ATLAS / WORLD HISTORY IN PICTURES

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Find your way through history.

Explore 228 entries across places and centuries. Follow an event, compare its context, and examine the evidence.

3 entries · Earliest to latest

1920–1940 CENew study
Langston Hughes photographed by Carl Van Vechten in 1936. A later portrait of a Harlem Renaissance writer, not a photograph of a 1920s gathering. Carl Van Vechten / Library of Congress / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Full frame retained, not colorized; converted to WebP · Licence terms

Americas / Culture

The Harlem Renaissance: art, literature and Black self-representation

Black writers, artists and musicians made new representations of modern life. Harlem was an important centre within a movement whose connections extended internationally.

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1954–1962 CENew study
Soldiers of Algeria’s National Liberation Army gathered beneath an Algerian flag during the War of Independence, 1958. The image provides an FLN military perspective, not the experiences of civilians, French forces or political negotiators. Zdravko Pečar / Museum of African Art, Belgrade / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and converted to WebP; derivative under the same licence · Licence terms

Africa / Empire

Algerian independence: war, sovereignty and the cultural inheritance

The war for independence ended French colonial rule in Algeria. Political sovereignty also raised questions about archives, art and who would control the cultural inheritance.

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1966–1976 CENew study
Performers stage the model ballet The Red Detachment of Women at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People during the Nixon visit, 22 February 1972. This official performance documents state-approved aesthetics, not daily life or political persecution. Byron E. Schumaker / Nixon Presidential Materials / U.S. National Archives / Wikimedia Commons · U.S. federal work, public domain · Converted to WebP · Licence terms

Asia / Rights

China’s Cultural Revolution: mobilisation, persecution and power

Mao’s Cultural Revolution mobilised students and other groups against supposed enemies, destabilised institutions and subjected people to persecution.

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