Page 117 - History Facts

There's an island in Japan that once had a population density of 216,264 people per square mile but is now completely abandoned.

The whole island of Hashima is an abandonded ghost town. Until 1974 the island was a coal mining facility bought by Mitsubishi in 1890. It now has huge concrete buildings that are completely abandoned now and a sea wall. They actually built Japan’s first large concrete building with nine stories. 

They also built a block of apartments in 1916 to house all the workers, most of whom were forcibly recruited from Asia. South Korea claims that there were 500 forced Korean workers between 1939 and 1945. 

The 15 acre island reached its population peak in 1959 with 5,259 people. That translates about 216,264 people per square mile for the whole island. In the 1960s, petroleum took the place of coal mining on the island. Coal mines were shutting down all over the country in the 1960s. 

Mitsubishi officially closed the mines in 1974 and the island became barren of people. Now it is justly called Ghost Island. After being closed for 35 years, travel was made possible to Hashima again in 2009. Today the island is becoming increasingly popular, especially with ruins enthusiasts. 

The housing remnants represent the period between the Taisho era and the Showa era. The island hasn’t been maintained, though, and some of the buildings have collapsed and others are about to collapse. Some exterior walls have been repaired recently, though.

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Genghis Kahn helped the environment!

In fact, the Mongol Emperor’s environmental contribution helped eliminate 700 million tons of carbon! He also let forests regrow where they had been chopped down to make room for towns and farm land. This was especially significant when you consider the large size of the mongol empire. 

This wasn’t because Kahn was a tree hugger. In fact, this wasn’t even deliberate. The reason there was room for the forests was because he had the towns and villages in their place burned down and helped reduce the carbon output by (ahem) driving down the number of people. 

It wasn’t just the size of the empire that made this significant. The fact that the mongol empire lasted so long meant that massive areas of green space were able to regrow where towns and farms had been destroyed. Just don't let Greenpeace know that this happened or they might get any ideas on using the same tactics (kidding, kidding)

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The first woman was elected to Congress before she even had the right to vote in a national election.

In 1916, Jeanette Rankin was the first woman elected to the US Congress, serving two separate terms. This was even before women had the right to vote! Seeing the ridiculousness of the situation, Jeanette actively represented women and brought attention to their concerns.

In addition to making political history, Rankin also stood her ground as a pacifist, being the only member of Congress to oppose the US’ entry into both World Wars. Her anti-war vote in 1917 cost her her office.

From there on in, she became involved in Women’s Inter-national League for Peace and Freedom and several pacifist groups. Throughout her life, she travelled extensively, study with Gandhi, and other like-minded people.

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Lucille Ball was responsible for approving the initial production of the Star Trek series.

Lucille Ball is best known for her role on I Love Lucy. However, during the mid-1960’s, she was the executive producer of Desilu Sudios, and therefore, responsible for approving the initial production of Star Trek: The Original Series. 

Even after NBC rejected the original pilot, her love for Gene Roddenberry and empathy with the series’ general goals caused the studio to approve the series. Ball’s daughter Lucie Arnaz, eventually became the wife of The Final Frontier actor Laurence Luckinbill. 

Lucie reported that her mother convinced the studio to keep the two most expensive shows, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek, with this argument; “But I like ‘em.” Now, isn’t that another to love Lucy. 

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Until 1972, North Korea's official capital was Seoul, South Korea because they always planned to retake the south.

Pyongyang wasn’t officially considered the capital of North Korea for several decades. The regime in the north was disillusioned with their power and refused to accept that South Korea wasn’t in their powerful grip any longer. They positioned themselves as the sole legitimate government of the entire Korean peninsula. 

It wasn’t until 1972 that they dropped Seoul from their constitution and made Pyongyang the capital. Apparently, the way the North Korean government saw the situation was that Seoul and the south was under American occupation and their South Korean client. 

Due to the “occupation,” Pyongyang was considered the provisional headquarters of the peninsula’s sole government. It was to be used only until the eventual “liberation” of Seoul. Finally in 1972, Pyongyang was officially made the national capital. Pyongyang is located in west-central North Korea on a flat plain east of the Korean Bay. The Taedong River flows through the city. The name Pyongyang literally means “flat land.” It is the largest city in the country. 

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