Free Republic

Gibraltar finally joined the official list of British cities on Monday (Aug 29), after 180 years in which its status, granted by Queen Victoria, had been overlooked due to an administrative error. The British overseas territory bid to become a city earlier this year as part of the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, but research in the National Archives established it had in fact been granted city status in 1842. "It is excellent to see official recognition given to the City of Gibraltar, a huge accolade to its rich history and dynamism," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in...

"In the pre-dawn hours of February 29, 1704, a force of about 300 French and Native allies launched a daring raid on the Engish settlement of Deerfield, Massachusetts, situated in the Pocumtuck homeland." So begins the introduction to a website dedicated to what is, in essence, a footnote in history - an incident that most of us have never heard of, or quickly forgot. But the innovative approach of this online commemoration will almost certainly give the raid a higher profile than it has ever had before...Rather than follow the tradition of history being written by the eventual victors (in...