History

geteilt von: https://feditown.com/post/33899

Really interesting article about airlines, independent safety inspectors and Russia

British Library uses new technique to uncover passages of Camden’s Annals, the first official account of Elizabeth’s reign

The Minoan style headbands from Egypt during the 18th dynasty is particularly interesting.

Part 2 is here

An in-depth look at Historiography across the African continent.

alt link if it doesn't work.

The Burr–Hamilton duel took place in Weehawken, New Jersey, between Aaron Burr, the third Vice President of the United States, and Alexander Hamilton, the first and former Secretary of the Treasury, at dawn on July 11, 1804. The duel was the culmination of a bitter rivalry that had developed between both men, who had become high-profile politicians in post-colonial America. In the duel, Burr fatally shot Hamilton in the abdomen, while Hamilton fired into a tree branch above and behind Burr's head. Hamilton was taken back across the Hudson River, and he died the following day in New York.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr%E2%80%93Hamilton_duel

After the whole reddit API fiasco, I wanted a way to browse the AskHistorians subreddit on my phone without using the reddit app or website. It also bugged me to have all this valuable information on a site that might make it disappear on a whim.

So, I present to you the AskHistorians Archive. It allows you to browse past submissions to the subreddit, it's ad-free, works on mobile, loads fast, and works without JS.

For now, it only contains some of the most recent posts up until 2022-12-31, but I'm planning to upload more over time.

I hope this is useful to some - happy to hear and implement any feedback!

I will choose “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson - This book explores a wide range of scientific topics, including the history of the universe, Earth, and humanity, in an entertaining way.

If I could witness any historical event firsthand, I would choose to witness the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1207808

In 2008, archaeologists in Valencina, Spain, discovered a stunningly ornate tomb. The single-occupancy grave, a rarity in itself for the time, contained a treasure trove of valuables: a rock crystal dagger, high-quality flint, ostrich eggshells and ivory, including the tusk of an African elephant.

Dating to the Iberian Copper Age—some 5,000 years ago—it held an individual who likely died between the ages of 17 and 25. Assuming the tomb belonged to a wealthy, powerful leader, scientists called this individual the “Ivory Man.” But now, 15 years later, researchers have determined that the Ivory Man was actually an “Ivory Lady,” according to a study published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.

To reach this conclusion, researchers used a new technique that can identify an individual’s sex based on tooth enamel. This process can be more effective than DNA analysis when studying remains in especially poor condition.

This new research shows that women could hold high-status roles in Iberian society at the time—and that this particular woman may have even been the “highest-ranked person” during her lifetime, says study co-author Leonardo García Sanjuán, an archaeologist at the University of Seville in Spain, to Live Science’s Jennifer Nalewicki. He adds that the Ivory Lady’s wealth and social status were impressive even when compared against a database of approximately 2,000 Copper Age burials in the region.

“The Ivory Lady totally stands out, head and shoulders above the rest, either male or female,” he tells Science’s Celina Zhao.

Researchers think that the Ivory Lady may have been revered for several generations, reports CNN’s Katie Hunt. Other graves and artifacts around her tomb date to as late as 200 years after her death.

Additionally, one nearby tomb—the only “comparably lavish” grave in the area, according to a statement announcing the new study—contains the remains of at least 15 women, suggesting that other women held leadership positions and high status during this period. (...)

The Great Fire of London in 1666, ignited by a small flame in a bakery on Pudding Lane, swiftly escalated into a devastating inferno that ravaged the city. Consuming over 13,000 houses and 87 churches, the fire's destructive path seemed unstoppable.

Yet, amidst the chaos, the remarkable fact remains that only six recorded deaths occurred, a testament to the city's successful evacuation and the absence of high casualty figures in such a catastrophic event. This historic fire prompted significant urban planning changes and the rebuilding of London, ultimately shaping the city's architectural landscape for centuries to come.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_London

After the death of Sultan Khalid, the British supported the appointment of Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini as his successor. However, Khalid's cousin, Sultan Khalid bin Barghash, declared himself the new sultan and refused to step down. The British, having significant military presence in the region, issued an ultimatum demanding Khalid's surrender by 9:00 a.m. on August 27, 1896.

When the deadline passed, the British launched a bombardment on the Sultan's palace and other strategic targets using warships anchored in the harbor. Zanzibar's defenses, consisting mainly of outdated wooden warships and a few shore batteries, were no match for the superior firepower of the British.

Hawaiian Islands annexed by the United States The U.S. Congress annexed Hawaii through a joint resolution signed by President William McKinley on this day in 1898, paving the way for the islands to become a territory (1900) and later a U.S. state (1959).

Editor’s note: Below are some excerpts from a speech on the meaning of the Fourth of July delivered by Frederick Douglass in Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852.

nbclosangeles

Through history, the Fourth of July has been a day for some presidents to declare their independence from the public. They’ve bailed to the beach, the mountains, the golf course, the farm, the ranch. In the middle of the Depression, Franklin Roosevelt was sailing to Hawaii on a fishing and working vacation.

It’s also been a day for some presidents to insert themselves front and center in the fabric of it all.

Teddy Roosevelt drew hundreds of thousands for his July Fourth oratory. In 2019, Donald Trump marshaled tanks, bombers and other war machinery for a celebration that typically avoids military muscle.

Richard Nixon enraged the anti-war masses without even showing up. As the anti-Nixon demonstrations of 1970 showed, Independence Day in the capital isn’t always just fun and games. It has a tradition of red, white and boo, too.

