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What was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877?

An economic crisis that began in 1873 led railroad companies to lay off hundreds of workers and cut salaries of remaining employees drastically. In May 1877, Pennsylvania Railroads imposed a 10 percent wage reduction on their workers. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad company had imposed two 10 percent wage reductions the same year. These events caused a strike that spread throughout the United States along with angry riots. The government sent soldiers to control the crowds, and many people were shot and killed.

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What are the royal kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhai?

The Ghana Empire existed in what is now northern Senegal and southern Mauritania, about 400 miles northwest of modern Ghana. The exact time of the empire's formation remains unknown, but it occurred when clans of the Soninke people joined under the leader Dinga Cisse. Mines on the upper Senegal River supplied gold, and the empire prospered from the trans-Saharan trade in gold and salt. Ghana declined in the 11th and 12th centuries because of drought, the loss of its monopoly of gold and attacks by the Sosso people.\nThe Mali Empire arose under the leadership of Sundiata Keita, who defeate..

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Who discovered Puerto Rico?

When Columbus arrived with his crew, the Taino Indians greeted him and showed him a river filled with gold nuggets. They allowed Columbus to take as many nuggets as he wanted. The Taino Indians were peace-loving people who lived in small villages and survived mainly off the tropical crops.

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When did Alaska and Hawaii become states?

Alaska was the first of the two to enter statehood because Congress convinced Eisenhower that its natural oil reserves would be beneficial to the American economy. Originally, Eisenhower wanted Hawaii to enter the Union first because he thought statehood would interfere with his administration's ability to create and control defensive installations so close to Soviet Russia. However, Congress assured him such interferences would not occur and Eisenhower relented his stance, signing Alaska into the Union several months before Hawaii.

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Who invented the first map?

The ancients were preoccupied with geography, and the first attempts at drawing maps date back to 8,000 B.C., when the people of Babylon used maps created with surveying techniques. It was the ancient Greeks who perfected the science of cartography. Anaximander drew the first map of the known world but, unfortunately, his map and all the research he performed in order to draw it did not survive.After Anaximander, various Greek philosophers and scientists drew maps, including Hecateus of Miletus, Herodotus, Ptolemy and Eratosthenes. Aristotle is the one credited with proving the sphericity of t..

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How did the colonists react to the Sugar Act?

The Sugar Act passed on April 5, 1764. Colonists took action against the British in opposition to the Sugar Act. They boycotted English products, and this earned the attention of Great Britain by hurting them financially. The Parliament repealed the Sugar Act after British merchants started complaining due to the financial consequences of the boycotts.

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What was a major impact of the Ancient Greeks and Romans on Western Civilization?

Democracy comes from the Greek word "demokratia," which means "rule by the people," and was introduced by an Athenian leader in 507 B.C. In this first democracy, the rule was split into three bodies much like the three United States governmental branches. The first body created the laws and ruled over foreign policy. The second body was a council that was created by people from different tribes, and the third body was a court system that allowed people to bring cases in front of jurors that were selected randomly from the citizen population.This democracy that was present in Athens did more th..

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What was "peace without victory" in American history?

Wilson, the 28th President of the United States, was in the Civil War era and had seen the destruction that massive warfare brought. It was crucial to his political campaigning to keep the United States out of the war that was ravaging Europe. In the "peace without victory" speech, he pointed out that each side of the conflict had expressed at least some willingness to discuss terms of peace without surrendering. Rather than join the war, Wilson idealistically called for the United States to be a peacemaker, applying its power along with other nations to the cause of preventing a war of this s..

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What caused World War 2?

Japan's involvement in World War II had roots going back to its seizure of Chinese territory in 1931. Formal war between the two countries was not declared until 1937, however, touched off by a battle near the Marco Polo Bridge in Beijing.\nGermany annexed Czechoslovakia and Austria without provoking a response from any other powers, but France and Britain declared formal war on Germany after Germany invaded Poland in 1939. The USSR initially aided Germany in capturing Poland, but Germany eventually turned on the USSR, leading to the Soviet entry into the war on the side of the Allied Pow..

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Why was the Balkans referred to as the "Powder keg of Europe"?

Although the term specifically refers to tensions within the Balkan region, it also resembles the volatile dynamics within Europe during the time period. The time period featured many intertwining claims to territories and spheres of influence among key parts of Europe such as Austria-Hungary, Russia, Imperial Germany, and Italy, the Ottoman Empire and Great Britain to a lesser extent. The Balkan region includes southeastern Europe, with countries that include Albania, Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. The Balkan states were under control of the Ottoman Empire for centuries.

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