Thence means from that place or from that point onward. It's an old-fashioned word you'll mostly find in historical documents, classic literature, or formal legal writing.

When explorers wrote about their journeys, they might describe traveling to a river and thence to the mountains beyond it. The word marks movement away from a place just mentioned. If someone wrote “We sailed to the island and thence to the mainland,” they're saying they went from the island to the mainland.

Thence can also mean from that time forward or as a result of that. A historical document might state “The treaty was signed in 1783, and thence began a period of peace.” Here it means “from that point on.”

Today, we usually say “from there” instead of thence. You might see it in older books like Treasure Island or in property descriptions that mark boundaries: “The fence runs north to the oak tree and thence eastward to the creek.” While you probably won't use thence in everyday conversation, recognizing it helps you understand older texts and formal documents.