64
votes
Accepted
Did slaves have slaves?
Short Answer
Yes. There are examples of slaves owning slaves from different historical periods and in different regions of the world, including:
Ancient Near East
Early Medieval Sunni Islam
Late ...
- 109k
63
votes
Did slaves have slaves?
This happened in Roman Times judging by two notes in Slaves doing business: the role of Roman law in the economy of a Roman household by Richard Gamauf (2009):
A Roman slave could hold property which,...
44
votes
Accepted
Why did early attempts to transport milk to London by rail meet with 'much criticism'?
The Agrarian History of England and Wales
E. J. T. Collins, Joan Thirsk
Cambridge University Press, 2000
page 993:
Retailers complained that railway milk was not as fresh as town milk,
and a ...
- 446
26
votes
Why does the first decade of the 21st century start with 2000?
A decade is simply a time span of 10 years and a century a span of 100 years. The start dates of each are determined by how they are being used.
The first decade of 21st century is 2000s
I think ...
- 4,787
24
votes
Accepted
Is there any instance of part of a country successfully seceding and then unifying with a neighbouring country in the last century?
The Acre War happened around 1900. Formerly it was a sparsely populated part of Bolivia, beyond the Andes, thus hard to reach from Bolivia. With the rubber boom in the last decades of the XIX c., ...
- 4,717
20
votes
Accepted
Did French people in 19th century not bathe every day?
This does seem to be the case. Since the story is set in Paris, we can look at some relevant info.
A reference relates fear of bathing to the plague, spoken of here:
The habit of bathing took ...
- 41.8k
15
votes
Is there any instance of part of a country successfully seceding and then unifying with a neighbouring country in the last century?
Kashmir might be the biggest example, if you are willing to accept "de facto control" rather than "international recognition". Parts of Kashmir are currently de facto part of ...
- 1,360
13
votes
Has there ever been a month with 32 days?
Not that I know of, but in 1712 in Sweden, February had 30 days.
Sweden, being a Protestant country, was initially suspicious of the "papist" Gregorian calendar, but decided to adopt it in the early ...
- 5,733
12
votes
Accepted
What was the first broadcast television programme?
SHORT ANSWER
The earliest TV program broadcast which can be proven as not being experimental is Charles Francis Jenkins' revolving windmill segment broadcast on the 2nd of July, 1928, but there may ...
- 109k
12
votes
Is there any instance of part of a country successfully seceding and then unifying with a neighbouring country in the last century?
The Greater Poland Uprising (1918-1919) fits your criteria. The Poles in the Greater Poland region fought German rulers to unify with the newly created Second Polish Republic. Although it is a bit of ...
- 221
11
votes
Why are there 37 numbers on European roulette wheels?
36 is a Highly Composite Number:
A highly composite number is a positive integer with more divisors than any smaller positive integer has.
36 can be divided by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, and 18. This ...
- 15.2k
10
votes
Accepted
Has there ever been a month with 32 days?
It seems the Julian calendar had a month with 32 days on leap years at one point:
An inscription has been discovered which orders a new calendar to
be used in Asia to replace the previous Greek ...
9
votes
Which car was the first to come with a cigarette lighter receptacle?
Absent further clarification in the question, we might first have to differentiate between:
1. the first car with an electric lighter ("installed/wired in"?),
2. with such a lighter as standard ...
8
votes
What profession(s) would have used this folding 'ruler'?
Here is my two penn'orth:
Whatever D means, it translates to 9 shillings and fourpence, which is 112 pennies. 112 is the number of pounds in a (British) hundredweight. (These units, shilling and ...
- 180
7
votes
What nationality was "Egbert Van Kampen"?
As one can deduce from the information provided in A Forgotten Mathematician, he was Dutch, confirming the Wikipedia claim.
According to 1,
Egbertus Rudolf van Kampen, known as Egbert, was born on ...
- 6,465
7
votes
Accepted
Did the average height of men in late Victorian England decline due to poor nutrition?
The statistical illustration published by the BBC of Hatton's data is misleading, The Economist is different:
The original paper is Timothy J. Hatton: "How have Europeans grown so tall?",...
- 81.3k
7
votes
Accepted
When did podium girls first appear?
The following is just a first approximation, and focusses on the Tour de France.
Most books I consulted either never mention any female in connection to the race and instead celebrate pure male ...
- 81.3k
7
votes
Accepted
Are there any modern history examples of large scale conflicts where warfare technology provides a great advantage to the defender, except WWI?
Obvious example. Radar.
First radars during WWII were too heavy and had a short operational range. Hence, only the defender had the option of installing a radar to concentrate forces and defend ...
- 4,829
6
votes
Accepted
When was the first known international call between two heads of state or government?
In early 1887, a telephone line between Brussels and Paris was completed, and at the opening of the line on February 2nd, King Leopold II of Belgium and President Jules Grévy of France spoke over the ...
- 1,168
6
votes
What rights did women have in Switzerland in the first few years of the 20th century?
This is a little complicated as women’s rights depended on age and / or marital status and / or canton. It would also have depended on the individual husband , guardian or father.
Generally speaking, ...
- 109k
6
votes
Where and when were air guns used in a major battle?
There is little evidence for the use air rifles on a large scale in battle, though they were used by sharp-shooters from Tyrol in the Austrian army in battle from at least 1789 at the Siege of ...
- 109k
6
votes
Did French people in 19th century not bathe every day?
That's 100% correct. Only the very rich could afford it, and few actually did. Warm water was a real luxury back then. Common folks went to the bathhouse - once a week, and only if they could afford ...
- 23.6k
6
votes
Accepted
Was it common in Europe in the modern era that proper names were translated?
It is still common in many European languages (including Hungarian, it seems) to change the order of names. E.g. in Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Hungarian the family name comes before the given name, ...
- 9,446
6
votes
Why are the roads in the Fucino Plateau misaligned by 1.2 degrees compared to the cardinal directions?
There is a second, older map showing a proposed grid in
Leon de Rotrou: Prosciugamento del Lago Fucino eseguito dal principe D. Alessandro Torlonia: Confronto tra l'emissario di Claudio e l'emissario ...
- 9,931
5
votes
Did French people in 19th century not bathe every day?
Bathing every day is a relatively recent custom. Since showers and running hot water became available. Even in the early 20th century bathing once a week was more normal (I mean developed countries). ...
- 39.9k
5
votes
Accepted
What is this card, and why does it go "on the hat"?
The evidence you have presented suggests that the card is meant to assist a Zwilchenbart customer in getting to the branch in New York upon arriving in the city. Presumably the customer has deposited ...
- 1,626
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible