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This watercolor by Manuel María Paz (1820-1902) shows three young men wearing ruanas (ponchos). Locally made from alpaca, vicuña, or llama wool, these garments are known for their bright colors and their warmth. The scene is set at the edge of the town of Túquerres in Túquerres Province (present-day Nariño Department), in southwestern Colombia. The town is located on a high Andean plateau some 3,000 meters above sea level. The watercolor is typical of Paz's work, which captured the diversity of the population of Colombia and depicted the daily activities and traditional customs o...

In 1853, after the arrival of Commodore Matthew C. Perry (1794--1858), there was an urgent need to introduce Western learning and technology in Japan. The Bakufu (shogunate) therefore devised a plan to acquire Western ships and to send Japanese to study abroad. At first Japan considered the United States as the best country from which to order warships and to send students, but it was unable to do so because of the American Civil War. The Bakufu therefore approached Holland and negotiated and finalized with the Dutch an order for warships and the dispatch of students to the Netherlands. The st...

Claudio Gay was born in Provence, southern France, in 1800. In childhood he developed a deep fascination with the natural sciences. In his youth, he traveled extensively in parts of Europe under the direction of the Italian botanist Juan Bautista Balbis, visiting the French Alps, northern Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, and several Mediterranean islands. In 1828 the adventurer Pedro Chapuis invited him to come to Chile to teach geography. Gay accepted the offer, and lived in Chile until 1842, working as a teacher and participating in scientific expeditions. Under a contract with the Chilean governm...

Eduards Kraucs (1898--1977) was a renowned Latvian photographer and cinematographer who, between 1936 and 1940, documented the construction of the Ķegums Hydro Power Plant on the Daugava River in central Latvia. This photograph, taken on February 22, 1939, shows the control room at the power plant. The plant was a unique engineering structure for the Baltic countries and Northern Europe, involving a collaborative effort of Latvian and Swedish engineers. Technological solutions new to Europe were used in its construction. The plant had great importance in Latvia as a symbol of state and natio...

This unsigned 1837 watercolor depicts French and native forces advancing across cliffs and through a breach in the wall of the fortified city of Constantine in Algeria. France was attempting to secure control of Algeria but was opposed by local tribes under Abd el Kader (circa 1807--83), the emir of Mascara. In October 1837 the French besieged and conquered the city, a victory that enabled them to secure a number of ports, but that still left them with no control over the interior of the country. Little is known about the artist, beyond a manuscript note attached to the watercolor stating that...