World History: Websites

The British Museum's Neil MacGregor presents. Each programmes explores how five artefacts tell a story of civilisations and connections.

This is the famous illuminated manuscript, The Book of Kells. "The Book of Kells contains the four Gospels in Latin based on the Vulgate text which St Jerome completed in 384AD, intermixed with readings from the earlier Old Latin translation. The Gospel texts are prefaced by other texts, including "canon tables", or concordances of Gospel passages common to two or more of the evangelists; summaries of the gospel narratives (Breves causae); and prefaces characterizing the evangelists (Argumenta). The book is written on vellum (prepared calfskin) in a bold and expert version of the script known as "insular majuscule". It contains 340 folios, now measuring approximately 330 x 255 mm; they were severely trimmed, and their edges gilded, in the course of rebinding in the 19th century." (From the Trinity College website description)

The British Museum is unique in bringing together under one roof the cultures of the world, spanning continents and oceans. No other museum is responsible for collections of the same depth and breadth, beauty and significance. Its eight million objects allow us to explore the extraordinary diversity of human cultures, from small communities to vast empires, to discover the many forms and expressions human beings have given to every aspect of life, and to realise how closely they are interconnected.

Our trails will take you on fascinating tours, highlighting the most popular objects on display and covering a variety of themes.

This includes links to websites discussing a given topic, other lists of websites, and transcriptions of some primary sources.The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York.

A project by the University of Oregon that has interactive maps for American, Latin American, European, and African history.

Another list of world history websites from George Mason University that focuses on women in world history.

Website reviews describe online primary–source archives, evaluate resources, and provide classroom suggestions. Browse by time period or try the advanced search. The framing essay, written by Deborah Vess, introduces issues in using online sources, such as reliability, quality, and translation. A project of the Center for History and New Media, George Mason University, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation

"This is the justly-famous 'Introducing the Book' skit from Norwegian television. Anybody who has ever sat at a help-desk or technical support office will recognize the situation and outcome." - From the YouTube Post by Rutgers University

Teacher Kevin Hughes' humorous take on the Industrial Revolution.

"In which John Green investigates the dawn of human civilization. John looks into how people gave up hunting and gathering to become agriculturalists, and how that change has influenced the world we live in today. Also, there are some jokes about cheeseburgers." (from the YouTube description).

The classic Monty Python skit from Life of Brian that is really a pretty good list of Roman achievements.