History facts

History facts: all 14, explained

1. Cleopatra lived closer in time to the Moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid.

   The Great Pyramid of Giza was built around 2560 BC. Cleopatra died in 30 BC, about 2,500 years later. The Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969 came about 2,000 years after her death.

   Source: Cleopatra (Wikipedia) · Fact card

2. Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire.

   Teaching at Oxford existed by 1096 and grew quickly from 1167. Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, was founded in 1325, and the Aztec Triple Alliance formed in 1428.

   Source: University of Oxford (Wikipedia) · Fact card

3. The shortest war in history lasted under an hour.

   The Anglo-Zanzibar War on 27 August 1896 lasted somewhere between 38 and 45 minutes before Zanzibar’s forces surrendered.

   Source: Anglo-Zanzibar War (Wikipedia) · Fact card

4. Woolly mammoths were still alive when the Egyptian pyramids were being built.

   A small population of woolly mammoths survived on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean until about 4,000 years ago, after the first Egyptian pyramids were built.

   Source: Woolly mammoth (Wikipedia) · Fact card

5. Napoleon was not unusually short.

   Napoleon was about 1.69 metres (5 ft 7 in), average or slightly above for a Frenchman of his time. The myth grew partly from confusion between French and English inches, and from British cartoons.

   Source: Napoleon (Wikipedia) · Fact card

6. Vikings did not wear horned helmets.

   There is no evidence Viking warriors wore horned helmets. The image became popular in the 1800s, helped by costume designs for Wagner’s opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung in 1876.

   Source: Horned helmet (Wikipedia) · Fact card

7. The Great Wall of China is not visible from space with the naked eye.

   Although very long, the wall is narrow and similar in color to its surroundings. Astronauts, including China’s Yang Liwei, have said they could not see it from orbit without help.

   Source: Great Wall of China (Wikipedia) · Fact card

8. Ketchup was sold as a medicine in the 1830s.

   In the 1830s, American physician John Cook Bennett promoted tomatoes as a cure for indigestion and other ailments, and tomato ketchup pills were sold as patent medicines until the craze collapsed.

   Source: Ketchup (Wikipedia) · Fact card

9. The Eiffel Tower was only meant to stand for 20 years.

   It was built for the 1889 World’s Fair, and its permit was for 20 years. It survived partly because it proved useful as a radio antenna.

   Source: Eiffel Tower (Wikipedia) · Fact card

10. The first recorded Olympic Games were held in 776 BC.

    The ancient Games took place at Olympia in Greece every four years for over a thousand years. The first recorded event was a short foot race.

    Source: Ancient Olympic Games (Wikipedia) · Fact card

11. Vikings reached North America about 500 years before Columbus.

    A Norse settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada, dates to around the year 1000. Tree rings in its wood show timber was cut there in 1021.

    Source: L’Anse aux Meadows (Wikipedia) · Fact card

12. The Statue of Liberty used to be a shiny copper-brown.

    The statue is covered in thin copper sheets. Over about 30 years after it was unveiled in 1886, the copper weathered into the green patina it has today.

    Source: Statue of Liberty (Wikipedia) · Fact card

13. The Great Pyramid was the tallest human-made structure for about 3,800 years.

    Built around 2560 BC, the Great Pyramid of Giza stood about 146 metres tall. It held the record until Lincoln Cathedral’s spire overtook it in the 1300s.

    Source: Great Pyramid of Giza (Wikipedia) · Fact card

14. The Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911 and missing for two years.

    An Italian handyman who had worked at the Louvre walked out with the painting under his clothes. The theft made the Mona Lisa world famous, and it was recovered in Florence in 1913.

    Source: Mona Lisa (Wikipedia) · Fact card