European History

Playing the flute isn't easy even for some humans, but in the 18th century, inventor Jacques de Vaucanson figured out how to make a machine play it.

This Eighteenth-Century Robot Actually Used Breathing to Play the Flute

It was one of a trio of automata that had functions like living creatures

This animal hair toothbrush (horse hair, to be exact) is said to have belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte.

You Can Still Buy Pig-Hair Toothbrushes

There's an argument for it, given all the environmental destruction causes by plastic ones

Albania Wants to Show Off Its Shipwrecks

From 6th century B.C. Greek cargo ships to WWII wrecks, the Balkan nation is hoping to boost tourism by highlighting its underwater archaeology

The back of an ancient sundial reveals a cheat sheet of locations and latitude coordinates.

Early Tech Adopters in Ancient Rome Had Portable Sundials

A little gadget could make you look smart, rich, and tech-savvy—all without necessarily fulfilling its real function

An 1817 illustration of a draisine.

This Wooden Running Machine Was Your Fixie’s Great-Great Grandpa

The draisine was invented as a potential replacement for the horse during a shortage

Although it's possible that Sandro Botticelli threw other works of his on the bonfire, the Birth of Venus thankfully survived.

A Fanatical Monk Inspired 15th-Century Italians to Burn Their Clothes, Makeup and Art

He told Florentines the apocalypse was coming, and to save themselves through self-censorship

Appert devised the canning process using that old standby, trial-and-error.

The Father of Canning Knew His Process Worked, But Not Why It Worked

Nicolas Appert was trying to win a hefty prize offered by the French army

The limestone carving of an aurochs

Dig This: Researchers Found a 38,000-Year-Old Engraving in France

Excavated from a rock shelter, the image of an aurochs covered in dots was made by the Aurignacians, the earliest group of modern humans in Europe

Astrolabes were astronomical calculating devices that did everything from tell the time to map the stars. This 16th century planispherical astrolabe stems from Morocco.

The Story of the Astrolabe, the Original Smartphone

Prosperous times likely paved the way for this multifunctional device, conceptual ancestor to the iPhone 7

Balloon prints like this one, of the Great Nassau “enable us to share some sense of the excitement that gripped those watching their fellow beings rise into the sky for the first time,” writes Tom D. Crouch of the National Air and Space Museum.

A Picture History of One of the World’s Greatest Hot Air Balloons

Designed by Charles Green, the Great Nassau was big enough to capture the imaginations of an entire country

The manuscript notebook is comprised of astronomical observations with tables of viewing data, describing transit witnessed by King George III and others, 3 June 1769, with notes signed by Stephen Demainbray, astronomer.

The Royal Archives Reveals the Hidden Genius Behind George III’s “Madness”

Historians are salivating at the opportunity to gain new insights into the massively misunderstood monarch

Brunhilde Pomsel in 2016.

One of the Last Links to the Inner Nazi Circle Dies at 106

Brunhilde Pomsel worked with Joseph Goebbels until the final days of the Third Reich

Thousands of Jews were murdered by Croatian Nazi collaborators at Jasenovac.

Why Croatian Jews Boycotted This Year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day

As neo-fascism grows in Croatia, the country is at a crossroads between denial and reality

German-Jewish refugees are shown at the rail of the German Liner St. Louis in Havana Cuba on June 1, 1939.

Haunting Twitter Account Shares the Fates of the Refugees of the St. Louis

In 1939, Cuba and the United States turned back a ship full of German Jews, 254 of whom were later killed during the Holocaust

The site of the new museum in Gdansk

Historians, Government Officials Clash Over Polish History at New Museum

Trapped between nationalism and documentation, a Polish museum grapples with how to tell its story

A piece of gold, believed to be a small ring, found in the Hoard

Researchers Finish Separating World's Largest Celtic Coin Hoard

It took nearly three years to separate the more than 68,000 coins

Coins recovered during Operation Pandora

Police Recover More Than 3,500 Stolen Artifacts in Europe

Operation Pandora involved 18 nations and pan-European police agencies to recover paintings, coins and artifiacts

A reconstruction of Ötzi the Iceman at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology.

Ötzi the Iceman's Last Meal Included Goat Bacon

Analysis of the 5,300-year-old mummy's stomach contents shows he ate dry-cured meat from a mountain ibex

Watercolor painting of the Battle of Texel by painter Léon Morel-Fatio.

The Only Time in History When Men on Horseback Captured a Fleet of Ships

A Dutch fleet stuck in the ice. A group of French soldiers sent to capture it. What could go wrong?

Detail of a surfer in "A View of Karakakooa, in Owyhee," an etching made by an artist accompanying the Cook expedition.

What the First European to Visit Hawaii Thought About Surfers

The Europeans were fascinated by Pacific Islanders' comfort in the water

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