Search
Search Results
Definition
Chocolate in Mesoamerica
Chocolate was one of the most desired foods of Mesoamerica and was consumed by the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec civilizations, amongst others. Its consumption even spread via trade routes to other parts of the Americas including the Chaco Canyon...
Article
Slavery in Plantation Agriculture
The first plantations in the Americas of sugar cane, cocoa, tobacco, and cotton were maintained and harvested by African slaves controlled by European masters. When African slavery was largely abolished in the mid-1800s, the center of plantation...
Definition
Japanese Tea Ceremony
The Japanese Tea Ceremony (chanoyu or chado) is a cultural tradition involving very particular places, procedures, and equipment for drinking green tea. Originating as a habit of Chinese Buddhist monks to aid their meditation, tea-drinking...
Article
The Aztec New Fire Ceremony
The New Fire Ceremony, also known as the Binding of the Years Ceremony, was a ritual held every 52 years in the month of November on the completion of a full cycle of the Aztec solar year (xiuhmopilli). The purpose of it was none other than...
Definition
Sacred Band of Thebes
The Sacred Band of Thebes was an elite unit of the Theban army comprised of 150 gay male couples totaling 300 men. They were formed under the leadership of Gorgidas but first achieved fame under the general Pelopidas. They remained invincible...
Article
The Coronation Ceremony of the British Monarchy
The coronation ceremony of the British monarchy as we know it today involves many elements that have been a part of the pageantry ever since the 11th century. Such features of the ceremony carried out in Westminster Abbey since 1066 have...
Image
Chocolate Beaker
Vase for pouring chocolate, earthenware, Belize, Late Classic Maya, Altun-Ha style. (De Young Museum of Fine Arts, San Francisco)
Definition
Chaco Canyon
Chaco Canyon was the center of a pre-Columbian civilization flourishing in the San Juan Basin of the American Southwest from the 9th to the 12th century CE. Chacoan civilization represents a singular period in the history of an ancient people...
Video
The History of Chocolate
A documentary on the history of chocolate.
Image
Wedgwood Cup for Chocolate
A c. 1787 jasper stoneware cup and saucer for drinking chocolate produced by the Etruria factory of Josiah Wedgwood (1730-95). The central design shows Libya holding a cornucopia. (British Museum, London)