The city of Oxford is home to some 150,000 residents and a famous seat of learning, the oldest English-speaking university in the world. Although the exact date of its founding isn't known, it is said that local priests and monks were first taught in monastery schools in the area in the eleventh century.

Continuing to pirate audaciously, Blackbeard sails up the eastern coast of the United States, where, incredibly, he secures a pardon from the Governor of North Carolina. Setting up base on an island, he is soon plundering ships again, but by now has made some determined enemies and faces capture, dead or alive.

Blackbeard’s story almost seems mythological, but it's actually based in truth. This video elaborates on the man Edward Thatch, starting with his origins on the island of Nassau to his reign of terror in the Caribbean.

Maggie has just landed in Mexico, and heads straight for Tulum, a once crucial trading post for the Mayan civilization, with spectacular clifftop ruins.

Nursery rhymes are for children. The rhyme about Humpty Dumpty, however, is so famous that it's been used in literary and cinematic contexts as well.

Annette visits the Erickson Aircraft Collection in Madras, Oregon. A highlight of the collection is a plane that appeared in a very famous movie.

Annette talks about the Wild West, and takes us to a famous gold mining town in South Dakota that was an important part of United States history.

Ellis Island, the U.S. gateway to immigration from distant lands, has been reopened to visitors, following significant damage from Hurricane Sandy. A visit there, and to the nearby Statue of Liberty, can be emotional, even for those born in the U.S.

Many secrets remain surrounding the creation of Stonehenge. Archaeologists try to unravel the mystery.

Though most might be unaware, the US state of California was named after a place that doesn't exist outside of literature, similar to Narnia. "California" comes from a novel written in the Spanish Golden Age.

In 1066, William the Conqueror invaded Britain and brought with him fancy French words to add to the English language.

Over the course of human history, thousands of languages have developed from what was once a much smaller number. How did we end up with so many? And how do we keep track of them all? Alex Gendler explains how linguists group languages into language families, demonstrating how these linguistic trees give us crucial insights into the past.

What does the Holocaust have to do with us, anyway? In part four, Roderick Miller, the chair of the nonprofit organization Tracing the Past, gives a talk at TEDxVienna about the Holocaust and contemporary Europeans' perception of the space they live in.

What does the Holocaust have to do with us, anyway? In part three, Roderick Miller, the chair of the nonprofit organization Tracing the Past, gives a talk at TEDxVienna about the Holocaust and contemporary Europeans' perception of the space they live in.

What does the Holocaust have to do with us, anyway? In part two, Roderick Miller, the chair of the nonprofit organization Tracing the Past, gives a talk at TEDxVienna about the Holocaust and contemporary Europeans' perception of the space they live in.