Past is full of curious stories and the past is what we have at all. These curious stories are what we call facts and these are what make history truly interesting.
Contents
1.
The most successful pirate in history was a Chinese Lady.
A Chinese woman named Ching Shih was the most successful pirate captain of all time. During the Peak of her power, She commanded over 1,800 pirate ships and an estimated 80,000 men. She is also famous as The Pirate Queen
2.
There were female Gladiators.
Rare though but it’s true there were female Gladiators in Ancient Rome and they were Known as gladiatrices (gladiatrix).
3.
Alexander the Great was buried alive.
Alexander the great suffered a rare disease that left him paralyzed for six days. His muscles were paralyzed enough that the doctors couldn’t figure breathings and announced him dead. So it’s was much likely that he was accidentally buried alive.
4.
The University of Oxford is older than the Aztec Empire.
The Aztec Empire was established in 1428 whereas the University of Oxford was established as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world.
5.
Albert Einstein was offered the Presidency of Israel.
Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952 but he rejected it saying he lacked “the natural aptitude and the experience to deal properly with people”
6.
Jewish slaves didn’t build the Pyramids.
The newly discovered tombs of people who worked on the Great Pyramids of Giza evidence that the pyramids were built by workers, not slaves. As it’s not likely for slaves to be buried that way.
7.
Vikings didn’t wear horned helmets.
It’s was the outcome of peoples imagination and result of some fascinating historical transposition rather a true fact. There is no any archaeological evidence that the vikings did wear horned-helmets. The helmets were used in order to protect head from impact during the battle, but having a pair of horn won’t help much.
8.
Before dentures were invented, The teeth of the dead were used as dentures.
In the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, the teeth of dead soldiers were pulled out and sold to dentists where they boil them, cut off their roots, mix with gold and shape them into dentures.
9.
Christopher Columbus didn’t discover America.
Columbus explored the Central and South American coasts but he never reached North America Native Americans. It is believed Leif Eriksson a Viking reached North America Nearly 500 years before the birth of Christopher Columbus
10.
“Fox Tossing” was once a popular sport.
Fox Tossing was a competitive blood sport which gained popularity in many parts of Europe especially Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries. It involved throwing live foxes and other animals high into the air.
11.
Napoleon Bonaparte more known as The Little Corporal wasn’t short
According to wiki Napoleon Bonaparte who led many successful battles during the French revolution and gained popularity as Little Corporal was 1.68 meters long which equivalent to 5 foot 6 inch which is indeed the average height of men.
12.
Albert Einstein didn’t fail Math.
Most of people believe that Einstein failed in math during his school days but the records shows that he was an extraordinary student with a good marks on Math and physics. There are few of his grade shits available in the internet which represents he might be weak in non-scientific subject but good at math during his young-hood.
13.
Rasputin survived being poisoned and being shot.
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man. He was stabbed in the stomach, shot in the chest, Poisoned beat, and finally murdered on December 16th, 1916. When the shooting failed to kill Rasputin, so they beat him, tied up his body, and threw it into the freezing waters of the Neva River. Pretty hard to kill huh!!
14.
During World War I, the French built a “fake Paris”.
During First word War, France decided to build a replica Paris outside the city 15 miles north of Paris to fool German bombers.
15.
Turkeys were once worshiped as Gods.
During 300 BC Mayan culture was a height and it was their tradition to worship Turkeys and it was part of most sacred rituals.
16.
The owners of the Titanic insist that They said it was unsinkable ship.
It was never said that the Titanic was an unsinkable ship as per the ship oners. They claim that the ‘unsinkable’ myth was the result of people’s interpretations which grew after the disaster.
17.
Thomas Edison Didn’t Invent the Light Bulb.
There were already different versions of light bulbs when Thomas Edison started working on Bulbs but they were somewhat different forms. More than 20 scientists had already worked on the light bulb before Edison with their own patents.
18.
Roman Emperor Caligula made one of his favorite horses a senator.
According to the ancient historian Suetonius, the Roman emperor known as Caligula loved one of his horses, Incitatus, so much that he made him a senator.
19.
The shortest war being fought lasted for only 38 minutes.
It was the Anglo-Zanzibar War fought between Zanzibar Sultanate and Great Britain on 27 August 1896. The military conflict lasted between 38 to 45 minutes, marking it as the shortest recorded war ever fought in history.
20.
Women Were Once Banned from Smoking in Public.
In 1908, a so-called law is known as ‘Sullivan Ordinance’ was passed in New York City and it was declared that it will be illegal for a woman to smoke in public places. The rule only lasted for two weeks.
21.
Abraham Lincoln was a champion wrestler.
Abraham Lincoln was a skilled wrestler who lost only a single match throughout his carrier of approximately 300 matches. He is enshrined in the Wrestling Hall of Fame.
