The most interesting and entertaining facts from history. Interesting historical facts
Interesting historical facts beckon with their diversity. Thanks to them, humanity has a unique opportunity to understand what happened in a particular period of development of a nation, society and states. Facts from history are not only what we were told in school. There are many secrets from this area of knowledge.
1. Peter the Great had his own method to fight alcoholism in the country. Drunkards were awarded medals, which weighed about 7 kilograms, and they could not be removed from oneself.
2. In the days of Ancient Russia, grasshoppers were called dragonflies.
3.The national anthem of Thailand was written by a Russian composer.
5. Those who urinated in the pond were executed during the time of Genghis Khan.
7. Braids were a sign of feudalism in China.
8. The virginity of English women in Tudor times was symbolized by bracelets on their hands and a tightly tightened corset.
9. Nero, who was an emperor in ancient Rome, married his male slave.
10. In ancient times in India, mutilation of the ears was used as a punishment.
11. Arabic numerals were not invented by Arabs, but by mathematicians from India.
13. Foot binding was considered an ancient tradition of the Chinese people. The essence of this was to make the foot smaller, and therefore more feminine and beautiful.
14. Morphine was once used to reduce coughs.
15. The ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun's parents were a sister and a brother.
16. Gaius Julius Caesar had the nickname "boots".
17. Elizabeth the First covered her own face with white lead and vinegar. So she hid traces of smallpox.
18. The hat of Monomakh was the symbol of the Russian tsars.
19. Pre-revolutionary Russia was considered the most non-drinking country.
20. Until the 18th century, Russia did not have a flag.
21.Since November 1941, there was a tax on childlessness in the Soviet Union. It was 6% of the total salary.
22. Help in clearing objects during the Second World War was provided by trained dogs.
23. Virtually no earthquake was recorded during large-scale nuclear tests in 1960-1990.
24. For Hitler, the main enemy was not Stalin, but Yuri Levitan. He even announced a reward of 250,000 marks for his head.
25. In the Icelandic "Saga of Hakon Hakonarson" it was said about Alexander Nevsky.
26. Fist fights have long been famous in Russia.
27. Catherine II abolished flogging for the military for same-sex contacts.
28. Only Joan of Dark managed to expel the invaders from France, who called herself the messenger of God.
29. The length of the Cossack gull, which we remember from the history of the Zaporizhzhya Sich, reached about 18 meters.
30. Genghis Khan defeated the Keraites, Merkits and Naimans.
31. By order of Emperor Augustus, in ancient Rome they did not build houses that were higher than 21 meters. This minimized the risk of being buried alive.
32. The Colosseum is considered the bloodiest place in history.
33. Alexander Nevsky had the military rank of "Khan".
34. In the days of the Russian Empire, it was allowed to carry edged weapons.
35. Soldiers in Napoleon's army addressed the generals as "you".
36. During the Roman war, soldiers lived in tents of 10 people.
37. Any touching of the emperor in Japan before World War II was blasphemy.
38. Boris and Gleb are the first Russian saints who were canonized in 1072.
39. A Red Army machine gunner with the name Semyon Konstantinovich Hitler, who was a Jew by nationality, participated in the Great Patriotic War.
40. In the old days in Russia, to clean pearls, they gave it to peck at a chicken. After that, the chicken was slaughtered, and the pearls were pulled out of her stomach.
41. From the very beginning, people who do not know how to speak Greek were called barbarians.
42. In pre-revolutionary Russia, name days for Orthodox people were a more important holiday than birthdays.
43. When England and Scotland came to an alliance, Great Britain was created.
44. After Alexander the Great brought cane sugar from one of his Indian campaigns to Greece, he immediately began to be called “Indian salt”.
