Browse Search Quizzes Games On This Day Login You have reached Britannica's public website. Click here for ad-free access to your Britannica School or Library account. The world standard in knowledge since 1768 Search Britannica Click here to search ENCYCLOPEDIA CATEGORIES Entertainment & Pop CultureGeography & TravelHealth & MedicineLifestyles & Social IssuesLiteraturePhilosophy & ReligionPolitics, Law & GovernmentScienceSports & RecreationTechnologyVisual ArtsWorld History TODAY IN CONTEXT, NOVEMBER 27, 2021 SEE WEEK IN REVIEW Cannibalism Perhaps nothing inspires as much fascination and repulsion as human cannibalism. We take a look at some infamous cases. Worst party ever On May 12, 1846, the Donner party left Independence, Missouri, and later became trapped by snow in the Sierra Nevada. It was the worst disaster of the overland migration to California. Inspiration for Moby Dick The ship Essex was sunk by a sperm whale in 1829, and although all 20 crewmen initially survived, only 8 were rescued after more than three months adrift. Miracle of the Andes When their chartered plane crashed in the Andes Mountains, an Uruguayan amateur rugby team were stranded for more than two months. The Starving Time As food supplies ran out in 1609–10, desperate settlers in Jamestown Colony resorted to eating rats, leather, and eventually each other. A Soviet serial killer’s revenge Andrei Chikatilo cannibalized some of his victims because his older brother had reportedly been kidnapped and eaten by neighbors. Notorious Female Criminals On November 28, 1720, Mary Read and Anne Bonny went on trial for piracy. They were two of the world’s few female pirates, and their exploits became legendary. We take a closer look at them and other women who became known for their crimes. What Happened to Read and Bonny? ARTICLE / POLITICS, LAW & GOVERNMENT © Historia/REX/Shutterstock.com Who was the “Godmother of Cocaine”? ARTICLE / POLITICS, LAW & GOVERNMENT Miami-Dade Police Department England’s Most Prolific Female Serial Killer? ARTICLE / POLITICS, LAW & GOVERNMENT ART Collection/Alamy Trending Quizzes See All Quizzes 118 Names and Symbols of the Periodic Table Quiz The periodic table is made up of 118 elements. How well do you know their symbols? In this quiz you’ll be shown all 118 chemical... QUIZ / SCIENCE Match the Zodiac Sign to Its Date How well do you know the dates of the 12 astrological signs of the zodiac? This quiz will show you one of the signs; you’ll... QUIZ / PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION Countries and Capitals Quiz How well do you know the world’s capital cities? In this quiz you’ll be presented with the names of 195 capital cities. You’ll... QUIZ / GEOGRAPHY & TRAVEL Explore India Quiz Delhi lies on which river? How many countries border India? In what state is Bengaluru? Explore India’s vibrant geography... QUIZ / GEOGRAPHY & TRAVEL World Capitals Quiz Can you identify the world’s national capitals? In this quiz you’ll be shown the names of 195 countries, and you’ll need... QUIZ / GEOGRAPHY & TRAVEL What Kind of Animal? What do you know about animal nomenclature? Take this quiz and find out. QUIZ / SCIENCE European Capitals Quiz How well do you know your European capitals? This quiz will show you the name of a country on the continent of Europe, and... QUIZ / GEOGRAPHY & TRAVEL Largest, Tallest, and Smallest Around the Globe Quiz What is the world’s smallest island nation? Which continent is the largest? Test your knowledge of extremes around the world. QUIZ / GEOGRAPHY & TRAVEL Gods, Goddesses, and Greek Mythology In Greek mythology, who flew too close to the Sun? Spread your mental wings in this odyssey of mythical gods, goddesses,... QUIZ / LIFESTYLES & SOCIAL ISSUES Chocolate Quiz From its origins to recent developments, what do you know about that delicious treat we call chocolate? Take this quiz to... QUIZ / ENTERTAINMENT & POP CULTURE Featured Games See All Games Nobel Literature Prize Laureates The Nobel Literature Prize has been awarded annually, since 1901, to an author who has, ‟in the field of literature, produced... GAME / LITERATURE Condensation, Precipitation, and Deposition of Water Water can precipitate and form deposits in different ways. Many of us are very familiar with rain and snow, but there are... GAME / SCIENCE Landmarks Around the World Pack your bags! We're taking a tour of famous landmarks in this crossword puzzle. For each of the given sites, you just need... GAME / GEOGRAPHY & TRAVEL Musical Instruments from Around the World Music is an art that permeates every human society. Take a tour of the musical instruments from across the globe with this... GAME / ENTERTAINMENT & POP CULTURE Antarctica: A Land of Ice and Cold In this crossword puzzle, you'll have the opportunity to explore the continent of Antarctica and its surrounding ocean. GAME / GEOGRAPHY & TRAVEL No(bel) Prizes for Guessing You know the Nobels so well you don't need to guess anyway. GAME / WORLD HISTORY Lakes of the World How's your lacustrine geography? Find out with this