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Asia

Deposition of Jan Joosten
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"Torture by Water" in the Early Modern Dutch Empire

The Amboyna trial was a famous conspiracy case that took place in 1623 when a group of Japanese mercenaries were accused of plotting with English merchants to seize control of a Dutch fort on a remote island in Southeast Asia.

Declaration by the bailiff of Batavia
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Torture in the Early Modern Dutch Empire

The Amboyna trial was a famous conspiracy case that took place in 1623 when a group of Japanese mercenaries were accused of plotting with English merchants to seize control of a Dutch fort on a remote island in Southeast Asia.

Post-Soviet population table
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Post-Soviet Population Table, 2006

This table provides population information for the fifteen successor states of the Soviet Union. While these figures do not provide a breakdown by national composition within each independent state, they do reveal the range in the sizes of these new states.

Commonwealth of Independent States Map
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Commonwealth of Independent States, Map 1994

This map outlines the political territories that took the place of the Soviet Union after 1991.

Food shortage chart
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Soviet Food Shortages

The 1980s posed many challenges for the everyday lives of the average citizens of East Europe countries, including daily difficulties created from shortages. Buying such necessities as food, clothing, and hygiene products was recurring obstacle to the average consumer.

Map of Soviet Nuclear Reactors in Eastern Europe
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Soviet Nuclear Reactors in Eastern Europe

On April 26, 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine led to the radioactive contamination of the surrounding countryside and to radioactive fallout throughout Eastern and Western Europe.

Title page of The Voyages and Adventures of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto
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The Voyages and Adventures of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto

One of the most important results of the early modern period was the spread of European culture generally, and Christian religion particularly, throughout the globe.

Title page of Letters of the Right Honourable Lady
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Lady Mary Wortley Montagu on Small Pox in Turkey

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) was the wife of the British Ambassador to Turkey. In 1715 she had survived but been terribly scarred by smallpox while her brother had died from the disease.

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The Taoist Priest of Lao-Shan

"The Taoist Priest of Lao-Shan" is a folktale with a moral lesson. The tale uses religion as a device to instill in children the traits desired by upstanding citizens within the culture at that time.

Page from Three-Character Classic
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Three-Character Classic

The famous Three-Character Classic, a children's primer attributed to Wang Yin-lin (1223-1296) whose text consists of rhymed verse developed to help children increase their vocabulary in Chinese characters, provides a valuable introduction to the social values that children were encouraged to emb