World History Encyclopedia
Available
Directors
- Jan van der Crabben
- Joshua J. Mark
- Mark Cartwright
Description
Text from the World History Encyclopedia website (May 2025):
World History Encyclopedia was founded in 2009 by Jan van der Crabben. He realized that the internet was missing a reliable and comprehensive resource for ancient history, which is why the website was called Ancient History Encyclopedia until it changed its name to World History Encyclopedia in 2021. What was available online was either scattered across various websites, illegible due to poor presentations or tainted with a distinct nationalist agenda.
Jan also had the idea that history was not linear (as it is taught in most school coursebooks), but rather a very parallel type of story, where everything is interlinked. After much programming on a netbook during daily train rides from London to Horsham in the United Kingdom, the site was launched to the public in August 2009. Since then, it has grown from a small history website to the largest and most popular history encyclopedia on the internet.
Text provided by Jan van der Crabben, CEO and Founder (June 2021):
World History Encyclopedia is a popular history website on the internet. The site was launched as Ancient History Encyclopedia in 2009 and changed its name to World History Encyclopedia in 2021 to branch out into other periods. It is published by a non-profit organization with the mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. The website provides high-quality articles, videos, audio articles, interactive maps, and teaching resources on history. All contributions are editorially reviewed prior to publication.