Mansa Musa of Mali After the 400s AD, the Bantu expansion slowed down. They had already settled most of the good farmland in southern Africa. What was left was mainly desert [...]
Tutankhamon's ostrich feather fan (Egypt, ca. 1300 BC) When did people start to use fans? Chimpanzees use a stick with leaves on it, or just a big leaf, to chase away flies. They can't [...]
Girls working in a mill, about 1900 AD By about 1900, though, cloth and clothing got cheap enough that there was a big change in how people thought about clothes. [...]
Republic of Genoa: Medieval drawing of the city of Genoa, Italy (1493) Genoa in the Early Middle Ages Around 900 AD, the Holy Roman Empire began to lose control of Italy, and Genoa was [...]
Who was Charlemagne? This is Charlemagne, or possibly his grandson (now in the Louvre Museum) What's Charlemagne's real name? Charlemagne's name is really Charles le Magne, or Charles the Great. [...]
Medieval economy: A carpenter works in his shop. Collapse of trade After the fall of Rome, people in Europe used money less than they had before. Instead they mostly lived on what they [...]
Yamato Japan: Haniwa seated woman from a kofun tomb, possibly a Shinto religious leader (ca. 500 AD) From Yayoi to Yamato By the end of the Yayoi period (Japan's Iron Age) in 250 [...]
Medieval Islamic clothing: women covered their heads with veils, and men wore hats or turbans. Why did people cover up their bodies? It was hot in the Islamic Empire. So people [...]
Ancient India trade: Indian herbal medicines What did most people do for work? Most people in ancient India were farmers. That's the same as in other parts of Asia and Europe at this [...]
Ancient Indian clothing: A woman wearing a long tunic - Mathura, 100s AD Ancient Indian clothing: the cotton dhoti People in India wore mostly cotton clothing. India was the first place where people grew [...]
