History

A surprisingly large part of my research of old German folk tales is trying to identify the places mentioned in these details. They are often not mentioned on Google Maps, although Open Street Maps frequently provides better results.

But a particularly useful resource has been Arcanum Maps, which uses old survey maps from the 19th century or earlier as Google Maps layers - and these often do have period names for locations that have vanished from modern maps. This has been especially important for Silesia and other regions where German place names were common, but which now only use Polish names.

If you are interested in historic maps, then check this site out!

#cartography #history
https://maps.arcanum.com/

On American history and the history of the word “America.”

UK ‘resolutely committed’ to its overseas territories, says foreign minister | Foreign policy | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/oct/05/uk-resolutely-committed-to-its-overseas-territories-says-foreign-minister

#UK #Colonialism #FalklandIslands #Argentina

#history

Lost biblical plant with medicinal properties resurrected from 1,000-year-old seed.

From CNN: "Botanists have grown a long-lost tree species from a 1,000-year-old seed found in a cave in the Judean Desert in the 1980s. The researchers involved in the project say they believe the tree species, which is thought to be extinct today, could have been the source of a healing balm mentioned in the Bible and other ancient texts."

https://flip.it/Ph5Qvo

#Botany #Plants #Archaeology #Science

#history

UK agrees to give sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnXB5LMuPKo

This was long overdue! But of course, the UK cares nothing for the people it evicted.

#ChagosIslands #Mauritius #UK #Colonialism

#history

time for some obscure game preservation history

back in the 80s, Distinctive Software was known for some of their heavy hitters like Hardball, the 4D Sports series, and Test Drive. (at the time, i had no idea they were a canadian studio based out of burnaby, BC.)

in 1990, DSI was bought by EA and became EA Canada, relegated to defecating EA Sports sequels for eternity.

last week, i noticed a weird EA sticker on a copy of Ultima VI that i'd never seen before. curiosity got the better of me, and i bought it just to find out the sticker was about.

as it turns out, this copy of Ultima VI sat in DSI's physical library for years. these libraries existed to let developers play their own company's (and often the competition's) games, use them as references, etc.

when EA bought DSI, EA suddenly owned all of their assets, and - interestingly - their company's internal software library. the DSI label got an EA library logo stickered over it. There's even a referencing number for whatever internal library referencing system EA/DSI used.

wish we had some photos of EA's library in the 90s. i bet it was pretty massive.

#gamePreservation #history #canada #ultima

If you've ever wondered where the .io domain name comes from, it's this place (it refers to British Indian Ocean Territory).

#Colonialism

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/03/britain-to-return-chagos-islands-to-mauritius-ending-years-of-dispute

#history

Medieval IKEA church roof found on Dutch reclaimed land – The History Blog
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/71248

"The beams date to the 15th century and were likely being transported by ship when they fell overboard or sank with the ship in the Zuiderzee, today a freshwater lake, but an open waterway on the North Sea in the 1400s."

#History #Archeology

Huge Roman mosaic found while planting cherry saplings – The History Blog
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/71224

"The museum and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism excavated the field and uncovered a single-piece floor mosaic 904 square feet in area. It depicts a whole bestiary of animals, including lions, mountain goats, ducks, greyhounds, deer, pheasants, wild boars, bears, geese and Anatolian leopards. There are also tree and plant species mixed in with the animals."

#History #Art #Archeology #Turkey

Britain to return Chagos Islands to Mauritius ending years of dispute | Chagos Islands | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/03/britain-to-return-chagos-islands-to-mauritius-ending-years-of-dispute

"The Guardian understands that in the treaty there will be a right to return to all of the islands in the Chagos archipelago except for Diego Garcia."

Still... finally!!

#ChagosIslands #Mauritius #UK #Colonialism

#history

Bernini’s descendants sell his grotesque screaming carriage heads – The History Blog
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/71239

The four heads were all cast from the same model and have wide-open mouths, arched eyebrows over bulging eyes rolled upwards, windswept hair in pointy sections and beards to match. They each have a hole at the nape of the neck in which tall plumes were inserted to add even more drama to the carriage in movement.

#History #Art #Sculpture

Jason Hickel is a professor of global inequality, political economy and ecological economics at LSE.

#ClimateCatastrophe #Inequality #Colonialism #FreePalestine

#history

The World Wide Web Consortium @[email protected] was founded 30 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TfUBuIZkmQ

https://www.w3.org/about/history/

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

video via @[email protected]

#W3C #OnThisDay #OTD #history #technology #internet #InternetHistory #TheWeb

Artificial intelligence helps uncover hundreds of unknown ancient symbols hidden in Peru’s Nazca Desert.

