When were AD and BC decided? AD probably started in AD 525 and BC probably started in AD 731. All of these are “probably” because there is no concrete evidence. AD is an abbreviation for anno Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, and means “in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ”. BC stands for Before Christ. […]
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Did Christopher Columbus really think he had landed in India? Not India, but the Indies, and, yes, he did. When Columbus said he was aiming for the Indies, he wasn’t thinking of India. He was thinking of the islands to the east of Asia, such as Indonesia, the Philippines, and New Guinea. There were no
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Did Shakespeare write the plays attributed to him? The available evidence shows that, in all probability, Shakespeare was a real person who wrote his own plays. William Shakespeare was definitely a real person. There is no record of his birth and his birthday of 23rd April was given to him by a much later biographer
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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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