Did you know

Jujutsu

Jujutsu means "gentle art" and is rooted in the ancient cultural traditions of Japan

Indus River

The Indus is the most important river in Pakistan providing essential water for its economy

Abortion

In 1920 under Vladimir Lenin the Soviet Union was the first to legalize all abortions, but this was reversed in 1936 by Joseph Stalin in order to increase population growth.

Zambezi River

The Zambezi River's most spectacular feature is Victoria Falls, which divide the upper and middle sections of the river.

Purple Heart

The Purple Heart was originally created as the Badge of Military Merit by George Washington

Kelvin

Zero on the Kelvin scale is known as Absolute zero, the temperature at which nothing could be colder

Phoenician Civilization

The Phoenicians are credited with spreading the Phoenician alphabet throughout the Mediterranean world, so that it became one of the most widely used writing systems

Herbert of Cherbury

Herbert of Cherbury is best known as the "father of Deism"

Symphony

The form that we now recognize as the symphony took shape in the early eighteenth century

Surgery

The term "surgery" comes from the Greek "cheirourgia," meaning "hand work"

Cape Breton Island

The residents of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia in Canada, can be grouped into five main cultures: Scottish, Mi'kmaq, Acadian, Irish, and English

Battle of the Alamo

The deaths of such popular figures as Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie contributed to how the Battle of the Alamo has been regarded as an heroic and iconic moment in Texan and U.S. history

Trimurti

The Trimurti is the Hindu representation of God as Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver), and Shiva (destroyer)

Cocos (Keeling) Islands

The geographical and historical isolation of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands has resulted in the development an ecosystem with unique floral and faunal habitats

Waseda University

The Waseda University academic cap is square and was specially designed to be unique, immediately identifying its wearer as a Waseda student

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his work to end racial segregation through nonviolent means; at the time he was the award's youngest recipient

Ancient Egypt

The civilization of Ancient Egypt was one of the oldest and longest lasting human civilizations

Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park in Maine was the first National Park established east of the Mississippi River

Internet

The internet was first conceived of in the 1946 science fiction short story, "A Logic Named Joe"

Francisco Pizarro

Francisco Pizarro founded the city of Lima, which he named la Ciudad de los Reyes (the City of Kings), to serve as the capital of Peru on January 18, 1535

Francisco Goya

Spanish painter Francisco Goya is both the last of the Old Masters and the first of the modern artists

Pierre Curie's work was not recognized in France until he received the Nobel Prize for his work on radiation, together with his wife Marie Curie and Henri Becquerel, at which point he was given a professorship at the Sorbonne

Aryabhata

The Indian mathematician and astronomer Aryabhata calculated Pi (π) correct to five digits, and may have realized that it is an irrational number

Lake Burley Griffin

Lake Burley Griffin, an artificial lake, is the centerpiece of Canberra, a planned city which serves as Australia's federal capital

Alfred L. Kroeber

Science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin's father is anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber who studied "Ishi," the last of the Yahi tribe

Bering Strait

Plans to build a bridge or tunnel across the Bering Strait were proposed as far back as the nineteenth century

Buddha

A new Buddha will arise, Maitreya, who will usher in a new age of peace and kindness

Ashoka

Ashoka played a critical role in developing Buddhism into a world religion

University of Tokyo

The University of Tokyo is commonly known as "Todai" in Japan, an abbreviation of the Japanese characters that make up "Tokyo Daigaku," the Japanese name of the University

Stanford University

Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who created New York’s Central Park, designed the physical plan for Stanford University

Thanksgiving

As a liturgical festival, Thanksgiving corresponds to the English and continental European Harvest festival.

Shuar

Shuar traditionally created "tzantza" or shrunken heads to capture the soul of the deceased

Elf

The earliest preserved description of elves comes from Norse mythology

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff had piano roll recordings made of many of his performances

Empire State Building

The Empire State Building remained the tallest skyscraper in the world for over 40 years

Crucifixion

The goal of Roman crucifixion was not just death, but also dishonor

Habsburg

The House of Habsburg was one of the most powerful families in Europe being Holy Roman Emperors and rulers of Austria (and the Austrian Empire) for over six centuries

Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel refused to write or talk about his experiences in the Holocaust for 10 years after his liberation

Cave painting

Cave paintings probably had a religious or informational purpose rather than being purely decorative

Atheism

"Positive" or "strong" atheism is the assertion that no deities exist while "negative" or "weak" atheism is simply the absence of belief in the existence of any deity

Kyoto University

Kyoto University was founded to train scientists to support the rapid industrialization of Japan during the Meiji period

Kibbutz

Kibbutz members took pleasure in bringing the land back to life by planting trees, draining swamps, and countless other activities to make the land more fertile.

Weimar Republic

Historians invented the phrase "Weimar Republic" for the government of Germany from 1919 to 1933 officially called Deutsches Reich, usually translated as "The German Reich"

Albrecht Durer

Albrecht Dürer was, in effect, the first non-Italian artist to associate the humanistic disciplines with the esthetic pursuits of art.