History Weekly Newsletter - Friday, February 27, 2015

History newsletter

Top new questions this week: Why did Native Americans die from European diseases while Europeans didn't catch serious diseases from the New World? Why did Native Americans die of European diseases while Europeans didn't have serious diseases from the New World? I read that most Native American victims of colonization in the new world died of ... europe colonization native-americans disease age-of-discovery   asked by CsBalazsHungary 41 votes answered by two sheds 50 votes Did pirates really drink a lot of rum? In every movie, cartoon, comic or any other fictional sources I have read or watched that involves sea pirates, it is always shown that their favorite beverage is rum. I want to know why sea pirates ... 18th-century alcohol caribbean piracy   asked by GuruGulabKhatri 22 votes answered by Major Stackings 33 votes Why could China keep most of the lands it conquered after 17th century but European powers could not? If we look at the map of Ming dynasty, we see a much smaller China. Most of the northern and western part of today's China was conquered during Qing dynasty. In contrast, many European powers have ... china political-history colonization imperialism   asked by user10320 21 votes answered by Semaphore 29 votes Why was the government expenditures of the Roman Empire very low compared to modern governments? I was trying to compare the military spending of the Roman empire in the 1st century with modern military spending and how much of a burden that was to Roman people. The Wikipedia page of the ... military economy roman-empire government   asked by Abanob Ebrahim 6 votes answered by Alex 9 votes The monumental/architectural sculptures of Petra - has there been any research on the likely craftsmen who executed them? The Nabatean people who founded Petra are described as a pre-Islamic Arab people. Centrally located on the spice trade routes, they achieved fabulous wealth and settled in the city of Petra. A recent ... ancient-history middle-east architecture ethnicity   asked by memphisslim 5 votes answered by two sheds 5 votes Anti-personnel use of blowguns The wikipedia entry for blowguns currently states that blowguns were historically used to hunt small wild game and only rarely used as an anti-personnel armament. This made me wonder if there are any ... weapons   asked by BlackVegetable 4 votes answered by neubau 3 votes When was the "New Kingdom" of Egypt first called that? When was the New Kingdom of Egypt (c. 1550BC to 1077BC) first called "New Kingdom" (or something cognate)? ancient-history ancient-egypt etymology place-names   asked by Uri Zarfaty 4 votes answered by Semaphore 7 votes Greatest hits from previous weeks: What was the actual value of tea destroyed during the Boston Tea Party? I'd like to know 2 or 3 of the following 3 metrics: Actual value in the currency of the time (yes I realize that there were local currencies and in general FX concept was... hard to do). NPV ... economy american-revolution taxes   asked by DVK 14 votes answered by Wladimir Palant 12 votes What did Germany do after World War II to recover so successfully that it became more prosperous than its WW2 victors? Germany lost in World War II. Being the loser, its economy started at a disadvantage compared to her World War II victors in the aftermath of WW2. However, Germany managed to recover more ... 20th-century ww2 economy germany   asked by curious 12 votes answered by Lennart Regebro 11 votes Can you answer these? Was malaria worse on Hainan Island than elsewhere in south China? I'm reading William Skinner's "Chinese Society in Thailand" (1957). He notes that of the various speech-groups from different parts of south China that came to live in Siam, the Hainanese were one of ... china disease south-east-asia malaria   asked by neubau 1 vote Was it ever claimed by a scholar that the Byzantines intentionally missed the battle of Civitate? I have seen a claim to this effect in a popular article but it strikes me as very very odd. So - Was it ever claimed by a scholar that the Byzantines intentionally missed the battle of Civitate? ... warfare historiography byzantine-empire 11th-century norman   asked by Felix Goldberg 2 votes What was the prevalence of ethnic minorities in 15th century Bohemia? What was the prevalence of what we in contemporary western culture would consider "ethnic minorities" (Africans, East Asians, South Asians, Latinos, etc) in the population of early 15th century ... 15th-century ethnicity bohemia population   asked by android927 3 votes

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