Notes: In this essay, James Kences recounts the explorations of the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano (1485 to 1528), who led his expeditions in service of King Francis I of France. As he sailed ...

A new study of European beads reveals the “extensive reach” of Native American trade networks in the 17th century. Image from the journal Antiquity European glass beads reached parts of North America ...

Christopher Columbus and other early European explorers were best known for the “new” lands they discovered and the people they transported. But there’s another side to the story, and it has to do ...

Not only is the black swan important for many Aboriginal people, it was also a potent symbol within the European imagination — 1500 years before Europeans knew it existed.