45. In the 17th century, thermometers were filled not with mercury, but with cognac.
46. The Aztecs invented the first condom in the world. It was made from a fish bladder.
47. In 1983, not a single human birth was registered in the Vatican.
48. From the 9th to the 16th century in England there was a law that every man should practice archery every day.
49. When the Winter Palace was stormed, only 6 people died.
50. About 13,500 houses were destroyed in the great and famous fire of London in 1666.
History is full of the most incredible facts and oddities. People in the entire history of their existence not only created, but many did to their own detriment, believing that they had found a panacea for all diseases or an ideal political solution.
This review contains historical facts that seem somewhat strange from the height of centuries.
1. Clothing made from asbestos
The Romans used asbestos in clothing and everyday items such as dish towels, napkins and tablecloths. Pliny the Elder (a Roman polymath writer) said that, unlike ordinary cloth, asbestos objects could be cleaned simply by throwing them into a fire. He also noted that slaves who wore asbestos clothes often suffered from lung diseases.2. Heart versus brain
In ancient Egypt, it was believed that people think not with the help of the brain, but with the heart. The Egyptians believed that the brain was essentially just a "stuffing" for the head. For this reason, they carefully scraped it out of the head during embalming and threw it away, and the heart was preserved with great care.
3. "Plague costume"
During the plague in the Middle Ages, some doctors wore a primitive form of biohazard suit called a "plague suit". The mask of this costume had red glass eyepieces (to "make the wearer immune to evil") as well as a beak that was often filled with fragrant herbs and spices to kill the miasma that was also believed to spread plague.
4. 3370 years of war
"The Apotheosis of War" - a painting by Russian artist Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin.
During the last 3500 years, there have been a total of only 230 years without war worldwide. It is worth considering whether there is any benefit from the "peace movement".
5. Bearded men
Among the urban population of Western Europe and America, beards fell out of fashion at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1698, Peter the Great ordered all boyars to shave off their beards, and in 1705 he even introduced a tax on beards.
6. "The Tale of Two Lovers"
The best-selling book of the 15th century was an erotic book called The Tale of Two Lovers. Its author was none other than Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, otherwise known as Pope Pius II.
7. Sacred cats
In ancient Egypt, cats were considered sacred. When a family's beloved cat died, the entire family would shave off their eyebrows and mourn until the eyebrows grew back.
8. 20 slaves per Spartan
In 200 BC The Greek city of Sparta was at the height of its power. At this time, every citizen of Sparta had 20 slaves.
9. Prolonged war
Andorra declared war on Imperial Germany during World War I, but did not actually take part in the fighting. Interestingly, the country was officially at war until 1957, since it was not included in the Versailles Peace Treaty.
10. "Western schism"
During the so-called "Western Schism" or "Great Western Schism" (1378 - 1417), three people simultaneously claimed to be the true popes. When the cardinals refused to obey their chosen Pope Urban VI and declared him mentally ill, they elected an "alternative" Pope Clement VII. This caused great strife in the Church, which led to the election of a third Pope by the Council of Pisa.
11. From Pirates to Bankers
Sir William Paterson was the founder of the Bank of England. At the same time, few people know that before the foundation of the bank, he was suspected of piracy.12. Tea bags
In 1904, tea bags were invented quite by accident. Their inventor, Thomas Sullivan (a tea merchant), decided it would be cheaper for him to ship small samples of tea to potential customers in silk bags rather than boxes. The recipients mistakenly thought that these bags should be brewed. Sullivan was soon flooded with orders for his "tea bags."
13. First parachute
The oldest parachute design can be found in an anonymous Italian Renaissance manuscript that dates back to 1470. The design looked like a frame attached to a conical dome. The man was hung from this frame with four straps attached to his waist belt.
14. Tobacco enemas
There were tobacco enemas in the late 1700s. With their help, tobacco smoke was blown into the patient's rectum for various medical purposes, primarily for resuscitation of victims of drowning.
15. Ancient depilation
In ancient Rome, there were people who specialized in plucking armpit hair. Somewhere around 1 AD among Roman aristocrats it became fashionable to remove all body hair. The following requirements were imposed on people of this profession: the presence of tweezers, a strong arm and the ability to hold a resisting client in place.
