History
Discover facts about history. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
History
A severed ear helped start a war between Britain and Spain
Britain and Spain were already clashing over trade and searches of British ships; Jenkins’s severed ear gave anti-Spanish voices in Parliament a vivid…
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Aztec armies carried dogs as emergency food
Xoloitzcuintli served as companions and a portable food source, so they could travel with an army as living emergency rations. A companion could have a very…
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Xiangqi developed as a strategic Chinese board game
The river and palace zones make the board part of the strategy: certain pieces cannot cross or leave their assigned areas. Xiangqi turns the board itself into…
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Cucumbers started entirely in the Indian subcontinent
Generations of cultivation selected for less bitterness, turning the vine into the mild cucumber familiar today.
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The archaeologist suspected of adding a mustache to a golden mask
Schliemann announced, “I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon.” Modern scholars suspect he had a goldsmith add a fashionable handlebar mustache to make the…
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Chinese engineers excavated massive canals to transport goods
The canals let grain barges move between northern and southern China without taking ocean routes. Thousands of locks and immense labor made the inland passage…
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Medieval nobles wore sleeves sweeping the floor
Floor-length cuffs made ordinary work awkward, which was part of the point: these were conspicuous clothes, not work clothes. The sleeves could drag through…
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The man who burned a wonder of the ancient world for fame
In 356 BC, Herostratus set fire to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders, hoping to become famous. The Ephesians executed him and banned people from…
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Barometers were created to prove air has weight
Torricelli used a mercury-filled tube to show that air pressure could support a column of liquid. The height of the mercury gave him a way to measure the…
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Chaupar provided board game entertainment in India
Players moved pawns around a cross-shaped cloth board according to specialized dice tosses, turning the game into a strategic contest of blocking opponents.
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People wore flannel around their stomachs during cholera scares
The cholera belt reflected a belief that keeping the abdomen warm could protect health. Its appeal was practical and visible: you could put something on and…
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The soda recipe change that sparked a revolt
When Coca-Cola made its classic recipe sweeter in 1985, customers protested and hoarded bottles of the original. The company brought the old recipe back,…
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How Switzerland turned neutrality into a system
Staying out of wars still took plenty of work: Switzerland built a diplomatic bureaucracy to draft treaties and carry messages between countries. Neutrality…
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A biography cast John Wayne in a Cold War assassination story
In his 2003 Wayne biography, Michael Munn reported that Stalin had ordered the actor killed, drawing on recollections from people around the star. The account…
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Roman soldiers pooled money for their own funerals
Inscriptions from military associations record funds supported by members' contributions. Those shared resources could pay for burial and other assistance,…
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Calling a bad hunter Nimrod began as a joke about a great hunter
The biblical Nimrod was famed for hunting, making his name useful for sarcasm aimed at someone inept. Looney Tunes used the joke, including Daffy Duck…
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A Scottish king's escape drain had been blocked to save tennis balls
An account of James I's murder in 1437 says he tried to hide beneath his lodging in a Dominican friary in Perth. The drain's exit had recently been stopped up…
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The pope who supposedly baptized coffee
Some clergymen urged Pope Clement VIII to ban coffee because of its Islamic origins. He reportedly tasted it, enjoyed it, and “baptized” the beans so…
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The Nintendo PlayStation became a $360,000 what-if
A surviving prototype from Nintendo and Sony's failed partnership sold at Heritage Auctions in 2020 for $360,000. It combined a Super Nintendo-compatible…
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The Congress of Vienna redrew Europe between the parties
In 1814–1815, rulers and diplomats negotiated the post-Napoleonic order while attending balls, dinners and other elaborate social events. The entertaining…
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Romans thought bees came from rotting bulls
Romans believed bees could emerge from a bull’s decaying body—a practice called bugonia. The supposed recipe involved leaving a dead bull in a dark shed.
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Why Londoners once rebelled against the police
When Robert Peel established the Metropolitan Police in 1829, many Londoners feared uniformed officers would act as government spies and crush political…
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Canada sent a 22,000-pound cheese to the Chicago World's Fair
The mammoth cheese made in Perth, Ontario, in 1892 became an exhibit at the 1893 fair. Photographs show it traveling as a spectacle in its own right. It was…
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Indian artisans carved intricate stone lattice windows
Instead of blocking the sun with a solid wall, artisans carved stone screens that filtered harsh light and let breezes through. The window worked as both…
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