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What was the Chesapeake Affair of 1807?

Despite the independence of the United States from Great Britain, the British had continued to capture Americans and force them into service. William Ware, Daniel Martin and John Strachan were three such sailors who, with a British sailor, Jenkins Ratford, had escaped a British ship guarding two French ships in the United States for repairs. The British and French were fighting each other in the Caribbean at the time. The men were detected on shore by their commanding officers who ordered them to return. The men enlisted for duty on the Chesapeake instead, and the commodore of the Chesapeake r..

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What is Erasmus famous for?

Also known as Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, Erasmus was born in 1466 as an illegitimate son. As a child he was a natural academic, and he quickly gained a reputation for speaking out against authority, particularly that of the church. After a short time as a priest, Erasmus became a scholar and lecturer. His most famous work, "The Praise of Folly," was relatively critical of the church and its ways.

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What are some facts about the Maidu Indians?

Acorns were the staple foods of the Nisenan Maidu. Valley, blue and black acorns were plentiful in the Maidu's region, and black acorns were often traded as money. Fish that swam in the Sacramento, American, Feather and Bear Rivers were caught by the Maidu and eaten fresh, traded, dried and stored. Salmon and steelhead were staple fish.\nThe four language groups and bands of the Maidu were the Nisenan, Mountain, Konkow and Mechoopda. The Mechoopda band lived near Chico, Calif. Mechoopda creation stories include a tale of a raft that carried Kodoyampeh, or Earth Maker, and a turtle that ca..

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What was President Nixon's southern strategy?

A similar strategy had been attempted previously by Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964. As a result, Goldwater won the "Deep South" states of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina and Georgia. He was the first Republican candidate to win these states since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. Goldwater's opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, however, hurt his campaign elsewhere and he failed to win any other states except his home state, Arizona. Four years later, Nixon's "Southern strategy" proved to be successful. Nixon was able to reassure ..

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How long did the Peloponnesian War last?

The Peloponnesian War was fought between Athens and Sparta, the two most powerful city-states of Greece, alongside their allies. This web of alliances included nearly every city-state in Greece, and because of this, the war affected the entire Greek peninsula. The war ended in 405 B.C. when the Athenian naval fleet was destroyed by Spartans under the command of Lysander, with military aid from the Persians.

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When did Henry Ford invent the car?

Karl Benz, a German man, is considered to have invented the car in 1886 with the production of his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Before Benz, there were various attempts at steam-powered vehicles which had a similar form to the modern car. When Henry Ford started producing cars, he was building on ideas already developed by other people. Neither did he originate the process of using an assembly line to mass product cars, as this was already the method used by Ransom Olds to produce the Oldsmobile from 1902.

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Where did surnames originate?

The earliest surnames belonged to members of noble families, who often adopted the names of their ancestral castles or towns. Before about 1500 C.E., a person's surname might change after the person moved or changed jobs. Even after surnames became hereditary, people with the same common ancestor might have differently spelled surnames because of variations in the ways local clerks or priests recorded them.

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What year did Spain become a country?

The Iberian peninsula had been previously been controlled by disparate kingdoms, but with the marriage of Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon (king and queen during the conquest of Granada), the royal families of Spain were united. When the modern territory of Spain was established in 1492, it was as a unified, Spanish kingdom, ruled as one nation instead of several independent kingdoms.

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Who were the mountain men?

The mountain man lifestyle is often thought of as one consisting mainly of solitary individuals. However, most mountain men were dispatched into the wilderness in brigades of 40 to 60 men. When they reached one of the major river systems, including the Missouri, Colorado, Snake and Columbia, the brigades would typically break into groups of four.\nTwo members of the group would be trappers, and two would be camp tenders. They would trap by season from the spring thaw until the winter freeze blocked the flow of water. Once the traps were set, they were tended daily, and the beaver that were cau..

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What are some facts about Amelia Earhart?

Other facts about Amelia Earhart include that she was the first person to fly solo over both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, that she was a female career consultant at Purdue University, and that prior to becoming involved in aviation, she worked as both a nurse's aide and a social worker. Amelia also enrolled as a premed student at Columbia University before moving to California.\nEarhart was the first female to receive the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross, and the U.S. Post office issued an airmail stamp in her honor. George Putnam, the man who later became Earhart's husband, ..

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