I wonder what was the sex life of our ancestors? What were the poses? What were the customs? Or maybe intimacy was something vicious and sinful? This can be judged by ancient scriptures and folklore. And here are the findings of the researchers.
/ Historical facts
Who came up with the idea that women are fragile and weak creatures who cannot protect themselves? Let him stand up and be stoned. A few arguments that can turn your opinion about the women's world and women's existence. A fascinating journey through time will reveal many interesting secrets and facts to you.
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In the bustle of bustle, we forgot a little about the 125th anniversary of Mikhail Bulgakov, and when we remembered, in order not to be banal, we decided to tell not about the writer himself, but about an equally amazing person who became the prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky - surgeon Sergei Abramovich Voronov, who was considered a genius , and Frankenstein at the same time.
/ Historical facts
Art is forever. From rock art to digital art, our entire stay on this planet is laced with threads of paint, canvas, pencils and pastels. This is a kind of time funnel, with which you can be anywhere at any second. But what of all this is really worthy of being considered great?
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Great scientists and historians began to conduct deep research to prove or disprove the existence of some outstanding people. I propose to get acquainted with six historical figures, the existence of which causes the most controversy.
/ Historical facts
Now the phone is every minute access to the Internet, games, applications, and even two cameras to make it more convenient to take selfies. The telephone has become an indicator of a person's social status in society. Now it serves not for voice communication, but more for text, through social networks and text messages. But once it was different...
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Amazing architectural monuments, man-made masterpieces and archeological finds that go beyond our understanding, dating back centuries and millennia BC, present the history of human civilization in a completely different light. Read on to know more.
/ Historical facts
Are your new designer jeans so tight they won't let you breathe? Shoes make a date hell? Well, put your heels aside and check out the real "instruments of torture" that were once on the must-have list of any self-respecting fashionista. We present to your attention the five most unsafe fashion delights for health.
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What does it mean if a person "begs the belly" to avoid being "hanged" as punishment for a "petty betrayal" in the hopes of simply being sentenced to "relocation"? These are terms used daily in courtrooms throughout the 16th and 19th centuries, each representing a fascinating and often disturbing piece of our history. I offer 15 historical crimes and punishments.
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Speaking of cruelty and evil, we often think of murderers, maniacs and rapists. But have you ever thought about the fact that in 100% of cases male names come to mind? But how could it be otherwise? After all, a woman is a mother, it is tenderness and love. But history shows that indescribable unimaginable cruelty sometimes settled in a fragile female heart.
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We are surrounded by many things, without which we simply cannot imagine our life, they are so "for granted" for us. It's hard to believe that once there were no matches, pillows or forks for food. But all these items have come a long way of modifications to get to us in the form in which we know them. I propose to learn the complex history of simple things. Part 2.
/ Historical facts
We are surrounded by many things, without which we simply cannot imagine our life, they are so "for granted" for us. It's hard to believe that once upon a time there was no comb, tea bag or buttons. But all these items have come a long way of modifications to get to us in the form in which we know them. I propose to learn the complex history of simple things.
/ Historical facts
“Our” habits are the habits of post-Soviet people. We were brought up and grew up in approximately equal conditions, with the same opportunities. And customs and traditions have made us recognizable almost all over the world. Yes, and lost in a foreign country, we can still get to know each other, even if we don’t talk. One word: "ours"!
1. in Napoleon's army, soldiers could address generals as "you".
2. In Russia, grasshoppers were called dragonflies.
3. punishment with rods was abolished in Russia only in 1903.
4. The "Hundred Years War" lasted 116 years.
5. What we call the Caribbean crisis, the Americans call the Cuban crisis, and the Cubans themselves - the October crisis.
6. The shortest war in history was the war between Great Britain and Zanzibar on August 27, 1896. It lasted exactly 38 minutes.
7. The first atomic bomb dropped on Japan was on a plane called the Enola Gay. The second is on the Bock's Car plane.
8. Under Peter I, a special department was created in Russia to receive petitions and complaints, which was called ... racketmaking.
