History Facts

    Random History Facts

    There are 163 History Facts!

    Until the nineteenth century, solid blocks of tea were used as money in Siberia.
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    The University of Oxford (teaching since 1096) predates the Aztec empire (1428 - 1521).
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    Leonardo Da Vinci made a robotic lion in 1515 that would walk, sway, open its mouth and move its tail - it even had a compartment that opened to present flowers.
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    There are pictures of Knights fighting Snails in old Medieval manuscripts - and nobody knows why.
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    Rocket Mail
    Rocket Mail
    In 1959, the USPS attempted to deliver mail via cruise missile and successfully shipped 3,000 pieces of mail from Virginia to Florida in 22 minutes.
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    Candle Clocks
    Candle Clocks
    Before clocks, there were candle clocks that when burned, indicated the passage of periods of time. To set an alarm, you pushed a nail into the desired point and the nail would fall and clank on the metal holder.
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    During the Gold Rush in 1849, some people paid as much as $100 for a glass of water!
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    In 1963, the US Military created an artificial ring around Earth, similar to that of the planet Saturn. The ring was made of copper needles and was used for worldwide communications in the case that the Soviets disabled all other methods of communication.
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