Elizabeth Nix

Find out more about this Old West icon, from how he met his friend Doc Holliday to what happened to him after the Tombstone gunfight.

Check out seven facts about this infamous chapter in American history.

British troops faced off against minutemen in Lexington, Mass.

It has to do with ancient Greek mythology, the Olympics and the British royal family.

Harry S. Truman’s unexpected election victory over Thomas Dewey was forever imprinted in history, thanks in part to a famous photo.

One of the most famous examples of ancient Greek sculpture, the Venus de Milo is immediately recognizable by its missing arms and popularly believed to represent Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, who was known to the Romans as Venus. The artwork was discovered in 1820 on the Aegean island of Melos (also […]

Built on the orders of the Roman Emperor Hadrian and located in Great Britain, Hadrian’s Wall was a defensive fortification that marked the northwest frontier of the Roman Empire for three centuries. The wall measured 73 miles in length and stretched from coast to coast across present-day northern England, between Wallsend in the east to […]

According to the ancient historian Suetonius, the Roman emperor known as Caligula loved one of his horses, Incitatus, so much that he gave the steed a marble stall, an ivory manger, a jeweled collar and even a house. Another chronicler, Cassius Dio, later wrote that servants fed the animal oats mixed with gold flakes. Famous […]

One previous president called it 'Shangri-La.'

Find out more about the legendary first baseman.

The holiday was traditionally a more solemn occasion on the Emerald Isle—until Americans got involved.

Get the stories behind some of the world’s most iconic photos, from the flag-raising on Iwo Jima to the day Elvis met Nixon.

Explore the story of this literary classic and its author, L. Frank Baum, whose jobs ranged from chicken breeder to frontier storekeeper before he struck literary gold in 1900.

Find out more about the Dutch-born painter, including what he did before becoming an artist, the unusual place where he painted some of his best-known works and why he might not have been responsible for cutting off his own ear.

Kiss me, I'm Irish?

Around A.D. 250, the Maya built flourishing cities. What triggered their decline?

Learn about the notorious Chicago gangster—from the crime he did time for at Alcatraz to his feelings about the nickname 'Scarface.'

This Republican VP's musical number was eventually covered by a range of artists, including Tommy Edwards, Van Morrison, Elton John, Merle Haggard and Barry Manilow. 

The first woman in the modern world to run a country hailed from Southeast Asia. Many have followed.

As the famous saying goes, 'If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.'

On August 6, 1991, without fanfare, British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee published the first-ever website while working at CERN, the huge particle physics lab in Switzerland.

A lifetime appointment comes with some caveats.

Find out seven surprising facts about how the nation’s highest court works—and how it’s changed over the years.

The legendary frontiersman's background holds some surprises, including his real opinion on coonskin caps and his poor track record in real estate.

Check out eight fascinating facts about the world-famous author, including why his riverboat career was marred by tragedy and who served as the real-life model for Huck Finn.

Paul Revere gets all the glory but he wasn’t the only one to make a daring late-night ride to warn that the British were coming. In 1781, during the Revolutionary War (and six years after Revere’s ride), a 26-year-old Virginian, John “Jack” Jouett, made a dangerous, 40-mile dash on horseback to Monticello, the home of […]

The iconic Indian activist, known for his principle of nonviolent resistance, had humble beginnings and left an outsized legacy.

The epic race to standardize the electrical system—later known as the War of the Currents—lit up 19th-Century America.

Get the facts on the iconic Italian astronomer and physicist.

Legend has it that a young Isaac Newton was sitting under an apple tree when he was bonked on the head by a falling piece of fruit, a 17th-century “aha moment” that prompted him to suddenly come up with his law of gravity. In reality, things didn’t go down quite like that. Newton, the son […]

Find out more about this fascinating Englishman, from the job he held that involved sending people to the gallows to the cause of one of his most bitter rivalries.

Check out seven things you may not know about the iconic entertainer.

American presidents can be elected to two, four-year terms in office (or a maximum of 10 years in a case of a president who ascended to the position as vice president), thanks to the 22nd Amendment, which was ratified in 1951. However, vice presidents, like members of the U.S. Congress, face no such restrictions on […]

Find out some fascinating facts about this iconic American landmark.

From the origins of his famous name to the mystery surrounding his death, the legendary American outlaw.

It was Kinderhook, New York's favorite son, Martin van Buren.

Find out more about the Medici family, who encouraged the careers of such luminaries as Michelangelo and Galileo and whose members included popes, queens and a long line of dukes.

In 1889, people poured into central Oklahoma to stake their claims to nearly 2 million acres opened for settlement by the U.S. government. Those who entered the region before the land run’s designated starting time, at noon on April 22, 1889, were dubbed “sooners.”  The area to which the settlers flocked was known as the […]

In order to track the disease’s full progression, researchers provided no effective care as the study's African American participants experienced severe health problems including blindness, mental impairment—or death.