9. On June 4, 1888, the New York State Congress passed a bill abolishing the hanging. The reason for this "humane" act was the introduction of a new method of the death penalty - the electric chair. 10. According to an agreement between the engineer Gustave Eiffel and the city authorities of Paris, in 1909 the Eiffel Tower was to be dismantled) and sold for scrap.
11. The Spanish Inquisition persecuted many groups of the population, but more than other Cathars, Marranos and Moriscos. The Cathars are followers of the Albigensian heresy, the Marranos are baptized Jews, and the Moriscos are baptized Muslims.
12. The first Japanese who came to Russia was Denbei, the son of a merchant from Osaka. His ship was nailed to the shores of Kamchatka in 1695. In 1701 he reached Moscow. Peter I appointed him to teach Japanese to several teenagers. 13. Only in 1947 in England was the position of a person who was supposed to fire a cannon fired when Napoleon Bonaparte entered England was abolished. 14. Guy de Maupassant, Alexandre Dumas, Charles Gounod, Leconte de Lisle and many other cultural figures signed the famous protest against ... "Disfiguring Paris with the Eiffel Tower."
15. When the famous German physicist Albert Einstein died, his last words went with him. The nurse next to him did not understand a word of German. 16. In the Middle Ages, students were forbidden to carry knives, swords and pistols and appear on the street after 21:00, because ... this posed a great danger to the townspeople.
17. On the tombstone of the monument to Suvorov, it is written simply: "Here Lies Suvorov." 18. Between the two world wars, more than 40 different governments changed in France. 19. For the last 13 centuries, the imperial throne in Japan has been occupied by the same dynasty.
20. One of the American aircraft in Vietnam hit itself with a missile. 21. The mad Roman emperor Caligula once decided to declare war on the god of the seas - Poseidon, after which he ordered his soldiers to randomly throw their spears into the water. By the way, from the Roman "Caligula" means "little shoe". 22. Abdul Kassim Ismail - the Grand Vizier of Persia (10th century) was always near his library. Only if he went somewhere, the library "followed" him. 117 thousand book volumes were transported by four hundred camels. Moreover, books (i.e. camels) were arranged in alphabetical order.
23. Nothing is impossible now. If you want to buy a car in Guryevsk - please, if you want - in another city. But the fact remains, it needs to be registered and get license plates. So, the Berlin businessman Rudolf Duke attached the very first car number to his car. It happened in 1901. There were only three characters on his number - IA1 (IA are the initials of his young wife Johanna Anker, and the unit means that she is his first and only.
24. At the end of the evening prayer on the ships of the Russian Imperial Navy, the officer on duty commanded "Cover yourself!", which meant putting on headgear, and at the same time the prayer all-clear signal was given. Such a prayer usually lasted 15 minutes. 25. In 1914, the German colonies had a population of 12 million people, and the British - almost 400 million. 26. In the entire history of temperature registration in Russia, the coldest winter was the winter of 1740
27. In the modern army, the rank of cornet corresponds to an ensign, and the rank of lieutenant corresponds to a lieutenant.
28. The Thai national anthem was written in 1902 by the Russian composer Pyotr Shchurovsky.
29. Until 1703, clean ponds in Moscow were called ... filthy ponds.
30. The first book printed in England was devoted to ... chess. 31. The population of the world in 5000 BC. e. was 5 million people.
32. In ancient China, people committed suicide by eating a pound of salt. 33. A list of gifts to Stalin in honor of his seventieth birthday was published in Soviet newspapers from December 1949 to March 1953.
34. Nicholas I gave his officers the choice between a guardhouse and listening to Glinka's operas as punishment. 35. Above the entrance to the Lyceum of Aristotle was the inscription: "The entrance here is open to anyone who wishes to dispel the errors of Plato."
36. The third decree after the "Decree on Peace" and the "Decree on Land" issued by the Bolsheviks was the "Decree on Spelling". 37. During the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on August 24, 79, in addition to the well-known city of Pompeii, the cities of Herculaneum and Stabiae also perished.
