Maritime

Shipwrecked in 1609, Spanish administrator Rodrigo de Vivero y Velasco became a guest of the shogun and wrote a detailed account of his 10 months in Japan.

John Terraine observes how the British and French fleets crossed and re-crossed the Atlantic three months before Trafalgar.

Alan Haynes recounts how Essex and Raleigh attacked the Azores, but failed to destroy the Spanish fleet

C.M. Yonge shows how, during the nineteenth century, the British public began to take a keen interest in the wonders of their native beaches.

John Terraine describes how, in the months before Trafalgar, the French Fleet from Toulon was ordered to the West Indies, but Nelson was convinced that their real aim was Egypt.

Anthony Bonner traces the route taken by a Spaniard, from Barcelona, who set out on his long journey throughorth Africa to Mecca with the backing of Manuel Godoy.

Launched for the Peruvian navy in 1865, the Huascar was captured by Chile in the war of 1879. David Woodward analyses the large part it has played in Chilean history.

The entry of Turkey into the First World War may have extended the conflict by as much as two years. It certainly changed the country forever. Yet the advent of war was marked by confusion, uncertainty and shifting alliances, says Ian F.W. Beckett.

This year marks the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Utrecht and the 250th anniversary of the Treaty of Paris. Both treaties reshaped the world and had profound consequences for the future of Britain and North America, as Jeremy Black explains.

Roger Hudson looks at an episode that inspired one of the greatest films ever made.