18th Century

Aberdeen, George Hamilton Gordon

George Gordon was the grandson of the 3rd Earl of Aberdeen. His mother died in 1791 and his father in 1795, leaving him in the care of two guardians: William Pitt the Younger (the ... [more]

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Amo, Anton Wilhelm

Amo was born on the Gold Coast (Ghana) about 1703 and taken to Amsterdam when he was about four. He was given to the Duke of Wolfenbüttel and baptised Anton Wilhelm. He was educated with su... [more]

Apess, William

Apess's parents were itinerant basket-makers and he lived as a young child mostly with his grandparents, who were very cruel to him. When his grandmother broke his arm he was rescued by an ... [more]

Audubon, John James

Audubon was born in what is now Haiti, the son of a well-to-do married French naval captain and slave trader and his Creole servant-mistress. His mother died soon after his birth and his fa... [more]

Bach, Johann Sebastian

Bach was born in Eisenach, the eighth and last child of Johann Ambrosius and Maria Elisabeth Bach. His mother died in 1694 and his father in 1695. The nine-year-old orphan and his brother J... [more]

Baiteke (under Kiribati)

The Pacific island country of Kiribati (formerly the Gilbert Islands) includes the atoll of Abemama, inhabited by the tribe of Abemama, Kuria and Aranuka. The hereditary high chiefs of thes... [more]

Bartram, John

Bartram, born to a Quaker family in Pennsylvania, was orphaned when he was 13. He taught himself botany, medicine and surgery while working as a farm laborer. He was appointed Botanist to t... [more]

Basavis (under Devadasi)

Devadasi (mainly of Maharashtra and Karnataka states) and related practices ( Maharis in Kerala, Natis in Assam, Muralis in Maharashtra, Bogams in Andhra Pradesh, Jogatis and Basa... [more]

Bayard, James Asheton, Sr.

Bayard and his siblings were adopted by their uncle, John Bubenheim Bayard, when their father died. From 1797 to 1803 he was a member of the US House of Representatives from Delaware, fr... [more]

Bhayats (under India - Princely States)

Until the 19th century what is now India (like Europe) was a patchwork of over 650 princely states, like kingdoms, ranging from the small and relatively unimportant, to the large, immensely... [more]