38. Fascist Germany - the "Third Reich", the Hohenzoller Empire (1870-1918) - the "Second Reich", the Holy Roman Empire - the "First Reich".
39. in the Roman army, soldiers lived in tents of 10 people. At the head of each tent was an elder, who was called ... dean. 40. A tightly tightened corset and a large number of bracelets on the hands in England during the reign of the Tudors were considered a sign of virginity.
41. FBI agents did not acquire the right to bear arms until 1934, 26 years after the founding of the FBI.
42. Until the Second World War in Japan, any touch to the emperor was considered blasphemy.
43. On February 16, 1568, the Spanish Inquisition pronounced a death sentence on all the inhabitants of the Netherlands. 44. In 1911, in China, braids were recognized as a sign of feudalism and therefore their wearing was prohibited.
45. The first party card of the CPSU belonged to Lenin, the second to Brezhnev (the third to Suslov, and the fourth to Kosygin.
46. The American Physical Education League, the first naturist organization in the United States, was founded on December 4, 1929. 47. In 213 BC. e. Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huangdi ordered to burn all the books available in the country.
48. In Madagascar in 1610, King Ralambo created the state of Imerin, which means "As far as the eye sees."
49. The first Russian saints were Boris and Gleb, canonized in 1072.
50. one of the punishments for criminals in ancient India was ... mutilation of the ears.
51. Of the 266 people who occupied the papal throne, 33 died a violent death.
52. In Russia, the original was a stick used to beat a witness, seeking the truth. 53. In normal weather, the Romans wore a tunic, and when the cold came, several tunics.
54. in ancient Rome, a group of slaves belonging to one person was called ... a surname. 55. The Roman emperor Nero married a man - one of his slaves named skorus.
56. Until 1361, in England, legal proceedings were conducted exclusively in French. 57. Having accepted the surrender, the Soviet Union did not sign peace with Germany, that is, it remained at war with Germany. The war with Germany was ended on January 21, 1955 by the adoption of a corresponding decision by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Nevertheless, May 9 is considered the day of victory - the day the act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed.
58. The eruption of the Mexican volcano Paricutin lasted 9 years (from 1943 to 1952. During this time, the cone of the volcano rose to 2774 meters. 59. To date, archaeologists have discovered on the territory associated with ancient Troy, traces of nine fortresses - settlements that existed in different era.
1. Albert Einstein could have been president. In 1952 he was offered the post of the second President of Israel, but he refused.
2. Kim Jong Il was a good composer and throughout his life the Korean leader composed 6 operas.
3. The Leaning Tower of Pisa has always been leaning. In 1173, a team building the Leaning Tower of Pisa noticed that the base was warped. Construction was halted for almost 100 years, but the structure was never straight.
4. Arabic numerals were not invented by Arabs, but by Indian mathematicians.
5. Before the invention of alarm clocks, there was a profession that consisted of waking other people up in the morning. So, for example, a person had to shoot dried peas at other people's windows to wake them up for work.
See also: The biggest mistakes in history
6. Grigory Rasputin survived many assassination attempts in one day. They tried to poison him, shoot him and stab him, but he managed to survive. In the end, Rasputin died in a cold river.
7. The shortest war in history lasted less than an hour. The Anglo-Zanzibar War lasted 38 minutes.
8. The longest war in history took place between the Netherlands and the Scilly archipelago. The war lasted 335 years from 1651 to 1989 with no casualties on either side.
By the 20th century, mankind had reached unprecedented heights: we discovered electricity, conquered the heavens and the depths of the sea, learned how to heal many diseases, quickly transmit messages over great distances, even space and nuclear energy were conquered by us. However, along with these achievements, the 20th century can be called the peak of the madness of the human race, when, with their reckless behavior, people practically brought themselves to the brink of annihilation in two world wars ...
Almost 80% of Soviet men born in 1923 died in the Great Patriotic War. 