From CNN: "The carvings include birds, plants, spiders, humanlike figures with headdresses, decapitated heads and an orca wielding a knife."

https://flip.it/726E_b

Here's the original study from PNAS: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2407652121

#Anthropology #Archaeology #Nazca #Peru #Science #AI #ArtificialIntelligence

#history

The American way to break up a fight is to repeatedly stab the other guy until your guy wins.

#diplomacy #palestine #lebanon #middleEast #UnitedStates #USA #America #Biden #neoliberalism #imperialism #colonialism #israel #settlerColonialism #apartheid #ethnicCleansing #warCrimes #genocide #history

Preparing for a swine flu pandemic that never materialized may have inadvertently caused the reemergence of an extinct H1N1 virus, leading to the 1977 “Russian flu” pandemic.
https://theconversation.com/preparing-for-a-pandemic-that-never-came-ended-up-setting-off-another-how-an-accidental-virus-release-triggered-1977s-russian-flu-236297
#science #health #history

"The mid-90s was a race to get the world online. Every month, magazines such as PC Pro carried CDs from faceless [Internet Service Provider]s desperate to bag sign-ups, but there was one ISP that was radically different from the rest, spearheaded by a man who was used to shifting millions of CDs of his own."

https://www.techradar.com/pro/cyberspace-oddity-the-story-of-bowienet

via https://mastodon.well.com/@ianb/113221358126771105

#internet #TheWeb #InternetHistory #history #DavidBowie

50 well-preserved Viking graves found in Åsum, Denmark – The History Blog
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/71207

"It is one of the largest Viking-era burial grounds ever found on the island of Funen. Preliminary estimates based on the artifacts found in the burials date the graves to between 850 and 970 A.D."

#History #Archeology #Viking

The first aerial circumnavigation of the world was completed 100 years ago.

"The 175-day journey from April to September covered over 26,345 miles (42,398 km)."

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

"With no parachutes, no life preservers, no rafts and no radios, the four planes guided by eight U.S. Army Air Service members — the World Fliers — set off to change the future of aviation."

https://www.seattletimes.com/life/outdoors/the-first-aerial-circumnavigation-of-the-world-launched-in-seattle-in-1924/

#OnThisDay #OTD #history #aviation

Homeowner has 38 ancient, medieval graves in his cellar – The History Blog
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/71201

"The owner was doing some renovation in his cellar late last year when he stumbled on a skeleton. The Regional Archaeology Service responded with a full excavation of the four rooms in the cellar and uncovered 38 graves dating from the 3rd to the 10th centuries A.D."

#History #Archeology #France

Smuggling Domesticated Silkworms along the Silk Roads | Curator's Corner S9 Ep8 | The Silk Princess - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7d8MzMkQW4

#History #BritishMuseum

Painted throne room of Moche female leader found at Pañamarca – The History Blog
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/71182

A richly painted and pillared throne room from the 7th century has been excavated at the Moche architectural complex of Pañamarca in northwestern Peru. The imagery on the wall paintings and on the painted throne indicates the hall was used by a high-status female leader associated with the moon goddess.

#History #Archeology #Peru

4.5 Billion Years in 1 Hour - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7TUe5w6RHo

"We’ve scaled the complete timeline of our Earth’s life into our first animated movie! Every second shows about a million years of the planet’s evolution. Hop on a musical train ride and experience how long a billion years really is."

#History #Prehistory #Earth

Trump’s lie about Haitian immigrants eating pets (it’s been confirmed to be a lie) wasn’t a surprise, writes a food historian.

It follows a long American history of peddling ugly rumors about immigrants stealing and eating pets. Racists have long twisted dietary rules and preferences of different groups to divide people and dehumanize immigrants.

https://theconversation.com/no-immigrants-arent-eating-dogs-and-cats-but-trumps-claim-is-part-of-an-ugly-history-of-myths-about-immigrant-foodways-239343
#USPolitics #Food #History #Immigration

A helpful resource if you ever find yourself expelled from heaven and need to give a speech to awaken your legions in hell.

https://archive.org/details/systemofelocutio00com/page/184/mode/2up

via https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/speech-of-satan-to-his-legions-with-gestures/

#speech #ASystemOfElocution #PracticalElocution
#history #books #bookstodon