Ice cream cones were popularized in America during the 1904 World’s Fair in Saint Louis when an ice cream vendor ran out of cups and asked a nearby waffle vendor to roll up his waffles to hold the ice cream.
17
Sifrhippus was a species of horse about the size of an average duck and roamed North America 56 million years ago.
2
Rio de Janeiro was once capital of Portugal, making it the only European capital outside of Europe.
9
The University of Oxford (teaching since 1096) predates the Aztec empire (1428 - 1521).
14
Astronomer Percival Lowell believed that he was the first person to observe canals on Venus, but because of a faulty adjustment of the eyepiece on his telescope, he was in fact looking at the blood vessels in his own eye.
4
In 1518, a "dancing plague" struck Strasbourg, Alsace, whereby hundreds of people danced fervently in the streets over the period of a month. Some suffered heart attacks or strokes, and many others died from sheer exhaustion. It remains unexplained.
19