Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2025 i National Geographic History

The conversion of Constantine is undeniably a major moment in the history of the Western world. The Roman emperor’s embrace of a persecuted religion and promotion of religious tolerance reverberated globally (above, “The Vision of Constantine” by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, on the Scala Regia, near St. Peter’s Basilica). In this issue, we explore this pivotal time and how Constantine worked to build a “second Rome” that reflected his newfound faith. Among the many stories we feature in this issue, we highlight another event of global significance: the first basketball game. We also travel the Nile to understand the life-giving floodwaters and how they sustained ancient Egypt, venture into the jungles of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to discover the lost Snake kingdom that was hidden for a thousand years, and explore the…

HISTORICAL FINDS at the Cave of the Bats, Albuñol, are nothing new. In 2023, Spanish scientists found what is believed to be Europe’s oldest pair of shoes and evidence of the best preserved basketry ever found in southern Europe from this era. The baskets and sandals were woven out of esparto, a type of grass native to the Iberian Peninsula. They were dated to be between 9,500 and 6,200 years old, a span ranging from the Early to the Middle Holocene, a time when human settlement was becoming increasingly permanent. They were all previously assumed to be Neolithic; how ever, recent findings show that some are 2,000 years older than originally thought. The basketry’s quality and technical complexity also defied archaeological assumptions about the simplicity of life in pre agricultural human…

Cremation, which required intense heat, was a common burial practice during the Viking age, and building a funeral pyre that could burn at high temperatures was a valued skill. Fire itself was central to the ritual: It symbolized the powerful energy needed to free the soul of the deceased, and many believed that the smoke carried the soul into the after-life. Cremations typically took place at or near the future burial site. Burial mounds, in turn, were more than just memorials. They often symbolized status and designated land ownership.…

The Snake kingdom (Kaanul dynasty) was among the most powerful within the Maya realm. Lying deep within the Yucatan Peninsula’s jungle, close to Mexico’s current border with Guatemala, the kingdom was named Oxte’Tun, or “three stones place,” by ancient Maya. In Maya cosmology, three stones often refer to the three hearths of creation—a sacred concept associated with the origin of the universe and the founding of cities. The city is known today as Calakmul, a Maya term meaning “two adjacent hills” or “two adjoining mounds,” referring to the twin pyramids at its core: Structure II, the first to be built, is believed to represent the mythical mountain Witz, sacred to the Maya. Over time, the structure was overbuilt by successive Calakmul kings. Calakmul reached the height of its splendor during…

BUILT IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY, Calakmul’s Painted Pyramid features murals that offer a rare glimpse into everyday Maya life, which is uncommon in the region’s monumental art. Women are depicted preparing food, while noblemen and priests drink atole and eat corn tamales. Similarto other Maya buildings, it was an accumulation of “superimposed remodelings.” Construction started between A.D. 420 and 620 and was completed between A.D. 820 and 102. They remained hidden for more than a millennium, until a team of archaeologists from Mexico uncovered them in 2004.…

Fresh analysis of a collection of sinew bowstrings and arrow fragments is rewriting the history of Neolithic archery. The artifacts recovered in the shelter of the Cave of the Bats, Albuñol, in Spain, were originally discovered by miners in the 19th century. These finds were recently analyzed by a team of archaeologists using an unprecedented combination of microscopy and bio molecular methods. Preserved for more than seven millennia, the bowstrings were revealed to pre-date the weaponry of Ötzi, the ice mummy discovered in the Ötztal Alps, by more than 2,000 years—pushing back the timeline for animal-derived bowstrings in present-day Europe. The groundbreaking study, published in Scientific Reports in 2024, offers startling new insights into the technical mastery of Neolithic archery in the Iberian Peninsula. Mastering the Bow The Cave of…

Built between 1904 and 1906, R.M.S. Lusitania measured a whopping 787 feet in length and could accommodate over 2,000 passengers and 800 crew members. It soon became the flagship of its operator, the Cunard Line, and for a time was distinguished as being the largest passenger ship in the world. Both the vessel’s luxurious design and fate are often compared to those of R.M.S. Titanic, launched in 1912 by Cunard’s main rival, the White Star Line. Despite their grandeur, both ships met tragic ends, though under markedly different circumstances. While the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg in1912, the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat during the First World War. Germany Under Blockade Since the onset of WWI in 1914, Germany had faced a comprehensive naval blockade imposed by…

1 THE AMMUNITION CHARGE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE SECOND EXPLOSION Along with food and supplies, the Lusitania was carrying 4,200 cases of rifle cartridges, cases of shrapnel shells, and aluminum powder used to produce explosives. Germany claimed that the ammunition triggered the fatal second explosion. The British initially denied that the ship was carrying ammunition, before later admitting that it was, but only small arms and empty artillery shell casings. However, secret British defense files released in 2014 revealed serious concerns surrounding the ship’s 1982 salvage operation, with warnings given to divers of the danger of high-explosive shells. Numerous surveys have since been conducted at the wreck, but no explosives have ever been found. 2 THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT FACED CONSPIRACY THEORIES OVER PERCEIVED FAILURE TO PROTECT THE LUSITANIA The lack of…

