The Entire History of the World—Really, All of It—Distilled Into a Single Gorgeous Chart
In 1931, John B. Sparks created the Histomap, condensing more than 4,000 years of world history into a vibrant infographic.
By Rebecca Onion (from the archives)
history
On this day in 1927, the president of the AT&T called the secretary of the General Post Office of Great Britain to test the first commercial telephone line across the Atlantic Ocean.
"Today is the result of many years of research and experimentation. [...] No one can foresee the ultimate significance of this latest achievement of science and organization."
https://www.history.com/speeches/first-transatlantic-telephone-call
Ronnie Dugger, founding editor and longtime publisher of the Texas Observer and for many years the crusading conscience of the progressive movement in Texas and beyond, died of complications of dementia at a hospice center in Austin on May 27. He was 95. https://www.texasobserver.org/ronnie-dugger-1930-2025/
#politics #USpol #journalism #RIP #Texas #media #history #news
The account I just boosted, Athena Productions, has done lots of amusing gonzo-like brief videos about history. They hadn't posted in three years before today, but it looks like they're back so you might want to give them a follow:
(NOTE: There may be swearing!)
They've already posted over 80 videos so far. If these haven't federated to your server, you can browse them all at:
➡️ https://tilvids.com/a/athenaproductions/videos
#FeaturedPeerTube #History #AncientHistory #PeerTube #PeerTubers
#OnThisDay, 16 Jan 1970, Dilma Rousseff, a member of the Brazilian guerrilla movement against the military government, was arrested. She was labelled the “Joan of Arc” of the movement.
In 2011 she became the first woman to be president of Brazil.
Edited 261d ago
How Segregated Are Your Local Private Schools? We Made a Tool to Help You Find Out.
—
Our reporters mined a trove of data that revealed detailed demographic information about private schools. That helped us find illuminating stories about how those schools divide communities.
"The level of creativity and versatility on display on your average Geocities site is hard to understate. Most were a cross between amateur experiments and love letters to this or that piece of pop culture. They were plastered with recipes, vacation photos, esoteric images, and tidbits of slash fiction."
Containing 10,000+ items, the Public Domain Image Archive is a vast trove of illustrations, prints, scans, and more, all downloadable and free for use.
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/01/public-domain-image-archive/
If you sometimes want to escape from current affairs and the daily ratrace, follow @joene. Here I post pictures from various travels I made through the years. No those are not holiday pictures, but from interesting politically and socially driven travels. No selfies and if necessary with blurred faces.
The first two collections I will post are from May 2016 in the Northern-Greek Idomeni refugee camp, nearby Polykastro and smaller refugee camps along the A1/E75 highway. The first collection about Idomeni can be found here: https://pix.joenepraat.nl/c/834486164830621697 and the next collection is about Polykastro and smaller refugee camps along the A1/E75.
I advise you to follow this account, because from now on I'm not going to boost every post from that account with my Mastodon accounts anymore. Next topics will include pictures from Mexico (Veracruz), Moldova (Chișinău), the United States (NYC and DC), and more.
To continue the Anarchist Sunday School, I found the Arte documentary *No Gods, No Masters: A History of Anarchism* via Peertube.
Unfortunately without playlist, so I made one myself:
https://tube.todon.eu/w/p/g6hSEUo7c3V5cQxPyEuq17
I shared this years ago as well, but it now it has five parts, instead of three. The newer parts are about the period after the Second World War. Those are with French audio, but it has multiple subtitles. Enjoy! 
Memory-Holing Jan. 6: What Happens When You Try to Make History Vanish?
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The Trump administration’s decision to delete a DOJ database of cases against Capitol riot defendants places those who seek to preserve the historical record in direct opposition to their own government.
On this day in 1938, BBC Television aired the first science fiction TV program, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Čapek play R.U.R.. This play is also famous for coining the term "robot" from robota, or "forced labor", derived from "rab", meaning "slave".
Article from 2016: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/78-years-ago-today-bbc-aired-first-science-fiction-television-program-180958126/
More about the play: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R.
