Category: Histories of countries and key towns and cities around the world

By Tim Lambert Early Uruguay In 1516 a Spaniard named Juan Diaz de Solis became the first European to reach Uruguay. In the 16th century, the Spanish took Argentina while Portugal took Brazil. What is now Uruguay was between them but its lack of mineral wealth meant that for a long time both nations took… Continue reading A Brief History of Uruguay

By Tim Lambert Early Venezuela For centuries the indigenous peoples of Venezuela lived by farming but also by hunting and fishing. Then in 1498, Christopher Columbus became the first European to reach Venezuela. In 1499 a Spaniard named Alonso de Ojeda led another expedition to the area. He called it Venezuela, meaning little Venice, after… Continue reading A Brief History of Venezuela

By Tim Lambert Ancient Vietnam About 2,000 years ago people in North Vietnam began growing rice in the Red River Valley. To irrigate their crops they built dikes and dug canals. They were forced to work together and so an organized kingdom emerged called Van Lang. However, in the 2nd century BC, the Chinese conquered… Continue reading A Brief History of Vietnam

By Tim Lambert Dedicated to Sophie Goode Ancient Wales During the last Ice Age, people hunted reindeer and mammoths in what is now Wales. When the ice age ended around 10,000 BC new animals appeared in Wales, such as red deer and wild boar. Stone Age hunters hunted them both. They also gathered plants for… Continue reading A Brief History of Wales

By Tim Lambert The Foundation of Washington DC Washington DC was founded to be the capital of the United States. The first European to explore the area was Englishman John Smith in 1608. Later in the 17th century settlers created tobacco plantations worked by black slaves. The town of Alexandria was founded in 1749 and… Continue reading A Brief History of Washington DC

By Tim Lambert Early Adelaide Before Europeans arrived the Kaurna tribe lived in the Adelaide area. The Indigenous Australians called the Adelaide area Tandanya, which means the Place of the Red Kangaroo. However, in the early 1830s, the British drew up plans to settle the area. It was planned the new colony in South Australia… Continue reading A History of Adelaide

By Tim Lambert Colonial Baltimore The Maryland Assembly created a region called Baltimore County in 1659. The first settler was David Jones. In the following decades, other people settled in the region. In 1706 the Port of Baltimore was established near the site of Fort McHenry where goods could be loaded and unloaded. However, the… Continue reading A History of Baltimore

By Tim Lambert BELFAST IN THE 17TH CENTURY The city of Belfast began in the early 17th century. The name Belfast is a corruption of the Gaelic words Beal Feirste meaning mouth of the sandy ford. The town of Belfast grew after 1609 when King James began his policy of settling Englishmen and Scots in… Continue reading A History of Belfast

By Tim Lambert Early Berlin The great city of Berlin began in the 13th century. Originally there were 2 settlements on either side of the Spree River, Colln and Berlin. Colln was first mentioned in 1237 while Berlin was first mentioned in 1244. The two towns grew rapidly and in 1307 they made an alliance.… Continue reading A History of Berlin

By Tim Lambert 19th Century Brisbane In 1823 the government of New South Wales was hoping to found a new prison colony to remove the worst of the convicts from the Sydney area. They sent the Surveyor-General John Oxley (c. 1785-1828) with a ship to explore the coast. When he sailed into Moreton Bay Oxley… Continue reading A History of Brisbane