Royal families do not always stay royal. In the case of the royal family of Bulgaria, exile came on 16 September 1946 after the Soviet Army rolled into Bulgaria and held a referendum. Tsar Boris III had died (most likely poisoned) in 1943, and his young son Simeon was created Tsar under a regency. In …
The Gambia is an interesting place. It was a part of both the Mali and Songhai Empires. Ibn Battuta visited in the 1300s and had lovely things to say about the justice-minded people who lived there. It’s nearly completely surrounded by Senegal. And it is littered with stone circles resembling versions of Stonehenge. Not much …
“When I am dead, I will not hurt anymore, will it Mama? When I am dead, build me a little monument of stones in the woods.” From the diary of Tsarevich Aleksei Romanov In the earliest morning hours of 17 July 1918, the Imperial Family of Russia was murdered in a Siberian basement. This part …
What do a Roman Emperor, a medieval Balkan nation, the devil, and 2020 have in common? A name – Dukljan. Depending on the person doing the talking, Emperor Diocletian (who was born in what is now Solin, Croatia), was either terrible in his murderousness or a successful reformer of bureaucracy who abdicated rather than overstay …
Roman ruins are everywhere in the Balkans. The Romans, after the Batonnian Uprising, repopulated the province of Illyricum with their own people. The region was first pagan, and St Paul himself preached through Illyricum. By the year 300, 10% of the Roman empire was Christian. In the last gasps of a pagan majority, the …
School children the world over returned from their Christmas break 1989/1990 with a new and difficult name to pronounce – Ceaușescu. The Romanian communist and his wife had been ousted and executed in the only violent revolution in the democratizing Eastern Bloc. A new political party had been organized to lead Romania in the …
Josip Broz Tito loved dogs. Although people may not have known that before World War II, they certainly realized it after as photos of him with his omnipresent canine companions circulated throughout Yugoslavia and the world. And if it weren’t for a dog, Yugoslavia may never have existed. Or, at least, not the Yugoslavia that …
This traditional poem from the Shona people of Zimbabwe is quite erotic! It is sung in private – from a husband to a wife – in praise of her sensual abilities. Thank you very much, Madam Nyemba! The single mother of one, Chivazve’s daughter,The Chivazves, who hunt elephants.Thank you, you of the girdle at the delicate …
The Lascaux Caves of France may be the most famous prehistoric cave paintings in the world – even inspiring a popular book series- but the oldest cave art in the world is actually over 7600 miles away in the much less famous site of Blombos Cave, South Africa. The stone art in Blombos is estimated …
Opobo women and children in Nigeria in the late nineteenth century The central theme of The Icarus Girl, by Helen Oyeyemi, seems to western readers to be supernatural. TillyTilly is real, or she is not. There is no in-between. Eight-year-old Jessamy has developed mental issues. But to readers familiar with the dual worlds of the …
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