World History Journal

Today Ghana, Tomorrow Washington

2009-07-23T23:08:00.001-07:00

P071109PS-1347, originally uploaded by The Official White House Photostream.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, along with Malia and Sasha, participate in a departure ceremony at Accra airport in Ghana, July 11, 2009.

(Official White House photo by Pete Souza)

Mummy of an infant, 40-55 A.D.

2009-03-23T03:57:00.001-07:00

Mummy of an infant, 40-55 A.D., originally uploaded by Kintzertorium.

The sex is uncertain, but apparently of a boy, enclosed in a polychrome painted body-case of linen, plaster and resin, overlaid with a decorated burial-cloth. The tempera portrait, surrounded by a layer of wrappings, shows the child dressed in a whitish tunic and wearing a red ribbon around the neck. This was probably attached to an amulet, now lost. The face is painted pink, with darker pink and ochre applied as highlights.The rest of the body is covered by a painted shroud, adorned with rows of stucco studs, and with bandages arranged in a geometrical pattern over the feet. On the breast is an image of Nut, whose wings are outspread above falcon-headed and ram-headed sphinxes. At the sides in the four compartments below are scenes of ritual, in each of which a figure in priestly costume officiates before one or more deities. The first pair of gods are obscured by the mummy wrappings, but below is (left) a priest holding a libation jar before the falcon-headed sun god and a figure wearing the double crown, probably Atum. On the right another priest recites from a papyrus scroll before Osiris. In the lower panels incense is burned and libations offered to the enthroned Osiris (left) and Ra-Horakhty (right), who is protected by the winged arms of Isis and Nephthys respectively. These scenes are arranged on each side of a central band which was intended to receive an inscription, but was in fact left blank.

Further physical information:
► Skull: No details are observable owing to the resin and plaster casing.
► Thorax and Abdomen: Owing to the tightness of the wrappings all the ribs have been dislocated at their costo-vertebral articulations, but apparently not fractured. The spinal column shows numerous subluxations. There seems to be packing material in the thoracic and abdominal cavities. The pelvis is dislocated.
► Arms: Extended, but dislocated at the elbows. the hands are almost certainly in contact with the outer aspects of the thighs.
► Legs: No obvious fractures. Scans reveal areas of unusually high density within the bone of both legs. This may be an indication that the child suffered from a bone tumor, but it is also possible that the variable density was caused by molten resin penetrating the bones during mummification.

Cashtal yn Ard, Isle of Man

2009-03-19T04:39:00.001-07:00

Cashtal yn Ard, Isle of Man, originally uploaded by flambard.

Cashtal yn Ard (The Castle of the Heights) is one of the best ancient monuments on the Isle of Man. One of three Neolithic tombs, dating from around 2000 BC. It is the best preserved of them all and one of the largest of its kind in the British Isles. The monument was originally a megalithic chambered Cairn (a conical heap of stones built as a monument or a landmark) holding five chambers and extending over 130 feet long. Such sites were used as communal burial places for Neolithic chieftains and their families. A deed from 1795 names the monument as Cashtal y mucklagh y vagileragh (The castle of the field pigsty). It was excavated in the 1930's and later in 1999.

The battle of Tewkesbury

2009-03-16T07:21:00.000-07:00

The Battle of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, which took place on 4 May 1471, completed one phase of the Wars of the Roses.

It put a temporary end to Lancastrian hopes of regaining the throne of England. There would be fourteen years of peace before another political coup in the form of Henry Tudor finally settling the dispute between the two dynasties.

Every year the battle is re-enacted in the second week of July at the Tewkesbury Medieval Festival. The event is now in its 25th year, and is the largest event of its kind in Europe, attracting enthusiasts from all over the world, as you can see in the following photographic report:

Know more about Tewkesbury Battle:

Monographic article on the Wikipedia about the Tewkesbury Battle
Monographic article on the Wikipedia about the War of the Two Roses
Official site of the Tewkesbury Medieval Festival

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Casa Batlló

2009-03-10T03:15:00.001-07:00

Casa Batlló, originally uploaded by NatashaP.

