North America

A large pressure-flaked obsidian blade from the Mexica (Aztec) tradition, Central Mexico, 13th–16th century CE — among the most technically demanding stone tools ever produced, with an edge sharper than modern surgical steel.

A Maya ceramic whistling vessel from the Early Classic period, 400–500 CE, producing a resonant tone when liquid is poured — used in ritual contexts to call upon spirits and deities. One of the most ingenious forms of pre-Columbian ceramic art.

A carved jadeite bird pendant from the Maya Classic period, 300–700 CE — among the most precious objects in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, where jade surpassed gold in value and sacred significance.

From 1861 to 1865, the United States fought the bloodiest conflict in its history, a war that killed 620,000 soldiers and ended with the abolition of slavery and the question of what kind of nation America would be.

On 20 July 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on the Moon, fulfilling a decade-long national commitment and marking one of the defining moments in the history of exploration.

From Rosa Parks refusing to give up her bus seat in 1955 to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Black Americans and their allies forced the United States to live up to its founding promise of equality.

At its peak, Tenochtitlan was one of the largest cities on Earth, built on an island in Lake Texcoco and home to over 200,000 people in a civilisation of extraordinary complexity.

The Maya civilisation of Mesoamerica developed one of the most sophisticated writing systems in the ancient world, an astonishingly accurate astronomical calendar, and cities that endured for over two thousand years.

The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) was the only successful large-scale slave revolt in history, producing the world's first Black republic and the first nation born of a slave rebellion.

Between 1775 and 1783, thirteen British colonies in North America fought and won their independence, founding a republic whose ideals of liberty and self-government would inspire revolutions around the world for the next two centuries.