Time Traveler’s Guides to England in 1300s, 1500s, 1700s, 1800s

British historian Ian Mortimer (website; Wikipedia; Youtube.com) specializes in medieval history. Basing his books on the premise that "the past is a foreign country," he has created a series of books as if humans could travel back in time, and how to prepare for life in another century. He is best known for A Time …

‘Outlander’ Greatly Over-Simplifies Religious History of Scotland & North Carolina

Fans of the historical "Outlander" novels and television series may find the oblique references to the religious history of Scotland, England and North Carolina fascinating, but also confusing. Jamie Fraser in the early 1700s is a Catholic from the "isolated and backward" Scottish Highlands who has never recognized the Protestant Reformation that began 200 years …

Backstory Behind Founding of the Carolina Colony in 1663, Up Until 1776

The date of the founding of North Carolina by the English is in some dispute. Some argue the birthday is July 13, 1584, when Croatan Indians first encountered English ships commissioned by Sir Walter Raleigh on Roanoke Island. Raleigh himself did not make a voyage to Carolina, despite providing the namesake for the eventual colony's …

Religious Movements Were Important in Shaping America in the 18th and 19th Centuries

The United States has been particularly fertile ground for religious movements. In the 18th and 19th centuries, two major waves of religious ferver swept the young nation, followed by the founding of new sects, social movements toward temperance, social justice, reform, and utopian communities. First Great Awakening, from 1730s through the 1740s, emphasizing Puritanism and …

What if Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites Won in 1745?

Adding to Causality, think on this: if Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite Rebels won in 1745 at the Battle of Culloden or before, instead of facing a humiliating defeat, there would not have been a flood of defeated soldiers and their families emigrating to America. The clan system would have endured, at least for …