Between 1898 and 1906 three adjacent houses in one block on the fashionable boulevard 'Passeig de Gracia' were built by some of the most important modernist architects: Casa Amatller (designed by Puig i Cadafalch), Casa Lléo Morera (designed by Domènech i Montaner) and Gaudí's Casa Batlló.
All three houses were designed in a different interpretation of the modernist style in what seems like a competition between the architects. This lead to the local term 'Mançana de la Discordia', which means apple of discord, referring to Greek mythology where an apple, given by the goddess Eris 'to the fairest' lead to a dispute between three goddesses, eventually leading to the Trojan War. Conveniently the word mançana also means 'block', so the expression 'Mançana de la Discordia' can also be translated as 'Block of Discord'.
Of the three houses, Wooden door, Gaudi style Casa Batlló is the most expressive. The house was originally built between 1875 and 1877. In 1900 it was bought by the rich industrialist Josep Battló i Casanovas who commissioned Gaudí to tear down the old house and reconstruct a new one. Gaudí however convinced Battló to remodel the existing building. Between 1904 and 1906 Gaudí redesigned the facade and roof, added an extra floor and completely remodeled the interior.
The façade of the Casa Batlló is quite whimsical. It is made of sandstone covered with colorful trencadis (a Catalan type of mosaic). Typical of Gaudí, straight lines are avoided whenever possible. The first floor features irregularly sculpted oval Detail of the roofwindows. Balconies at the lower floors have bone-like pillars, those on the upper floors look like pieces of skulls. These features gave the house the nickname 'House of Bones'. The enlarged windows on the first floor gave it another nickname, 'House of Yawns'.
The colorful scaled roof recalls a reptile skin. According to some authorities on Gaudí architecture, the roof represents a dragon; the small turret with a cross would symbolize the sword of St. George stuck into the dragon. The bones and skulls on the facade represent all the dragon's victims.

History of the Electric Chair

2009-02-23T04:09:00.001-08:00

Electric Chair at Sing Sing, originally uploaded by George Eastman House.

Photograph of the Electric Chair at Sing Sing, dated around 1900

Execution by electrocution (usually referred to, after its method of implementation, as the electric chair) is an execution method originating in the United States in which the person being put to death is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body. This execution method has been used only in the United States and, for a period of several decades,[1] in the Philippines (its first use there in 1924, last in 1976). The electric chair has become a symbol of the death penalty; however, its use is in decline.

Historically, once the person was attached to the chair, various cycles (differing in voltage and duration) of alternating current would be passed through the condemned's body, in order to fatally damage the internal organs (including the brain). The first jolt of electrical current was designed to cause immediate unconsciousness and brain death; the second one was designed to cause fatal damage to the vital organs. Death was frequently caused by electrical overstimulation of the heart.

The electric chair was first used in 1890. It was used by more than 25 states throughout the 20th century, acquiring nicknames such as Sizzlin' Sally, Old Smokey, Old Sparky, Yellow Mama, and Gruesome Gertie. From 1924 to 1976, the electric chair was used as method of capital punishment in the Philippines. In the late 20th century, the electric chair was removed as a form of execution in many U.S. states, and its use in the 21st century is very infrequent.

Electrocution is currently an optional form of execution in the U.S. states of Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Virginia, though they allow the prisoner to choose lethal injection as an alternative method. In the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, the electric chair has been retired except for those whose capital crimes were committed prior to legislated dates in 1998 (Kentucky March 31, 1998, Tennessee December 31, 1998) and who choose electrocution. In both states, inmates who do not choose electrocution or inmates who committed their crimes after the designated date are put to death by lethal injection. The electric chair is an alternate form of execution approved for potential use in Illinois and Oklahoma if other forms of execution are found unconstitutional in the state at the time of execution. In Florida, the condemned may choose death by electrocution, but the default is lethal injection.

On February 8, 2008, the Nebraska Supreme Court determined that execution via the electric chair was "cruel and unusual punishment" under the State's constitution. This brought executions of this type to an end in Nebraska, the only remaining state to retain it as its sole method of execution.

