The Flora of Augusta
The Masters Tournament begins today against the lush backdrop of the Augusta National Golf Club. And when we say lush, we mean it: Each hole corresponds to a different type of flora. Here are some favorites.
Hole 5: Magnolia
Hole 8: Yellow Jasmine
Hole 13: Azalea
Image: © Rixipix—iStock/Getty Images, © emer1940—iStock/Getty Images, © Valleysnow/Dreamstime.com
Why Palms, Wine, and Meat Symbolize Holy Week
This week represents perhaps the most sacred timespan on the Christian calendar. Holy Week observes the events leading up to Christ’s crucifixion, starting with Palm Sunday, which commemorates the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem, when people placed palms in his path. Maundy Thursday memorializes the first Eucharist at the Last Supper, and it’s traditional to eat bread and drink wine today as symbols of the body and blood of Christ. And Catholics abstain from eating meat on Good Friday as a tribute to Jesus sacrificing his flesh. It all culminates on Easter Sunday, a joyous celebration of Christ’s resurrection.
Why and How Christians Celebrate Easter
Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Carlos Mora/Dreamstime.com
How Jesus Spent the Last Week of His Life
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, (Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1978), www.metmuseum.org
What Do Eggs Have to Do with Easter?
AdstockRF
Popular on Britannica
Features
- Pro and Con: School Uniforms
- How the Symbolism of the Swastika Was Ruined
- Celebrating Ramadan
- Pro and Con: Abortion
- Pro and Con: Gun Control
- Pro and Con: Violent Video Games
- Pro and Con: College Education
- Pro and Con: Recreational Marijuana
- What Is the Most Widely Practiced Religion in the World?
- Can Apple Seeds Kill You?
Lists
- Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
- 11 Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
- 9 of the World’s Deadliest Spiders
- 12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”
- 9 of the World’s Deadliest Snakes
- Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution
- Timeline of the American Revolution
- 9 of the Biggest Oil Spills in History
- 5 Unforgettable Moments in the History of Spaceflight and Space Exploration
- Timeline of World War I
5 fascinating British coronation objects
An important part of the coronation is the regalia, which form the core of the famed—and controversial—British crown jewels.
The Death of Marat
Jacques-Louis David transformed history painting, usually reserved for Classical and biblical narratives, with this depiction of a contemporary event.
Maca
This herbaceous plant of the mustard family, native to the Andes Mountains of central Peru, is cultivated for its edible rootlike storage organ.
Gender wage gap
This infographic lists the five U.S. occupations in which women earn the most and the least as a percentage of men’s earnings.
The first animal domesticated by humans was the dog, possibly as early as 30,000 years ago.
See All Good FactsBrowse by Category
Entertainment & Pop Culture
Entertainment and leisure activities have been a part of culture in one form or another since the ancient times. Dance performances, live music, and storytelling have a long tradition throughout history, even as the styles and available methods of delivery have shifted dramatically.
Featured
- Western dance
-
A Movie Lesson
Who directed Avatar? Which hit movie from...
-
Film School: Fact or Fiction?
You may be familiar with the term "spaghetti western,"...
Geography & Travel
Planet Earth contains some extraordinarily diverse environments, some of which are easily habitable and some not so much. In different areas of Earth, one might find sweltering deserts, dense tropical rainforests, or bone-chilling tundras. Each biome and habitat comes with its own selection of flora and fauna, and it may include physical features such as canyons, volcanoes, rivers, or caves. Human beings have built homes in many different environments, settling the area and organizing it into units such as cities, states, regions, and countries, each with its own points of interest. Shifting trends in human migration have resulted in a human geography that is profoundly different from that of centuries ago.
Featured
-
canals and inland waterways
waterway
-
What Is Known (and Not Known) About the Bermuda Triangle
People have been trying to solve the “mystery” of the...
-
What Is the Newest Country in the World?
Some countries seem as though they’ve been around since...
Health & Medicine
The study of the human mind and body, how these function, and how they interact—not only with each other but also with their environment—has been of utmost importance in ensuring human well-being. Research on potential treatments and preventive medicine has expanded greatly with the development of modern medicine, and a network of disciplines, including such fields as genetics, psychology, and nutrition, aims to facilitate the betterment of our health.
Featured
-
muscle
anatomy
-
People gave up on flu pandemic measures a century ago when they tired of them – and paid a price
The United States was close to the end of a pandemic...
-
Do You Know the Facts About the COVID-19 Vax? Quiz by HealthGuard
Take this VaxFacts quiz, created by
Lifestyles & Social Issues
It's easy enough to agree that human beings all around the world have certain basic requirements that must be fulfilled in order to ensure their individual and collective well-being. History has shown us, however, that it's not so easy to form societies or communities that fulfill these requirements for all members. The fight for human and civil rights has persisted for hundreds of years and remains alive today, both within the borders of nations and on an international scale. It has led to large-scale social movements and reforms concerning issues such as suffrage, slavery, women's rights, racism, environmentalism, gay rights, and much more.
Featured
-
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
German author
-
Bob Moses played critical role in civil rights organizing and math literacy for Black students
Bob Moses, an advocate for civil rights and advanced...
-
The power of no: Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka and Black women’s resistance
Although they may face racial abuse for their decisions...
Literature
With the development of language, the human imagination has found a way to create and communicate through the written word. A literary work can transport us into a fictional, fantastic new world, describe a fleeting feeling, or simply give us a picture of the past through novels, poems, tragedies, epic works, and other genres. Through literature, communication becomes an art, and it can bridge and bond people and cultures of different languages and backgrounds.
Featured
- African American literature
-
Who Wrote That? (Part 1) Quiz
Who wrote Utopia? How about Cry, the Beloved...