Edited 235d ago
"There were very few websites that went beyond text at the start of '94, so to begin with people didn't quite know what to make of [Internet Underground Music Archive]."
https://cybercultural.com/p/iuma-1994/
#music #history #MusicHistory #internet #TheWeb #InternetHistory #InternetUndergroundMusicArchive #IUMA
https://www.usluck.com/622462/passengers-aboard-a-boeing-307-of-pan-american-world-airways-1940s/ Passengers aboard a Boeing 307 of Pan American World Airways, 1940s. #History #TheWayWeWere
"In 1966 [...] five megabytes of data—a relatively small amount by today's standards—required an astounding 62,500 punched cards."
https://www.vintag.es/2025/02/5-megabytes-of-computer-data.html
#technology #history #TechHistory #VintageTech #RetroComputing #data #PunchCards
Edited 227d ago
“The simple act of walking through a schoolhouse door that had been barred to me, and all people of my color, by the governor of this state - that simple act represented an end to legal segregation in the American South.”
#OnThisDay, 11 June 1963, Vivian Malone defies the Governor of Alabama to become the first Black female student at the University of Alabama.
#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #AmericanHistory #Histodons
Let’s celebrate #FrescoFriday with as much verve as this lady who, given she’s riding a dolphin, may well be an incarnation of Venus (who had a penchant for such activities though usually in a greater state of divine undress).
On Juneteenth, here's a new Surf feed from @Flipboard that focuses on America's Black history, today and every day.
https://surf.social/feed/surf%2Fcustom%2F01jy4yj0jmq7jcek145g0s0j0a
If you'd like to try Surf, sign up for the beta here, using the invite code SURFSHARES.
#SurfFeeds #BlackHistory #Juneteenth #History @histodons @blackmastodon
"The key to [Beverly Hills Internet]'s initial growth over 1995 was helping people who had no technical knowledge of HTML to build a web page on the internet. It offered a “Personal GeoPage Generator” that enabled homesteaders to easily create a home page.
But more than that, and as the name for its users implied, Bohnett wanted to give people the sense that they had a home on the internet."
On this day in 2000, Nupedia, a multi-language online encyclopedia, and predecessor of Wikipedia, was launched.
"Unlike Wikipedia, Nupedia was not a wiki; it was instead characterized by an extensive peer-review process, designed to make its articles of a quality comparable to that of professional encyclopedias."
It was on this day 36 years ago when @timbl submitted his proposal to CERN for an "information management system", precursor to the World Wide Web.
"In the proposal, Berners-Lee modestly spoke of wanting to use hypertext, a.k.a. links, to help CERN deal with information storage issues.
[...]
His boss’s response?
“Vague, but exciting.”"
https://www.vox.com/2019/3/12/18260709/30th-anniversary-world-wide-web-google-doodle-history
#OTD #OnThisDay #internet #TheWeb #history #VagueButExciting
Hey history fans, you can watch PeerTube videos about historical topics on this playlist:
📜 https://fedi.video/w/p/rJFrNNvXysAm4o5UwA3WZM
- If you're watching on a phone: Swipe the first two video titles at the bottom to browse the rest of the playlist, click on a video to watch it.
- If you're on a computer: Choose a video by scrolling through the playlist on the right of the screen.
- If you're watching embedded: Click ⏭️ or ⏮️ to see next or previous videos in the playlist.
cc @histodons
"Fascism: Here To Stay? How Do We End It?"
W/ #DavidShuster, an "Amped Up!" INTERVIEW w awesome historian/scholar on #authoritarianism, Ruth Ben-Ghiat!
https://www.blueamp.co/p/fascism-here-to-stay-how-do-we-end #politics #world #fascism #trump #us #usa #ai #donaldtrump #history #press #media #war #iran #israel #eu #tv #uk #russia #ukraine #middleeast #news
In Georgian London, a young Scotswoman purloins a handful of handkerchiefs to buy food.
235 years later, her several greats-grandson sits at a computer in the Antipodes, trying out #Daggerheart via Discord in the morning’s ungodly wee hours.
They told the Scotswoman her actions would have far-reaching consequences. She could never have imagined time zones, let alone how they’d affect her distant descendant’s sleep deprived taste in entertainment.
#History’s weird like that.
Edited 103d ago
Dear Canada - a love letter composed by # by #TimThompson, sports video editor.
#Canada #CanadianCulture #CanadianHistory #CanadianMusic #CanadianArt #DearCanada #TommyDouglas #AnneMurray #MichaelJFox #GordonLightfoot #Painters #GroupOfSeven #FirstNations #Art #Music #History #Culture