A girl participates in a New Year calligraphy contest in Tokyo, Japan, January 5, 2017. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

A homeless girl asks for alms outside a coffee shop in Mumbai, India, June 24, 2016. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

A girl gets a helping hand across the road in Swansea, Wales, England on December 31, 2017. (Photo by Athena Picture Agency)

A girl uses her mobile phone during the evening at the National Park in Khartoum, Sudan, April 24, 2015. (Photo by Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters)

A girl competes in a hobby horsing competition in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 21, 2024. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Afghan girls ride a donkey along a street in Argo district at Badakhshan province on July 30, 2024. (Photo by Omer Abrar/AFP Photo)

A bully greenfinch (left) got its comeuppance when a small but fiery dunnock (right) defended itself with its talons in Suffolk, United Kingdom on April 18, 2022. The smaller bird was perched peacefully before the finch burst onto the scene and aggressively squared up to the dunnock. But as the finch tried to peck at the dunnock, the small brown bird expertly used its foot to slam its mouth shut. (Photo by Paul Sawer/Solent News & Photo Agency)

A small series by illustration Alex Solis remembering those things that used to rule the world.