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Georgian

In late 1781, the crew of the slave ship Zong, facing a shortage of water, threw overboard much of their ‘cargo’. The massacre of 133 African people and resulting law case – not for murder, but insurance – focusses attention to the treatment of enslaved people. (Image by Alamy)

The Zong Massacre: what the dark episode meant for the British slave trade and abolition

A portrait of Russian empress Catherine the Great

Hypocrite, reactionary, usurper, sex maniac: is Catherine the Great's reputation justified?

Sex work: a brief history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How slavery & empire shaped epidemiology. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

George V: not so dull after all. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Josiah Wedgwood: the radical father of English pottery. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Historical recipeVanilla ice cream

Historical recipeSpiced Hot Chocolate

Londoners flee the city during the earthquake panic of April 1750. (Getty Images)

The earthquakes that rocked Georgian London (plus three more seismic events that shaped history). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Daniel Lambert in a 19th-century painting

Super-sized Georgians: why satirists were fixated with fatness. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Windows: an illuminating history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

7 weird and wonderful Georgian beauty treatments. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A family history of France. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A depiction of folk figure Dick Whittington

Dick Whittington, the Loch Ness Monster and a talking mongoose: 8 mythical figures of British history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Berbice: a slave rebellion that nearly succeeded. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The title page and frontispiece of Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative, a first-hand account of his experience in slavery and how he seized his freedom. (Image by Getty Images)

David Olusoga on the extraordinary story of Olaudah Equiano. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

George III: the tyrant who lost America?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait from the 18th century of King George III wearing his coronation robes

George III: why his reputation as the mad king who lost America needs to be re-evaluated. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Adolf Hitler stands with his back to a statue of Discobolos, the Discus Thrower

The classics and racial hatred: how the far right hijacked the ancient world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Extraordinary hoaxes of the 18th century. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Empress Maria Theresa, a portrait

Maria Theresa: empress, warrior, matriarch. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Peep at St. Peter or The Poet in a Pickle

Q&AWhy do we say 'Peeping Tom'?

An archetypal country house in its grounds, in the mist

From Roman villas to Downton Abbey: Britain’s country houses. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Wedgwood: the radical potter. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Lady Emma Hamilton

Nelson's sensational mistress: how Emma Hamilton took Europe by storm. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Moves still from Rob Roy

How Walter Scott’s stories shaped Scotland. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of English admiral Lord Horatio Nelson

Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson: a rebel with a cause

A phantasmagoria by Belgian entertainer Etienne-Gaspard Robert, whose stage name was Etienne Robertson, 1797. (Photo by Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Phantasmagoria: creating the ‘ghosts’ of the Enlightenment. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Walter Scott: an engraving after a painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence of the Scottish poet and novelist Sir Walter Scott

Walter Scott: the man who invented Scotland. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Bewitched cars & mail-order charms: witchcraft in modern France. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.