I learned this today. The Sahara Desert has grown so big because the precession of the Earth’s axis as it rotates around the sun changes the location of the African monsoon. The Sahara Desert is 9.2 million square kilometers, which makes it bigger than every country except for Russia, Canada, China and the USA. The […]
#229 How did the Sahara Desert get so big? Read More »
I learned this today. The South Sea Bubble was a financial bubble that sprang up around the share trading of the South Sea Company (SSC) in the early 18th century. The South Sea Bubble wasn’t the first speculative bubble to happen. That honor goes to the Dutch Tulip Bubble of 1637. However, it was the
#228 What was the South Sea Bubble? Read More »
I learned this today. Different countries have different laws, but the first bankruptcy laws were created in 1542 in England. The word “bankruptcy” comes from the Italian banca rotta, which means “broken bench”. The story is that bankers used to do their business over a bench. If a banker defaulted on a loan
#226 When did bankruptcy laws start? Read More »
I learned this today. The Magna Carta promised the protection of church rights and the protection of the barons from King John and eventually became the basis for English common law. By extent, its concepts are also the basis for some American and Canadian laws as well. It was the first time the idea that
#223 What did the Magna Carta do? Read More »
I learned this today. Hawai’i became a state in 1959, when 93% of Hawaiians voted in favor of it. People have only lived on the islands of Hawai’i since about 400 AD. Polynesians sailed there from the Marquesas Islands, which are about 3200 km away. They settled the islands and fished and farmed
#220 Why did Hawai’i become a US state? Read More »
I learned this today. The Dutch East India Company was nationalized in 1796 and dissolved on 31st December 1799. All of its assets were taken by the Dutch government and all of its territories became Dutch colonies. The Dutch East India Company was called the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compangnie, which is why its logo is
#215 What happened to the Dutch East India Company? Read More »
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 »
