History is one of those subjects that often gets a bad wrap because of all the dates and cities we had to memorize to pass a test in high school. But when we actually take a look at what our history entails, it's pretty interesting.
Some historical details are so interesting, in fact, it's hard to believe they aren't made up.
Fascinated by this, Redditor jdward01 asked:
"What is a historical fact that seems unbelievable?"
Lost Records
"The first 200,000 years or so of being highly sentient human beings are lost in history. We only know the last circa 2000-4000 years from texts."
"The first recorded joke, a fart joke that is 4000 years old, uses the term 'since time immemorial' (or the Sumerian version). Even though one should not take that literally, it suggests that you could travel back in time to find people who consider their civilization ancient already."
"And it was. When that joke was written down in cuneiform, the Pyramid of Djoser had already been standing for 700 years. And when that pyramid was built, the city of Catal Höyuk was 3000-5000 years old!"
"And still, that was built during the latest 2.5% of human history."
"We have lost so godd**n much history, it hurts to think of it."
- Derpygoras
Scaly Perspective
"We live closer in time to the T-Rex than the T-Rex did to the Stegosaurus. Dinosaurs were here forever."
- TDeath21
Only in Ohio?
"In 1895, the entire state of Ohio had only two cars."
"Both cars managed to still smash into each other."
- Mkaooa
The Space-Stegasaurus Continuum
"The rings of Saturn are younger than Stegosauruses."
"Stegosauruses roamed the earth approximately 150-180 million years ago. Saturn's rings have only existed for approximately 100 million years."
- Illustrious-Sit6135
Not-So-Ancient Methods
"The last execution by guillotine was in the 70s."
- UnconstrictedEmu
History Keeps Going and Going
"There were archaeologists in Ancient Egypt studying about even more ancient Egypt."
- GNTB3996
The Irony
"Bobby Leach was the second person to ever go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. He survived, but his injuries kept him hospitalized for six months."
"He died 15 years later from injuries sustained after he slipped on an orange peel."
- TClark626
A Long-Held Position
"Elizabeth II was on the throne for over a quarter of the United States' existence."
- ScrollWithTheTimes
A Shrinking Population
"In 90 years from 1841 to 1930, Ireland's population halved, from 8.4 million to about 4 million."
"The Famine started the decline, but emigration sustained it. Ireland's population didn't start growing again until the 1960s, and there are still about 2 million fewer people living there (Eire and NI) than in 1841."
- mordenty
No Invitation Necessary
"Abraham Lincoln's son (Robert Todd Lincoln) was present at three different presidential assassinations."
"After McKinley, he decided not to accept any more invitations."
- MakennaTalia
A Bittersweet Ending
"There was a molasses flood in Boston in 1919 that was 25 feet high that killed 21 people."
- Almadel1970
Whose Weather Station Is This?
"In 1943, a group of German sailors on a U-Boat emplaced a weather station on the Canadian coast (Labrador) so the Germans could more accurately predict the weather for military operations (since the weather in the Northern hemisphere generally moves west-to-east)."
"The weather station was marked with fake signs, indicating that it was a Canadian military facility and for unauthorized personnel to keep out."
"The weather station was eventually discovered by the Canadians..."
"...in 1977."
- UJM
Storm of the Century
"In 1972, as much as 26 feet of snow fell on small towns in Iran, killing 4,000 people."
- Ennion
They Finally Got Off His Lawn
"The first battle of the American Civil War was fought on land owned by Mr. Wilber McLean."
"After the battle, he decided to move further out in the country to avoid the war... where four years later, General Lee surrendered to General Grant in Mr. McLean's house."
"The war started and ended on his property."
- rgrtom
Who Came First
"The University of Oxford is older than the Aztec Empire."
- AverageJoeDynamo
Some of these are so hard to believe, but they truly put history and its chronology into perspective.
So often, we think of an event occurring in another decade or another lifetime, and we fail to realize just how closely connected some of these events are.
