Europe
History of Pre-Modern Math
Before the widespread adoption of Arabic numerals, medieval and early modern Europeans added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided using a type of abacus known as a counting board and only afterwards recorded the results of their ca
Adding and Subtracting with an Early Modern Counting Board
Before the rise of literacy rates, counting boards such as the one featured in the video were the most common way to perform arithmetic. After pen-and-paper arithmetic replaced counting boards, Arabic numerals also became dominant throughout Europe.
Short Teaching Module: Borderland Migration and Communities in Twentieth-Century West Africa
Cross-border mobility has created borderland cultures and led to the development of vibrant communities that in some cases have stretched across several states.
Map and Population Table for British Gambia, 1915-1918
Many people in West Africa fled across colonial boundaries to avoid military conscription in the late 19th and early 20th century. For example, during World War I, tens of thousands of people left the French colony of Senegal for neighboring British Gambia and Portuguese Guinea-Bissau.
Short Teaching Module: Building Materials as an Indicator of Transnational Encounters in Malaysia
Building materials are an important component of construction. The characteristics of each material determine the properties of a structure that can be built.
British Police Station, Rasah, Malaysia
Many of the earliest British buildings in the Malay Peninsular were inspired by contemporary Malay structures. Most of these buildings do not exist anymore because they were built to serve temporary functions and were eventually replaced by permanent structures once masonry became available.
Wooden Stockade on Penang Island, 18th century
This stockade was painted by Captain Elisha Trapaud in 1787 and the painting is preserved in the India Office Library in London.
Short Teaching Module: Indian Immigrants and U.S. Citizenship in an Imperial Context
Scholars often study citizenship and denaturalization in national frameworks. The history of legal status and its attendant politics and bureaucratic processes in the United States has long been tied to imperial constellations however.
Britain pressures U.S. to revoke citizenship of Indian activist
The US press often carried news of diplomatic issues in its headlines. This included references to matters of citizenship.
Short Teaching Module: Connecting the French Empire
For a long time, historians tended to study colonial empires of the 19th and 20th centuries one colony at a time, or through the relationship of one colony to its metropole.