Electric-chair is sometimes used in publications by organizations of people with disabilities to mean "electric-powered wheelchair".

From Arpanet to Facebook ... 50 years of Internet history

2009-02-18T09:55:00.000-08:00

This video follows the Internet's creation from 1957 (the first year programmers were able to work remotely with supercomputers) to Feb. 28, 1990 (the day various computer networks were connected and the Internet was born), and all of the acronym-heavy, military and university projects in between.

History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

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"If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough." Robert Capa

2009-02-16T14:48:00.000-08:00

"Laurent-sur-Mer must have been at one time a drab, cheap resort for vacationing French school teachers. Now, on June 6th, 1944, it was the ugliest beach in the whole world ... I took out my second Contax camera and began to shoot without raising my head."

Robert Capa

Under heavy fire, photographer Robert Capa swam ashore along with American soldiers on D-Day in World War II, making images of their successful yet deadly attempt to establish a beachhead in France. While troops around him aimed their guns at enemy forces above the beach, Capa aimed his camera at them, capturing the soldiers' bravery and the battle's intensity. Because Capa was standing in the water with them, the camera angle provides a sense of the chaos of war that soldiers surely felt on that day.

Although Capa shot 72 images that day, all but eleven were ruined when the negatives were placed in an overheated film drying cabinet in a London lab. The images that survived appear grainy and blurry, partly due to this error, and partly due to Capa's nerves. Despite the damage, the effect appears almost intentional--as a visual metaphor for the confusing experience of combat. As with many of his war photographs, this image exemplifies Capa's oft-quoted philosophy, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough."

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Happy 200th Birthday, Mr. Lincoln

2009-02-12T23:19:00.001-08:00

Happy 200th Birthday, Mr. Lincoln (Text of Gettysburg Address), originally uploaded by Tony the Misfit.

The Gettysburg Address, considered one of the most significant speches in American history:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

The Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.

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The moment Howard Carter opened King Tutankhamen's tomb

2009-02-11T09:44:00.000-08:00

"At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the candle flame to flicker, but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold-everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment-an eternity it must have seemed to the others standing by-I was struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any longer inquired anxiously, "Can you see anything?" It was all I could do to get out the words, "Yes, wonderful things."

Howard Carter

On the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun
November 1922

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"I hope to keep the dubious distinction of being the last man to use an atomic bomb"

2009-02-09T07:13:00.000-08:00

Nagasaki, Japan, before and after the atomic bombing of August 9, 1945

Kermit K. Beahan (1918–1989) was the bombardier on the American B-29 Superfortress Bockscar, and was the one who, on August 9, 1945, visually targeted Nagasaki, Japan, in order to drop an atomic bomb onto it.

It was his twenty-seventh birthday on the same day. He flew on the Hiroshima mission in The Great Artiste which was named after him, purportedly because he could hit a pickle barrel with a bomb from 30,000 feet, or he was "good with the fairer sex". He was part of the famous 97th and took part in the 1st including the first B-17 raids in Europe. He flew 12 missions over Europe and 19 missions over North Africa. He was shot down and crash landed twice in Europe and twice in North Africa. He returned to the United States as a bombing instructor in Midland Texas. In the summer of 1944, he was recruited by Colonel Paul Tibbets to be part of the 509th Composite Group which was formed to deliver the atomic bomb. After the war, he remained in the Air Force until the 1964. After he retired from the Air Force, he worked as as techncal writer for Brown and Root through 1986. In 1985, on the 40th anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing, Mr. Beahan said he would never apologize for the bombing. Mr. Beahan attended Rice University on a football scholarship during the 1930's.

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All Eyes on Deflation

2009-02-05T03:40:00.000-08:00

Deflation in economics is a persistent decrease in the general price level of goods and services, when inflation is below zero percent, resulting in an increase in the real value of money - a negative inflation rate.

