I learned this today. The first postage stamp was issued by the post office in Britain on May 1st, 1840. Like most inventions, the postage stamp was invented to solve a problem. That problem was that post in Britain was paid for by the recipient and not the sender. Before the invention of the stamp, […]
#205 When was the first stamp? Read More »
I learned this today. Sumerian cuneiform was the world’s first proper writing system. It started in about 3300 BC. The name “cuneiform” comes from the Latin cuneus, which means wedge-shaped. Cuneiform writing has a very distinctive wedge shape. There are three things that are necessary for something to be considered a writing system. Firstly, the
#202 What was Sumerian Cuneiform script? Read More »
I learned this today. The 1815 Mt. Tambora eruption lowered global temperatures and caused the Year Without a Summer. Mt. Tambora is a volcano on the island of Sumbawa, which is in Indonesia these days. At the time of the eruption, the islands were controlled by the Dutch. The eruption reshaped the island and decimated
#199 What effect did the 1815 Mt. Tambora eruption have? Read More »
I learned this today. The CIA was formed on September 18th, 1947. The idea behind some kind of agency to manage intelligence seems to have started after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. America was caught unawares by the attack and a lot of people said that they should have had some idea. At the
#196 When did the CIA start? Read More »
I learned this today. Paper tissues have been used for 1500 years in China, but the modern tissue was invented in 1924. Paper was invented in China in about 100 BC. A government official called Ts’ai Lun is credited as the person who started the paper-making industry. His paper was made by mixing finely chopped
#194 When did people start using tissues? Read More »
I learned this today. The Teapot Dome scandal had nothing to do with tea or teapots. It was the biggest scandal in America before Watergate. It all started when the US Navy started to convert its ships from coal power to oil power in 1909. They needed a reliable supply of oil and President Taft
#188 What was the Teapot Dome scandal? Read More »
I learned this today. Vellum is a material for writing on that is made from prepared animal skin. The document on the front of this article is the Magna Carta. It is the document that tried to control King John of England and is one of the most famous documents in the UK. It was
#186 What is vellum? Read More »
I learned this today. The California Gold Rush started when James Wilson Marshall found gold flakes in the American River at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Coloma in California on January 24th, 1848. California was governed by Mexico after it gained independence from Spain in 1821. The area was remote and sparsely
#185 What started the California Gold Rush? Read More »
I learned this today. The Western Roman Empire ended in 476 and the Eastern Roman Empire ended in 1453. The state of Rome became a republic in the 6th century BC and started to expand throughout Italy. By the 3rd century BC, it had taken over all of Italy and started to look for other
#184 When did the Roman Empire end? Read More »
I learned this today. The Stetson hat was designed by John B. Stetson in 1865. We have an image of cowboys wearing Stetson hats, but they didn’t really start wearing them until the later part of the 19th century. Cowboys have existed in America for several hundred years and the tradition itself came from Spain.
#180 Where did the Stetson hat come from? Read More »
