History — Page 6

Harvard University was founded before calculus was invented.

Harvard opened its doors in sixteen thirty-six, while the principles of mathematical calculus were only formalised by…

Cleopatra was not ethnically Egyptian, but of Greek origin.

She belonged to the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Macedonian origin that ruled Egypt after the death of Alexander…

Queen Victoria survived at least seven assassination attempts.

During her long reign, several individuals tried to attack her with firearms or knives, but failed due to poor aim…

Nintendo was founded in the same year the Eiffel Tower was completed.

The Japanese company opened its doors in eighteen eighty-nine as a manufacturer of traditional playing cards, long…

The first mechanical alarm clock could only ring at 4 AM.

Invented in Ancient Greece and later improved, the primitive mechanism did not allow adjusting the alarm time…

The Great Emu War was a real military operation in Australia.

In nineteen thirty-two, the Australian army sent soldiers armed with machine guns to control the emu population that…

Heroin was originally marketed as a children's cough syrup.

In the late nineteenth century, the pharmaceutical company Bayer sold the drug as a non-addictive cough suppressant…

Ancient Egyptians slept with pillows made of stone or wood.

These "pillows" were rigid supports with a neck groove, designed to keep the head elevated, protect elaborate…

The Great Wall of China was built using sticky rice mortar.

Builders mixed slaked lime with a sticky rice porridge, creating an organic-inorganic binder so strong and…

Abraham Lincoln is in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Before being president, Lincoln was known for his exceptional strength and wrestling skill, having lost only one of…

The CIA spent millions training cats to spy on the Soviet Union.

In the "Acoustic Kitty" project, agents implanted microphones and transmitters in cats, but the project was cancelled…

Ancient Egyptians shaved their eyebrows to mourn the death of their cats.

Cats were considered sacred animals and family members. According to historian Herodotus, owners shaved their…

In eighteen thirty-five, the US national debt was exactly zero.

President Andrew Jackson, who hated debt and central banks, managed to completely pay off the federal debt, the only…

The Great Wall of China was built by paid laborers and soldiers.

Contrary to the popular myth that it was built by slaves, most builders were peasants doing mandatory military…

Ancient Greeks used olive oil to bathe instead of soap.

They would spread olive oil over their bodies to loosen dirt and sweat, then scrape the mixture off with a curved…

The Romans used urine to whiten teeth and wash clothes.

Urine decomposes into ammonia, a very effective cleaning and bleaching agent. It was so valuable that Emperor…

Napoleon Bonaparte was not short, having an average height for his time.

The confusion arose due to the difference between French and English inches of the era. Napoleon measured about one…

Woolly mammoths were still alive when the Egyptian pyramids were being built.

While the Egyptians were erecting the great pyramids, a small isolated population of woolly mammoths survived on…

George Washington did not have wooden teeth.

His famous dentures were made of ivory, gold, lead, and even animal or human teeth. The idea that they were wooden is…

The first photograph of a person took ten minutes to expose.

In the famous image of the Boulevard du Temple in Paris, the street looks empty because the traffic didn't stay still…

In 1582, when the Gregorian calendar was adopted, 4 October was followed directly by 15 October.

The Julian calendar had drifted ten days behind the seasons. Pope Gregory XIII ordered them removed, and Portugal…

The recipe for Greek fire, the incendiary weapon of the Byzantine Empire, was lost and remains unknown.

Used from the 7th century, Greek fire was sprayed through tubes at enemy ships and kept burning on water. The secret…

The Rosetta Stone carries the same decree written in hieroglyphs, Demotic and ancient Greek.

The text is a decree from 196 BC honouring the pharaoh Ptolemy V. Because Greek could be read, the stone became the…

Tutankhamun was buried with a dagger made of meteoritic iron.

A 2016 analysis found about 11% nickel and traces of cobalt in the blade, a composition typical of iron meteorites…