A River Of Time

Joshua Hammer explores the illustrious history of England's longest river:

Julius Caesar crossed the river he called the "Tamesis"—from a Celtic root word meaning "dark"—in 54 B.C. On June 15, 1215, twenty-five barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymede, beside the Thames. Oxford University came into being on the river’s north bank. Conspirators gathered at Henley-on-Thames (now the site of the famous regatta) to plot the Glorious Revolution of 1688 that overthrew Catholic King James II and brought Protestant William and Mary to the throne. Dozens of kings and queens were born, lived and died along the river, at the castles of Hampton Court, Placentia and Windsor. When an American congressman compared the Thames unfavorably with the mighty Mississippi, 2,320 miles long, the trade unionist and M.P. John Burns replied: "The Mississippi is muddy water, but the Thames is liquid history."

(Photo by Conor Ogle)