Refine your search

The results of your search are listed below alongside the search terms you entered on the previous page. You can refine your search by amending any of the parameters in the form and resubmitting it.

Select all Deselect all Add selection to lightbox
Large Small
Thumbnails per page
Adolf of Germany (1255-1298), also known as Adolf of Nassau, was the son of Walram II, Count of Nassau, and succeeded his father in 1276. When King Rudolf I died in 1291 without managing to secure the election of his eldest son Albert, Adolf was chosen by the Elector College of imperial princes and bishops, thinking him easy to control and manipulate. He was elected as King of Germany in 1292.<br/><br/> Adolf immediately had to pay and make significant concessions to the electors and archbishops who had given him the crown. Adolf had negligible power and influence within his own empire, but he soon tried to break away from the yoke of the electors and bishops who had elected him, concluding pacts with their opponents and breaking promises made but making sure not to be accused of breaching any contracts signed.<br/><br/> The electors grew increasingly wary of Adolf's policies and moves, which were often not in line with their own interests. They eventually banded together and deposed Adolf, charging him with various crimes and of breaking promises made. Albert I, son of the late King Rudolf I, was elected as the new king in 1298, and killed Adolf in battle when the former king refused to give up his power. Adolf became the first physically and mentally healthy ruler of the Holy Roman Empire to be deposed without a papal excommunication first.
Mauritius was an official settlement of the Dutch East India Company on the island of Mauritius between 1638 and 1710, and used a refreshing station for passing ships.<br/><br/> It was already frequented by Dutch ships from 1598 onwards, but only settled in 1638, to prevent the French and the British from settling on the island.
The Atlas Maior is the final version of Joan Blaeu's atlas, published in Amsterdam between 1662 and 1672, in Latin (11 volumes), French (12 volumes), Dutch (9 volumes), German (10 volumes) and Spanish (10 volumes), containing 594 maps and around 3000 pages of text.<br/><br/> It was the largest and most expensive book published in the seventeenth century. Earlier, much smaller versions, titled Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive, Atlas Novus, were published from 1634 onwards.
The Atlas Maior is the final version of Joan Blaeu's atlas, published in Amsterdam between 1662 and 1672, in Latin (11 volumes), French (12 volumes), Dutch (9 volumes), German (10 volumes) and Spanish (10 volumes), containing 594 maps and around 3000 pages of text.<br/><br/> It was the largest and most expensive book published in the seventeenth century. Earlier, much smaller versions, titled Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive, Atlas Novus, were published from 1634 onwards.
Situated some 900 km east of Madagascar, the island of Mauritius was a tantalizingly ideal port for medieval European explorers en route to India and the East Indies. It was also unpopulated but for animals, including the dodo bird. First came the Dutch: Wybrant van Warwijk claimed the island of Mauritius for Holland on Sept. 20, 1598. They abandoned it until 1638 when the Dutch East India Company (VOC) returned to stake their claim on the island; it remained colonized by the Netherlands until 1710. The French East India Company then claimed the island in 1721; it held Mauritius as a colony until the British seized it in 1810. Mauritius finally gained independence in 1968.
Pierre Poivre (23 August 1719 – 6 January 1786) was a French horticulturalist born in Lyon; missionary to China and Cochinchina, Intendant of the Islands of Mauritius and Bourbon, and wearer of the cordon of St. Michel. Poivre was an uncle to renowned French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat (1748-1814).<br/><br/> In his early 20s he was a missionary in Far Eastern locations such as Cochinchina, Guangzhou and Macau. In the 1760s, Poivre became administrator of Ile de France (Mauritius) and Ile Bourbon (Réunion) in the Indian Ocean. He is famous for the construction of a botanical garden on Mauritius which consisted of trees, shrubs and plants from tropical sites worldwide.<br/><br/> He is especially known for introduction of spice plants such as clove and nutmeg to Mauritius and Reunion. During this period of time the Dutch had a virtual monopoly on these spices in the East Indies. In order to obtain these spices, Poivre had to organize clandestine smuggling forays to obtain plants and seeds from the Indies; the expeditions to obtain the species were conducted in 1769-1770. Poivre also was responsible for introducing these spice plants to the Seychelles.<br/><br/> Today in northern Mauritius, the Botanical Garden of Pamplemousses that Poivre created still flourishes, it is now a 25-hectare garden containing tropical plants and trees from Africa, Asia, the Americas as well as islands of the Indian Ocean. Also, Poivre Atoll in the Amirantes Island Group is named after him.
Pierre Poivre (23 August 1719 – 6 January 1786) was a French horticulturalist born in Lyon; missionary to China and Cochinchina, Intendant of the Islands of Mauritius and Bourbon, and wearer of the cordon of St. Michel. Poivre was an uncle to renowned French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat (1748-1814).<br/><br/> In his early 20s he was a missionary in Far Eastern locations such as Cochinchina, Guangzhou and Macau. In the 1760s, Poivre became administrator of Ile de France (Mauritius) and Ile Bourbon (Réunion) in the Indian Ocean. He is famous for the construction of a botanical garden on Mauritius which consisted of trees, shrubs and plants from tropical sites worldwide.<br/><br/> He is especially known for introduction of spice plants such as clove and nutmeg to Mauritius and Reunion. During this period of time the Dutch had a virtual monopoly on these spices in the East Indies. In order to obtain these spices, Poivre had to organize clandestine smuggling forays to obtain plants and seeds from the Indies; the expeditions to obtain the species were conducted in 1769-1770. Poivre also was responsible for introducing these spice plants to the Seychelles.<br/><br/> Today in northern Mauritius, the Botanical Garden of Pamplemousses that Poivre created still flourishes, it is now a 25-hectare garden containing tropical plants and trees from Africa, Asia, the Americas as well as islands of the Indian Ocean. Also, Poivre Atoll in the Amirantes Island Group is named after him.
Pierre Poivre (23 August 1719 – 6 January 1786) was a French horticulturalist born in Lyon; missionary to China and Cochinchina, Intendant of the Islands of Mauritius and Bourbon, and wearer of the cordon of St. Michel. Poivre was an uncle to renowned French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat (1748-1814).<br/><br/> In his early 20s he was a missionary in Far Eastern locations such as Cochinchina, Guangzhou and Macau. In the 1760s, Poivre became administrator of Ile de France (Mauritius) and Ile Bourbon (Réunion) in the Indian Ocean. He is famous for the construction of a botanical garden on Mauritius which consisted of trees, shrubs and plants from tropical sites worldwide.<br/><br/> He is especially known for introduction of spice plants such as clove and nutmeg to Mauritius and Reunion. During this period of time the Dutch had a virtual monopoly on these spices in the East Indies. In order to obtain these spices, Poivre had to organize clandestine smuggling forays to obtain plants and seeds from the Indies; the expeditions to obtain the species were conducted in 1769-1770. Poivre also was responsible for introducing these spice plants to the Seychelles.<br/><br/> Today in northern Mauritius, the Botanical Garden of Pamplemousses that Poivre created still flourishes, it is now a 25-hectare garden containing tropical plants and trees from Africa, Asia, the Americas as well as islands of the Indian Ocean. Also, Poivre Atoll in the Amirantes Island Group is named after him.