Elon Musk says he may launch his own party: but US history tells us that’s not a recipe for success: To paraphrase a very old joke, how do you make a small fortune in America? Start with a large fortune and fund a third political party. American political history is littered with the wrecks of …
History shows that Donald Trump is making a serious error in appeasing Vladimir Putin: The policy of appeasement – strategic concessions to an aggressor that are designed to avoid war – is generally most closely associated in the UK with the Conservative leader Neville Chamberlain, prime minister between May 1937 and May 1940. When Chamberlain …
Fulani: new study unravels the genetic history of Africa’s largest pastoralist community: The Fulani people are Africa’s largest pastoralist group. There are between 25 million and 40? million Fulani people across 17 African countries, from the Atlantic shores of Senegal and Mauritania to Sudan. The Fulani have long intrigued social anthropologists with their complex cultural …
1.5 million-year-old bone tools discovered in Tanzania rewrite the history of human evolution: The ancestors of humans started making tools about 3.3 million years ago. First they made them out of stone, then they switched to bone as a raw material. Until recently, the earliest clear evidence of bone tool making was from sites in …
A short history of the separation of powers: from Cicero’s Rome to Trump’s America: Studies in democracy: Cicero, left, and Donald Trump. Capitoline Museum/Mary Harrsch and EPA-EFE/Will Oliver, CC BY-SA In the four weeks since he was inaugurated for his second term as US president, Donald Trump has issued dozens of executive orders – many …
Michael Mosoeu Moerane was a pioneering composer in South Africa. A new book is restoring his place in history: Composer and educator Michael Mosoeu Moerane (1904-1980) is probably best known for a few evergreen choral works, including Della and Sylvia, still sung by choirs across South Africa today. And, of course, for his orchestral piece …
DRC: history is repeating itself in Lubumbashi as the world scrambles for minerals to go green: Lubumbashi is a city in the mineral-rich Katanga region in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Many people might not have heard of it, but Lubumbashi and its surrounding region have been at the centre of …
Coloured South Africans are all but erased from history textbooks – I asked learners how that makes them feel: South African Grammy winner Tyla is proud of her Coloured identity. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy South African singer-songwriter Tyla made history in February 2024 when she won the inaugural Grammy for Best African …
Discovery of 5,000-year-old farming society in Morocco fills a major gap in history – north-west Africa was a central player in trade and culture: A new discovery of an ancient farming society at Oued Beht in Morocco fills a centuries-old gap in history. It reveals that, 5,000 years ago, the Maghreb (north-west Africa) was far …
Ancient human DNA from a South African rock shelter sheds light on 10,000 years of history: Oakhurst rock shelter is an archaeological site near the town of George on the southern coast of South Africa. It is set into a sandstone cliff above a stream in a valley forested by towering old yellowwood trees. Archaeologists …
Mozambique’s transgender history is on display in a powerful photo exhibition: A pioneering queer photo exhibition that was staged 20 years ago in Mozambique and South Africa has found new life and a new audience. Manas 2000-2024, by the Danish photographer Ditte Haarløv Johnsen, opened at the French-Mozambican Cultural Centre, in the capital Maputo, on …
Students on the frontline: South Africa and the US share a history of protest against white supremacy: Every year on 16 June, South Africa commemorates the revolt of black school children against the inferior “bantu education” system on that day in 1976. The horror of police shooting and killing unarmed children caused a global uproar. …
Senegal has a rich history of traditional music – how it lives on in modern music: Senegal has a rich history of traditional music – and this lives on as it influences the west African country’s modern music today. As a cultural researcher, I set out to explore the social and cultural significance of both …
Angola’s untold history: archive project explores LGBTIQ+ lives and struggles: As I write these lines, I mourn the passing of Carlos Fernandes, a leading queer activist and organiser in Angola. Carlos was found dead in his home earlier this year under circumstances that are still being investigated. For lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer …
Alopecia in art history: the many ways women’s hair loss has been interpreted: Met Museum/National Portrait Gallery At least 40% of women experience hair loss or alopecia over their lifetimes. This could be alopecia areata (patchy hair loss), traction alopecia (strained hair loss) or another form. The different ways that women’s hair loss has been …
Today in History for 29th February 2024: Historical Events 1720 – Queen Ulrica Eleonora of Sweden resigns 1768 – Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski joins the Bar Confederation to defend the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth against Russian influence 1948 – Stern-group bomb on Cairo-Haifa train kills 27 British soldiers 1968 – US end regular flights with nuclear bombs …
Russia: Serbia’s history is key to understanding its close relationship with Moscow: Over the past few weeks, international attention has focused on Ukraine in the run-up to the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. But Ukraine is not the only part of Europe where Russia is seeking to assert its influence and …
Women in South Africa’s armed struggle: new book records history at first hand: South Africa’s young democracy was a culmination of years of sweat, blood and revolution against the apartheid regime. In the early 1960s, after decades of “non-violence” as a policy of resistance, the African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) formed …