History essays

These essays step back from single dates and ask what the facts add up to. Every claim is sourced at the end of each essay.

3 · 804 words

How old is “ancient”?Belts, grades, codes and even names that feel timeless are often little more than a century old. That does not make them fake. · 1 min read From battlefield to sportArmour, gloves, rules and referees made it possible to fight hard without killing. Every rule also changed the art. · 1 min read Why every art has a founding legendBodhidharma, Zhang Sanfeng, Ng Mui: what founding legends are for, and how historians trace where they came from. · 1 min read