puzzle about the world's lakes. GAME / GEOGRAPHY & TRAVEL Peninsular Peninsulas A peninsula is a land area that projects into a body of water but is connected to another landmass. Some of the most prominent... GAME / GEOGRAPHY & TRAVEL Troubled Waters Water is essential to life—but 2.1 billion people lack access to safe and reliable drinking water at home. How much do you... GAME / SCIENCE You Have My Symphony Are you a fan of symphonies? Then turn on some Bach or Brahms and test your knowledge of the instruments of the orchestra... GAME / ENTERTAINMENT & POP CULTURE Nobel Peace Prize Laureates The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded annually, since 1901, ‟to the person who shall have done the most or the best work... GAME / WORLD HISTORY Featured Videos See All Videos Find out how Jackie Robinson became the first Black player in modern Major League Baseball VIDEO Discover the paintings of Kerry James Marshall VIDEO Explore the life of Sojourner Truth VIDEO Learn more about China's 13 major ruling dynasties VIDEO If Thomas Edison didn't invent the lightbulb, who did? VIDEO Discover the small-town origins of Henry Ford VIDEO Discover the sacred indigenous origins of the site of Mount Rushmore VIDEO No, enslaved people didn't build the Pyramids of Giza VIDEO Discover how the McCormick reaper changed farming forever VIDEO Learn why you shouldn't call a suffragist a suffragette by mistake VIDEO What did Mary Wollstonecraft write about in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman? VIDEO How to use the scientific method VIDEO The Great Chicago Fire and the deadly Peshtigo firestorm started on the same day VIDEO Find out about the remarkable life of Frederick Douglass VIDEO Did the Seven Wonders of the World actually exist? VIDEO Find out how the Lewis and Clark Expedition relied on the help of Native American women VIDEO Learn more about one of the most impactful suffragists in American history VIDEO Has anyone ever actually seen Bigfoot? Let's find out. VIDEO Who are the Hazaras, one of Afghanistan's threatened minorities? VIDEO This Month in History: Uncover the origins of October's juiciest ghost stories VIDEO Find out how a corpse won an Olympic event VIDEO Twenty years later, how do we remember 9/11? VIDEO This Month in History, September: National Hispanic Heritage Month VIDEO Podcasts See All Shows And Podcasts Botanize! Botanize!, hosted by Melissa Petruzzello, is a podcast that will introduce you to some of the world’s most remarkable plants, fungi, and algae. These overlooked organisms have fascinating evolutionary stories to tell about survival, exploitation, adaptation, and general scrappiness, and every episode will pique your curiosity. From parasitic plants to kelp forests, Botanize! aims to showcase some of Earth’s finest nonanimal life-forms and their brilliant ecologies. Listen Now: Episode 1 Postcards from the 6th Mass Extinction So far there have been five notable mass extinctions on Earth. A growing number of scientists argue that we’re now in the midst of a sixth. Postcards from the 6th Mass Extinction is a podcast hosted by John P. Rafferty that attempts to personalize extinction, emphasizing the survival challenges that familiar forms of life currently face, while at the same time considering the pivotal roles they play in their own ecosystems. Listen Now: Episode 1 Show What You Know Informative and lively, Show What You Know is a quiz show for curious tweens and their grown-ups from Encyclopædia Britannica. Hosted by author Christopher Lloyd, each episode gives three middle-grade contestants a chance to go head to head with questions about the earth, the universe, ancient history, and more from the Britannica All New Kids’ Encyclopedia: What We Know & What We Don’t. Listen Now: Episode 1 Contemporary Art Six Contemporary artists who redefined their mediums These 21st-century artists have been redefining traditional mediums to make dynamic, vital pieces. What’s the difference between Modern and Contemporary art? The two terms are not interchangeable. There is a difference, and it is based on rough date ranges established by art historians, art critics, curators, art institutions, and the like. Browse by Category Entertainment & Pop Culture Entertainment and leisure activities have been a part of culture in one form or another since the ancient times. Dance performances, live music, and storytelling have a long tradition throughout history, even as the styles and available methods of delivery have shifted dramatically. FEATURED theatre music musical genre Is 27 an Especially Deadly Age for Musicians? Why do rock musicians seem predisposed to join the... Why Do Onions Make You Cry? Onions are such tearjerkers. Geography & Travel Planet Earth contains some extraordinarily diverse environments, some of which are easily habitable and some not so much. In different areas of Earth, one might find sweltering deserts, dense tropical rainforests, or bone-chilling tundras. Each biome and habitat comes with its own selection of flora and fauna, and