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HistoryExtra
BBC History Magazine
Leading historians answer the big questions about every era, from the ancient world to the recent past.
America's anti-Chinese laws: a forgotten history
From the middle of the 19th century, Chinese people in the United States found themselves increasingly policed, as legislation was introduced that contained and controlled their economic and cultural lives. Historian Beth Lew-Williams tells Elinor Evans about her work uncovering
An African king in the Roman empire
He was barely a toddler when he was paraded as a captive in a Roman triumph in 46 BC, but young North African prince Juba went on to marry a daughter of Antony and Cleopatra, and rule an African kingdom. Andrew Kenrick, author of Rex Juba: 15 Glimpses of an African King, unravels
Everyday life in a slave trading town
In 1665 the Portuguese Inquisition arrested Crispina Peres, a powerful slave trader in the west African port of Cacheu. The records of her case provide a remarkable window into everyday life in 17th-century west Africa, and form the basis of Toby Green's latest book, The Heretic
From plague 'searchers' to strawberry birthmarks: a history of women's bodies
What was 'nidgeting'? How did women know they were pregnant before modern tests? And what did people in the past believe a mother’s imagination could do to her unborn child? In this episode, Lauren Good speaks to historian Erin Maglaque about her book Presence, which explores the
The country house at war
It might be assumed that the owners of Britain's country houses weren't hugely affected by the Second World War, and that they continued to live in luxury in their vast estates. However, as Judith S Lewis explains to Lauren Good, that wasn't the case. From the conscription of upp
The pioneering surgeon who stood up to Rasputin
She pioneered lifesaving battlefield surgery, challenged the medical establishment, stood up to Rasputin, and became the world's first female professor of surgery – yet today, few people have heard of Vera Gedroits. In today's episode, acclaimed biographer Miranda Seymour tells E
The stolen Native Americans who shaped US history
Between 1492 and 1880, as many as 600,000 Native Americas were enslaved in the area that would become the United States. That’s the figure estimated by historian Linford D Fisher in his book Stealing America: The Hidden Story of Indigenous Slavery in US History – one of the books
Being disabled in the medieval era
Prosthetic legs, wheelbarrow wheelchairs and guide… children? Those were just some of the assistive technologies and body augmentations available to our medieval and early modern ancestors. In this episode, Rae Gillibrand highlights how bodily difference was understood in this pr
Vanilla: a far from ordinary history
It's now often used as an adjective for anything standard, plain, and borderline boring – but the history of vanilla is anything but. Eric T Jennings – whose book Vanilla: The History of an Extraordinary Bean is among the titles shortlisted for the 2026 Cundill History Prize – te
Ancient explosives and the philosopher's stone: a history of alchemy
Think of alchemy, and you likely imagine bubbling vials of strange potions and molten metals. But how close is this popular perception to the truth? That’s the question behind historian and adventurer Kit Chapman’s latest book, The Age of Alchemy, which was recently announced as
North Korea's religious dictators
More than three decades after the end of the Cold War and the fall of the USSR, the North Korean regime remains steadfastly in place, defiantly ploughing its own path some eight decades after its founding. What might explain this remarkable longevity?
In Jonathan Cheng’s new boo
Inside Venice’s Jewish ghetto
In the early 16th century, Venice confined its Jewish population to a restricted quarter on an island in the city. It was the first settlement to bear the name 'ghetto' – a word that would go on to shape the history of Jewish persecution and segregation.
Alexander Lee explores t