Not Theodore Roosevelt.

Following the American Civil War, if someone called you a carpetbagger or scalawag, it wasn’t meant as a compliment. The term carpetbagger was used by opponents of Reconstruction—the period from 1865 to 1877 when the Southern states that seceded were reorganized as part of the Union—to describe Northerners who moved to the South after the […]

A diplomatic incident between the United States and France in 1797 outraged Americans and led to an undeclared war.

Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) is a holiday commemorating this day, which marked an effective end of slavery in the United States.

Among the waterways linking the lakes are the St. Marys River, the Niagara River, and the narrow Straits of Mackinac.

People have been chewing gum, in various forms, since ancient times.

1. The job used to go to the person with the second-most votes. The drafters of the Constitution set up a system in which presidents were chosen by members of an Electoral College, and each elector got to vote for two people. The candidate with the most electoral votes (as long as it was a […]

It happened in 1906.

Get the facts about the famous comic strip Peanuts and its creator.

Get the facts on this engineering marvel, which was dedicated in September 1930.

Commanders in chief seeking refuge from Washington politics and weather have retreated to destinations across the U.S. map, from the Jersey Shore to Southern California.

As a young man, Hitler was a struggling artist who had little money and spent time living in hostels. He fought in World War I then became active in the recently formed Nazi Party. Following the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, in which Hitler and his Nazi cohorts launched a failed coup against the […]

Find out how members of the animal kingdom have helped shape history for mankind, from paving the way for human space flight to bringing down Bin Laden.

The arrival of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's first child was historic for Britain—but royal births, and the many traditions that surround them, have been an object of fascination for centuries.

From the Union officers who tunneled out of a Confederate POW camp to the 18th-century nobleman who fled the Tower of London in drag, get the stories behind eight notable prison breaks.

Get the facts on the iconic ancient monument, including how it once ended up on the auction block and what the wizard Merlin and Charles Darwin have to do with it.

From the development of his massive Spruce Goose aircraft to his involvement in a top-secret CIA plot to recover a Soviet sub, get the facts about the eccentric billionaire.

From the millionaire who shot the high-society architect to the pioneering photographer who slayed a romantic rival, find out about five famous defendants who were ultimately acquitted of murder.

From the business setback that spurred him to develop Mickey Mouse to that persistent cryogenics myth, discover seven fascinating facts about this entertainment legend.

Learn about six fascinating double agents, from the FBI counterspy who brought down a major espionage ring in the United States to the operative who fooled the Nazis about D-Day.

Between his days as a teenage Confederate guerrilla and his murder at age 34, James became one of America’s most notorious outlaws.

From baseball player Moe Berg to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” author Roald Dahl, learn about six famous people who once were wartime secret agents.

From Pullman, Illinois, to Hershey, Pennsylvania, learn about life in towns built and once controlled by a single company.

From a murderer who claimed he was a Rockefeller to a woman who passed as a male soldier during the U.S. Civil War, get the story behind six of history's most fascinating phonies.

Find out more about the famous waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The influence of these men led to deadly consequences around the globe.

From a deep-sea pioneer to the man credited with the modern discovery of Machu Picchu, get to know five intrepid explorers.

Find out about some of history’s deadliest—and lesser-known—shipwrecks.

Learn the surprising facts behind the deaths of six politicians who died in the line of duty.

Find out how these three priceless objects were recovered and learn how stolen items associated with Walt Whitman and King Croesus also have happy endings.

From Drake’s Plate of Brass to the Archaeoraptor fossil, explore seven fascinating historical hoaxes.

She supposedly cared for American soldiers during the war—and then took over for one of them when he could no longer fight.

Before Washington, D.C., became America’s capital in 1800, the Congress met in a number of different locations, including Baltimore, Trenton and New York City. After years of debate by the new nation’s leaders about the selection of a permanent seat of government, Congress passed the Residence Act in July 1790, which declared that the capital […]

The Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal that rocked France between 1894 and 1906 and revealed growing antisemitism across Europe.

There's a few different ways to calculate.

Clarence Birdseye took note of how Indigenous Canadians 'flash froze' their fish—and forever changed the way Americans ate.

Bread may be one of the world’s oldest prepared foods. But pre-slicing was a 20th-century innovation.

