Animated Maps of French and World History

Here’s a site that I’ve only just discovered: The Map as History ~ animated and narrated maps (in English and French) for a better understanding of history.  It claims to be: The largest on-line collection of animated historical maps

• For students: a learning tool to increase comprehension and retention
• For teachers: a ready-made teaching tool to add visual impact in the classroom
• For history buffs: new technology to add new perspectives

It certainly is useful as an introduction to the development of European and Middle Eastern states, USA, colonialism, de-colonialism and for an understanding of current inter-state tensions across the world.

My personal favorite is:Europe at the time of the Congress of Vienna 1815 – 1848. This Congress saw the four great victors after the defeat of Napoleon and the international ideals of the French Revolution (Austria, France, Russia and the UK) redrawing the map of Europe. Enjoy your explorations!

C17th and C18th plans and maps of Amboise in the Loire Valley, Touraine

Just right-click on any image to see enlargement.

Source http://gallica.bnf.fr/

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Further early C20th images of women of the Touraine

Here is the final post in my mini series of images of early C20th women of the Touraine. The image is of a woman in a traditional Touraine bonnet by the artist B McManus (?), 1905.

 

 

 

Further images of Edwardian women in the Touraine ~ 1908

After my previous post of young women of Vouvray, 1906 here are scenes from the Exhibition of small rural industries in the Touraine (Exposition des petites industries rurales -  la Touraine) in March 1908.

Do right-click on any image to enlarge.

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Young women of Vouvray in traditional Touraine costume ~ 1906

Here is the second of the two postcards of the Touraine that I recently purchased. This is of four “Pretty Young Girls of Vouvray”. The message on the reverse, from a father on a summer holiday to his daughter who lives in Derby, is really sweet….or am I just getting sentimental in my old(er) age.

It is postmarked 1908 but, if you look closely you will see a sign for 1906 just above their heads. I wonder what the rural occasion was? For a previous blog of women’s costume in the Touraine click here.

Strange happenings in the sky over the Touraine ~ 1670 ~ can you shed any light?

Well, who can explain the story behind the image below of happenings in the sky above the Touraine during the 5th to the 15th August, 1670?

I have no idea if the blazing planks represent comets or meteors ~ but certainly the warring armies in the heavens have got to indicate that there was either a lot of noise associated with the incident or, perhaps, that the gods had fallen out.

I’ve asked my Touraine-based astronomer friend Colin Dyson, but he’s no idea. So, do you have any suggestions? If so, do share.

Représentation d'un phénomène épouvantable que l'on a vu en Touraine du 5 au 15 août 1670

Postcard of the Chateau of Amboise ~ and its story from 1906

Recently I added a couple of postcards of the Touraine to my small collection, this time through EBAY. The one below is a view of Amboise that, while interesting in itself, it is the reverse that tells a story. It appears to be a postcard between two friends; the jeweller and clockmaker, H Simon of 1 Rue de la Butte in Blois in the Loire Valley and a fellow watchmaker, with the French name of L.E. Lefevre of 141 Chestnut Street, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA.

It is signed on the front by H Simon who sends his greetings to Mary (presumably L.E. Lefevre’s wife). The card is franked “Indre et Loire” but the postage of 5 cents does not seem to tie in with the handwritten date on the front of the card of 12th November 1906 ~ I would have thought that it would have been more expensive to send such a card abroad. On the reverse of the card the sender has crossed out the words “Carte Postal” and handwritten the word “Imprimé” (Print). This was because it was cheaper to send a Postcard if it was an ‘advertising card’ rather than one used for ‘correspondence’. It is for this reason, I presume, that the sender wrote his messages to his friends on the front of the card. Even so, from the research I have done I would have expected the cost to have been higher. Be that as it may, the post certainly got through!