Welcome to Journeys of Life! Hi you there! This site is for all of you who are interested in people, in history and perhaps your own family history as well. Here we celebrate the human endeavor, the achievements of the human mind and effort, and also the lives of anyone of general interest. The purpose of this site is to be an educational experience from the historical standpoint since we aim to give historical background to each year we present here. Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_3731” align=“alignright” width=“311”]Rosetta Stone (photo by Hans Hillewaert)[/caption] In the year 1822, the first group of freed slaves from the U.S. arrive to the west coast of Africa, founding later that year Monrovia (Jan 7), Greeks defeat Ottoman forces at Thermopylae (Jul 13), Brazil declares its independence from Portugal (Sep 7), Egyptian hieroglyphs are finally deciphered with the help of the Rosetta Stone (Sep 27), Pedro I is crowned as the first Emperor of Brazil (Dec 1) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_2595” align=“alignright” width=“304”]Flammarion engraving from 1888[/caption] In the year 1888, the National Geographic Society is founded in Washington D.C. (Jan 13), slavery is abolished in Brazil (May 13), horse-driven trams begin operating in Tallinn, Estonia (Aug 24), George Eastman receives patent for his Kodak camera, using roll film (Sep 4), the Washington Monument, dedicated in 1885, opens to the public (Oct 9), John Boyd Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tyre (Dec 7), Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear in a moment of madness (Dec 23), Camille Flammarion’s book L’atmosphère: météorologie populaire - with the Flammarion engraving - is published - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1893, the Independent Labour Party of the United Kingdom has its first meeting (Jan 13), Rudolf Diesel receives a patent for the diesel engine (Feb 23), Gandhi arrives in South Africa where he will live until 1914 (May 23), New Zealand becomes the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote (Sep 19), Peder Krøyer completes his masterpiece Summer Evening on Skagen’s Southern Beach (Sep), the first car number plates appear in Paris, France (Oct 10), Edward Munch creates his most famous painting, The Scream - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Hi there! My name is Tarja Kivi, and I am the editor of this site. Writing mainly in Helsinki, Finland, but of course anywhere else as well - oh the blessings of modern times! If you have a comment or request concerning a particular year in Journeys of Life, please use the comment section under the corresponding article. But you can also fill in the contact form below or leave a message in our Facebook page - openly or privately. Continue reading

Thanks for joining me! Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton