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Canada’s Hudson Bay has been a cause of war and an engine of prosperity, but long before that it was the scene of cold treachery.
In the autumn of 1534, Frenchman Jacques Cartier reached what later became Quebec and Montreal, the first European to do so. Then in 1576 the English began to take an interest. Martin Frobisher went further north looking for a path to Asia, followed by John Davis; but both men missed a region tucked into Canada’s northern heart, which afterwards emerged as the foundation of her prosperity.
Picture: By an anonymous photographer, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted September 10 2022
212
John Clayton, a British colonial official lost in the African jungle, is caught unawares by Kerchak, the gorilla.
In 1888 (so begins Tarzan of the Apes) colonial official John Clayton and his pregnant wife Alice took ship for west Africa, only to be put ashore in the uncharted jungle by mutineers. For a year after baby John was born, his father defied repeated attacks upon the family’s rough hut by a troop of gorillas. But last night Alice died; and this morning her grieving husband was caught unready.
Picture: Abigail Brodsky, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted September 7 2022
213
Pliny admired Julius Mauricus because he spoke his mind, and Emperor Nerva because he let him.
Rome welcomed gentle Nerva (r. 96-98) with relief following the death of Emperor Domitian, who — thanks to hangers-on such as Fabricius Veiento, and the feared spymaster Catullus Messalinus — had maintained a vicious police state. Pliny’s friend Julius Mauricus had lost his brother in one of Domitian’s purges, but he was still speaking his mind.
Picture: © MM, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted August 30 2022
214
When Brennus the Gaul broke through the gates of Rome, Marcus Furius Camillus was far away in exile.
After Marcus Furius Camillus successfully besieged the Etruscan cities of Veii in 396 BC and Falerii a year later, he returned to Rome in grand style, expecting popular adoration. But he overdid the spectacle, and rivals used the grumbling to contrive his banishment for corruption. He settled in Ardea on the coast, and he was still there in 390 BC when he learnt that Rome was under imminent threat.
Picture: © Med, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted August 29 2022
215
Marcus Furius Camillus knew he must make the Falisci submit to Rome, but the method one man proposed was more than he could stomach.
In 396 BC, Marcus Furius Camillus captured Veii, the southernmost city of Etruria and only nine miles north of Rome. The following year he captured Falerii, chief city of the Falisci (also in Tuscany) after a siege that had lasted ten years. The Falisci did not take kindly to Roman rule, and Camillus was tasked with securing their obedience — but he would not do it at just any price.
Picture: By Francesco de’ Rossi (1510–1563), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted August 28 2022
216
Marullus was disgusted at the way that the fickle people of Rome turned so easily from one hero to another.
In 60 BC, three rivals for control of the Roman Republic, Pompey, Crassus and Caesar, formed the Triumvirate, an uneasy alliance. Crassus died in 53 out in Syria. Caesar defeated Pompey in Greece in 48, and Pompey’s sons in Spain in 45. He returned home to popular adoration, and in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Marullus was disgusted by this celebration of victory for Roman over Roman.
Picture: By Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506), via the Royal Collection and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted August 26 2022