. Less than five months earlier, Gettysburg’s farms transformed into fields of blood as one of the largest battles ever staged on the vast continent erupted on the hamlet’s doorstep. The bodies of Union soldiers that carpeted the pastures after three days of carnage at the Battle of Gettysburg now rested in freshly dug graves beneath the blue autumn sky.
The cemetery’s dedication ceremony had been delayed by a month out of deference to the schedule of the keynote speaker—celebrated orator Edward Everett. While the former statesman, diplomat and university president requested the occasion be postponed to provide more time to craft his speech, President Abraham Lincoln accepted an invitation from event organizer David Wills to share “a few appropriate remarks.” With his oration intended to be a footnote to…Read more here.
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