Lists and Stories

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  The 50th Anniversary of the Soweto Uprising June 16, 2026, marks the 50th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising (also called the Soweto Rebellion) in South Africa. The uprising took place in 1976 in Soweto township, adjacent to the city of Johannesburg. It began as a protest by thousands, mostly students, against the government’s insistence...
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  The Strange, Grisly History of the First Blood Transfusion Across many cultures, humans have regarded blood as a substance associated with vitality, renewal, and life itself, centuries before blood transfusions became a viable medical procedure. The idea of restoring health through the transfer of blood predates modern medicine, initially existing more in...
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  The Sun Was Eaten: 6 Ways Cultures Have Explained Eclipses Without a scientific explanation, the darkening of the Sun (or Moon) during an eclipse would be a startling event, to say the least. Throughout history, eclipses have been seen as a disruption of the natural order, and many groups have believed them to be bad omens. Many ancient (and not so...
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  The Surprisingly Disorderly History of the U.S. Presidential Succession Order In 1981 U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan was shot during an assassination attempt. While he was incapacitated in the hospital, Secretary of State Alexander Haig famously declared, “I am in control here.” He also told reporters, “Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president, and...
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  The Time Albert Einstein Was Asked to be President of Israel Famous Jewish scientist Albert Einstein is well known for his discoveries in theoretical physics. But did you know he also had the opportunity to enter the political world? Following the death of Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, in 1952, the Israeli government, headed by Prime Minister...
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  The Time Julius Caesar Was Captured by Pirates In the 1st century BCE the Mediterranean Sea had a crime problem. Specifically, it had a pirate problem. The rugged region of southern Anatolia known as Cilicia Trachea (Rough Cilicia) was notoriously infested with seagoing bandits whose depredations terrified Romans. In 75 BCE a band of Cilician...
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  The Top COVID-19 Vaccine Myths Spreading Online This special report has been provided to Britannica by NewsGuard, which offers the service HealthGuard to fight online health care misinformation. It was written by John Gregory and originally published at newsguardtech.com. Chine Labbe, Kendrick McDonald, Anicka Slachta, Sophia Tewa, Edward...
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  The U.S. Opioid Epidemic Since 1999, the death rate from opioid drug overdose in the United States has been on the rise. The rate nearly doubled—from 1 to 1.8 per 100,000 people—between 2013 and 2014 alone. Today the number of drug overdose deaths per year far surpasses the number of deaths from motor vehicle accidents—the...
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  The World Science Festival’s Pioneers in Science The World Science Festival highlights the amazing accomplishments of scientists from around the world through its Pioneers in Science program. Watch these videos provided to Britannica by the festival and read original biographies by Britannica authors to find out more about these scientists’...
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  The World’s 5 Most Commonly Used Writing Systems Written language stands as one of humanity’s greatest achievements. Whereas speech is fleeting, written communication provides a permanence and has ultimately influenced everything from commerce to government to religion. The following are the five most commonly used writing systems around the...
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  There’s a Riot Goin’ On: Riots in U.S. History (Part One) Riots are in the news more than anyone would like to admit, and they have been since before there ever was a United States. Everyone knows what a riot is, right? If it looks like a riot and sounds like a riot, it probably is a riot. Well, yes and no. There are distinctions between the terms that...
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  There’s a Riot Goin’ On: Riots in U.S. History (Part Two) In psychological terms, crowds are aggregations of individuals whose self-awareness and independence of action can become secondary to a common sense of purpose. In general, crowds lack the shared superheated emotions of a mob, but under stressful or dangerous circumstances a crowd can quickly...
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  These 5 Frescos by Giotto Are Required Viewing on Your Next Trip to Italy Giotto is, according to art historian Peter J. Murray, “the most important Italian painter of the 14th century.” Not a great deal is known with certainty about his life, but his surviving works exude a striking intensity even today. Discover the stories behind five of the artist’s most fascinating...
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  These 5 Goya Paintings Range from Horrifying to Regal Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes—better known simply as Goya—was born in Spain in 1746. His most memorable art vividly expresses the tumult that was rumbling through Europe during his lifetime, particularly in the early 19th century. Read on to discover the stories behind five of Goya’s most...
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  These 5 Incredible Paintings Are All Waiting for You in New York City An abstract painting that recalls Turner and Whistler. A different kind of icon. And a visual scholar of New York itself. Before you plan your next trip to New York City, take a moment to learn about these five incredible paintings that await your arrival. Earlier versions of the descriptions of...
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  These 6 Paintings Shine a Light on Berlin’s Past Earlier versions of the descriptions of these paintings first appeared in 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die, edited by Stephen Farthing (2018). Writers’ names appear in parentheses. list, destinations, travel, tourism, George Grosz, Gerard Terborch, Paul Klee, August Macke, Karl Friedrich...
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  These 8 Buildings Will Make You See Norway in a New Light Norway, by some estimates, is two-thirds mountainous, and about half of its population lives in the south of the country, where its capital, Oslo, is located. These eight contemporary buildings will give you another lens through which to see this Scandinavian country. Earlier versions of the...
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  “Thisclose” to Peace in Colombia More than 50 years of war between the Colombian government and the guerrilla forces of the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia; “Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia”) have seemingly come to a close. A cease-fire had been firmly in place since 2015, and on August 24, 2016, a final...
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  Thomas Malthus’s 250th Birthday If you’ve ever taken an economics or ecology class, you’ll surely remember the name of Thomas Malthus, the English economist and demographer who sported the theory that population growth will always tend to outrun the food supply. This thinking is commonly referred to as Malthusianism or Malthusian...
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  Timeline and Map of the Panama Canal The Panama Canal, which was completed in 1914, connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and significantly shortens some shipping routes by allowing vessels to bypass South America. This infographic provides a timeline and map of the Panama Canal along with a number of interesting facts. Spotlight,...