Why does the Leaning Tower of Pisa lean? It leans because the ground under the tower is not hard enough and has settled. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is 55.86 meters tall, and it leaned by 5.5 degrees off center at its peak. It was stabilized in the 1990s and its lean was reduced to […]
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What is a codex? A codex is a collection of ancient manuscripts in book form. The term originally just meant a book, but today we use it only to refer to books of ancient manuscripts. The word codex comes from the Latin “caudex”, which means “block of wood” or “book”. The codex marks the point
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Where did Freemasons come from? They are people who belong to an organization that has its origins in the local guilds of stonemasons that started in the 14th century. The Freemasons are a mysterious fraternity that includes some of the most powerful people in industry and governments. They have secret rituals, passwords, and rules that
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Why was Mesopotamia the cradle of civilization? Because its climate slowly changed and the people had to learn to cope with it. Mesopotamia was located where Iran, Kuwait, Syria, and Turkey are today. People started living in the region in about 10,000 BC. They were called the Sumerians and the Akkadians. They began to group
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Would President Lincoln have survived if he had been shot today? It is possible, although not guaranteed. There have been several advances in medical care, and the way injured presidents are dealt with that might have made the difference. Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14th, 1865, at about 10:15 pm.
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What is a speakeasy? It was a bar where alcoholic drinks were illegally sold during the era of prohibition. From 1920 to 1933, alcohol was illegal in the United States of America. This was brought into law by the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment says, “After one year from the ratification of this
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When did sailing ships die out? There are still ships that use sails today and a new type of large cargo ship that uses wings has been introduced, but the age of sail finished on October 20th, 1827. The first ships were probably powered with oars. However, a boat with oars cannot go very far
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Who was the first king? This could be a question that is impossible to answer because most of the records of early rulers have disappeared or there is no way to separate myth from truth. It also depends on what the definition of king is. At what point does somebody go from being a tribal
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Is there any historical evidence for Jesus? Yes. There are a few mentions of him in other documents, but they all come from after he died. If you can ignore the biases in the Bible, then that is evidence as well. The vast majority of scholars believe that Jesus was a real, historical person. Yet,
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When was the first department store? It was most probably Harding, Howell & Co’s Grand Fashionable Magazine, which opened in 1796 in London. The first department store came about with the growing Industrial Revolution. Before then, rural towns would have a general store and maybe a market. Cities would have general stores and probably markets,
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