Doesn’t that’s sound a bit horrific? It is a term not necessarily known to all of us. But the phenomenon is commonplace, this erection of hairs on the skin due to cold, fear, excitement, euphoria or sexual arousal. Before that erection happens, there usually is a sudden surge of warmth throughout your body. In colloquial language, we know this phenomenon of course as goose bumps. The reason for that choice of words naturally being that our skin then looks like the skin of an unfeathered goose. Continue reading

The old square in Kristiansand, Norway In the year 1641, the Norwegian city of Kristiansand is founded by King Christian IV of Denmark (Jul 5), London theatres are ordered to close due to increase in cases of plague (Aug 5), Irish Catholics revolt against the English administration and Scottish settlers in Ireland (Oct 23), the Dutch found a trading colony on Dejima in Japan (that remains active until 1854), English law makes witchcraft a capital crime - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Off and on, we need something to enliven our lives. Bring something new to it, something exciting, something refreshing in order to feel alive instead of just going through the motions of the daily living. It can be a trip somewhere, having coffee with a friend in the city, applying fresh paint on the living room wall, starting a new hobby. Anything to break the routine. Then there is something we can’t quite control - or control at all! Continue reading

Ever wonder where the expression Blood is thicker than water comes from? Or what it actually means? You might think that it means that family relationships and loyalties are the strongest and most important ones, keeping people closer together. Stronger than friendships or even love relationships - where although closeness and intimacy is tangible, no blood is shared. But actually the opposite is true. The Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb is a medieval proverb that means that bonds of friendship or love will always be stronger than bonds of family. Continue reading

Tristan and Isolde, a painting by Edmund Blair Leighton In the year 1210, King Eric X of Sweden is crowned, which is the first known coronation of a Swedish king (Nov 21), Genghis Khan' sons Jochi leads a Mongol campaign against the Kyrgyz, Gottfried von Strassburg writes his epic poem Tristan - and all these fine people were born: 1210-0505 Afonso III of Portugal* son of King Afonso II of Portugal - Coimbra, Kingdom of Portugal (1279/68) Continue reading

Google Street View car in action in Helsinki, Finland Google’s Street View is a most wonderful tool for anyone who loves maps and travelling - which comprises if not most then at least millions of us! You get by fine with Google Maps alone, but the Street View really enhances the experience. The article series Streets & Squares here in Journeys of Life has so far only had links to Google Maps, but we are gradually adding also the Street View feature in all of the cities and towns that we present in the series. Continue reading

In the year 1633, Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition, and fire engines are used for the first time in England in order to extinguish a fire that breaks out at London Bridge (Feb 12), the Roman Catholic Church convicts Galileo Galilei of heresy (Apr 12) and forces him to recant his heliocentric view of the Solar System (Jun 22), Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu issues the Sakoku Edict outlawing Christianity and enforcing a policy of extreme isolationism - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

This time in our series First Names First it is all about Paula! Here below is a chronological list of some of the women born with that name. Pick one and then follow the Wikipedia link to read about these women, and see what if anything they could contribute your life with. Give a couple of minutes of your life to this. Lives lived all have something to tell us – let them! Continue reading

As of today, Journeys of Life contains year files for three whole centuries. That is, the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Those plus some of this 21st century we now live in span the years 1700 and 2019. The year files aim to give you a quick look at any of these years with some background information and the most notable persons born at that time. We now go on completing year files for individual years for the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, and aim to gradually publish all years between 1500 and 1699. Continue reading

A modern seed drill in action In the year 1701, the electorate of Brandenburg-Prussia becomes the Kingdom of Prussia, still part of the Holy Roman Empire, and with Berlin as its capital (Jan 18), captain William Kidd is hanged in London (May 23), a French emporium named Fort Ponchartrain (future Detroit) is founded (Ju 24), English agriculturalist Jethro Tull invents a drill for planting seeds in rows - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

WM Nafis, a German thorougbred In the year 1704, the first regular newspaper in the Thirteen Colonies, The Boston News-Letter, is published (Apr 24), Gibraltar is captured from Spain by English and Dutch forces (Aug 3), Darley Arabian, purchased by Thomas Darley in Syria, becomes the most important foundation sire of all modern thoroughbred racing bloodstock in England, the Great Northern War goes on its fifth year - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

