https://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/history/RSS feed for HistoryenTue, 15 Oct 2024 10:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-captain-george-vancouver-mapped-and-shaped-the-modern-pacific-northwest-180985233/The British explorer named dozens of geographical features and sites in the region, ignoring the traditions of the Indigenous peoples who’d lived there for millenniaTue, 15 Oct 2024 10:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-real-story-behind-saturday-night-the-movie-about-the-television-show-that-changed-comedy-forever-180985236/A new film revisits the 90 minutes before the first episode of "Saturday Night Live" premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975Fri, 11 Oct 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-secret-sculpture-built-for-john-f-kennedys-grave-vanished-in-the-1970s-half-a-century-later-the-mystery-has-been-solved-180985235/The bronze wreath immortalized the moment when the members of the Honor Guard removed their hats and placed them on the president's grave during his burialWed, 09 Oct 2024 18:52:29 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-artists-writers-and-scientists-of-the-past-documented-climate-change-180985199/An exhibition at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens explores how Western intellectuals viewed the climate crisis between 1780 and 1930Tue, 08 Oct 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-a-minnesota-man-walked-around-the-world-traversing-13-countries-and-14450-miles-in-four-years-180985172/Fifty years ago, on October 5, 1974, David Kunst completed the first verified circumnavigation of the globe on foot. Along the way, he met Princess Grace of Monaco, raised money for UNICEF and lost a brother to banditsFri, 04 Oct 2024 09:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/inside-disneys-controversial-plan-to-open-a-theme-park-inspired-by-american-history-180985150/In the early 1990s, historians and the public alike questioned how Disney's America would accurately and sensitively document the nation's thorny pastMon, 30 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-real-story-behind-the-lee-movie-and-lee-miller-the-legendary-surrealist-photographer-and-world-war-ii-journalist-who-inspired-it-180985139/In a new biopic starring Kate Winslet, Miller's many lives—as an artist, model, muse, cook and war correspondent—need little embellishmentFri, 27 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-defeated-presidential-candidate-once-the-best-known-man-in-america-died-in-a-sanatorium-less-than-a-month-after-losing-the-election-180985083/Newspaper editor Horace Greeley unsuccessfully ran against incumbent Ulysses S. Grant in November 1872. Twenty-four days later, he died of unknown causes at a private mental health facilityThu, 19 Sep 2024 09:30:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-female-civil-war-soldier-participated-in-the-bloodiest-battle-in-american-history-and-spied-on-the-southor-did-she-180985076/Historians say that Sarah Emma Edmonds exaggerated many aspects of her wartime experiences. Still, she bravely served in the Union Army, becoming one of hundreds of women who fought in the conflict in secretTue, 17 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/on-this-day-in-1899-a-car-fatally-struck-a-pedestrian-for-the-first-time-in-american-history-180985050/Henry Hale Bliss' death presaged the battle between the 20th-century automobile lobby and walkers in U.S. citiesFri, 13 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-japans-shogun-executed-dozens-christians-great-genna-martyrdom-1622-180985023/On September 10, 1622, Japanese officials burned alive or beheaded 55 missionaries and laypeople alike. The violence coincided with Japan's push to expel all foreign influencesTue, 10 Sep 2024 09:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/trailblazing-suffragist-crusading-prosecutor-teamed-up-expose-election-conspiracy-180984903/An unlikely duo exposed political corruption in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1914—and set a new precedent for fair voting across the countryThu, 05 Sep 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-century-ago-a-mob-brutally-attacked-an-american-diplomat-in-persia-his-death-shaped-us-iran-relations-for-decades-180985016/The July 1924 killing of Robert Imbrie fueled the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty and set the stage for both a CIA-backed 1953 coup and the 1979 Iran hostage crisisThu, 05 Sep 2024 10:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/celtic-origins-trick-treating-halloween-180984916/The spine-tingling roots of a mischievous Halloween traditionThu, 05 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-black-americans-south-boldly-defied-jim-crow-build-business-empires-their-own-180984901/The Great Migration transformed the nation—but millions of African Americans never left their Southern communities. Their unlikely success makes their stories all the more remarkableWed, 04 Sep 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/remarkable-documents-lay-bare-new-york-history-slavery-manumission-180984912/A newly digitized set of records reveals the plight and bravery of enslaved people in the NorthTue, 03 Sep 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/general-macarthur-australia-wwii-comeback-180984897/After a harrowing escape from the Philippines, the prickly American famously vowed "I shall return" from a remote train station before marshaling Allied forces to victoryTue, 03 Sep 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/to-trick-the-nazis-this-master-of-deception-invented-fake-fleets-and-armies-180985000/During World War II, British officer Dudley Clarke led A Force, a Cairo-based military unit that fed false information to the GermansTue, 03 Sep 2024 10:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-british-politicians-reacted-americas-attempts-independence-180984909/When the Colonies got too brassy, the English Parliament went ballistic—despite some wise voices of reasonThu, 29 Aug 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/to-mark-japans-surrender-at-the-end-of-world-war-ii-this-navy-officer-raced-halfway-around-the-world-with-a-historic-flag-in-tow-180984973/In August 1945, John K. Bremyer undertook a 124-hour, 9,000-mile journey to Tokyo Bay, where he delivered the flag flown by Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 to Admiral William Halsey's USS "Missouri"Thu, 29 Aug 2024 10:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/bold-meeting-250-years-ago-continental-congress-set-america-in-motion-180984908/While far less famous than the coalition that met in 1775, this group of founders found agreement in their disagreements and laid the groundwork for a revolutionWed, 28 Aug 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/archaeologists-uncover-real-story-england-became-england-180984911/New research is revealing how the Sceptered Isle transformed from a Roman backwater to a mighty country of its ownTue, 27 Aug 2024 14:40:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-peekskill-riots-revealed-the-racism-and-antisemitism-hidden-beneath-the-surface-of-the-anti-communist-movement-180984936/In the summer of 1949, World War II veterans protested a pair of concerts held by Paul Robeson, a Black singer and civil rights activist who expressed support for communist causesTue, 27 Aug 2024 11:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/during-world-war-ii-the-liberation-of-paris-saved-the-french-capital-from-destruction-180984943/Adolf Hitler wanted Paris razed. Dwight D. Eisenhower wanted his troops to stay out of the city. In August 1944, an uprising by French resistance fighters forced the Allies to interveneFri, 23 Aug 2024 13:18:20 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/discover-the-hidden-history-of-tomb-robbing-in-ancient-egypt-180984895/Criminals plundered the riches of Egyptian pyramids and underground burials, often within a few years or, in some cases, within a few hours of occupants' intermentThu, 22 Aug 2024 11:15:00 +0000