Deflation is considered a problem in a modern economy because of the potential of a deflationary spiral:

A deflationary spiral is a situation where decreases in price lead to lower production, which in turn leads to lower wages and demand, which leads to further decreases in price. Since reductions in general price level are called deflation, a deflationary spiral is when reductions in price lead to a vicious circle, where a problem exacerbates its own cause. The Great Depression was regarded as a deflationary spiral.

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Born American, brought up Chinese & coming bacxk to the US scaping from war

2009-01-25T13:52:00.001-08:00

Extraordinary Reunion NYC 1938, originally uploaded by stevechasmar.

New York Times, Jan 20, 1938
American, 19, Here, Speaks Only Chinese
Reared in Oriental Village, He Returns to Homeland to Work for Foster Race

Fung Kwok Keung, who is also Joseph Rinehart, a 19-year-old American-born Oriental, looked on his native New York yesterday after many years' absence and found it good, but very, very bewildering.

Fung is a Rockaway foundling who was adopted in infancy by a benevolent Chinese restaurant proprietor here. He has passed virtually his entire life in a little village in South China called Nam Hoi, where he was brought up like any one of a hundred thousand Chinese boys.

He does not know a word of English. He not only speaks Chinese
exclusively, but he even walks like a Chinese. Otherwise he looks exactly like any healthy American youth. He came back to his native city yesterday to begin a new life which he intends to dedicate to the stricken country where he lived his early life. He knows what a bomb does when it hits a Chinese village. He talked about it yesterday, very politely, through a Chinese interpreter, in a little Chinese importing shop at 18 Doyers Street, in Chinatown.

"Say," he instructed the interpreter, "that when I saw those bombs falling, they were my people who were being killed, even though I am not one of them."

Fung, the white youth, was adopted by Fung Fong after the boy's mother left him as an infant in the elder Fung's restaurant. Later, she sought his return, but the elderly Chinese, who had grown to love the boy, fought the case in the courts and won permanent custody. He took him to China and the boy remained there with Fung's family. He grew to love them, and he went to mission school. When the Japanese came Fung sent for the boy.

The youth seemed frightened yesterday as he looked on the wonders of New York.

"First he must study, study, study," said the foster-father to a score of interviewers. "Then maybe he will help China."

800 Years of Cambridge University

2009-01-19T05:08:00.001-08:00

800 Years of Cambridge University, originally uploaded by fen_snapz.

Recruiting poster, ca. 1942-44

2009-01-19T01:34:00.001-08:00

Recruiting poster, ca. 1942, originally uploaded by bobster1985.

"Netherlanders Up!

For your Honour and Conscience..."

Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 (Operation Barbarossa) brought with it an exhausting battle on the Eastern Front, hugely demanding of troops and supplies. Recruitment among the occupied countries as well as in Germany itself, was vital to the Nazi cause.

In this appeal to Dutchmen to join the Armed SS, the motive is expressed as an ideological and moral struggle against Bolshevism.

Source: From the Victoria & Albert Museum, London

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First official portrait of President Barack Obama released

2009-01-19T01:03:00.000-08:00

Today the Office of the President Elect is releasing the new official portrait for President Barack Obama.

It was taken by Pete Souza, the newly-announced official White House photographer.

It is the first time that an official presidential portrait was taken with a digital camera.

You can click here to download a copy.

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The British Museum's 250th Anniversary

2009-01-15T05:15:00.001-08:00

British Museum's Great Hall: Stereographic Panorama, originally uploaded by Yani Ioannou.

On 15 January 1759 the British Museum opened its doors for the first time to the public. Set up by Parliament six years earlier it was the first national museum in the world. 250 years later it is still one of the enduring achievements of the European Enlightenment and its collection has played a major part in shaping our understanding of human history.

From the beginning the Museum was unusual in attempting to gather the whole world into one building, a universality of ambition that embraced not just its collection but also its intended public. The objects were to be available free of charge to all 'studious and curious persons' and were stated explicitly to be for foreigners as well as natives.

The Museum has remained open to the public for 250 years, moving from an attendance of 5,000 per year at the beginning to six million last year. It is now accessible not only to visitors to Bloomsbury but to millions worldwide online and through travelling exhibitions. Extending and deepening that access is the great challenge for the future.

