Book ‘Planet Aexus’

  While the USA is a relatively “young” country, certainly by comparison to its European counterparts, its history is incredibly detailed, and its culture intrinsically linked to the European continent. In fact, it was actually Dutch and British settlers who shaped the America we know today. Ever since Columbus discovered [...]

The United Kingdom is actually made up from the unification of four different countries, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland but how they came to be unified is not as harmonious as it sounds. After having been conquered by everybody from the Romans to the Saxons, the Vikings and the [...]

Switzerland was formed in 1291 by an alliance of cantons against the Habsburg dynasty. It only became a nation though in 1848 after a new constitution was written. Before 1848, internal conflict was quite common, but Switzerland has enjoyed relative domestic peace since the mid-19th century. Also, its organisation has [...]

In the 16th century, there was an attempt to restore the Kalmar Union, which consisted of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland but the fight to stay independent was led by Gustav Vasa. He established the foundation for today’s modern Sweden and also broke from the Catholic Church with the Reformation. [...]

Most of the Iberian Peninsula has been populated since prehistoric times with some archaeological evidence pointing to Northern Spain having been inhabited some 800,000 years ago. Originally populated by the Iberians, Spain was eventually acquired by the Roman Empire and they held power for six centuries, influencing the future of [...]

The Romans occupied Romania for over 150 years before withdrawing due to being under constant attacks from the barbarians. That was followed by a long period of immigration with the Huns, Avars and Slavs all settling in the area. Wallachia became the first Romanian principality in the 14th century and [...]

Portugal is located on the west side of the Iberian Peninsula next to Spain. As with most European countries, Portugal was invaded by the Romans and occupied until 298 AD. Rumour has it that the Romans named the country after their name for the town Portus Cale which is now [...]

The first humans arrived in Norway at around 7,000 BC when rising temperatures from the last ice age made the country habitable. They survived by hunting and fishing until agriculture arrived in 3,000 BC. During the 9th century, Vikings raided the British Isles as well as France and as far [...]

The land we know as the Netherlands was originally inhabited by Germanic tribes. A portion of it became a Roman province in the first century BC and later, became part of the empire of the Franks, then the House of Burgundy, and eventually became part of the Habsburg Empire. In [...]

The Roman Empire was founded in 27 BC and Augustus Caesar proclaimed himself emperor of Rome in 31 BC. At its height, the Roman Empire stretched from north-western Europe to the Near East and included all of the lands in the Mediterranean. After the Roman Empire broke down in 395 [...]