One of the great cliches of history is that it is written by the victors, and that’s hard to argue against, as I was reminded of this issue with our look at Shaka, king of the Zulus. The combination of limited written records and the political and social climate of the early 19th century mean that the image you might have in your minds (and the one I had in mine when I began my research) is likely to be very different from the reality. While we must always approach topics with some degree of scepticism and willingness to adjust our inherited thinking, this story placed that necessity in stark relief, as you’ll learn when reading our lead feature for yourself.
Shaka remains a hugely important figure in the history and heritage of South Africa
Elsewhere there are no less complex tales to examine, such as the life of one of Europe’s first female authors Christine de Pizan, the legacy of Aztec culture for Mexico, some of the pioneering political figures of America, life in Nazi occupied Rome and 20 of the greatest hoaxes in history. We’ve really spanned the globe, and that’s before we even get into our All About section on the Celts and the Battle of Sekigahara in Japan. Even if we can’t travel far in reality right now, time and space need not be boundaries in these pages.