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
Henry VIII's main objective was to prevent enemy troops of the European Catholic powers from getting ashore at the Downs, Kent. And to achieve that aim he built a series of heavily armed artillery castles along the Kent Coast. Deal Castle is the most elaborate of these remaining today - sixty cannon (with a range [...]
Trafalgar Square commemorates the British naval victory at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar. Designed by John Nash and Sir Charles Barry in the 1820s and 1830s, it stands on the former site of the King's Mews. Today, it is London's primary location for political demonstrations and celebrations. Originally the site of the Royal Mews it [...]
In the sixteenth century, London had no international wholesale market matching the best in Europe, in particular the Antwerp Bourse. In 1571, a prominent City trader named Thomas Gresham put that right, when he and others financed the building of an exchange on a site provided by the Mercers livery company. Queen Elizabeth I opened [...]
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 [...]