Essential History | The people, places and events that have shaped our history and culture
The people, places and events that have shaped our history and culture
American locations, buildings, people and events in London and beyond London
On a prosperous windIn 1620, the Mayflower started its journey to the New World. The Mayflower left Rotherhithe under the command of Captain Christopher Jones with around 30 passengers. It sailed to Southampton for supplies and more passengers, also picking up leading puritan, and future governor of Plymouth Colony, William Bradford. On 6 September 1620, [...]
The world’s first university city, serving as a model for the rest of Europe, and the birthplace of Spain’s most feted author, Miguel de Cervantes, Alcala de Henares is a medieval city twenty miles north-east of Madrid. In the city’s Archbishop’s Palace, Christopher Columbus received his commission from the Catholic Monarchs to sail west in [...]
The beginnings The British transatlantic slave trade operated in a organised way for approximately 150 years - from 1660, until its abolition by an act of Parliament in 1807. During that period the British transported around 2.6 million natives of Africa across the Atlantic; to sell to plantation owners in the Caribbean and southern parts [...]
Bermondsey is a thriving business and social area on the south side of the River Thames. It found prominence as the location of Bermondsey Abbey in the middle ages. The abbey was dissolved during Tudor times and the area developed into the centre of London's leather processing industry - many of the street names bear [...]
By the summer of 1940, Hitler’s ‘Operation Sea Lion’ was in full swing. Hitler needed air superiority over the English Channel. This meant destroying RAF airfields in the south of England and the sources of aircraft production throughout the country. The enemy attacks started on 10 July 1940 and continued every day throughout summer – [...]