The first country to abolish capital punishment was Austria in 1787.
The first modern Olympiad was held in Athens in 1896. 484 contestants from 13 nations participated.
The ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made of stone.
On June 26th, 1945, the charter of the United Nations was signed by 50 countries in San Francisco. (The text of the charter was in five languages: Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.)
Of the 262 men who have held the title of pope, 33 have died by violence.
Everyone in the Middle Ages believed — as Aristotle had — that the heart was the seat of intelligence.
Captain Cook lost 41 of his 98 crew to scurvy (a lack of vitamin C) on his first voyage to the South Pacific in 1768. By 1795 the importance of eating citrus was realized, and lemon juice was issued on all British Navy ships.
At the height of its power, in 400 BC, the Greek city of Sparta had 25,000 citizens and 500,000 slaves.