64
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,...
- 23.2k
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 ...
- 108k
46
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
43
votes
When has a sovereign state last given territory to another as a gift?
The UK transferred full sovereignty of its colony of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China on July 1, 1997. While the UK was already obligated by treaty to turn over the areas of the territory ...
- 3,544
39
votes
When has a sovereign state last given territory to another as a gift?
The Tiran and Sanafir islands, are being given by Egypt to Saudi Arabia. Since this is ongoing, it is certainly the most recent such transfer.
As of this writing, all the interested sovereign states (...
- 391
37
votes
Accepted
Why did the population of Anchorage, Alaska, increase by so much in the 1970s?
There were two major, interrelated events that caused this population boom in the 1970s.
The first was the discovery of oil on Alaska's North Slope at Prudhoe Bay and elsewhere in 1968 and 1969. The ...
- 104k
31
votes
When has a sovereign state last given territory to another as a gift?
My proposal has to be considered with a grain of salt, and is earlier than TheHonRose's answer.
That said, given the consequences it has had lately, I am a little surprised that nobody has written ...
- 12.4k
28
votes
Why did the population of Anchorage, Alaska, increase by so much in the 1970s?
University of Alaska, Anchorage published a study into People and Economy of Alaska, which can be viewed here.
From that source, I'd say there are following reasons for their population boom:
...
- 8,185
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 ...
- 4,781
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., ...
- 4,100
20
votes
When has a sovereign state last given territory to another as a gift?
Here's my best shot so far:
The areas occupied by American and Canadian military cemeteries in Normandy were voluntarily conceded by France to the respective ally in 1944 as a gesture of gratitude.
...
- 753
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 ...
- 38.7k
17
votes
Did Diderot say "Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"?
Like most internet “quotes”, this is actually fake. But Diderot said something quite similar in his poem: “Les Éleuthéromanes” :
J'en atteste les temps; j'en appelle à tout âge;
Jamais au ...
- 9,756
16
votes
Accepted
Why was Colonel Bill Eddy kneeling in front of FDR and King Saud?
I wouldn't read too much into it. Kneeling with one leg during a military briefing is quite common for all army ranks when you are close to a combat zone. In my time as an army officer I have been ...
- 793
15
votes
Accepted
Which eras have historians proposed that we are currently living in?
Our tags are actually a pretty good guide here.
modern The period of history roughly from the 15th century to the mid 20th century
contemporary-history Contemporary history describes the period ...
- 118k
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 ...
- 1,342
14
votes
When has a sovereign state last given territory to another as a gift?
The area of the The John F Kennedy Memorial at Runnymede, site of the signing of Magna Carta, was gifted to the USA in 1965. Whilst the surrounding gardens are British sovereign territory, the land ...
- 7,941
14
votes
When has a sovereign state last given territory to another as a gift?
In 2007, Israel gave Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, in an (evidently unsuccessful) effort to reduce tensions.
Since the OP doesn't state that the recipient must be a nation, only that it must ...
- 249
13
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 ...
- 108k
13
votes
When has a sovereign state last given territory to another as a gift?
I'm not sure if this counts, but the Netherlands and Belgium traded a small part of land a while ago.
The reason for the trade was that the piece of land was officially part of Belgium, but it was ...
- 131
12
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 ...
- 5,671
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
Accepted
What profession(s) would have used this folding 'ruler'?
With one hinge folded we see a four-column matrix affording an unusual crosswise reading. It's probably custom work, as none of us have located a similar object online, and isn't really a ruler at all:...
- 27.6k
10
votes
When has a sovereign state last given territory to another as a gift?
In late 1994 or 1995 Israel gave a small strip of farm land to Jordan after the signing of the Israel-Jordan peace treaty. This land was not part of the treaty but as it was east of the river (and I ...
- 1,907
10
votes
Did Diderot say "Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"?
The saying first appeared in the "Testament" of the atheist-priest Jean Meslier, who said he heard it from a common Frenchman in his parish. For details see the final 3 paragraphs of my ...
- 109
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 ...
- 23.2k
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 ...
9
votes
Has there ever been a month with 32 days?
Of course it depends whose months you look at. Part of the decimalization project in revolutionary France was Claude Boniface Collignon's proposals for decimalizing time. He called for ten "solar ...
- 27.6k
8
votes
Why and when did countries develop long names that include the form of government?
The ancient Roman Republic was referred to as the Senatus PopulusQue Romanus ("The Senate and People of Rome") (abbreviated SPQR) as early as the first century BC, but it is unclear when, if ever, ...
- 3,544
8
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?",...
- 80.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible