Indigenous Woman Statue to Replace Columbus in Mexico City October 12, 2021
An indigenous woman has displaced Christopher Columbus in prominence in Mexico City. City officials have announced that the famous statue of the famed New World explorer will be not return to its location on El Paseo de la Reforma boulevard, the capital city's most prominent street, in order to make way for a new statue, the Young Woman of Amajac, which predates the arrival of Columbus and others to the New World. Archaeologists unearthed the 6-foot-tall statue in Huasteca, a region of the country along the Gulf of Mexico, in January 2021. The statue is on display at the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. The one due to replace the Columbus statue will be a replica, one much larger than the statue that was unearthed, officials said.
Signed 'Shoeless Joe' Photo Sells for $1.47 Million October 10, 2021
An autographed photo of the iconic baseball player "Shoeless" Joe Jackson has set a record, selling at auction for $1.4 million. The photo, which shows the early 20th Century star wearing a Cleveland Naps jersey and throwing a baseball, is the only known image of Jackson still around. Frank Smith, a photographer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, took the photo.An unknown bidder won the image, which sold as part of the auction Extra Innings: A Private Collection of Important Baseball Memorabilia, run by Christie's and Hunt Auctions. It was the highest amount ever paid for autographed sports photo.
COLONIAL AMERICA
Jamestown:
First English Colony in America Explorers had been
landing in America for some time before English settlers
arrived in what is now Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. But it
was in that spot on the James River that English
colonization began and with it, the history of America.
The
Pilgrims: Voyage to
Freedom
Follow the Pilgrims as they sail across the Atlantic Ocean,
from England to America, in search of religious freedom. See
who they meet when they land in New England. Find out about
the first Thanksgiving.
The
13 American Colonies
This fun, illustrated article describes the 13 American
Colonies in detail, from economics to religion to
agriculture to revolution. Also includes a clickable map
with links to individual descriptions of each colony and a
list of the first European settlements in North America.
Outstanding resource!
Farming
in the 13 American
Colonies The focus is on agriculture in this look at how the
colonists farmed and what they grew. See wheat turn into
flour!
Religion
in the 13 American
Colonies In colonial America, how you worshipped depended on
where you lived. See how each colony taught religion and
where they gathered for worship.
Education
in the 13 American
Colonies Did colonial schools really keep girls out? Find out
this and more in this entertaining look at education in
colonial times.
Parks
and Fun in the 13 American
Colonies Did colonial kids play? If so, what games did they play?
This article has the answers for you. Some things haven't
changed.
IN DAYS GONE BY
Erie Canal Opens for Business How the Erie Canal was created and financed is the story of one man's desire and many people's skepticism. That one man was New York Gov. DeWitt Clinton, who had the foresight to envision a waterway that would link his state's main port, New York City, with the fertile plains of the Midwest, enabling trade between the nation's hinterlands and the other countries of the world. His opponents called the Erie Canal "Clinton's Folly," but Clinton had the last laugh, as the Canal became one of the nation's busiest waterways and most enduring symbols of rising industrial might.
The Mason-Dixon Line The Mason-Dixon Line started as an argument and ended up settling many other arguments.
To head off big trouble, a pair of Englishmen named Charles Mason, an astronomer and mathematician, and Jeremiah Dixon, a mathematician and surveyor, set out to have the last word on the subject.
The First Parliament of Great Britain The first Parliament of the newly formed Great Britain met initially on October 23, 1707. The first session began in earnest two days later. The Act of Union 1707 had merged the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, and the Kingdom of Great Britain had sprung into existence on May 1. England's House of Commons ceased to exist but sent its members wholesale to sit in the House of Commons of Great Britain. Scotland's Parliament appointed 61 representatives to join the new Parliament of Great Britain.
ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL MESOAMERICA AND SOUTH AMERICA
The Ancient Olmecs
The Olmecs were one of the first advanced civilizations in Mesoamerica and, as such, influenced later, more well-known civilizations in that area. Historians estimate that the Olmec civilization arose somewhere between 1400 and 1200 B.C. (although some estimates push this back to 1600 B.C.). The people found very helpful the land and waters of the Coatzacoalcos river basin, with the Gulf of Mexico to the north. As the civilization grew, it spread out, to what is now southern and western Mexico and Guatemala. Prime among the remnants of the Olmec civilization are the colossal stone heads, some of which still adorn wings of modern museums. The heads weigh several tons and are, in some cases, more than 10 feet in height. Moreover, archaeologists have discovered that the stone heads rested, in some cases, dozens of miles from where the stone was quarried.
The Ancient Maya
From humble beginnings in the Yucatan, the Maya rose to dominance across what is now Central America and southern Mexico, spreading their knowledge of science, architecture, and survival far and wide. The Maya are famous for many things, among them advanced farming techniques, writing in hieroglyphs, superior knowledge of astronomy and the passage of time, creators of sturdy art, and a war-based ball game that has echoes down through the centuries. Maya settlements began about 1800 B.C. in what is now Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Three distinct areas evolved: the Northern Lowlands on the Yucatan Peninsula, the Southern Lowlands in the Petén district of what is now northern Guatemala and an area of what is now Mexico, and the Southern Highlands, in the mountains of what is now Guatemala.