When Greek historian Herodotus visited Egypt around 450 B.C., he marveled at the country’s extraordinary natural wealth, famously writing, “Egypt is the gift of the Nile.” His words could not have been more accurate. Cities and settlements flourished along the banks of this great river that runs through a fertile valley. Without the life-giving waters of the Nile, Egypt would be nothing but desert. In pharaonic times, Egypt was known as Kemet, meaning “black land,” a reference to the dark, fertile silt deposited each year by the Nile’s flood. This natural fertilizer nourished the land and made it possible to grow crops, supporting a dense population and prosperous cities. The flood was an annual summertime occurrence, an event both anxiously awaited and deeply revered. The amount of water and nutrient-rich…

I THE TABLETS OF THE LAW Having fled Egypt, the Israelites enter the wilderness where they will remain for about 40 years. When they reach the sacred Mount Sinai, Moses, their leader, is summoned to the top by Yahweh, who appears wrapped in dense cloud and gives Moses the Tablets of the Law inscribed with the Ten Commandments. Yahweh also provides instructions on how the Israelites should offer sacrifices to him. (Top left) II CONSTRUCTING THE ARK After coming down from Mount Sinai, Moses carries out Yahweh’s orders to build an ark to house the Tablets of the Law: “Have them make an ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold, both inside…

The first image that springs to mind when we think of Vikings may be that of an axe-raising, bearded raider, but behind all the blood and glory lies a culture still shrouded in mystery, especially when it comes to death. For the Norse, the afterlife wasn’t a single, unified place. It was made up of distinct spiritual otherworlds. Some warriors slain in battle went to dwell in Valhalla, or Valhöll in Old Norse, known as “the hall of the slain.” Here, warriors fought and feasted endlessly while waiting to be called by the god Odin to Ragnarök, the catastrophic end of the world. Other warriors dwelled in Folkvangr, the “field of the army” ruled by the goddess Freyja. The most commonly portrayed afterlife was that of Hel, a cold…

In 2008, workers digging trenches for electrical cables in the village of Salme on the Estonian island of Saaremaa found human bones and some objects they couldn’t identify. They were initially thought to be the remains of a soldier killed during World War II. But archaeologist Marge Konsa realized that they were much older, dating back to the Viking age. Further investigation revealed the remains of a ship, now referred to as Salme I. Two years later, archaeologist Jüri Peets located a second Viking ship buried about 40 yards away. The two ships arrived in Estonia some 1,300 years ago, carrying warriors who never returned home.…

IN THE DAYS before its encounter with the Lusitania, German submarine U-20 sank three other British ships off the southern coast of Ireland. One of them was the schooner Earl of Lathom. The Germans forced the vessel to stop, ordered its crew to abandon ship, and then fired 12 shells to sink it. Another target, the steamship Candidate, which was en route to the West Indies, was bombed and sunk, though the crew managed to escape in lifeboats. A third ship, the Centurion, also met with the same fate.…

In A.D. 70, after a brutal, months-long siege, Roman troops under General Titus stormed Jerusalem to crush a Jewish revolt against imperial rule. The city fell, and the Second Temple—the spiritual heart of Judaism—was plundered and burned. Roman soldiers seized its sacred treasures. However, one crucial artifact was noticeably missing: The Ark of the Covenant. Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, an eyewitness to the events, wrote an account a few years later in The Jewish War, detailing the temple’s destruction and the triumphal parade in Rome that followed: “The golden table, of the weight of many talents; the candlestick also, that was made of gold … and the last of all the spoils, was carried the Law of the Jews.’’ Amongst all the treasures, there is no mention of the ark,…

Popular myth has it that in October A.D. 312, on the outskirts of Rome, a moment of inner transformation reshaped the course of Western history: Constantine, on the brink of battle for the imperial throne, converted to Christianity. Constantine reportedly had a strange but powerful vision: a cross of light blazing in the sky, accompanied by the Greek words “Conquer by this” more commonly known in Latin as In hoc signo vinces, or “In this sign you will conquer.” When he emerged victorious at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge against his rival Maxentius for the throne of the Roman Empire, he interpreted his vision as a divine intervention from God. Christians in the Roman Empire had been a persecuted minority restricted to meeting in secret. Within just a few…

Eusebius (ca A.D. 260–339), bishop of Caesarea, recorded Constantine’s conversion in his biography, based on Constantine’s own account. His Ecclesiastical History offers the most detailed account of Constantine’s conversion in 312. One evening, Constantine “saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, CONQUER BY THIS.” Amazed, he was unsure how to interpret the vision. That night, Jesus Christ appeared to him in a dream, commanding him to create a copy of the sign and use it in all battles against his enemies. The next morning, Constantine carefully described his vision to skilled craftsmen and ordered them to fashion the symbol exactly as he had seen it, while also summoning Christian scholars to explain its meaning. They…

CHOOSING WAR Millions of casualties. Years of bloody attrition warfare. When Vietnamese communists toppled French colonial rule in 1954 despite massive U.S. military aid, the Geneva Accords temporarily divided Vietnam into two zones until free elections could be held in 1956 to unify the country. However, those elections never happened. Within a few years, terrorism and firefights began. The ensuing civil war would last for two decades. But why? “It was not because [policymakers] were greatly confident that fighting on would lead to victory,” says Christian G. Appy, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the author of three books about the Vietnam War. Instead, the lengthy war hinged on factors like ideology, public sentiment, and the agendas of powerful individuals—with devastating results for North and South…