Mysterious Meetings of The East and West in the Ancient World

(Ptolemy's 1st projection, listing China as Serica or land of silk in northeast Asia)  Often we in the modern world, don’t give our ancient world quite enough credit.  We too often think of it as a small and wholly superstitious place, full of…

Commodore Perry and the Black Ships "Open" a Closed Japan

In 1853 Commodore Perry set sail from the United States with a fleet of black ships to  “open” the isolationist Japan to trade (quite against their wishes).  It is an absolutely batshit moment in history. I can't stress enough how fascinating the di