Author: Jan van der Crabben

How This Pandemic Could Change the World

If you paid attention in history class, you may remember that the system of Feudalism in Europe broke down after the Black Death because of worker shortages caused by the high death toll. If you haven’t, you can read all about it here at World History Encyclopedia. We’re now living through another pandemic, which I believe also has the potential to change the face of society. A while back Facebook presented me with an ad for Newfoundland and Labrador, telling me: Picture yourself working from here. #WorkRemoteNL Wait, what? This was new! Previously, I had seen ads for cities or regions vying for the attention of businesses, but never had I seen an ad asking educated high-income workers to move to a remote and rural place. We’ve seen so many new things during the pandemic, but I am wondering whether this ad could be emblematic of an inflection point in one of the overarching trends in history? Since the agricultural revolution made concentrated urban centers possible in ancient Mesopotamia, urbanization has been an overarching trend …

Why Study History? Russia Teaches a Lesson.

Why should we study history? We all have our personal reasons why we love history; some like reading exciting stories that can be stranger than fiction, others let their imaginations transport them to worlds gone by. There are many reasons for loving history, but in this article I want to explore why history actually matters in the here and now. Unfortunately, that belief is not universal. Around the world, budgets for social studies and history in particular are cut, and the focus in curricula is shifted to more practical subjects, such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in universities, and English and mathematics in schools. Yet we have to look no further than the top headlines in current affairs to understand why history is extremely important as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine can only be understood through the lens of history. The primary reason for Russia’s war is neither economic (as wars so often are) nor religious (as wars so often were). No, it is Putin’s belief that Ukraine is the cradle of Russian civilization …

Timeless Travels Magazine Review

Timeless Travels magazine is a cutting-edge publication combining narratives of personal travel with in-depth history. It provides a reader with travelogues, historical narratives, reviews of museum exhibits and tours, and the latest news on archaeological excavations and their significance. The magazine is a must-read for anyone interested in history, travel, or the world at-large and is available in stunning print editions or online in easy-to-use formats.

Laurels .eu Web Award 2016

AHE won the .eu Web Award

With immense pleasure and excitement, I can announce that Ancient History Encyclopedia has won the .eu Web Award 2016 in the Laurels (education) category! This is great confirmation that providing accurate and easy-to-read history information for free is appreciated not only by teachers, students, and history enthusiasts around the world but also by major institutions within the European Union.

Osama Receives Honours

Sulaymaniyah Museum Honours AHE’s Osama Muhammed

It is with great pleasure that I report the honour bestowed upon Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, one of the key contributors to Ancient History et cetera: In conjunction with International Museum Day on 18 May 2016, the Sulaymaniyah Museum honoured Osama’s contribution to the development of the museum, through the publication of several articles detailing the museum, its artefacts, and its discoveries here on AHetc. We’re incredibly proud of Osama’s achievement, and grateful for his unique and highly interesting contributions to this site, giving us a glimpse of the treasures of Iraq, which are otherwise inaccessible to most of us.

Sumer: A Digital Board Game with an Ancient Twist

Sumer is a digital board game inspired by M.U.L.E. and the Epic of Gilgamesh. Race across the Ziggurat in ancient Sumer to harvest barley, herd goats, and sacrifice to the great goddess Inanna. Sumer draws on modern Eurogame design elements like worker placement, territory control, and auctions. Its unique innovation is to place these into an action video game. In this exclusive interview, Jan van der Crabben, CEO and Founder of Ancient History Encyclopedia (AHE), sat down with developers of Sumer at Game Developer’s Conference 2016 in San Francisco as they walk us through their accomplishments.

Our Rome Visit in Photos

In late January 2016, Jan (CEO) and James (Communications Director) went to Rome to present at the EAGLE 2016 Conference at La Sapienza University. The conference was about Latin epigraphy and the Europeana project, and our presentations were about how academics, historians, and archaeologists could reach a wider audience. But when in Rome… one has to see the city! We could not help being pulled in by the Eternal City, drawn to wander around and explore its ancient heritage. When it comes to history, Rome is like the mother lode… very few cities in the world (if any) have such a concentration of historical sites and buildings!

Happy Holidays & 2015 Summary

Dear Readers! Once again, it’s that time of year. Most of our readers are ready for the festivities of Christmas, gathering with their families, and enjoying a festive moment. Most of our team will do the same, and we wish you all Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! 2015 in Review It’s time to look at what we’ve achieved in 2015… Quite a lot, in fact! It’s been a very good year for Ancient History Encyclopedia. Let’s have a look at some numbers, with comparisons to last year: Reach We’re now the #1 ancient history website and the #4 general history website in the world Surpassed 1,000,000 monthly unique readers, currently 1.7 million Served a grand total of 12,184,308 unique readers on Ancient History Encyclopedia, helping them learn about ancient history (+82%) Served a grand total of 65,442 unique readers on Ancient History et cetera, sharing our love of history (+216%) Grew our newsletter to 5,100 subscribers (+200%) Our content has been widely and repeatedly cited by publications such as: – National Geographic – BBC – New York Times – Time – CNN – …

Planet Knowledge Partnership

The AHE team is excited to announce that we’ve partnered with Planet Knowledge, a company that you will certainly be interested in. They are a free to watch documentary video on demand channel, available on smartphones and tablets (iOS & Android), Samsung SmartTVs, and even FreeviewHD in the UK and Ireland. They don’t just cover history, but also nature, culture, science & technology, travel, and children’s documentaries… and their selection is growing every month! Most videos are free and supported through advertising, but similarly to AHE, you can pay a small monthly fee to watch ad-free. To start this partnership, we’ve published two full-length documentaries on Ancient History Encyclopedia: The Lost Gods: The Maya The Lost Gods: The Romans   Expect more to come in the future, and watch out for AHE content on Planet Knowledge in early 2016!

Our Little-Known but Amazing Tools for History Buffs

With several thousand pages, Ancient History Encyclopedia is huge! There are a few features on our site that most people don’t know about, but which are absolutely amazing! So come give our amazing tools for history buffs a try: We’ve got a searchable timeline of ancient history. Just enter a date range and a few keywords and you’ll see a list of timeline entries. You can even search by event category, such as warfare or philosophy. By searching the world timeline, relationships between events appear that you never knew were there.