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Trains currently transport around 40% of the world’s cargo (Train History), not to mention their prominence in travel and commuting. Trains date back hundreds of years. There was likely a Diolkos paved trackway between 6 and 8.5km long that transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece from around 600 BC. Wheeled vehicles pulled by people and animals ran in grooves in limestone, which provided the track element, preventing the wa...

This week in our history and product spotlight, we're focusing on Vikings.“Vikings were Scandinavians, who from the late 8th to late 11th centuries, raided and traded from their Northern European homelands across wide areas of Europe, and explored westwards to Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland. The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to include the inhabitants of Norse home communities during what has become...

The Delhi Durbar was an Indian imperial style mass assembly organized by the British at Coronation Park, Delhi, India, to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India. Also known as the Imperial Durbar, it was held three times (in 1877, 1903, and 1911) at the height of the British Empire. The last Durbar was held on December 12, 1911, to mark the coronation of King George V, and cost over £1 million.Durbar of 1877Called the "Procl...

This week in historical and product spotlights, we’re featuring pirates!Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable items or properties. The earliest documented instances of piracy were in the 14th century BC, when the Sea Peoples, a group of ocean raiders, attacked the ships of the Aegean and Mediterranean...

This week's history and product spotlight is on the St. Francis Raid. Check out our toy soldiers from the Raid on St. Francis in our John Jenkins Designs section!The St. Francis Raid was an attack in the French and Indian War by Robert Rogers on St. Francis, near the southern shore of the Saint Lawrence River in what was then the French province of Canada, on October 4, 1759. Rogers and about 140 men entered the village, which was reportedly occu...