-
Who Wrote That? (Part 2) Quiz
Who wrote Moll Flanders? How about Song...
Philosophy & Religion
Humans have long pondered not only how we came to be but also why we came to be. The earliest Greek philosophers focused their attention upon the origin and nature of the physical world; later philosophers have theorized about the nature of knowledge, truth, good and evil, love, friendship, and much more. Philosophy involves a methodical assessment of any and all aspects of human existence and experience. The realms of philosophy and religion have sometimes intersected in conducting such inquiries as these. As with philosophy, the study of religion underscores how humankind has long speculated about its origins. The possibility of a higher being (or beings) to which livings things owe their existence has long captived human thought. Many religions also offer their own views on the nature of good and evil, and they may prescribe guidelines and judgment on different kinds of human behavior.
Featured
- humanism
-
Lack of burial space is changing age-old funeral practices, and in Japan ‘tree burials’ are gaining in popularity
A clash between environmental needs and religious beliefs...
-
At the end of the day, think outside the box about clichés
While clichés are often harshly condemned, they are,...
Politics, Law & Government
The world today is divided territorially into more than 190 countries, each of which possesses a national government that claims to exercise sovereignty and seeks to compel obedience to its will by its citizens. Governments can be classified in any number of ways. For example, they might be classified by the number of rulers, thus distinguishing government by one (as in a monarchy or a tyranny) from government by the few (in an aristocracy or oligarchy) and from government by the many (as in a democracy). Governments can also be classified by mode of succession; for example, ascension to governmental leadership may follow the rules of hereditary succession, or it may be determined through elections or by force. Governments also vary in terms of the laws and rules of conduct that each political entity follows.
Featured
- organized labour
-
2020 census miscounted Americans – 4 questions answered
In 2020 the U.S. Census Bureau did not get an accurate...
-
Why Russia gave up Alaska, America’s gateway to the Arctic
A descendant of Inupiaq Eskimos shares his perspective...
Science
How can the sky be blue one day and stormy the next? Why do heavy objects tend to fall downwards when dropped? How are birds able to fly (and why can’t I do the same?)? Human beings have long been curious about the world in which we live, striving to identify connections among the phenomenons we witness and to understand how it all works. The field of science has developed over many centuries as a way of studying and understanding the world, beginning with the primitive stage of simply noting important regularities in nature and continuing through the rise of modern science. The modern-day sciences cover a vast range of fields, including biology, chemistry, meteorology, astronomy, physics, and much more.
Featured
-
Copley Medal
British scientific award
-
4 ways to help STEM majors stay the course
A group of scientists in 2021 discover and recommend a...
-
Acting like an extravert has benefits, but not for introverts
Research has found that acting like an extravert has...
Sports & Recreation
Physical contests and recreational games have long played a part in human society. In both team and solo sports, the human body has been pushed to its limits in the name of improving athletic performance and in order to break record upon record. The ancient Olympic Games are an early example of the contests in which humans have engaged to showcase physical prowess. In modern times, sports and games have evolved into a lucrative and competitive industry, while other leisure activities, such as card and video games, can be competitive or just serve as a way to unwind or socialize.
Featured
-
fencing
sport
-
Quick Quiz: Card Games and Games of Chance
Where did the 52-card playing deck come from? What...
-
Check and Checkmate Quiz
What is the standard design for chess sets used in...
Technology
Humankind has long striven to improve its living conditions through the development of tools, instruments, and transportation and communications systems, all with the goal of making our lives easier, more productive and—why not?—more fun, too. Thanks to human curiosity and technological research, many significant inventions have been made throughout history that in turn made a difference in our daily lives.
Featured
- military technology
-
How Much Trash Is In Space?
You might think we humans keep all our trash on the...
-
What’s the Difference Between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi?
If you have a smartphone, laptop, tablet, or similar...
Visual Arts
These are the arts that meet the eye and evoke an emotion through an expression of skill and imagination. They include the most ancient forms, such as painting and drawing, and the arts that were born thanks to the development of technology, like sculpture, printmaking, photography, and installation art. Though beauty is in the eye of the beholder, different eras in art history have had their own principles to define beauty, from the richly ornamented taste of the Baroque to the simple utilitarian style of the Prairie School.
Featured
- Byzantine art
-
Quiz: Ancient Illustrations Showing Us the Way
In which cave do prehistoric ochre and manganese oxide...
-
Polar bears have captivated artists’ imaginations for centuries, but what they’ve symbolized has changed over time
Polar bears have long held visual artists in their...
World History
Does history really repeat itself, or can we learn from the mistakes of those who came before us? History provides a chronological, statistical, and cultural record of the events, people, and movements that have made an impact on humankind and the world at large throughout the ages.
Featured
-
Renaissance
European history
-
How Black people in the 19th century used photography as a tool for social change
For African Americans, to pose for a photograph became...
-
9 Questions About World War II Answered
Important questions asked and answered, briefly.
More From Britannica
ProCon.org
Award-winning ProCon.org promotes critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting the pro and con arguments to controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, freely accessible way.
Britannica Money
Discover all you need to know about retirement, investing, and household finance, without the jargon or agenda. Get reliable guidance, insight, and easy-to-understand explanations, written, edited, and verified to Britannica’s exacting standards.
Advocacy for Animals
Presenting Advocacy for Animals, a blog focused primarily on animal rights, wildlife conservation, environmental health and safety, and the legal and cultural issues related to these topics. This blog is a source of information and a call to action. It is meant to be a provocation and a stimulus to thought regarding humanity’s relationship with nonhuman animals.
Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain has been writing a weekly interview column for the Italian newspaper La Stampa since 1989. His interviews celebrate some of the best known and successful personalities of the present day.

