History Facts

    Random History Facts

    There are 163 History Facts!

    In Ancient Greece, if a woman watched even one Olympic event, she was executed.
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    The first ever patent in the UK was Aaron Rathbone & Roger Burges, Map makers in 1618!
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    Clocks made before 1660 had only one hand - an hour hand.
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    The exact cause of death and burial site of Genghis Khan is unknown, because all of the 2000 funeral guests and 800 soldiers were killed in order to preserve the secret.
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    Knocker-Up
    Knocker-Up
    Until the 1920s, there was a profession called 'knocker-up', which involved going from client to client and tapping on their windows (or banging on their doors) with long sticks until they woke up.
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    The native Americans planted three sisters (corn, beans, and squash) together so that they would benefit each other. The corn provides a structure for the beans to climb. The beans provide the nitrogen to the soil, and the squash spreads along the ground preventing weeds.
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    During the Black Plague, it was thought that bad smells were the cause of the plague. "Plague Doctors" therefore wore masks with long beak-like noses stuffed with flowers or smoke to hide the smells.
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    Romans used a plant called Silphium as contraception. They had so much sex that they drove it into extinction.
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