Ivan Burylov, who wrote the word "comedy" on the ballot paper, received 8 years in the camps, 1949. 
Husband is Protestant, wife is Catholic. The community did not allow them to be buried in the same cemetery. Holland, 1888 
The creator of the popular cartoon "Shrek" William Steig copied his character from the professional wrestler Maurice Tiye 
In 1859, 24 rabbits were released into the wild in Australia. For 6 years, their number has increased to 6,000,000 individuals ... 
Note by Yuri Gagarin, written after the flight around the Earth. 
King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland George V and his brother - Emperor of All Russia Nicholas II. 
The first photograph on Earth. 
The diameter of Soviet cigarettes is 7.62 mm, like the cartridge caliber. There is a widespread myth that all production was set up so that after 2 hours it was ready for the release of cartridges. 
Afghanistan 1973 and 2016. 
"Give me 5 years and you won't recognize Germany." - A. Hitler 
John Rockefeller dreamed of earning $100,000 and living to be 100 years old. And he earned $192 billion and died at 97. Not all dreams come true. 
Terry Savchuk - the face of a hockey goaltender, when the mask was not yet a mandatory attribute, 1966. 
Mortgage - definition in the Soviet dictionary. 
Women's Minister Angela Merkel and Chancellor Kohl. 1991 And then 10 years later she fired him. 
Stalin's son Yakov Dzhugashvili in German captivity, 1941. Later he was killed in a prison camp - his father refused to exchange him for captured German generals. 
Public execution on the guillotine, France, 1939. 
Australia in the middle of the 20th century. Very soon the USSR will send Gagarin into space. 
A hotel manager pours acid into a pool filled with blacks, 1964. USA. 
The Auschwitz concentration camp is the same furnace in which people were burned. 
In 1938, Stalin offered the pilot Valery Chkalov to head the NKVD. However, Chkalov refused.
In the 5th century BC. The Spartan commander Pausanias betrayed his homeland to the Persians. The betrayal was discovered, and the court decided to execute the traitor. Pausanias hid in the temple of the goddess Athena, knowing that killing on the temple grounds was considered sacrilege. However, the Spartans still found a way out: they immured Pausanias in the temple.
All theater in pre-Aeschylean ancient Greece was a "one-man theatre": one person played all the roles. Aeschylus introduced a second actor, and Sophocles a third.
Alexander the Great was very handsome, but two things spoiled the matter: short stature - only one and a half meters and the habit of tilting his head to the right and looking, as it were, into the distance.
Modern optometrists tend to believe that the king suffered from a rare pathology of vision called “Brown's syndrome.” In Pompeii, where there were barely 20 thousand inhabitants, seven brothels were discovered during excavations, some of them simultaneously served as taverns, others as barbers.
In the Middle Ages, beds in noble houses were necessarily supplied with a canopy on four columns. The fact is that there were no glasses in the windows of that time, and therefore cruel drafts were walking in the bedrooms.
Railroad tracks in Europe were laid on cart tracks left over from the time of the ancient Romans. The distance between the wheels of Roman carts was standard: two horse backs.
The Danish king Niels, who ruled in the 12th century (1104-1134), had the smallest army ever in the world. It consisted of ... 7 people - his personal assistants. With this army, Nils ruled Denmark for 30 years, and at that time Denmark also included part of Sweden and Norway, as well as some parts of Northern Germany.
Nicholas II had only the military rank of colonel. Napoleon overslept the battle of Waterloo. He was tormented by hemorrhoids, which were treated with enemas with painkillers that caused severe drowsiness. Bonaparte fell asleep before the fight, and no one dared to wake him up until the most critical moment.
The place and role of historical facts in the process of cognition is determined by the fact that only on the basis of these "bricks" can one put forward hypotheses and build theories. There is no single definition of historical fact. The following interpretations of the term "historical fact" are most common:
- it is an objective event or phenomenon of the past;
- these are traces of the past, i.e. images that are captured in historical documents.