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50 years of the Motown Sound

2009-01-13T08:17:00.000-08:00

Abstract from the wikipedia

Motown Records, also known as Tamla Motown outside of North America, is a record label originally based in Detroit, Michigan. Founded by Berry Gordy as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, the company was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in 1960. The name, a portmanteau derived from the words motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit.

Motown played an important role in the racial integration of popular music, as it was the first record label owned by an African American to primarily feature African-American artists who achieved crossover success. In the 1960s, Motown and its soul-based subsidiaries were the most successful proponents of what came to be known as "The Motown Sound", a style of soul music with a distinct pop influence.

Motown has owned or distributed releases from more than 45 subsidiaries in varying genres, although it is most famous for its releases in the music genres of rhythm and blues, soul, hip hop and pop. Motown Records left Detroit for Los Angeles in 1972, and remained an independent company until June 28, 1988, when Gordy sold the company to MCA and Boston Ventures (which took over full ownership of Motown in 1991), then to PolyGram in 1994. Now headquartered in New York City, Motown Records is a subsidiary of The Universal Motown/Universal Republic Group, itself a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.

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Opium Smoking in San Francisco's Chinatown 1886

2009-01-12T04:56:00.001-08:00

Opium Smoking in San Francisco's Chinatown 1886, originally uploaded by stevechasmar.

This image by California photographer I.W. Taber was taken in San Francisco's Chinatown in 1886. The wealth of the Chinese community at the time can be seen in the sumptuous furnishings, including a hardwood opium bed, that were shipped all the way from China in order to make these opium smokers' experience as luxurious as any they could have found back home.

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Ancient greek theatre

2009-01-08T08:09:00.001-08:00

Tragic mask, originally uploaded by Peter Q.

The earliest days of western theatre remain obscure, but the oldest surviving plays come from ancient Greece. Most philologists agree that Greek theatre evolved from staged religious choral performances, during celebrations to Dionysus the Greek god of wine and fertility (Dithyrambs). There are, however, findings suggesting the possible existence of theatre-like performances much earlier, such as the famous "Blind Steps" of the Minoan Palace at Knossos: a broad stone stairway descending to a flat stone courtyard that leads nowhere - an arrangement strongly suggesting that the courtyard was used for a staged spectacle and the stairway was in fact used as seating.

The vast majority of Ancient Greek theatrical texts have not survived intact. A small number of works from four Greek playwrights writing during the fifth century B.C. remain fully intact.

* Aeschylus
* Sophocles
* Euripides
* Aristophanes

The above-mentioned playwrights are regarded as the most influential by critics of subsequent eras including (Aristotle). The tragic and sartyr plays were always performed at the festival (City Dionysia) where they were part of a series of four performances (a "tetralogy"): the first, second and third plays were a dramatic trilogy based on related or unrelated mythological events, and the culminating fourth performance was a satyr play, a play on a lighter note, with enhanced celebratory and dance elements. Performances lasted several hours and were held during daytime.

The actors wore large masks, which were very colourful. These masks did not amplify the actors voice as has been previously thought. The acoustics in the Greek theater were so great that a person in the back row could hear a whisper or a pin drop. Actors also wore thick, padded clothing, and shoes with thick soles. This made them seem larger, so the audience could see them better when seated in the uppermost rows of the amphitheatre.

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Some facts on Hamas (harakat al-muqawama al-islamiyya, Islamic Resistance Movement)

2009-01-06T11:54:00.000-08:00

From Human Rights Watch...

Since September 2000, Hamas has carried out more suicide bombing attacks on civilians than any other Palestinian group. Hamas was founded at the outset of the "first intifada" against Israeli military occupation, in December 1987. It emerged as a militant and activist offshoot of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which had traditionally avoided the activism and political violence pursued by Fatah and other secular Palestinian nationalist groups.156

The Hamas bombings have been the most destructive in human terms, killing at least 168 persons, 153 of whom were civilians, and injuring more than 949. Hamas suicide bombings include some of the most notorious attacks, such as the Tel Aviv nightclub attack of June 1, 2001, which killed twenty-one, mostly teenagers; the Sbarro pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem on August 9, 2001, which killed fifteen; the March 27, 2002 bombing of the Seder in Netanya which killed twenty-eight; and the June 18, 2002 bombing of a crowded commuter bus in southern Jerusalem which killed nineteen.

