National Geographic History

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FROM THE EDITOR

National Geographic History

The Ancient Maya Used Tobacco Drinks in Rituals • Vases found in Guatemala offer rare physical proof of tobacco use among ancient Maya priests, but with a twist: This time, they didn’t inhale.

MAGIC MUSHROOMS AND LILIES

Breaking Out

Houdini Unbound: The Great Escapologist • Neither chains nor straitjackets could restrain Harry Houdini, who learned showmanship in the slums. His skills led him to global fame and an early death. What drove him?

TAKING ON THE SPIRITUALISTS

DEATH-DEFYING SHOWMAN

How a Myth Is Born: The Loch Ness Monster • In 1933 a journalist reported that a creature resembling a prehistoric animal had been spotted in the waters of a Scottish lake. The intriguing story spread around the world.

THE DEEP, DARK WATERS OF SCOTLAND’S GREAT GLEN

SCREEN MONSTERS

The Changing Fortunes of the Tarot Deck • Invented in 15th-century Italy as a game for elites, tarot later became a divination tool for Europeans hungry for mysticism.

How Cultural Exchange Shuffled the Pack

The Mantegna Tarot

OBELISKS SYMBOL OF EGYPT • Gigantic pillars erected by pharaohs in honor of the sun god Re have been a source of fascination throughout history. Today they can be found in Rome, Paris, London, New York City, and beyond.

PILLARS OF THE SUN GOD

CRACKED AND NEVER FINISHED

THE VATICAN OBELISK

SPARTA FEARED OR FAVORED? • The Spartans were renowned for their military prowess, but it was their unconventional lifestyle that intrigued, inspired, and incensed their Greek contemporaries and historians alike.

THE RISE AND FALL OF SPARTA

The Secretive City, Hostile to Outsiders

Nostalgia for the Vanished Age of Sparta

DRAGONS Monsters of the Middle Ages • Representations of dragons have existed since ancient times, but in the Middle Ages these terrifying and fascinating creatures took center stage in a wealth of Christian myths and iconography.

FANTASTIC BESTIARIES, AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

BREATHING FIRE INTO MANUSCRIPTS

ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON

CONQUIS TADORAS SPANISH WOMEN IN THE AMERICAS • From the earliest years of Spain’s colonization of America, Spanish women crossed the Atlantic. They led expeditions, took up arms, and founded cities.

Spanish Women in the Americas

WIVES OF THE AMERICAN COLONISTS

THE GRANADAN PUMA WHISPERER

A PIONEER IN MEXICAN EDUCATION

GLORY AND GREED IN THE LAND OF OPHIR

THE FIRST CRIOLLAS OF SPANISH AMERICA • The Spanish women who arrived in America gave birth to new generations of native Creoles. The poet Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695) was the daughter of a Canarian and a Creole of Andalusian descent.

RURAL REVOLUTIONARY EMILIANO ZAPATA • Hero and martyr of the Mexican Revolution, Emiliano Zapata was a peasant leader who fought for radical agrarian reform. In 1919 he was betrayed and assassinated by a former ally.

LAND AND FREEDOM

THE ROOTS OF REVOLUTION

THE RIFT WITH MADERO

THE DEATH OF ZAPATA • At the beginning of 1919, Carranza’s troops controlled the urban centers of Morelos, but Zapata and his men continued to hold off attacks by the federal army in the mountains. An elaborate plot was hatched to lure the peasant leader to his death.

WORKPLACE REVOLUTION • In the 1870s, a tiny fraction of the United States population worked in offices, mostly...