The world's first Buddhist ruler, Emperor Ashoka, who ruled India from 274-232 BCE, was the first ruler in human history to ban slavery, the death penalty, animal cruelty, and deforestation. He even advocated gender equality in education and religious institutions.
32
Romans used a plant called Silphium as contraception. They had so much sex that they drove it into extinction.
24
The Aztecs were the first to serve chocolate as a drink. They also mixed it with hot chili pepper to make it really 'hot'.
13
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.
16
In ancient Athens, the worlds first democracy, they had a process called ostracism, where once a year the people could vote on the politician they thought was most destructive to the democratic process. The “winner” was banished from Athens for 10 years.
3
Shakespeare invented over 1,700 words that we use today.
17