it may include physical features such as canyons, volcanoes, rivers, or caves. Human beings have built homes in many different environments, settling the area and organizing it into units such as cities, states, regions, and countries, each with its own points of interest. Shifting trends in human migration have resulted in a human geography that is profoundly different from that of centuries ago. FEATURED language English Words with Korean Origins The Oxford English Dictionary recently added... Dams, Tunnels, Bridges, and Canals of the World Test your knowledge of some of the world's great engineering... Health & Medicine The study of the human mind and body, how these function, and how they interact—not only with each other but also with their environment—has been of utmost importance in ensuring human well-being. Research on potential treatments and preventive medicine has expanded greatly with the development of modern medicine, and a network of disciplines, including such fields as genetics, psychology, and nutrition, aims to facilitate the betterment of our health. FEATURED human digestive system WHO approved a malaria vaccine for children – a global health expert explains why that is a big deal The World Health Organization recommended its first... Ivermectin is a Nobel Prize-winning wonder drug – but not for COVID-19 Although Ivermectin has been a wonder drug for people... Lifestyles & Social Issues It's easy enough to agree that human beings all around the world have certain basic requirements that must be fulfilled in order to ensure their individual and collective well-being. History has shown us, however, that it's not so easy to form societies or communities that fulfill these requirements for all members. The fight for human and civil rights has persisted for hundreds of years and remains alive today, both within the borders of nations and on an international scale. It has led to large-scale social movements and reforms concerning issues such as suffrage, slavery, women's rights, racism, environmentalism, gay rights, and much more. FEATURED Mahatma Gandhi Indian leader Why Do We Drop a Ball on New Year’s Eve? Every year on New Year’s Eve, people gather in Times... Days and Nights Everything in this punny puzzle has the word ‟day”... Literature With the development of language, the human imagination has found a way to create and communicate through the written word. A literary work can transport us into a fictional, fantastic new world, describe a fleeting feeling, or simply give us a picture of the past through novels, poems, tragedies, epic works, and other genres. Through literature, communication becomes an art, and it can bridge and bond people and cultures of different languages and backgrounds. FEATURED short story literature 7 Everyday English Idioms and Where They Come From How did the proof get in the pudding? Britannica spills... Punctuation How do you use the Oxford comma? What’s the difference... Philosophy & Religion Humans have long pondered not only how we came to be but also why we came to be. The earliest Greek philosophers focused their attention upon the origin and nature of the physical world; later philosophers have theorized about the nature of knowledge, truth, good and evil, love, friendship, and much more. Philosophy involves a methodical assessment of any and all aspects of human existence and experience. The realms of philosophy and religion have sometimes intersected in conducting such inquiries as these. As with philosophy, the study of religion underscores how humankind has long speculated about its origins. The possibility of a higher being (or beings) to which livings things owe their existence has long captived human thought. Many religions also offer their own views on the nature of good and evil, and they may prescribe guidelines and judgment on different kinds of human behavior. FEATURED aesthetics philosophy At the end of the day, think outside the box about clichés While clichés are often harshly condemned, they are,... What did Hannah Arendt really mean by the banality of evil? Nazi operative Adolph Eichmann organized the transportation... Politics, Law & Government The world today is divided territorially into more than 190 countries, each of which possesses a national government that claims to exercise sovereignty and seeks to compel obedience to its will by its citizens. Governments can be classified in any number of ways. For example, they might be classified by the number of rulers, thus distinguishing government by one (as in a monarchy or a tyranny) from government by the few (in an aristocracy or oligarchy) and from government by the many (as in a democracy). Governments can also be classified by mode of succession; for example, ascension to governmental leadership may follow the rules of hereditary succession, or it may be determined through elections or by force. Governments also vary in terms of the laws and rules of conduct that each political entity follows. FEATURED inheritance law U.S. Presidential History Quiz The phrase “New Frontier” is associated with which... U.S. Presidential Code Names Quiz Every U.S. president is assigned a code name by the... Science How can the sky be blue one day and stormy the next? Why do heavy objects tend to fall downwards when dropped? How are birds able to fly (and why can’t I do the same?)