Homepage
Open in app
Sign inGet started

Project 500 Years

Tracking, actually, 600-plus years of the West’s domination of world

  • About
  • 1520-1599
  • Musings
  • 1600-1649
  • 1650-1699
  • A postcard from the 20th century

    A postcard from the 20th century

    Writing and publishing a printed and bound book is like sending a postcard into the future. (Just possibly, releasing digital materials has…
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Apr 26
    European empires competing in 16th-century East Asia

    European empires competing in 16th-century East Asia

    In 1511 CE, Portugal became the first of the European empires to establish a presence in East Asia. That was the year in which conquistador…
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Feb 8
    Quakers and settler colonialism before William Penn

    Quakers and settler colonialism before William Penn

    Last week, I wrote three blog posts about the involvement of Quakers in various phases of the White-supremacist settler-colonial project…
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Jan 14
    White settlers with “good intentions”

    White settlers with “good intentions”

    Earlier this week, I wrote about some of the activities undertaken by the Indian Affairs Committee of the Baltimore Society of Friends…
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Jan 8
    Baltimore Quakers & westward expansion in the early United States

    Baltimore Quakers & westward expansion in the early United States

    On Monday, I wrote about the involvement of Quakers in William Penn’s settler-colonial project in Turtle Island in the 17th century CE…
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Jan 5
    My January Syndrome strikes again…

    My January Syndrome strikes again…

    On Friday, I sent out an “institutional” email blast on behalf of Just World Educational, the non-profit educational org that I founded in…
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Jan 4
    Columbus and the quest for a ‘Jewish safe haven’

    Columbus and the quest for a ‘Jewish safe haven’

    In 1972, the Holocaust survivor, celebrated Nazi-hunter, and ardent Zionist Simon Wiesenthal published a book in German titled Segel der…
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Sep 30, 2021
    Columbus in Context

    Columbus in Context

    Christopher Columbus was born in the bustling north-Italian port city of Genoa in 1451 CE, just a couple of years before the Ottoman Turks…
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Sep 30, 2021
    France’s “historic position” in the Indo-Pacific region

    France’s “historic position” in the Indo-Pacific region

    The French and the Anglo-Saxons have gotten into a big pissing match over Australia’s decision to nix a longstanding contract for…
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Sep 19, 2021
    The “innovation” of transoceanic empires with cannons

    The “innovation” of transoceanic empires with cannons

    Throughout history there have been numerous empires, none of which was built using peaceful means. All were built through the use of…
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Sep 19, 2021
    Language, empire, nation, state

    Language, empire, nation, state

    I’m at the transition point between completing the big essay on the birth of the Portuguese empire, which I published August 30, and…
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Sep 13, 2021
    More on Portugal’s use of exemplary terror

    More on Portugal’s use of exemplary terror

    In the longform essay on the birth and early decades of the Portuguese empire that I published last week, I referred to the uses the…
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Sep 6, 2021
    Portugal and the origins of “the West”

    Portugal and the origins of “the West”

    1492? How about 1415 CE?
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Aug 30, 2021
    Afghanistan: The End of an Era?

    Afghanistan: The End of an Era?

    (A Twitter thread by @helenacobban)
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Aug 19, 2021
    The hubris of the long-distance empire

    The hubris of the long-distance empire

    What we are seeing in Afghanistan today, in almost real time, is the implosion and final collapse of the imperial project the US launched…
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Aug 19, 2021
    Empires and ‘absent-mindedness’

    Empires and ‘absent-mindedness’

    I’ve been writing my longform article about the role Portugal played in pioneering the concept, practice, and justifying ideologies of…
    Go to the profile of Helena Cobban
    Helena Cobban
    Aug 13, 2021
    About Project 500 YearsLatest StoriesArchiveAbout MediumTermsPrivacy