The Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History & Culture opens on September 24 – the latest structure to be added to the National Mall in DC. The Washington Post this week published a series of maps that depict the 200-year evolution of the Mall, from swamp to canals to a railway station to “temporary” WW II offices that stuck around until the 1970s.

Excerpts from the excellent article are below. The full story and 8 intriguing maps can be found here.

The Mall in 1860, before land was reclaimed for the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials and when a canal snaked to within blocks of the capital:

The Mall in 1940, when temporary WW II offices crowded the north side of the reflecting pool:

The Mall today, with the addition of the new National Museum of African American History & Culture immediately to the northeast of the Washington Monument:

This Thursday, Britain votes to remain in the European Union or to simply Brexit, stage left. In advance of Britain’s vote, which could reshape Europe once again, the Washington Post helpfully published today a very cool history of other amalgamations of European countries (or kingdoms, empires, grand duchies . . .) that resulted in past European unions.

The full article is here. Below are some blasts from the past that highlight previous combinations of territory that have shaped the political makeup of Europe. These selections include:

The predictable . . .

The combinations we learned in school, but immediately forgot . . .

And the obscure and charmingly insignificant . . .

For the record, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth apparently existed between the 14th and 18th centuries.

And it even included a Grand Duchy.