History — Page 4
Surprising historical events
152 facts
Constantinople was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire for more than a thousand years.
Constantinople, now Istanbul, was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, also called the Byzantine Empire, from 330…
The warship Vasa sank on its maiden voyage.
The Vasa, a Swedish warship, sank on 10 August 1628, minutes after setting sail, due to instability and a gust of…
In 1919, a molasses wave flooded streets of Boston.
On 15 January 1919, a tank of 8.7 million litres of molasses burst in Boston harbour. The molasses wave reached…
The astronomer Tycho Brahe wore a metal prosthetic nose.
Tycho Brahe lost part of his nose in a duel in 1566 and had a prosthetic nose made of silver and gold. He was one of…
The Altamira cave in Spain has cave paintings over 14,000 years old.
The Altamira paintings, discovered in 1879, include bison, horses and human handprints painted on the walls. They are…
The terracotta army was built to protect the tomb of the first emperor of China.
The terracotta army was built to protect the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, who died in 210 BC…
Roman concrete is more durable than modern concrete.
Roman concrete, made with volcanic ash, withstands time better than modern concrete. Buildings such as the Pantheon…
Ancient Roman concrete had a self-healing ability.
Roman concrete contained lumps of lime that, on contact with water, dissolved and recrystallised, filling cracks…
The last meal served on the Titanic had 11 courses.
The last first-class meal on the Titanic, served on the night of 14 April 1912, had 11 courses, including oysters…
The Antikythera mechanism is considered the first analog computer.
The Antikythera mechanism, found in a Greek shipwreck in 1901, is a bronze device with more than 30 gears. It was…
Carbonised loaves of bread were found in the ruins of Pompeii.
In the bakeries of Pompeia were found loaves of bread carbonised by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Some still had…
The inhabitants of Pompeii covered the city walls with graffiti.
The inhabitants of Pompeii wrote on the walls political messages, declarations of love, insults and even…
Machu Picchu was built without mortar.
The stones of Machu Picchu were fitted so precisely that no mortar was used to join them. The Incas carved each block…
The Aztec Sun Stone is not a calendar.
The Aztec Sun Stone, often called the Aztec calendar, is actually a ceremonial monument representing Aztec cosmology…
Napoleon escaped from the island of Elba where he was exiled.
Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba in 1814, after his abdication. In February 1815, he escaped from the island…
Machu Picchu was abandoned by the Incas.
Machu Picchu was built around 1450 and abandoned about 100 years later, during the fall of the Inca Empire. The city…
There is a runestone in the United States attributed to the Vikings.
The Kensington Runestone, found in Minnesota in 1898, contains a runic inscription that recounts a Viking expedition…
The House of Wisdom in Baghdad was one of the greatest centres of knowledge in the world.
The House of Wisdom, founded in Baghdad in the 8th century, brought together translation, astronomy, mathematics…
Egyptian scribes could be punished for writing errors.
Scribes in ancient Egypt were highly valued but also severely punished. Didactic texts from the period mention…
The Great Fire of London started in a bakery.
The Great Fire of London in 1666 started in a bakery on Pudding Lane, owned by Thomas Farriner. The fire destroyed…
The Silk Road was exclusively overland and never had maritime routes.
The Silk Road was not only overland. There was also a maritime Silk Road connecting ports in China, Southeast Asia…
The inventor of the Pringles can requested to be buried in one, and his family honored the wish.
Fred Baur, the chemist who helped develop the iconic can and manufacturing process of Pringles chips, requested that…
During the French Revolution, the guillotine was also used to execute dogs considered dangerous or rabid.
The use of the guillotine was not limited to humans, being equally applied to animals convicted of attacking people…
The Three Hundred and Thirty-Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly lasted from 1651 to 1986 without a single shot being fired.
The conflict was declared during the English Civil War but never formally ended, until a historian noticed the…