In ancient times, many scientists believed the speed of light was infinite and could travel any distance instantaneously. The Italian physicist Galileo Galilee was among the first to try to measure the speed of light. In the early 17th century, he devised an experiment in which two people with covered lanterns stood a known distance […]

New York state is America’s top apple grower, after the state of Washington, but New York City’s nickname has nothing to do with fruit production. In fact, the Big Apple moniker first gained popularity in connection with horseracing. Around 1920, New York City newspaper reporter John Fitz Gerald, whose beat was the track, heard African-American […]

The barber pole’s colors are a legacy of a (thankfully) long-gone era when people went to barbers not just for a haircut or shave but also for bloodletting and other medical procedures. During the Middle Ages bloodletting, which involves cutting open a vein and allowing blood to drain, was a common treatment for a wide […]

Ancient mariners used to gauge how fast their ship was moving by throwing a piece of wood or other floatable object over the vessel’s bow then counting the amount of time that elapsed before its stern passed the object. This method was known as a Dutchman’s log. By the late 16th century, sailors had begun […]

Commonly seen on doctor’s prescription pads and signs in pharmacies, Rx is the symbol for a medical prescription. According to most sources, Rx is derived from the Latin word “recipe,” meaning “take.” Among several alternative theories, however, is the belief that the Rx symbol evolved from the Eye of Horus, an ancient Egyptian symbol associated […]

The history of American diplomacy stretches back to Ben Franklin, the country’s first diplomat, who helped the 13 colonies form official ties with France in 1778, during the Revolutionary War. Other nations that were among the earliest to make a formal diplomatic alliance with America include the Netherlands (1782), Spain (1783), Britain (1785) and Russia […]

The former FBI agent was sentenced to life in prison for selling U.S. secrets to Moscow.

Prince Albert Victor, the grandson of Queen Victoria, became second in line to the British throne at the time of his birth in 1864. However, Eddy, as he was nicknamed, died at age 28, before his father and grandmother, and never became king. Since his death, there have been unsubstantiated claims that the prince was […]

While the history of presidential aviation dates back to 1910, Eisenhower was first to ride in the official presidential plane.

Referring to someone as a “Horatio Alger hero” means that person has overcome adversity and achieved success thanks to hard work and perseverance. The term is linked to the fictional stories of real-life, 19th-century author Horatio Alger Jr., who penned tales about street children who managed to better their circumstances through a combination of factors […]

Explore what happened during the 1966 disaster when the Arno River burst its banks in the city of Florence.

Most are named after Roman gods and goddesses.

The planet’s second-smallest nation by area (after Vatican City), has the world’s shortest constitution. Adopted in 1962 during the reign of Prince Rainier III, the governing document of Monaco currently clocks in at 3,814 words, according to the Comparative Constitutions Project (CCP). The diminutive principality, which today is famous as a playground for the rich, […]

Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” famously features an eccentric character called the Hatter, who’s referred to in the story as “mad” and became popularly known as the Mad Hatter. However, the phrase “mad as a hatter,” used to describe someone who’s crazy or prone to unpredictable behavior, didn’t originate with Carroll. Instead, […]

The origins of “in the limelight,” which refers to being the focus of public attention, are linked to a type of stage lighting that was popular in the 19th century. The “lime” in limelight has nothing to do with the green citrus fruit but rather with a chemical compound, calcium oxide, also known as quicklime. […]

The definition of blackmail—the act of demanding that a person pay money or do something in order to avoid having damaging information about him or her exposed—has evolved over time. The word’s origins are linked to the chieftains in the border region between England and Scotland in the 16th century and part of the 17th […]

For ages, people used the sun to determine what time it was where they were. Every community set its clocks to noon based on when the sun reached its highest position in the sky; as a result, when it was noon in Washington, D.C., the local time in New York City was already minutes ahead. […]

The concept of modern policing has its roots in pre-Victorian England, when the British home minister, Sir Robert Peel (1778-1850), oversaw the creation of London’s first organized police force. Before Peel’s 1829 reforms, public order had been maintained by a mix of night watchmen, local constables and red-coat-wearing army soldiers, who were deployed as much […]

In 1861, as a means of financing the American Civil War, the federal government began issuing paper money for the first time since the Continental Congress printed currency to help pay for the Revolutionary War (the earlier form of paper dollars, dubbed continentals, were produced in such high volume that they soon lost much of […]

A Ponzi scheme is a “rob Peter to pay Paul” financial scam in which early investors are paid returns with money from later investors rather than legitimate investment activities. The most notorious perpetrator of this type of fraud is New York financier Bernard Madoff, who in 2009 pleaded guilty to masterminding a decades-long, $65 billion […]

Over the years, scholars have debated the true inspiration behind the most famous half-smile in history—and possibly even the world’s most recognizable face. Proposed sitters for the “Mona Lisa” have included da Vinci’s mother Caterina, Princess Isabella of Naples, a Spanish noblewoman named Costanza d’Avalos and an unnamed courtesan, among others. Some of the more […]

According to estimates, more than 7 billion people live on our planet. Each day, some 200,000 new babies add to this figure, which works out to roughly 140 additional people per minute. Over an entire year, about 80 million humans are born—a number comparable to the combined populations of California, Texas and New York. Not […]

Looking for an innovative dental hygiene enthusiast to thank next time you polish your pearly whites? Turns out it’s not that simple. People have been cleaning their teeth for millennia, starting with the ancient Egyptians, who are thought to have scrubbed their choppers with a special powder made from ox hooves and eggshells as far […]

Estimates suggest the project took about two decades to complete.