Many scientists (A.P. Pronshtein, I.N. Danilevsky, M.A. Varshavchik) singled out three categories of historical facts: objectively existing facts of reality, located in certain spatio-temporal limits and possessing materiality (historical events, phenomena and processes as such). facts reflected in the sources, information about the event; "scientific facts" obtained and described by the historian.
In the interpretation of M.A. Barga the concept of "historical fact" has several meanings. First, a historical fact, as a fragment of historical reality, having "chronological completeness and ontological inexhaustibility". Second, "source message"; thirdly, the "scientific-historical fact" - in its "cognitive incompleteness, in content variability, cumulativeness, the ability to endless enrichment and development" along with the development of "historical science" itself.
A scientific historical fact is a historical fact that has become the object of activity of a scientist historian; the result of an inference based on traces left by the past. These facts are always subjective, they reflect the position of the scientist, the level of his qualifications and education. The academic subject most often presents scientific and historical facts that are described, systematized and explained. Any historical fact can contain the general, universal, individual. Taking into account this specificity, three groups of facts are conditionally distinguished in the methodology of teaching history: a fact - an event - characterizing the unique, inimitable; fact - phenomenon - reflecting the typical, general; fact - processes - defining the universal. These facts have undergone logical processing and are presented in logical forms: representations (images) contain a characteristic of the external side in the form of a description; concepts, ideas, theories that characterize the essence and provide an explanation of the historical past. Facts-processes are presented by description, explanation, evaluation.
Every year in May, Mother's Day is celebrated all over the world. On this day, congratulations and gifts are given to mothers and pregnant women. Motherhood is an amazing state, but even women themselves do not know some facts about it:
- The word "mama" in all languages sounds about the same: Russian, Chinese and Spanish children call their mother "mama", English and German - "mum". And the secret is simple: the children themselves came up with this word. One of the first syllables that a child pronounces is “ma”, and he determined the name of the most important person in the life of each of us.
- A woman carries a child for nine months, he is born, the umbilical cord is cut, but his connection with his mother does not end there. During pregnancy, mother and baby exchange cells through the placenta, and these cells in a woman's body sometimes remain for a very long time.
- Pregnancy causes changes in a woman's brain.
- A child's successful personal life depends on how close his relationship with his mother was. Scientists believe that it is the mother who instills in the child the ability to love and feel, which helps him build a happy relationship with the opposite sex.
- Mothers feel if something happened to the child, even if the latter is already an adult, accomplished person.
- Children know the voice of their mother, not yet born into the world. Scientists have conducted a number of studies, as a result of which it was revealed that the child in the womb responds to the voice of the mother and does not react at all to extraneous voices.
If you look back at the history of mankind, you can find many events that influenced its development. These are wars that determined the borders and destinies of states; world religions and their laws; scientific discoveries. But the most interesting facts in the history of mankind may relate to his daily life. It was they who formed the habits, traditions and way of life of people.
1. Invention of the alphabet. It is well known that one of the first examples of phonetic writing is the Phoenician alphabet. It is from him that most modern alphabetic systems originate. It is also a well-known fact that the Phoenician alphabet became the basis for the writing of the ancient Greeks.
It was the Hellenes who made an important transformation in the alphabetical system - they began to write vowels. There are two alphabetic systems in the world: consonant, where only consonants are written, and consonant-phonetic, where both consonants and vowels are written. It is to this system of recording sounds that the alphabets of modern European countries and Russia go back.
According to archeology, the first records using the Hellenic alphabet were made in the 8th century BC. One of the theories for the emergence of a consonant-phonetic system for recording sounds is the need to record Homer's poems and other poetic works.
Already in the 13th century, there was a practice in Europe that made it possible to quickly create several copies of one book - scribes simultaneously copied different parts of the embroidered book, and then took new ones.
