History

What was happening in Africa in 1492?

While Christopher Columbus was searching for a new maritime route in 1492, Africa was experiencing a golden age of science, culture, and politics—one largely...

May 13, 1888: The golden law abolishes slavery in Brazil

On May 13, 1888, the Empire of Brazil officially turned a dark page in its history by enacting the Lei Áurea (“Golden Law” in...

Blaise Diagne: Between republican loyalty and colonial disillusionment

The first Black African elected as a deputy in France, Blaise Diagne carried the hopes of republican equality at the heart of the colonial...

AndrĂ©s Aguiar, Garibaldi’s black lieutenant (forgotten hero of the risorgimento)

In Montevideo, he was born without a name. In Rome, he died a hero. Andrés Aguiar, a freed slave turned lieutenant of Garibaldi, crossed...

Saint-Pierre, 1902: The wrath of mount Pelée

On May 8, 1902, Mount Pelée obliterated Saint-Pierre in seconds, claiming 30,000 lives in a torrent of fire and ash. Behind this tragedy lies...

The whitening of colonial troops

In 1944, France removed its African soldiers from the front lines, erasing their role in the Liberation. Discover the story behind the “whitening” of...

The forgotten history of the guadeloupean and haitian deportees in Corsica

In 1802, under the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte, hundreds of Guadeloupeans and Haitians were torn from their homeland and forcibly sent to Corsica. Their...

Louis Guizot, France’s first black mayor

Born in the fire of Saint-Domingue and executed by guillotine during the height of the Terror, Louis Guizot became France’s first Black mayor in...

Jean-Jacques Alain, a martinican mayor of the city of Saint-Louis in Senegal (1829–1848)

Jean-Jacques Alain, also spelled Alin, was born in 1777 in Le Lamentin, Martinique. Following the French Revolution, he migrated to Senegal, where he would...

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