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Join for content related to world history, archaeology, and historiography. Run by @its_just_b - feedback and messages welcome.
https://mapoftheweek.blogspot.com/2018/08/sheep-and-wheat.html
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In the 'Great Race' mentioned above, the rabbit struggled against the current but managed to hop onto a log, coming fourth.
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Zigi Shipper (1930-2023). He was a notable survivor of the Holocaust who survived several concentration camps because he was used as slave labour.
He was from Łódź in Poland and in in 1944 was deported from the ghetto there to be used as slave labour at Auschwitz. His father was never seen again. With the advance of the Soviet army he was relocated; first to Danzig, and then sent on a death march westwards. With the collapse of the Nazi army he found himself in the British occupation zone.
I had the pleasure of meeting the man in 2014 and found him charming and light-hearted despite having experienced a great deal of trauma.
Source
https://www.khm.uio.no/english/news/found-the-world-s-oldest-rune-stone.html
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Japanese pictorial map of the world, showing national stereotypes and commentary.
(Ogawa Harumoto, Tokyo, 1924)
Source
Boy's suit (U.S., 1860s)
As this time it was common for middle and upper-class boys to wear skirts.
The plaid style originated from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Source
There is a whole book of sources on it
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6zn4b4jv
9 January 1857: The Fort Tejon earthquake occurs. Affecting California, it is one of the largest earthquakes within the modern territory of the US, at a magnitude of 7.9. But the area was sparely populated at the time and only two people are known to have died; a woman, when her adobe house collapsed, and a man in Los Angeles, who died of a heart attack. Rivers apparently ran backwards and the local Native American population reported great panic.
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"I'll split the atom. I am the fifth dimension. I am the eighth wonder of the world." - Gef
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The haunting of Gef the Talking Mongoose was a somewhat bizarre case that took place on the Isle of Man, in Great Britain, in the early 1930s. The Irving family, who lived in a farmhouse in Dalby, claimed they had heard scratching and strange noises until a talking mongoose emerged and introduced itself as Gef, having been born in India in 1852.
Gef was helpful around the house but could also be rude and threatening.
For some reason this generated enormous press coverage. Many paranormal researchers also visited the house, including the famous Harry Price.
No confirmed photos of the mongoose were ever taken, and hair samples appeared to belong to the family dog, Mona. However several people claimed to have seen and heard the mongoose.
Today is Epiphany, the day on which the Magi allegedly visited the newborn Jesus, bringing the Christmas period to a close.
Image: Adoration of the Magi in the Benedictional of St Æthelwold. c.963-984, England.
The only other pope to voluntarily resign was Celestine V in 1294, a troubled and inexperienced leader who did not flourish in the role. He was imprisoned for his trouble.
(Image: Niccolò di Tommaso)
"Herzlichen Neujahrsgruss!" (Happy New Year's greetings!) (Anonymous, 1914)
Austro-Hungarian Postcard showing a soldier at the front, thinking about his wife and daughter at home.
Caption and source
Two Generals at the Battle of Fenghuangcheng (Yosai Nobukazu, Japan, 1894).
This was during the Sino-Japanese War. The important strategic town, located in Liaoning in China, was taken without much fight as it was abandoned by the Chinese.
Source
Rome became capital of a united Italy on February 3rd 1871. Here are some photos from that time. Many regions of the city were undeveloped, but these photos are unrepresentative of most of the city at the time.
Source (Italian)
22 January is the Lunar New Year. In China, it is the year of the rabbit, associated with gentleness, quiet, and kindness, but also a streak of arrogance.
Image source
https://www.historiskmuseum.no/english/exhibitions/worlds-oldest-rune-stone
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The oldest known rune stone, about 2,000 years old. Found near Tyrifjorden in Norway a few years ago, the discovery has now been made public.
The stone may have been made for someone called Idibera; the letters read "idiberug". However marks on the stone also look as though someone was practising writing.
This is not a river traffic jam but actually Khlong Mahanak floating market, Bangkok.
Source
Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein with Chinese actors. (Boris Vdovenko Moscow, 1935.)
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Indeed much physical evidence was pinned on Mona (pictured). But the most common theory of where the voice came from is that it was an invention of Voirrey Irving, the daughter (above), who might have had a gift for ventriloquism. She died in 2005, still denying this.
Although the subsequent owner claimed to have shot and killed Gef, the body produced did not match the description of the mongoose.
Portrait of an unidentified Ojibwe (Chippewa) girl. (Roland W. Reed, U.S., 1907).
The Ojibwe originally lived in the area roughly corresponding to southeastern Canada and north-central United States.
Source: National Geographic Archives.
Pope Benedict XVI, who recently died in retirement, carries the distinction of being the first pope to resign in almost 600 years. In 1415, Gregory XII was forced to resign to resolve the Western Schism, where multiple popes claimed the title. John XXIII and Benedict XIII were also forced to resign, but they are not formally recognised as rightful popes.
(Image: Pedro Berruguete and Pedro Berruguete, 1476).