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 Ancient Uzbekistan From 6,000 BC, Stone Age farmers lived in what is now Uzbekistan. In about 2,000 BC, they began using bronze tools and weapons. By about 1,000 BC, iron tools were made in what is now Uzbekistan. The city of Samarkand was founded about 650 BC. For centuries, what is now… Continue reading A Brief History of Uzbekistan

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 so an organized kingdom called Van Lang emerged. However, in the 2nd century BC, the Chinese conquered the… Continue reading A Brief History of Vietnam

By Tim Lambert Ancient Zambia At the time of Christ, the inhabitants of Zambia were Bushmen, Stone Age hunters, and gatherers. They hunted antelopes with bows and arrows. They also snared smaller animals, collected fruits and nuts, and gathered caterpillars and locusts. They lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle and made windbreaks from stones and branches, or… Continue reading A Brief History of Zambia

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 that the new colony in South… Continue reading A History of Adelaide

By Tim Lambert Early Amsterdam The city of Amsterdam began as a village on the River Amstel. However, in the Middle Ages, it grew rapidly as a center of trade. In 1275 Floris V, Count of Holland gave the people of ‘Amstelledamme’ to transport their goods by water through his territory. In 1306 the bishop… Continue reading A History of Amsterdam

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 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