North America

Vikings in North America. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A 19th-century depiction of HMS Erebus in the ice, by François Etienne Musin. What exactly happened to the ship and its crew remains a mystery. (Picture by Alamy)

The Franklin Expedition: what happened on the ill-fated Victorian voyage?

The women who fought back against Hollywood. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Engraved portrait of George Washington, the first president of the United States of America

George Washington: your guide to the war hero, founding father, first US president and slave owner

The space race: everything you wanted to know

The space race: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A women drives oxen pulling a loaded wagon train through the Black Hills (in South Dakota or Wyoming) in 1887

From the real Calamity Jane to 'Madam Moustache': pioneer women of the Wild West. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The forgotten mothers of civil rights leaders. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in the US

Elizabeth BlackwellThe ‘first female doctor’, who entered medicine to prove a point

Cary Grant: from humble beginnings to Hollywood icon. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Speech of Adolf Hitler to the Reichstag inthe Kroll Opera in Berlin after the Declaration of war to the USA, in addition to the lectern to the right: Press Chief Otto Dietrich and the personal adjutant of Hitler Albert Bormann the Brigade Commander o

Second World War

"One of the most puzzling decisions of WW2": Ian Kershaw on why Hitler declared war on America

Harriet Tubman (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad: how one woman saved hundreds from hell. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

RuPaul – who produces and presents the reality TV show bearing his name – performs during a Gay Rights March in Washington, DC, April 1993. Over 500,000 LGBTQ+ activists and allies participated in a gathering organised to end discrimination. (Photo by Porter Gifford/Liaison)

From Fanny and Stella to Ru Paul's Drag Race: a short history of drag. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Supporters of Donald Trump protest in Pennsylvania as the state’s electoral college casts its votes, December 2020

The constitutional crisis behind 2021's presidential transition. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Mourning Martin Luther King JrThe life and legacy of the civil rights leader. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

When British pop invaded America. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Statue of Leif Erikson (Leifur Erikssonn) in front of Eric the Red's home. (Photo by Draper White, Getty Images)

Leif Erikson’s voyage to Vinland

Richard Nixon resigns

Which US presidents have been impeached? A brief history of presidential impeachment

9 things you (probably) didn’t know about Helen Keller

Editor’s pick: Ron Chernow on Alexander Hamilton. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of founding father Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull

Your guide to Alexander Hamilton, plus 6 fascinating facts about the founding father

'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' (2020): Viola Davis as Ma Rainey. (Photo by David Lee/Netflix)

Who was Ma Rainey, “mother of the blues”?

The death of John Lennon: what happened?

Second World War

Caught off guard: why didn't America see Pearl Harbor coming?

Rosa Parks being fingerprinted after her arrest

Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat: what happened next?

A brief history of turkeys, plus why we eat a turkey dinner at Christmas

A policewoman gives directions to tourists in London in the 1920s.

“Sherlock Holmes in skirts”: the world's first policewomen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The First Thanksgiving in 1621, after a painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme; screen print, 1932. (Photo by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

7 facts you might not know about the history of Thanksgiving

The Wild West: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

War and society: a tangled relationship. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An RAF crew with their American Douglas Boston light bomber, circa 1943. (Photo by Getty Images)

Personal stories of the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.