Where history happened

Ye olde travel guide: Rio de Janeiro 1820. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

One of the two 19th-century bronze sphinxes sited next to Cleopatra's Needle, London's oldest monument. (Peter Dazeley/Getty Images)

Where history happened: Egypt in Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ye olde travel guide: Florence 1380. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Image by Jonty Clark.

Ye olde travel guide: Calcutta 1905. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

"Although the circus as we know it has its roots in the 18th century, the history of its three basic forms (clowning, equestrianism and animals) goes back much further," says Vanessa Toulmin. (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Where history happened: the circus in Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ye olde travel guide: Aksum AD 537. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Jane Austen. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Where history happened: Jane Austen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Effigy of Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Canterbury Cathedral, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Canterbury, Kent, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Where history happened: the cult of Thomas Becket. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The LibraryYe olde travel guide: Hong Kong 1842. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ye olde travel guide: Philadelphia 1774. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ye olde travel guide: Moscow 1937. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Hampton Court Palace

The LibraryWhere history happened: a history of disability. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration by Jonty Clark.

Ye olde travel guide: Dublin AD 1000. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ye Olde Travel Guide: Sydney 1848. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A British waitress serves American servicemen inside Rainbow Corner, Piccadilly, January 1945. (Getty Images)

Where history happened: life on the home front. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration titled ‘The petition for abolishing the slave trade’, from Amelia Opie’s ’The Black Man's Lament; or How to Make Sugar’, London, 1826. “Come, listen to my plaintive ditty,/Ye tender hearts, and children dear!/And, should it move your souls to pity,/Oh! try to end the griefs you hear.” (Photo by Photo 12/UIG via Getty Images)

9 key places connected to the abolition of the British slave trade. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Victorian drawing room with pictures in heavy frames and ornately covered furniture, c1860. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Where history happened: Victorian collectors. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ye Olde Travel Guide: Bruges 1386. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration depicting medieval pilgrims. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The LibraryMedieval tourism: pilgrimages and tourist destinations

The Fire of Rome, by Hubert Robert (1733-1808). "It was the worst possible place for a fire to break out, and fear turned into outright panic," says Dominic Sandbrook. Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The LibraryA big day in history: the Great Fire of Rome

A 19th-century woodblock print of Edo, now known as Tokyo. (GraphixaArtis/Getty Images)

Ye Olde Travel Guide: Edo 1850. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The replica of 'The Matthew' arriving at Douarnenez, France in 1998. It was on the original 15th-century vessel that John Cabot travelled to North America. (Getty Images)

Where history happened: Tudor smuggling. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ye Olde Travel Guide: Meknes 1681. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Durham Cathedral on a sunny day. Taken near to the water of the River Wear. (Dreamstime)

Where history happened: pilgrimage. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A cartoon depiction of mythical Luddite leader Ned Ludd. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Where history happened: Luddites. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A contemporary view of the river Seine and Notre-Dame de Paris. (Getty Images)

Ye Olde Travel Guide: Paris 1802. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A view towards the Carew estuary between a dry stone wall and the ruins of Carew Castle, Pembrokeshire, UK. (Dreamstime)

Where history happened: Tudor courtiers with Suzannah Lipscomb. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Vintage map of the Bahamas. (Library of Congress)

Ye Olde Travel Guide: Bahamas 1718. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ye Olde Travel Guide: Corfu 1864. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The LibraryYe Olde Travel Guide: Mainz 1455. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.