The Aztecs
The Aztecs were an economic and cultural powerhouse, ruling much of what is now Mexico and the surrounding area for a few centuries in the late Middle Ages. They came to power by defeating internal rivals, and they lost power by underestimating an overseas foe. The Aztecs arrived in what became their most well-known homeland, what many today call Mesoamerica, in the early 13th Century, taking over from the Toltecs (and, some sources say, having a hand in their downfall). The Aztecs eventually ruled over a large amount of territory; the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, was one of the largest cities in the world at its height. The Spaniards arrived in 1519 and, two years later, conquered the Aztecs, laying waste to Tenochtitlan and to the rest of the empire, through a combination of superior weaponry and firepower and the spreading of European diseases for which the Native Americans had neither immunity nor cure.
The Inca
The Inca Empire stretched thousands of miles along the western coast of South America. At its height, this empire, with its capital at Cuzco, was the largest in the world. It enjoyed supremacy over its neighbors for a few centuries in the early Middle Ages but fell victim to conquest by Spanish forces. Inca lands stretched for thousands of miles up and down the western coast of South America, with a large network of roads connecting the far-flung reaches of the empire. A succession controversy eventually consumed the Inca hold on power, at the same time that a Spanish force arrived in search of gold and territory. The result was the conquest of the Inca.
Why Is It Called Big Ben? Big Ben is actually the giant bell inside the famous Clock Tower in London. It is not the only bell in the tower, and it is certainly not the tower itself. The giant bell, the official name of which is the Great Bell, is more than 7 feet tall and more than 9 feet wide and weighs 13.5 tons. It sounds an E-natural note. As to why any of it is called Big Ben, that's a matter of some debate.
Significant Sevens are the highest, the lowest, the deepest, the farthest, the oldest, the youngest, and a host of other lists in economics, geography, history, and much more.
An indigenous woman has displaced Christopher Columbus in prominence in Mexico City. City officials have announced that the famous statue of 
An autographed photo of the iconic baseball player "Shoeless" Joe Jackson has set a record, selling at auction for $1.4 million. The photo, which shows the early 20th Century star wearing a Cleveland Naps jersey and throwing a baseball, is the only known image of Jackson still around. Frank Smith, a photographer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, took the photo.An unknown bidder won the image, which sold as part of the auction Extra Innings: A Private Collection of Important Baseball Memorabilia, run by Christie's and Hunt Auctions. It was the highest amount ever paid for autographed sports photo.
Explorers had been
landing in America for some time before English settlers
arrived in what is now Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. But it
was in that spot on the James River that English
colonization began and with it, the history of America.
How the Erie Canal was created and financed is the story of one man's desire and many people's skepticism. That one man was New York Gov. DeWitt Clinton, who had the foresight to envision a waterway that would link his state's main port, New York City, with the fertile plains of the Midwest, enabling trade between the nation's hinterlands and the other countries of the world. His opponents called the Erie Canal "Clinton's Folly," but Clinton had the last laugh, as the Canal became one of the nation's busiest waterways and most enduring symbols of rising industrial might.
The Mason-Dixon Line started as an argument and ended up settling many other arguments.
The Olmecs were one of the first advanced civilizations in Mesoamerica and, as such, influenced later, more well-known civilizations in that area. Historians estimate that the Olmec civilization arose somewhere between 1400 and 1200 B.C. (although some estimates push this back to 1600 B.C.). The people found very helpful the land and waters of the Coatzacoalcos river basin, with the Gulf of Mexico to the north. As the civilization grew, it spread out, to what is now southern and western Mexico and Guatemala. Prime among the remnants of the Olmec civilization are the colossal stone heads, some of which still adorn wings of modern museums. The heads weigh several tons and are, in some cases, more than 10 feet in height. Moreover, archaeologists have discovered that the stone heads rested, in some cases, dozens of miles from where the stone was quarried.
From humble beginnings in the Yucatan, the Maya rose to dominance across what is now Central America and southern Mexico, spreading their knowledge of science, architecture, and survival far and wide. The Maya are famous for many things, among them advanced farming techniques, writing in hieroglyphs, superior knowledge of astronomy and the passage of time, creators of sturdy art, and a war-based ball game that has echoes down through the centuries. Maya settlements began about 1800 B.C. in what is now Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Three distinct areas evolved: the Northern Lowlands on the Yucatan Peninsula, the Southern Lowlands in the Petén district of what is now northern Guatemala and an area of what is now Mexico, and the Southern Highlands, in the mountains of what is now Guatemala.
The Aztecs were an economic and cultural powerhouse, ruling much of what is now Mexico and the surrounding area for a few centuries in the late Middle Ages. They came to power by defeating internal rivals, and they lost power by underestimating an overseas foe. The Aztecs arrived in what became their most well-known homeland, what many today call Mesoamerica, in the early 13th Century, taking over from the Toltecs (and, some sources say, having a hand in their downfall). The Aztecs eventually ruled over a large amount of territory; the Aztec capital, 
The Inca Empire stretched thousands of miles along the western coast of South America. At its height, this empire, with its capital at Cuzco, was the largest in the world. It enjoyed supremacy over its neighbors for a few centuries in the early Middle Ages but fell victim to conquest by Spanish forces. Inca lands stretched for thousands of miles up and down the western coast of South America, with a 
