She outwitted and outlasted her rivals

September 14, 2022
by RJ Hamster

Your Weekly Escape

Extraordinary people, discoveries, and places

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALBUM

This mighty medieval woman outwitted and outlasted her rivals

She was the queen of two nations, leader of a crusade, mother of kings, and patron of the arts. Her power and prestige earned her enemies in the 12th century, and her critics authored a black legend founded on gossip and rumor that still haunts her legacy today. Who was the real Eleanor of Aquitaine?

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PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN NOEL, MOUNT EVEREST EXPEDITION 1924. COURTESY OF ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY

A missing camera and the quest to solve Everest’s greatest mystery

Almost a century ago, legendary British explorer Andrew “Sandy” Irvine and his climbing partner, George Mallory, vanished on Mount Everest. Since then the world has wondered whether one or both of them could have made it to the top that day, 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were recognized as the first to stand on Everest’s summit. Join us on our search for the camera that could rewrite history.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT CLARK, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

The last meal of this 110-million-year-old dinosaur was preserved in stunning detail

It died on a summer day in what’s now Alberta, Canada. Shortly after it ambled through the remains of a wildfire, it somehow ended up dead in a river among the Cretaceous landscape and was swept out to sea. There it remained entombed in marine sediments until 2011, when an oil-sands miner stumbled across the remains: the best-preserved dinosaur of its kind ever discovered.

ITS PREHISTORIC MEAL

PHOTOGRAPH BY PABLO IGLESIAS MAURER

These abandoned American resort towns are ghosts of their former selves

In their heyday, resorts in the Poconos in Pennsylvania, and Catskills in New York were picturesque emblems of 1950s leisure. Today, they sit abandoned, filled with trash, and overcome by neglected flora. “The images inspire emotion that’s really difficult to put your finger on,” says photographer Pablo Maurer. “It’s a little melancholy.”

SEE THE BEFORE AND AFTER

PHOTOGRAPH BY FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHIC LIBRARY/CORBIS

Is there any truth to the tale of the Fountain of Youth?

There are, in fact, a few grains of truth that help sustain the story of Ponce de Leon’s search for the mythical fountain capable of preserving life.

THE THRILL OF THE CHASE

PHOTOGRAPH BY MIKE KAI CHEN

It’s easy to get ‘spirited away’ in this enchanted city by the sea

By day the enchanted city of Jiufen is an outpost clinging to the side of the mountain and a tropical paradise bathed in sunlight. Nighttime brings a different feeling—the village takes on a darker allure, as if you might run into spirits prowling for a late-night snack.

AN INSPIRATION FOR MIYAZAKI?

WANT MORE STORIES ABOUT ROYALTY?

Meet ‘Bald Grace,’ Ireland’s legendary pirate queen

The 3 rebel queens of Egypt who overthrew an empire

India’s warrior queen became an icon of freedom

How big, bad Boudica united ancient Britons against Rome

The true story of Semiramis, the only woman to rule Bablyon

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She outwitted and outlasted her rivals

She outwitted and outlasted her rivals

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