A view from Hallgrimskirkja towards Skólavörðurstígur This is part in the article series Streets and Squares that provide some interesting background information on street signs around the world. A fun way to learn about the history and culture of the cities you visit or even live in! This time we go to Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, founded in 1785. We don’t find many eponymous streets in Reykjavik, at least not ones named after people. Continue reading

In the year 1319, three-year-old Magnus Eriksson becomes King of Norway (May 8) and is then elected King of Sweden (the second longest-reigning monarch in Swedish history), thus establishing a union with Norway (Jul 8), Scottish troops defeat an English army in the Battle of Myton in Yorkshire, the first major engagement in the First Scottish War of Independence (Sep 20), James of Aragon renounces his right to inherit the Crown of Aragon and his marriage to Eleanor of Castile, in order to become a monk (Dec 22) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Millions of people all over the world get the genealogy bug sooner or later, mostly later, in their lives. Luckily, these days when you want to know more about your family history, there are all kinds of online resources available. You always start small, but pretty soon realize how much information there is to both hold and have. It requires navigating the multigenerational web of births, and via marriages names change which complicates the search, and migrations to other countries add their own flavor to the quest. Continue reading

Twinings tea room at 216 Strand In the year 1706, the founder of Twinings, Thomas Twining, opens the first known tea room at 216 Strand, London (Oct), the city of Albuquerque is founded, the English Parliament establishes the first turnpike trusts, the common method of road maintenance for the next 150 years - and all these fine people were born: 1706-0101 Nils Wallerius* physicist/ philosopher/theologian - Stora Mellösa, Swedish Empire (1764/58) Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_3284” align=“alignright” width=“321”]Magnus Stenbock leading his troops in Helsingborg in 1710[/caption] In the year 1710, Danish invaders are decisively defeated by the Swedish army at the Battle of Helsingborg in Southern Sweden (Feb 28), the world’s first copyright legislation, Britain’s Statute of Anne, becomes effective (Apr 10), the Tuscarora nation in Carolina protest the seizure of their lands and enslavement of their people by the settlers there (Jun 8), the Great Northern War (1700-1721) goes on, Beijing becomes the largest city in the world - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1380, Olaf II of Denmark also becomes Olaf IV of Norway, thus also ruling over Iceland and the Faroe Islands (Feb), Caucer begins to write his greatest work, The Canterbury Tales, the last islands of Polynesia are discovered and inhabited - and all these fine people were born: 1380-xxxx Johann Schiltberger* German traveller/writer - Freising or Munich, Holy Roman Empire (1440/c.60) 1380-0211 Poggio Bracciolini* scholar/humanist - Terranuova, Republic of Florence (1459/79) Continue reading

In the year 1698, the first Scottish settlers leave for an ill-fated colony in Panama (Jul 14), English engineer Thomas Savery obtains a patent for a steam pump (Jul 25), Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards so as to move his people away from Asiatic customs (Sep 5), Christiaan Huygens argues in his posthumously published book Kosmotheoros that other planets in the solar system could contain extraterrestrial life, starting a debate that goes on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Tre Kronor painting by Govert Dircksz Camphuysen (1661) In the year 1697, Scottish student Thomas Aikenhead becomes the last person in Great Britain to be executed for blasphemy (Jan 8), tsar Peter the Great of Russia sets out to travel in Europe incognito (Mar 9), Charles XII becomes king of Sweden at age 14 (Apr 5), Tre Kronor castle in Stockholm burns to the ground (May 17), great famine still goes on in Northern Europe and Scotland - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1717, the first ballet in Britain takes place at the Theatre Royal in London (Mar 2), Spain concludes its conquest of Sardinia (Oct 30), six men from the wrecked Whydah Gally are hanged in Boston for piracy and robbery (Nov 15), the Charleville musket enters service in France, Tatar invasions in Transylvania devastate many towns - and all these fine people were born: 1717-0118 Jean-François-Marie de Surville* merchant captain with the French East India Company – Port-Louis, Brittany, France (1770/53) Continue reading