A Brief History On May 19, 1051, Anne of Kiev, also known as Anna Yaroslavna, married the King of France, Henry I. When Henry died nine years later, Anne effectively ruled France as regent for her underage son who had inherited the throne. Digging Deeper Princess Anna was the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise who held the titles of Grand Prince of Kiev and Prince of Novgorod in the Rus civilization of what is now Ukraine that also became Russia and Belarus. Her mother was Ingegerd Olofsdotter, also known as Saint Anna or Irene, the daughter of Swedish King Olof…
Browsing: Places
A Brief History On May 7, 1718, the city of New Orleans in what is now the State of Louisiana was founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the French Governor of Louisiana in what was then New France, the French colonial enterprise in North America. Digging Deeper Also called Sieur de Bienville, Bienville was born in Ville-Marie, now Montreal, Quebec, New France, now Canada, and was sent by French colonial authorities to the Gulf Coast to explore and establish a foothold for France. Bienville’s travels led to the founding of Mobile, Alabama and Biloxi, Mississippi as well as New…
A Brief History On February 23, 1903, Cuba made a deal with the United States to lease 45 square miles of land and sea for a period of time with no expiration, virtually forever! Digging Deeper In 1898, the US and Spain fought a war, including ground and sea combat in Cuba, then a Spanish possession. The US won the short war, and took possession of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam, while Cuba was freed from Spain and became an independent country. The original rent payment was to be paid in Gold, $2000 per year, but after 1934 the…
A Brief History On September 18, 1990, the tiny European Principality of Liechtenstein was admitted to the United Nations. Incredibly, Liechtenstein is only the 4th smallest country in Europe, behind Vatican City, Monaco and San Marino. Digging Deeper A monarchy, Liechtenstein is ruled by the Prince of Liechtenstein, though under a national constitution. With barely over 38,000 residents, this German speaking country lies between Switzerland and Austria and occupies a miniscule 62 square miles. While the national wealth of Liechtenstein as measured by GDP ranks a mere 149th in the world, the individual wealth of the population is a staggering…
A Brief History On April 11, 2011, an explosion rocked the Kastryčnickaja station of the Minsk Metro in the capital city of the country of Belarus. Sadly, 15 people were killed and over 200 others were wounded. Although a pair of alleged perpetrators were convicted and executed for the crime, suspicion about the actual motive for the bombing remains about whether or not the Belarusian government of President Alexander Lukashenko conducted a “false flag” operation itself in order to strengthen its hand against virulent opposition forces. In April of 2022, the otherwise non-descript country of Belarus has been in the…
