Curated category
OECD members
- JapanThe name Japan appears in English for the first time in a book published in 1577, where it was spelled Giapan. This spelling came from a translation of a…
- United KingdomStonehenge in Wiltshire stands as a ring of stones, each about 13 feet high and weighing 25 tonnes. These massive structures were erected between 2400 BC and…
- LatviaThe name Latvia derives from the ancient Latgalians, one of four Indo-European Baltic tribes that formed the ethnic core of modern Latvians.
- AustraliaThe Madjedbebe rock shelter in Arnhem Land holds evidence of human presence dating back 50,000 to 65,000 years. This site marks one of the earliest known…
- ItalyIn 753 BC, a settlement named Rome emerged on the banks of the Tiber River in central Italy. This small community would eventually conquer the entire…
- FinlandThe first people arrived in the land that is now Finland around 8500 BC. They were hunter-gatherers who used stone tools to survive the harsh environment…
- PortugalThe Cave of Aroeira in central Portugal yielded a 400,000-year-old skull of Homo heidelbergensis in 2014. This discovery proves human presence on the Iberian…
- CanadaIn 1534, French explorer Jacques Cartier planted a cross on the shores of Gaspé Bay and declared possession of New France in the name of King Francis I.
- SpainArchaeological research at Atapuerca indicates the Iberian Peninsula was populated by hominids 1.3 million years ago. Modern humans first arrived in Iberia…
- FranceThe name France comes from the Latin word Francia, meaning realm of the Franks. This tribal identity emerged as a Late Latin borrowing of the reconstructed…
- LithuaniaThe name Lithuania first appeared in written history on the 7th of May 1009, recorded in the Annals of Quedlinburg. A Latinized form called Litua described a…
- DenmarkThe northern Jutland peninsula meets an archipelago of 406 islands in Northern Europe. A circle enclosing the same area as Denmark would be 358 kilometers in…
- SwedenAround 12,000 BC, the Allerød oscillation brought a warm period to what is now southern Sweden. Late Palaeolithic reindeer-hunting camps of the Bromme…
- New ZealandThe South Island rises sharply along the Southern Alps, a mountain range formed by compression of the crust beside the Alpine Fault.
- GermanyAncient humans were present in the territory of modern Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The first non-modern human fossil known as the Neanderthal was…
- ChileChile stretches over 4,300 kilometers from north to south, yet at its widest point it measures only 200 kilometers across.
- ColombiaColômbia exists as a quiet municipality in the northern part of São Paulo state, Brazil, yet its population of 6,216 people in 2020 remains largely unknown…
- EstoniaThe Pulli settlement dates to around 9000 BC, marking the earliest known human habitation in Estonia. Glaciers of the last ice age melted between 13,000 and…
- NorwayThe name Norway emerged from the Old English word Norþweg, recorded in an account by Ohthere of Hålogaland around 890. This phrase meant northern way or way…
- BelgiumIn 54 BCE, Julius Caesar marched his legions into the northern part of Gaul to confront a people he called the Belgae. These tribes inhabited an area…
- GreeceThe year 776 BC marks the first Olympic Games, a moment that signaled the end of the Greek Dark Ages and the beginning of recorded history for these…
- PolandIn 966, the ruler of the West Slavic tribe known as the Polans accepted Western Christianity under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church.
- South KoreaIn the early seventh century BC, Chinese records noted Gojoseon as the first kingdom on the Korean Peninsula. This ancient polity expanded to control much of…
- MexicoHuman presence in Mexico dates back to at least 8,000 BC. The earliest stone tools found in the Valley of Mexico are chips dated to circa 10,000 years ago.
- IcelandThe island of Iceland sits directly on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a geological fault line where the Eurasian Plate and North American Plate drift apart.
- NetherlandsOn the 14th of December 1287, the St. Lucia's flood struck the Netherlands and neighboring Germany, killing more than 50,000 people in one of history's most…
- SwitzerlandThe name Switzerland derives from the canton of Schwyz, a small territory in the central Alps. The word Switzer appeared in English during the 16th century…
- Czech RepublicArchaeologists uncovered the Venus of Dolní Věstonice in 1925, a ceramic figurine dating to approximately 29,000, 25,000 BCE.
- SloveniaIn the Divje Babe cave near Cerkno, archaeologists uncovered a pierced cave bear bone in 1995. This artifact dates back to approximately 43,100 years before…
- AustriaThe Venus of Willendorf, a 28,000-year-old limestone figurine, stands today in the Museum of Natural History Vienna. This artifact proves that human life…