Images Dated 16th December 2005

Illuminated red star sits atop Christmas tree in southern Russian city of Stavropol

A illuminated red star sits atop a Christmas tree in the southern Russian city of Stavropol December 16, 2005. With Christmas being celebrated on January 7 in Orthodox Russia, cities like Stavropol only start preparing for the winter holidays around mid-December. Russia launches into the festive season on December 31 and celebrates throughout the first week of January until the Orthodox Christmas Eve. REUTERS/Eduard Korniyenko - RP2DSFHWPSAB

La Perouse, 19th century. Artist: Thomas Woolnoth

La Perouse, 19th century. Jean Francois de Galaup, Comte de La Perouse, 18th century French navigator, astronomer and explorer. La Perouse (1741-1788) spent four years (1785-1788) exploring the islands in the Pacific Ocean, China and Japan, Hawaii, Australia and the Western Coast of North America. La Perouse and his expedition were lost in the Pacific in 1788, probably after being shipwrecked

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Cortez, 19th century. Artist: William Holl

Cortez, 19th century. Hernan Cortes (1485-1547), Spanish conquistador who conquered Mexico. Cortes landed in Mexico in 1519. With a force of only some 600 men, he succeeded in overthrowing the empire of the Aztecs, a civilization numbering 5 million. He was able to achieve this partly due to the natives being terrified of the Europeans horses and firearms, neither of which they had seen before. In addition, the Aztecs believed a prophecy that they would be visited by a light-skinned bearded god, the Quetzalcoatl, who had taught them agriculture and government in the past, and whose return they were to welcome with great ceremony. Cortes was able to exploit his resemblance to the Quetzalcoatl to great effect

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