History Facts
History is rich with fascinating and sometimes unbelievable things, so learn more about it with this regularly-updated list of history facts.
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During WW2, captured German officers were sent to Britain as POWs and lived in luxury in Trent Park. This was done to make them feel relaxed. However, they were being listened to by 100 ‘listeners’. They revealed secrets about the holocaust, events in Berlin, Hitler's madness and V2 rocket bases.
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162
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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163
The ancient Egyptians thought the function of the brain was to produce snot.
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164
The first ever patent in the UK was Aaron Rathbone & Roger Burges, Map makers in 1618!
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165
There is a 600 year old 240 paged book called the Voynich Manuscript, that’s written language is still completely unknown today.
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166
Approximately 25,000 workers died during the building of the Panama Canal, and approximately 20,000 of them contracted malaria and yellow fever.
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167
Contrary to popular belief, the first ironclad warships were built by Korea in the 16th century.
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168
The University of Oxford (teaching since 1096) predates the Aztec empire (1428 - 1521).
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169
The oldest stone tools found are dated from 2.7 - 2.9 million years ago. The species that made these tools is unknown.
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170
Pierre Jaquet-Droz, a watchmaker, 240 years ago invented a robot that could write, and the parts could be interchanged to say whatever you want.
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171
The site where the Parthenon was built had to be cleared of hundreds of dinosaur bones (then called giants' bones) before construction could begin.
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172
A monk had once written over a book that contained information about calculus that was written by Archimedes in ancient Greece that could have made us 100 or even 1000 years more mathematically and technologically advanced.
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173
In 2011, a couple bought a box of textbooks for $10. Inside, they found a 25-cent bill signed by the president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston, and subsequently sold it for $63,250.
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174
In 1542, French aristocrat Marguerite De La Rocque survived being marooned for 2 years alone on a remote island off the coast of Quebec.
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175
Early American humans hunted car-size armadillos and used their shells for houses.
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176
Everton FC used to be called St Domingo's FC!
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177
No one knows how many people died during the sinking of the Titanic.
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178
Mahatma Gandhi used to travel with his goat so that he could have fresh milk.
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179
Recently, archaeologists excavating in the old medieval town of Odense in Denmark uncovered 700-year-old barrels of poop - and, to their surprise, they still smelt.
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180
The first semi-permanent settlements appeared in Florida around 5000 B.C.
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