This was one of the world’s biggest empires

A GIANT’S FALL LAUNCHED ANOTHER GREAT EMPIRE

Monday, October 10, 2022

In today’s newsletter, we discover how Alexander the Great’s death paved the way for one of the world’s great empires, visit the scary, nearly 1,000-year-old Tower of London, recall how today in the U.S. became Indigenous Peoples’ Day … and if you’re Canadian, Happy Thanksgiving (but isn’t it a little early?)

IMAGE COURTESY OF INDIAN SCHOOL/PRIVATE COLLECTION/DINODIA/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

History books go on and on about Alexander the Great, but his early death helped launch a 150-year empire that would prosper, enshrine religious tolerance, and eventually renounce violence, even to animals.

Precious little is taught about the Mauryan Empire, which consolidated vast power and land after Alexander died in 323 B.C. It was the first great Indian empire, and its peaceful ambitions were enshrined in the message-laden pillars that remain throughout India. “Truth and virtue they hold in esteem,” Nat Geo quotes one historic court chronicler as saying. Sounds pretty good these days.

Read the full story here.

Please consider getting our full digital report and magazine by subscribing here.

(In the painting at top, Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Mauryan Empire, sits with his mentor Kautilya.)

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

LEIVA/ALAMY/ACI

How the Tower of London terrorized for nearly 1,000 years(above, the complex’s White Tower)

These families live double lives across the U.S.-Mexico border

Face of ancient queen revealed for first time

This pathbreaking Ice Age discovery was an accident

How COVID response helped get health info to people speaking rare Indigenous languages

A face transplant transformed a young woman’s life

Behind the U.S. switch from Columbus to Indigenous Peoples’ Day

If you’re Canadian, Happy Thanksgiving! (But why is it so early?)

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY AUSCAPE INTERNATIONAL PTY LTD., ALAMY

About time: For 60,000 years, Australia Indigenous people have lived there. Now, the government has turned over two swaths of land to its Indigenous people—one outright, another to co-manage in three new marine parks, Nat Geo reports. (Pictured above, Talbot Bay, part of Western Australia’s pristine Buccaneer Archipelago, where the new marine parks are located.)

READ ON

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY EVGENIA ARBUGAEVA

Following the reindeer: For many of Russia’s Nenets Indigenous people, life revolves around herding reindeer and trailing their migration. Nat Geo has reportedon the modern-day struggles (climate change, mining) threatening their lives. In this image by Nat Geo Explorer Evgenia Arbugaeva, recently republished as part of our Photo of the Day collection, a Nenets child in Russia urges his mother to make the reindeer sleigh go faster.

THE REINDEER LIFE

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIE READ, NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY

Rowdy & raunchy: For eight weeks each spring, crested auklet (Aethia cristatella) crowd shorelines and vie for mates. Males flash feathers, contract their pupils (pictured above), yap like small dogs, and—if they find a potential mate—release a tangerine-scented substance that may act like an aphrodisiac. “It looks like some sort of 1960s-style love-in,” biologist and Nat Geo Explorer Ian Jones tells Nat Geo.

TANGERINE HIGH

Today’s newsletter was curated and edited by Sydney Combs, Heather Kim, Jen Tse, and David Beard. Have an idea or link to a story you think is right down our alley? Let us know at david.beard@natgeo.com. Happy trails!

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

We’d like to hear from you! Tell us what you think of our emails by sharing your feedback in this short survey.

TAKE THE SURVEY

SHOP DONATE SUBSCRIBE TRAVEL

Clicking on the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and National Geographic Channel links will take you away from our National Geographic Partners site where different terms of use and privacy policy apply.

This email was sent to: peter.hovis@gmail.com. Please do not reply to this email as this address is not monitored.

This email contains an advertisement from:
National Geographic | 1145 17th Street, N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20036

Stop all types of future commercial email from National Geographic regarding its products, services, or experiences.

Sunday Citizen

TikTok’s “secret operation” tracks you even if you don’t use it

RJ Hamster

This was one of the world’s biggest empires

This was one of the world’s biggest empires

Share this:

Like this:

Related articles