22.
Foot Binding was considered to be attractive in ancient China
Chinese women used to bind their feet to about 10 centimetres in size to display social status and was considered beautiful. Mostly rich Chinese girls were used to follow such tradition.
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23.
The Greatest Gathering of Intelligence Ever – The iconic Photo
This iconic photograph was taken at the Fifth Solvay Conference in October 1927. All the greatest scientists of 20th centuries together in one picture- is’t that amazing.
24.It is believed Ancient Greece was the starting point of democracy
The term ‘Democracy’ itself is a Greek word. The first Democracy was established in 508-507 BC by Athenians. Athenians were led by Cleisthenes therefore he is referred to as “the father of Athenian democracy.”
26.
Paper was initially used for packing and protection rather than writing
Paper was invented during the 2nd century BC by the Chinese and they used it for packaging, protection, and even as toilet paper. Later on, people started to use it for writing purposes.
27.
The Roman Empire lasted for more than 1,000 years.
The Roman Empire was founded by Augustus Caesar in 31 BC and lasted till 476 AD marking the longest empire that lasted for more than 14 centuries.
28.
Hundreds of millions of people across Europe and Asia died due to the Black Death.
The Black Death, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis was deadliest disease ever recorded by mankind. The Black Death resulted in the deaths of up to 75–200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351.
29.
A war lasted 335 years with Zero causalities and no deaths.
The war between Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly ( rather an alleged state of war ) was fought for 335 years due to lack of peace treaty. The hypothetical war finally came to end with peace declared in 1986.
30.
The longest war fought continued till 781 years.
The Iberian Religious War with The conflict, known as the “Reconquista,” was fought between the Catholic Spanish Empire and the Moors living in present-day Morocco and Algeria from 711–1492.
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31.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi survived both the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and then later Nagasaki.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi, a Japanese marine engineer who luckily did survive both atomic bombings. He was leaving Hiroshima when the first bombing was made and got few injuries. He came to Nagasaki and limped to the hospital. When the other bomb hit Nagasaki he was in a meeting giving description of Hiroshima bombing. Here is an article by History.com on him.
32.
The well-Known rum brand Captain Morgan was a real Guy.
Yeah, It’s real the cartooned captain like person appearing on bottles of popular rum turns out to be based on a real person. His full name was Sir Henry Morgan, and he was born in Wales in 1635 and was in the British Royal Navy while England was at war with Spain.
33.
It was common to attach Bells to coffins.
It had been common to be buried alive in Victorian era so they came up with idea to attach bell to coffins. Over the period of time these safety coffins have saved many peoples buried alive.
34.
In Victorian England, people used to take pictures of their dead relatives in lifelike positions to keep as Mementos.
This historic tradition is what they used to call Post-mortem photography. Although Various cultures have followed this tradition but were mostly practiced in Europe and America.
35.
A jockey won a Race despite being Dead.
Frank Hayes is the only man to ever win a race despite being dead. On June 4, 1923, jockey Frank Hayes suffered a fatal heart attack in the middle of the race at Belmont Park. Hayes somehow remained in the saddle enough won race.
36.
In Ancient Rome, urine was used as a Mouthwash
It was common to use urine as mouthwash in Ancient Rome due to it’s good cleansing property. Both Human and Animal urine contain ammonia which acts as cleansing agent therefore is capable of whitening teeth.
37.
Heroin was once a perfectly acceptable medicine. Doctors prescribed it for everything from coughs to headaches.
A century ago , Heroin was widely used against coughs caused by serious and some common diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia but soon doctors discovered side effects. The patients requird more and more doses and soon become dependent on it. Therefore it was decleared a drug problem.
38.
Hitler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1939, Adolf Hitler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He was recommended by Erik Gottfrid Christian Brandt(A Member of national assemblies who can nominate candidates for the Peace Prize). It was only three months before he led invaded Poland and started World War II. This wasn’t intended to be taken seriously as this nomination was meant as a joke.
39.
In Renaissance France, a woman could take her husband to court if he was impotent.
In 16th century France, divorce was a rarity, reserved only for the well-to-do and possible only in exceptional cases. Back then erectile dysfunction was the only way in order to have a divorce
40.
The Government of US Poisoned Alcohol during 19’s.
In 1926 the government of the US decided to poison alcohol When people continued to consume alcohol despite its banning. Stat’s show that more than ten thousand peoples died due to the consumption of such alcohol.
41.
Researchers once turned a living cat completely to a working Telephone.
It was 1922 when Professor Ernest Glen Wever and his research assistant Charles William Bray at Princeton University turned a living but unconscious cat into a working telephone. The purpose of the experiment was to test how sound is perceived by the auditory nerve.