? Human beings have long been curious about the world in which we live, striving to identify connections among the phenomenons we witness and to understand how it all works. The field of science has developed over many centuries as a way of studying and understanding the world, beginning with the primitive stage of simply noting important regularities in nature and continuing through the rise of modern science. The modern-day sciences cover a vast range of fields, including biology, chemistry, meteorology, astronomy, physics, and much more. FEATURED control group science Weather: Fact or Fiction? Is the center of a tropical storm called a window?... The Sun: Fact or Fiction? Does the Earth revolve around the Sun once per month?... Sports & Recreation Physical contests and recreational games have long played a part in human society. In both team and solo sports, the human body has been pushed to its limits in the name of improving athletic performance and in order to break record upon record. The ancient Olympic Games are an early example of the contests in which humans have engaged to showcase physical prowess. In modern times, sports and games have evolved into a lucrative and competitive industry, while other leisure activities, such as card and video games, can be competitive or just serve as a way to unwind or socialize. FEATURED tennis sport 7 Significant Political Events at the Olympic Games The Olympics are a time when international politics... What Do the Olympic Rings and Flame Represent? These iconic symbols hold special significance to the... Technology Humankind has long striven to improve its living conditions through the development of tools, instruments, and transportation and communications systems, all with the goal of making our lives easier, more productive and—why not?—more fun, too. Thanks to human curiosity and technological research, many significant inventions have been made throughout history that in turn made a difference in our daily lives. FEATURED automobile 7 Deadliest Weapons in History From rocks to rockets. Why Do You Have to Turn Off Electronic Devices on an Airplane? An explanation for why passengers are barred from fully... Visual Arts These are the arts that meet the eye and evoke an emotion through an expression of skill and imagination. They include the most ancient forms, such as painting and drawing, and the arts that were born thanks to the development of technology, like sculpture, printmaking, photography, and installation art. Though beauty is in the eye of the beholder, different eras in art history have had their own principles to define beauty, from the richly ornamented taste of the Baroque to the simple utilitarian style of the Prairie School. FEATURED art market economics Who Was the Woman Behind the Statue of Liberty? Read about the woman who inspired the Statue of Liberty.... 5 Interesting Paintings at the National Gallery of Australia Learn before you look. World History Does history really repeat itself, or can we learn from the mistakes of those who came before us? History provides a chronological, statistical, and cultural record of the events, people, and movements that have made an impact on humankind and the world at large throughout the ages. FEATURED Ottoman Empire historical empire, Eurasia and Africa 8 Deadliest Wars of the 21st Century Many lives have already been lost in this millennium. Before the E-Reader: 7 Ways Our Ancestors Took Their Reading on the Go Books have been around for a long time. But not always. More From Britannica ProCon.org Award-winning ProCon.org promotes critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting the pro and con arguments to controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, freely accessible way. Britannica Beyond Questions are an important way for people to learn concepts, to solve problems, and to challenge ideas. We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of our learning. Go ahead. Ask. We won’t mind. Advocacy for Animals Presenting Advocacy for Animals, a blog focused primarily on animal rights, wildlife conservation, environmental health and safety, and the legal and cultural issues related to these topics. This blog is a source of information and a call to action. It is meant to be a provocation and a stimulus to thought regarding humanity’s relationship with nonhuman animals. Alain Elkann Interviews Alain has been writing a weekly interview column for the Italian newspaper La Stampa since 1989. His interviews celebrate some of the best known and successful personalities of the present day. Inspire your inbox – Sign up for daily fun facts about this day in history, updates, and special offers. 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