Tag: George Dunea
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Sri Lanka, a pearl of the Indian Ocean
Sri Lanka is an island nation in the Indian Ocean just south of the Indian subcontinent. Once called Ceylon, its history spans over 2,500 years, beginning with the arrival of Prince Vijaya from India in the sixth century BCE. In the third century BCE, the Emperor Ashoka’s son introduced Buddhism. The island’s position along ancient…
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Along the Silk Road in Central Asia
The historical Silk Road was a vast network of land and sea routes that connected China with the West for over 2,000 years, facilitating the exchange of silk, spices, gold, and also ideas until the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Its origins have been attributed to the Han Dynasty, and Samarkand and Bukhara have long…
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Roma (Gypsies): History and medical aspects
Historical research indicates that the Roma people (also referred to as Romani or the pejorative “gypsies”) originated in India, contrary to earlier beliefs that they came from Egypt. Linguistic studies have unequivocally confirmed their language’s Indo-Aryan roots and similarities to Sanskrit, Hindi, and other languages of India. Over centuries of migration through Persia, Armenia, and…
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Siberia medical
Siberia is a vast expanse of forests, tundra, and remote settlements that covers 5.1 million square miles of land and stretches from the Urals to the Pacific and from the Arctic to the southern steppes. It encompasses roughly 77 percent of Russia’s territory but remains sparsely populated. Approximately 36 million people reside in Siberia, primarily…
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The great hospitals of Paris
Few cities have shaped Western civilization as profoundly as Paris, the “city of light”. For over 500 years, until the mid-twentieth century, Paris was the undisputed center of European culture, encompassing art, literature, and philosophy. Historians trace its early history to 451 CE, when Saint Genevieve saved it from the Huns, and to about 500…
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The history of medicine in Malaysia and Singapore
The history of medicine in Malaysia and Singapore spans centuries of healing activities derived from indigenous traditions, colonial influences, and scientific advances. Long before the colonial era, local communities practiced herbal medicine using ingredients derived from the tropical rainforest’s flora, using methods passed down through generations, often combining herbal remedies with rituals, incantations, and divination.…
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Hesiod: The creation of the world
Even the most educated members of our generation who have read many of the ancient Greek classics may not be familiar with Hesiod’s works, the Theogony and the Works and Days. Written at about the same time as Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad (around 700 BCE), they reflect the Greek rather than the Hebrew or Mesopotamian…
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Early medicine in Australia
Eighteen years after James Cook landed in Australia in 1770, the First Fleet arrived, carrying convicts, marines, and physicians. The colony’s surgeons faced overwhelming challenges—starvation, malnutrition, and disease—in a climate much unlike Britain’s. Dr. John White, the principal surgeon, recorded in his journals the “fevers, fluxes, and scorbutic afflictions” that plagued both prisoners and guards.…
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The early Medici in Florence
The history of the beautiful city of Florence dates to the early Middle Ages and is intertwined with that of the remarkable Medici family. Their very name suggests a medical origin, and legend has it that an early Medici was physician to Charlemagne. As early as the 1200s, Chiarissimo di Giambuono (de’ Medici) is reported…