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Woodes Rogers
Woodes Rogers (1679-1732) was a privateer turned administrator who was instrumental in the fight against piracy in the Caribbean when he served as Governor of the Bahamas (appointed 1717 and again in 1728). Rogers is also known for his three-year...
Definition
Alexander Selkirk
Alexander Selkirk (or Selcraig, 1676-1721) was a Scotsman famously marooned for four years and four months on a desert island in the Pacific Ocean until his rescue by a passing British ship in February 1709. His story inspired the title character...
Definition
Benjamin Hornigold
Captain Benjamin Hornigold was a British pirate active in the Caribbean and North Atlantic from 1716 to 1717. Hornigold’s greatest claim to fame (or infamy) is that he taught the pirating ropes to Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard (d. 1718). Giving...
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Luke Roberts as Woodes Rogers
Luke Roberts as Woodes Rogers in the TV series Black Sails. Rogers (l. 1679-1732) was a former privateer and navigator who served twice as the governor of the Bahamas. He was charged with stamping out piracy in the area and particularly the...
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Woodes Rogers, Governor of the Bahamas
A 1729 oil painting by William Hogarth showing Woodes Rogers (seated), 1679-1732, and his family. Rogers was a former privateer, navigator and writer who was appointed Governor of the Bahamas in 1718. He was instrumental in stamping out piracy...
Definition
Calico Jack
John Rackham (d. 1720), also known as Jack Rackham or 'Calico Jack' for his preference for cotton clothing, was an English pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730). Rackham took over the pirate crew of Charles Vane (d. 1721), and...
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A Gallery of Fabergé Eggs
The tradition of giving miniature Easter eggs was not a new one but when Tsar Alexander III (r. 1881-1894) commissioned Peter Carl Fabergé (1846-1920) to make one for Easter in 1885, a legend was born. Over 50 eggs were made by the masters...
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The Myth of Adapa
The Myth of Adapa (also known as Adapa and the Food of Life) is the Mesopotamian story of the Fall of Man in that it explains why human beings are mortal. The god of wisdom, Ea, creates the first man, Adapa, and endows him with great intelligence...
Definition
Mandala
A mandala (Sanskrit for “circle”) is an artistic representation of higher thought and deeper meaning given as a geometric symbol used in spiritual, emotional, or psychological work to focus one's attention. The image first appears in India...
Definition
Science
The term science comes from the Latin word scientia, meaning “knowledge”. It can be defined as a systematic attempt to discover, by means of observation and reasoning, particular facts about the world, and to establish laws connecting...