History
Discover facts about history. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
History
Why warriors wore iron masks with fake mustaches
Wearing highly protective facial armor is completely logical when engaging in close-quarters combat. Taking the time to heavily rivet an entirely fake, highly…
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Why wealthy families gave babies expensive spoons
Gifting highly valuable utensils to infants wasn't about practical feeding; it was a pure status symbol intended to magically guarantee a life of extreme…
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Why rainbows terrified the Incas
While modern culture views rainbows as beautiful optics, the Incas viewed them with absolute, trembling terror. They believed the colorful arcs were massive,…
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Why ancient Egyptians wore elaborate wigs
Managing real hair in the blistering desert heat was wildly inefficient, so shaving it entirely off was the easiest solution. To avoid looking completely bald…
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Why the Incas roasted guinea pigs for offerings
While modern people view them as squeaky cage pets, the Incas viewed guinea pigs as the ultimate sacrificial fast food. Known as 'cuy', these rodents were…
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Why explorers preserved animals in rum
When formal embalming fluids were utterly unavailable aboard heavily isolated wooden ships, strong liquor became the default scientific preservative.…
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Peter the Great sometimes wielded the executioner's axe
Not content with simply ordering deaths from the comfort of his throne room, Peter the Great occasionally stepped in to swing the axe himself. He viewed it as…
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Why Dr Pepper lost its period
Grammar nerds have been upset for decades over a simple graphic design choice. The iconic soda removed the period after 'Dr' in the 1950s simply because the…
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Cleopatra was the only Ptolemy who spoke Egyptian
Talk about doing the absolute bare minimum to relate to your subjects. The Ptolemaic dynasty ruled Egypt for nearly 300 years, but they were Greek and…
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Early thermometers used colored alcohol instead of mercury
Measuring your fever used to literally involve a tube of booze. Before the standardization of toxic liquid metal mercury, the earliest sealed glass…
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Valentine's saint has a flower-crowned skull
The patron saint of romantic, overpriced greeting cards currently resides in a glass box inside a Roman church. His completely severed skull is lovingly…
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Umbrellas provided sun protection in 11th-century China
Walking around in the blazing sun is highly unpleasant, so clever inventors mounted waxed paper over bamboo frames. Originally designed strictly for shade…
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Why pumpernickel has such a rude name
Ordering a sandwich on this dark rye bread is linguistically hilarious. The dense loaf was considered so incredibly difficult to digest that its Germanic name…
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How notaries built a career around one stamp
Trust is a rare commodity, which is why the legal system invented notaries. These state-sanctioned witnesses built an entire profession out of verifying that…
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Why Van Gogh ate his yellow paint
Vincent van Gogh's desperate search for internal peace took incredibly strange, highly toxic turns. Believing that the bright yellow paint he used on canvases…
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British spies once used semen as invisible ink
Nothing screams 'For King and Country' quite like mailing your commanding officer a biohazard. During WWI, the British Secret Intelligence Service found that…
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Why “girl” once meant any child
Gender specificity was not a priority for early vocabulary. For centuries, the word was simply a generic blanket term for any small, loud child running around…
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How Inuit throat singing turns breath into rhythm
Because surviving the arctic cold requires excellent lung capacity. Two women stand face-to-face in a vocal game of chicken, aggressively bouncing rhythmic…
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Why young boys once wore dresses—including FDR
Before leading the free world through a world war, FDR was basically treated like a life-sized Victorian doll. It was completely standard for wealthy…
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Zulu leaders simply reorganized their society around warfare
Why have an agricultural society that occasionally fights, when you can build a purely military machine that occasionally farms? By aggressively organizing…
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Why early clocks had only one hand
Because knowing the exact minute simply wasn't necessary when your entire schedule revolved around the sun, heavy labor, and sheer exhaustion.
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Paul Revere never shouted that the British were coming
We have been intensely lied to by our elementary school teachers. Revere was desperately trying to secretly warn the colonial militias without alerting the…
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When lawmakers settled an argument with canes and fire tongs
If you think modern politics is deeply uncivilized, you clearly missed the part of history where lawmakers resorted to medieval weaponry. In 1798,…
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Why Chopin's heart ended up in a jar
Being terrified of waking up in a coffin was a very valid fear back then. The legendary pianist explicitly requested his sister ensure his heart was…
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