Since the 15th century, woodcuts have been used - printing with wooden blocks. Around 1450, movable types made of metal were invented, which made it possible to create books more quickly. The first printing press was opened by Johannes Gutenberg. Following his initiative, printing houses began to appear throughout Europe. The Department of Printing began to operate at the University of Paris, the best books were printed in Antwerp and Venice. In the 16th century, the typographic press opened the way for new books with a secular content.
3. Create an encyclopedia. Most Internet users at least occasionally turn to Internet encyclopedias. The most popular of them is Wikipedia. In addition to it, there are a number of more specialized projects that are replenished according to a similar principle - by enthusiasts at no cost. The very idea of an encyclopedia as a book, where all knowledge is collected together, belongs to the ancient world - the "Disciplines" of Mark Terentius Varro. In antiquity and the Middle Ages, many works were published that claimed to present all the knowledge available at that time.
The 18th century brought a new idea of encyclopedism - a book where articles are grouped alphabetically rather than by topic. In 1704-1710, under the editorship of John Harris, a scholar and priest of the Anglican Church, the Lexicon Technicum was published. Articles in it were arranged in alphabetical order and were devoted to the natural and mathematical sciences. One of the authors of the lexicon was Isaac Newton. The success of the new encyclopedia inspired publisher Ephraim Chambers. In 1728 he published the Cyclopedia. It was followed by multi-volume universal books in the 18th - 20th centuries - the Encyclopedia of the French Enlighteners, British, Great Soviet. The Internet has opened up new possibilities for the encyclopedia, which led to the creation of Wikipedia, but the Lexicon Technicum volumes are at the heart of it.
4. The emergence of coffee in Europe.The most interesting facts in the history of mankind may relate to the history of the culture of drinking. According to statistics, in the last decade in Russia, 70% of the population regularly drinks coffee. This drink is also popular in other countries. In the modern world, a whole culture is being formed around this drink - traditions, popular brands, the very image of coffee in popular culture.
The homeland of coffee beans is East Africa. From there, in the Middle Ages, they came to Arabia, and then to Turkey. The first coffee houses began to operate in the Ottoman Empire. In the second half of the 16th century, coffee came to Europe, where they also began to open coffee shops.
The new drink, along with tea, changed the way of life of Europeans, because in Western countries they began to drink less alcohol. The Spaniards and the British began to establish coffee plantations in their colonies, and this is how the drink crossed the ocean. There were heated debates at the scientific departments of Europe: some doctors assured listeners of the harmfulness of the drink, others called it a panacea for all diseases. The drink had many opponents, and even Johann Sebastian Bach in a cantata ridiculed the commitment of Leipzig women to it. But in the 16th century, coffee firmly entered the lives of Europeans (and later Russians) and remains there to this day.
On September 30, 1847, the Vegetarian Society was founded in the English city of Manchester. A few decades before him, in European and especially English societies, there were disputes about the benefits and harms of eating meat and the moral aspects of the problem. The famous poet Percy Shelley published a treatise defending the "natural" vegetarian diet.
The founders of the society were members of the Biblical Christian Church, a religious organization, one of the principles of which was vegetarianism. During 1847, preparations were made for the creation of a new society of vegetarians. In the summer, a “physiological conference” was held, in which 130 people took part, and it was decided to meet again in September.
Paradoxically, the development of the vegetarian movement in the 19th century was a response to the spread of meat. Until recently, this product was elitist, and the general population could not afford it. In the 19th century, the situation changed, and large sections of the urban population became "meat-eaters".
The Vegetarian Society in Manchester continued to exist and meet. Six years later, the number of its members approached 900, and by the end of the century - to 5 thousand. In the 20th century, vegetarians were engaged in promoting their views on healthy eating, demanding that manufacturers remove "non-vegetarian" components from some products.
Over the years, well-known people of their time were members of the society. In particular, the Indian freedom fighter and non-violent resistance Mahatma Gandhi.
These are a few episodes from world history. But they show that the most interesting facts in the history of mankind occurred in different eras. And with seeming insignificance, they shaped the world as it became by the beginning of the 21st century.