The Vault is Slate’s history blog. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @slatevault, and find us on Tumblr. Find out more about what this space is all about here. This stunning geological map of ...

A 4,000-year-old stone slab, first discovered over a century ago in France, may be the oldest known map in Europe, according to a new study.

For the first time ever, researchers have mapped the entirety of the vast Roman road network highlighting its immense ...

Look at any map of Europe from the Middle Ages or the early modern era, before the Industrial Revolution, and you will be overwhelmed by its dizzying incoherence—all of those empires, kingdoms, ...

U.S. playwright Rita Mae Brown said: "Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going." That quote comes to mind looking at these fascinating ...

The first Europeans looked dramatically different to many of the fair skinned populations that live there today. In fact, new ...