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Some facts on Mount Rainier

2009-01-01T05:11:00.001-08:00

Mount Rainier, originally uploaded by WorldofArun.

Mount Rainier is an active stratovolcano (composite volcano) located 54 miles (87 km) southeast of Seattle, Washington.It is the highest peak in the Cascade Range and Cascade Volcanic Arc at 14,411 feet (4,392 m).
Captain George Vancouver reached Puget Sound in 1792 and became the first European to see the mountain. He named it in honor of his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier.
Mountain climbing on Mount Rainier is very difficult; it involves climbing on the largest glaciers in the U.S. south of Alaska. Most climbers require two to three days to reach the summit. Climbing teams require experience in glacier travel, self-rescue, and wilderness travel.

Source: Wikipedia

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Japanese war crimes in WWII

2008-12-29T09:36:00.001-08:00

Aitape, New Guinea, 1943.

An Australian soldier, Sgt Leonard Siffleet, about to be beheaded with a shin gunto sword. Many Allied prisoners of war (POWs) were summarily executed by Japanese forces during the Pacific War.

Executioner Yasuno Chikao, later captured and sentenced to hanging, had his sentence commuted to 10 years imprisonment.

Know more:

Japanese war crimes

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Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 1941

2008-12-29T05:18:00.001-08:00

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 1941, originally uploaded by bobster1985.

This aerial photograph of Pearl Harbor was taken on January 17, 1941, less than eleven months before the Japanese attack. Ford Island is on the left side of the photo. The ships aren't identified in this photo from the National Archives.

Although the ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet suffered heavy damage in the December 7 raid, the Japanese blundered by leaving intact the ship repair facilities and fuel storage tanks visible on the right of this photo. If those facilities had been destroyed, the remnants of the Pacific Fleet would probably have been withdrawn to the West Coast of the U.S., leaving Hawaii vulnerable to invasion. As it turned out, only two active battleships - Arizona and Oklahoma - were total losses, the others being repaired and returned to battle service. The wreck of the Arizona lies on the bottom of Pearl Harbor to this day, the grave of about 1,000 sailors and Marines. The Oklahoma sank in deep ocean while it was being towed back to the mainland to be used for scrap

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Georg Braun and the Civitates Orbis Terrarum

2008-12-29T04:19:00.000-08:00

Georg Braun (also Brunus, Bruin, born 1541 in Cologne (Köln), Germany, died 10 March 1622 in Köln) was a topo-geographer. From 1572 to 1617 he edited the Civitates orbis terrarum, which contains 546 prospects, bird's-eye views, and maps of cities from all around the world.

His principle profession was as a Catholic cleric, however, and he spent thirty-seven years as canon and dean at the church, St. Maria ad Gradus, in Cologne.

The Civitates orbis terrarum

The six-volume work was inspired by Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia. In form and layout it resembles the 1570 Theatrum orbis terrarum by Abraham Ortelius, as Ortelius was interested in a complementary companion for the Theatrum.

The Braun publication set new standards in cartography for over 100 years. Frans Hogenberg (1535-1590, from Munich) created the tables for volumes I through IV, and Simon van den Neuwel created those for volumes V and VI. Other contributors were Georg Hoefnagel, cartographer Daniel Freese, and Heinrich Rantzau. Also, works by Jacob van Deventer, Sebastian Münster, and Johannes Stumpf were used. Mainly, European cities are depicted in the publication, however, Casablanca also is included in volume I.

Georg Braun was the principal editor of the work, he acquired the tables, hired the artists, and wrote the texts. He died as an octogenarian in 1622, as the only survivor of the original team to witness the publication of volume VI in 1617.

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