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What did Cro-Magnons wear?

The common misconception that Cro-Magnon's wandered around the ice age in furs, brandishing crude clubs, is incorrect. Imprints from woven fibers have been found on clay shards from a number of sites in the Czech republic, which, combined with the existence of bone needles, suggest that sewing cloth was a concrete possibility for the Cro-Magnons. This indicates that they probably made clothing out of plant fibers for themselves. Ancient Paleolithic Venus figurines have also been discovered from Kostenki in Russia, depicted with cloth hats, belts, armbands and string skirts. Many of these ..

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What are some key facts about the California Gold Rush?

The Gold Rush peaked in 1852, with approximately $81 million worth of gold extracted. By the time the rush ended, prospectors found and claimed over $2 billion worth of precious metals. As the population grew, mining towns popped up all over the state, while San Francisco became the hub metropolis for the state.\nDue to the influx of people, California petitioned for statehood, entering the United States as a state in 1850.

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What impact did Joseph McCarthy have on American society?

Joseph McCarthy, a senator from Wisconsin, rose to prominence as a member of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He accused thousands of American citizens of being communists or communist sympathizers. Prominent among the accused were many Hollywood celebrities, government employees, union activists and educators. Suspicion was often regarded as proof, and witnesses were threatened into revealing lists of supposed communist sympathizers to protect themselves. Many of the accused were publicly disgraced and lost their jobs. McCarthy used television to make many of the hearings public..

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How did the Union finance the Civil War?

The primary source of war revenue for the Union was war bonds. These were notes sold to individuals that promised repayment after a set period and interest paid in the interim. As much as 65 percent of the Union's war expenditures were funded by these bonds, although their value and the ease with which they could be sold varied along with the tide of the war. When Confederates attacked Union shipping and found success in the field, bond sales dropped, while Union victories helped increase revenue.\nThe first income tax was passed in order to reassure the financial community that the Union..

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How did George Armstrong Custer die?

Tensions between the U.S. government and the Native Americans in the American West had been rising for years, but they came to a head when gold was discovered in South Dakota. Angry at repeated encroachments on their land, several Native Americans joined together. They refused War Department demands that they return to their reservations, so the U.S. Army moved against them. Custer was one of the leaders of that campaign, and he and his men stumbled upon a large enemy encampment on June 25, 1876. No one knows how Custer died, but he had bullet wounds in his heart and temple. One tradition hold..

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Was Nelson Mandela a Communist?

The 2012 book by Stephen Ellis cites minutes from a secret 1982 South African Communist Party meeting in which one member refers to Mandela by name as being a party member in the early 1960s just prior to his prison sentence. Mandela disavows all membership in the party, however, and as a political leader, he helped usher in South Africa's present democratic system as its first elected president.

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How did the Reign of Terror come to an end?

The Reign of Terror began on September 5, 1793 and ended on July 28, 1794, lasting around 10 months. Its aim was to purge those who posed a threat to France; especially those who were suspected of being against the French Revolution. During this time, 16,000 people were guillotined, including Marie Antoinette.Prior to the Reign of Terror's beginnings, members of the French public were frustrated with the way the revolution was not producing the social equality they expected. The National Convention decided that the committee ruling France at the time needed to take a dictatorial approach ..

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Which Southeast Asia country has retained its independence?

Despite its nominal independence, Thailand signed a number of treaties with European powers and the United States. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the first of these was the Bowring Treaty. Signed in 1855, this treaty with the United Kingdom eliminated all trade restrictions, allowed separate law courts of British subjects and established a British consulate in Bangkok. Following this, Western advisers began flooding into the country to modernize it, and British and French forces began to slice away portions of Siam. However, because it acted as an effective buffer state between Brit..

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Who were the Samaritans?

Like the Jews, the Samaritans were strict monotheists who worshiped Yahweh. However, they rejected all but the first five books of the Old Testament, and claimed that their version of the Torah was superior to that of the Israelites. According to their own history, the Samaritans were descended from members of the Lost Tribes of Israel who had married into local pagan people.\nThe antipathy toward the Samaritans was such that Israelites would cross the Jordan River twice when traveling between Galilee and Jerusalem just to avoid setting foot in Samaria. Samaritans were not allowed to worship i..

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What is the definition of "Axis Powers"?

The Tripartite Act was signed in Berlin, Germany in 1940 and established the Axis Powers. Germany, Italy and Japan agreed to assist one another if attacked by other countries for the next 10 years. The Tripartite act was preceded in 1936 by the Anti-Comintern Pact, which was an anti-communism treaty between Germany and Japan. The goals of the axis powers were to exercise military hegemony over the world and to ally against the Soviet Union and communism.

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