As seen in the movie Lost in Translation , when the Japanese deal with Westerners there are always things that are irretrievably “lost” in the translation. Actually, it is an old problem. The first exchanges between the two worlds began almost 500 years ago, in the midst of the Age of Discovery, and
L’Ile du Sable (Isla de la Arena) is a small islet of 0.8 square km in the Indian Ocean, more than 300 kilometers from Madagascar, the nearest mainland. She was the protagonist of a miserable story. In the words of Max Guérout , a marine archaeologist and former French naval officer, who led a 2007
Todays Spain owes many of its institutions to the Catholic Monarchs. Centuries before the National Police was founded, these monarchs understood the need to create an armed body that would ensure the safety of citizens. Thus, in 1476 the kingdom of Castile became the first in Europe to have a public
Although it is still a historical tradition, in many countries, students who finish their medical degree take the Hippocratic Oath, a kind of ethical norm that marks the doctor-patient relationship. The Greek Hippocrates is considered (5th century BC) as one of the foremost figures in the history of
Sometimes we tend to idealize everything that comes from the East. Without going any further, in Western eyes the figure of the samurai is usually surrounded by a halo of mysticism that has little to do with reality. We think they were honorable, spiritual warriors with high moral principles, but wh
During the Renaissance, especially in the cities of Rome and Venice, a social and cultural phenomenon called cortigiane oneste developed. , the honest courtesans . Far from the usual sleaze of the prostitutes who practiced near the Rialto Bridge, the honest courtesans of Venice were distinguished fo
Not always a life of dogs has been synonymous with hardships and disappointments. Back in 1690, Japan was an excellent place to be born a dog. By government decree, dogs, among other animals, were to be treated with deference and courtesy, under penalty of severe punishment. Every dog, from the most
A common mistake that is customary to make when talking about the piracy of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, is to put in the same bag, for example, Sir Francis Drake , Henry Morgan and Edward Teach Blackbeard . What would the first, a noble marine loyal servant of Queen Elizabet
50,000 fervent souls, which could house the Colosseum in Rome, did not tire of panting and cheering the naumachias or naval combats that used to be staged with some frequency on the arena of one of the greatest icons of the ancient empire -it was precisely a naumachia with the one in which Emperor T
Throughout history the British have invaded almost 90 percent of the countries around the world, for which they have needed to be a naval power. To face the attempts of conquest suffered by themselves, to harass the rest of the powers that could confront them, to conquer a large part of the known wo
In the middle of the 16th century, the coasts of Japan began to be frequented by Portuguese and Spanish ships, which at that time were already sailing the Pacific like someone going from Santurce to Bilbao. In addition to the usual silks and spices, these merchants used to also carry, as part of the
Almost every day, and especially in the summer months, we have news, many of them with tragic endings, of African immigrants trying to access the Iberian Peninsula through the sea, with small boats that can barely withstand the waves and in which they travel crowded men, women and children, or tryin
Bartholomew Roberts , also known as Black Bart Like many other pirates he was born in Wales, yet he had little else in common with them. After serving as a sailor on a slave ship, he joined the crew of Howel Davis , the pirate who captured them and from whom he would inherit his crew upon his death.
Born in England in 1682, little else is known about the life of Jack Rackham before 1718. He began his career as bosun to another pirate, Charles Vane , on his ship the Ranger . However, shortly after Vane refused to seize a French ship, the crew deposed him, abandoned him on a desert island, and
We continue with the second part of this criminal version of the list of the Gothic kings with Teudis . This Teudis was not someone who passed by, he was a guy who knew what he was doing, because, in addition to achieving a certain reputation within the army -he was a kind of commander-, he made goo
And to close this trilogy, what better way than to start with King Leovigildo , the most important of all the Visigothic kings and whose reign marked a before and after. In fact, until his arrival on his throne it was different. You have already verified that the Goths could not live without a king
In 1232, while the king of Aragon, Jaime I the Conqueror , was preparing the conquest of Valencia from Teruel, specifically from Alcañiz, he fell ill with a rare disease for which his doctors could not find a solution. They tried all kinds of concoctions, potions, and salves, but nothing made the Co
Just as this damn pandemic has left us with recurring images, such as that of uniformed professionals with PPE - an acronym for Personal Protective Equipment -, the years of the black death also had their own, such as the so-called plague doctors . Hired and paid by the cities to treat local patient
Well, that, while we barbarians, chumps and bloody Spaniards were inaugurating the first psychiatric center in the world with a therapeutic organization, the gentlemen Englishmen spent their leisure time visiting the spectacle offered by the poor mentally ill. Black Legend stuff. Formerly, madness
As you already know that I like time travel, I suggest you travel to the deserts, rivers, jungles, steppes and plains of Asia, which housed some of the most representative civilizations in all of history, to visit 6 castles in ruins. Okay, okay, I know that to see these castles you dont need to trav
The overwhelming majority of Greek public opinion believes that after the Asia Minor disaster of 1922, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed which has defined the Greek-Turkish borders from 1923 until today. However, as we have mentioned in many articles, from the Asia Minor disaster at the end of Augus
If Saint Peter was the stone on which the Church was built, Constantine I the Great he could be considered the architect and, above all, the one who financed the construction of the Church. After the celebration of the Council of Nicaea (today Iznik, Turkey) in 325, the foundations and structure of
Pontokerasia is a small mountain village in the prefecture of Kilkis on the border with the prefecture of Serres. In 1946, the 4th Company of the 567th Infantry Battalion of the 37th Brigade of the X Infantry Division was stationed there. The company, under captain Michael Stefanou, had 120 men and
Spartacus, Blood and Sand. Capua, southern Italy, around 73 BCA blazing sun… The sand… thousands of blurred faces and arms make up the oval that surrounds two muscular and agile men. The enthusiastic public cheers them on and rebukes them... Feints, jumps, somersaults, lunges and some punctures a