In modern times, though, presidents have tended to stand back and let the people party.

George W. Bush had a ceremony welcoming immigrants as new citizens. Barack Obama threw a South Lawn barbecue for troops. Bill Clinton went to the shores of Chesapeake Bay to watch a young bald eagle named Freedom be released to the wild.

In 2021, Joe Biden gathered more than 1,000 people on the White House South Lawn to eat burgers and watch fireworks. That event was noteworthy because such gatherings were unthinkable in the first year of the pandemic. Many wished Biden had not thought of doing it even then — the rampage of the omicron COVID-19 variant was still to come. U.S. & World

News from around the country and around the globe

Still, the burgers were an improvement from July 4, 1850, when Zachary Taylor wolfed down apparently spoiled cherries and milk (and died five days later. )

A look at what some presidents have done on the Fourth of July:

1777: On the first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, with the Revolutionary War underway, a future president, John Adams, describes a day and night of spontaneous celebration in Philadelphia in a letter to his wife, Abigail. After hours of parading troops, fireworks, bonfires and music, he tells her he strolled alone in the dark.

“I was walking about the streets for a little fresh air and exercise,” he writes, “and was surprised to find the whole city lighting up their candles at the windows. I walked most of the evening, and I think it was the most splendid illumination I ever saw; a few surly houses were dark; but the lights were very universal. Considering the lateness of the design and the suddenness of the execution, I was amazed at the universal joy and alacrity that was discovered, and at the brilliancy and splendour of every part of this joyful exhibition."

1791: Two years after becoming the first president, George Washington celebrates in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, “with an address, fine cuisine, and walking about town,” says the National Park Service . Philadelphia was the interim capital as the city of Washington was being readied. Lancaster had hosted the Continental Congress for a quick, on-the-run session during the revolution.

1798: Now president, Adams reviews a military parade in Philadelphia as the young nation flexes its muscle.

1801: Thomas Jefferson presides over the first Fourth of July public reception at the White House.

1822: James Monroe hangs out at his farm in Virginia.

1826: Adams, the second president, and Jefferson, the third, both die on this July Fourth.

1831: James Monroe, who was the fifth president, dies on this July Fourth.

1848: James Polk witnesses the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument with Abraham Lincoln, then an Illinois congressman, attending. A military parade follows.

1850: Taylor attends festivities at the grounds of the Washington Monument and falls ill with stomach cramps after eating cherries and drinking iced milk and water. He dies July 9. A theory that someone poisoned him with arsenic was debunked in 1991 when his body was exhumed and tested.

1861: Lincoln sends a message to Congress defending his invocation of war powers, appealing for more troops to fight the South and assailing Virginia for allowing “this giant insurrection to make its nest within her borders.” He vows to “go forward without fear.”

1868: Postwar, Andrew Johnson executes a proclamation granting amnesty to those who fought for the Confederacy.

1902: Teddy Roosevelt speaks to 200,000 people in Pittsburgh.

1914: “Our country, right or wrong,” Woodrow Wilson declares at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

1928: Calvin Coolidge (born July 4, 1872) goes trout fishing in Wisconsin.

1930: Herbert Hoover vacations by the Rapidan River in Virginia.

1934: Franklin Roosevelt is in or near the Bahamas after leaving Annapolis, Maryland, on a monthlong voyage and visit to Hawaii via the Panama Canal. On July 4, the U.S.S. Houston’s log refers to the “fishing party” leaving the ship for part of the day.

1946: With World War II over the year before, Harry Truman relaxes in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains at Roosevelt’s Shangri-La retreat, later renamed Camp David.

1951: With the U.S. at war in Korea, Truman addresses a huge crowd at the Washington Monument grounds, on the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

1953 and 1957: Dwight Eisenhower = golf.

1968: Lyndon Johnson, who favored his Texas ranch on the holiday, speaks in San Antonio about the lack of independence for the poor, minorities, the ill, people “who must breathe polluted air” and those who live in fear of crime, “despite our Fourth of July rhetoric.”

1970: Nixon, in California, tapes a message that is played to crowds on the National Mall at an “Honor America Day” celebration organized by supporters and hotly protested by anti-war masses and civil rights activists. Tear gas overcomes protesters and celebrants alike, Viet Cong flags mingle with the Stars and Stripes, and demonstrators — some naked — plunge into the Reflecting Pool.

1976: As the United States turns 200, Gerald Ford speaks at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, then Independence Hall, and reviews the armada of tall ships in New York harbor.

1987: Ronald Reagan, at Camp David, makes a straight political statement in his holiday radio address, pitching an economic “bill of rights” and Robert Bork for the Supreme Court. On a Saturday, it served as his weekly radio address, which he and other modern presidents used for their agendas.

2008: Bush, like several presidents before him, hosts a naturalization ceremony. More than 70 people from 30 countries are embraced as new citizens.

2010: Obama brings 1,200 service members to the South Lawn for a barbecue. The father of a July Fourth baby, Malia, he would joke that she always thought the capital fireworks were for her.

2012: Obama combines two Fourth of July traditions — celebrating troops and new citizens — by honoring the naturalization of U.S. military members who came to the country as immigrants.

2017: Trump goes to his golf club, then hosts a White House picnic for military families.

2021: Biden tells a crowd on the South Lawn that “we’re closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus.” It was the largest event of his presidency since taking office. COVID-19 cases and deaths had dipped to or near record lows at that point but would rebound as the omicron variant spread.

2023: Biden plans to host a barbecue and holiday celebration at the White House for members of the military, veterans and their families.