Odd truths about history
Timelines that fold in ways nobody warned you about.
Did Cleopatra live closer in time to the Moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid?
Yes. The Great Pyramid was built around 2560 BC. Cleopatra died in 30 BC — about 2,500 years later. The Apollo 11 Moon landing was in 1969, roughly 2,000 years after her death. She is nearer to us than to the pyramids by about 500 years.
Is Oxford University older than the Aztec Empire?
Yes. There is evidence of teaching at Oxford as early as 1096. Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, was founded in 1325 — 229 years later. The empire proper dates from an alliance in 1428, by which time Oxford had had colleges for over 150 years.
What was the shortest war in history?
The Anglo-Zanzibar War, fought on 27 August 1896 between the United Kingdom and the Sultanate of Zanzibar. It lasted somewhere between 38 and 45 minutes. Around 500 people died in that time, almost all of them Zanzibari.
How old is Nintendo?
Nintendo was founded in 1889, making playing cards. It is older than sliced bread, the Ottoman Empire's collapse, and both world wars. The company spent its first seventy years in paper before it ever touched an electronic anything.
Is the fax machine older than the telephone?
Yes, by 33 years. Scottish clockmaker Alexander Bain patented the first fax device — an Electric Printing Telegraph — on 27 May 1843. Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876. We could send a picture before we could send a voice.
Was bubble wrap invented as wallpaper?
Yes. In 1957 Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes sealed two shower curtains together, trapping air bubbles between them, and tried to sell it as textured three-dimensional wallpaper. Nobody wanted it. Packaging was the third idea, not the first.