World History Encyclopedia

World History Encyclopedia (formerly Ancient History Encyclopedia) is a nonprofit educational company created in 2009 by Jan van der Crabben.[1] The organization publishes and maintains articles, images, videos, podcasts, and interactive educational tools related to history. All users may contribute content to the site, although submissions are reviewed by an editorial team before publication. In 2021, the organization was renamed from the Ancient History Encyclopedia to World History Encyclopedia to reflect its broadened scope, covering world history from all time periods, as opposed to just ancient history. Original articles are written in English and later translated into other languages, mainly French and Spanish.

World History Encyclopedia
FoundedAugust 2009; 15 years ago (2009-08)
(as Ancient History Encyclopedia)
FounderJan van der Crabben
TypeNonprofit organization
Location
ServicesE-learning, education
Official languages
English
Key people
  • Jan van der Crabben (founder and CEO)
  • James Blake Wiener (co-founder)
  • Joshua J. Mark (co-founder)
  • Mark Cartwright (publishing director)
AffiliationsUNESCO, University of Buenos Aires, OER Commons
Employees4 (2018)
Websitewww.worldhistory.org

Organization history

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The Ancient History Encyclopedia was founded in 2009 by van der Crabben with the stated goal of improving history education worldwide by creating a freely accessible and reliable history source.[1] The nonprofit organization is based in Godalming, United Kingdom and Montreal, Canada, although it has no office and its team is globally distributed.[2][3]

The site had an emphasis on ancient history when it was founded, but it later shifted to cover the Medieval and Early Modern periods as well. In 2021, the organization renamed itself World History Encyclopedia to reflect this change.[4]

Reception

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The website has received praise by educational organizations and has been recommended by the School Library Journal,[5] the Internet Scout Research Group at the University of Wisconsin–Madison,[6] MERLOT,[7] and the European Commission's Open Education Europa initiative.[8] In 2016, it won the .eu Web Award for education from the organization EURid.[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b "About". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2018-06-08.
  2. ^ "Smarter working: Ancient History Encyclopedia". The Guardian. London. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  3. ^ "Contact World History Encyclopedia". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
  4. ^ "We Are Becoming World History Encyclopedia". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
  5. ^ Dillon, Stacy; Laughlin, Amy (7 May 2016). "Unbury the Past: Apps and Websites for Exploring Ancient Worlds". School Library Journal. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  6. ^ "Ancient History Encyclopedia". The Scout Report. 23 (42).
  7. ^ "Ancient History Encyclopedia". Merlot. 11 December 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  8. ^ "Ancient History Encyclopedia". OpenEducationEuropea. Archived from the original on 2017-08-09. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  9. ^ "The 2016 .eu Web Awards: Bringing Europe Together". EURid. 18 November 2016.
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