Page 133 - History Facts

The Hudson Bay Company once owned 10% of the Earth’s surface!

The Hudson Bay Company began in 1670 and is the oldest commercial corporation in North America. It is also one of the oldest in the entire world. 

It began as a fur trading business and they currently own many retail stores throughout Canada. Its headquarters are in Toronto, Ontario. When the fur trading business declined, the company evolved into a mercantile business that sold vital goods to settlers in the Canadian West. 

In the 19th century the company became the largest private landowner. They owned 10% of the Earth’s surface. When HBC traded with native people, they exchanged wool blankets for beaver pelts trapped by native hunters. 

The number of stripes woven into the blanket signified its weight and size. In 1821 the North West Company and the HBC merged. The merger made the company reach all the way to the Arctic Ocean to the North and the Pacific Ocean to the West. They maintained a monopoly on fur trade into the 19th century. 

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The first women to run the Boston Marathon were chased by organizers of the event!

Katherine Switzer had registered for the Boston Marathon used the name K. V. Switzer to sign up for the marathon. She was used to abbreviating her first name because she used K.V. Switzer to sign the articles she wrote for a college newspaper. 

Because of this abbreviation organizers didn’t realize she was a woman, and so allowed her to register. This was a mistake because, at the time, women were not allowed to run the Boston Marathon. The organizers only realized the mistake when Switzer began running the race. Because she was wearing a number, it was clear that she was registered. 

Alternatively, Bobbi Gibb, another woman, also ran, but she ran unregistered. Jock Semple pursued Switzer, who was running with her boyfriend. He is recorded as having said: "Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers." 

When Semple got close, Switzer’s boyfriend pushed him out of the way and sent him flying. The picture of Semple being pushed became infamous. It wasn’t until 1972 when women were officially allowed to compete in the Boston Marathon.

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The 13th day of the month is more likely to be a Friday than any other day of the month.

This is because of the way the Gregorian calendar works. The Gregorian calendar has 400-year cycles has the same pattern of days. Thus, in the 400-year cycle there will be 688 Fridays that will be the 13th day of a month. Just slightly more than Sunday and Wednesday at 687. 

In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness. There are twelve months in a year, twelve hours on a clock, twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve apostles of Jesus to name a few examples. The number thirteen was considered irregular and countered the completeness of the number twelve. 

A superstition derived from the last supper is that if 13 people sit at a table, one of them will die. Thirteen was seen as an unlucky number and Friday was seen as an unlucky day. Many think that people combined the two and believed it to be incredibly unlucky. It wasn’t mentioned before the 19th century as the most unlucky day, though. 

However, the 13th day of the month is more likely to fall on a Friday than any other day of the month. In Spanish speaking countries, Tuesday the 13th is the unluckiest day. Famous people born on Friday the 13th are Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Kate Walsh, and Darius Rucker. 

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We don't really know why the Bronze Age collapsed.

The Bronze Age loosely took place in the last years before the common era (CE or AD). The term “Bronze Age” is applied to the varying lengths of time (by area) where copper and bronze were the chief hard materials in use. 

For each area where the Bronze Age refers to, the Bronze Age ended 1200 or fewer years before the common era, where it was succeeded by the use of Iron in the Iron Age. During the early years of the Iron Age and the late years of the Bronze Age, in the Aegean Region, Southwestern Asia, and Eastern Meditteranean, an event known as the Bronze Age collapse occurred. 

It was an event generally believed to be violent, sudden, and culturally disruptive. There were many changes in rule, economy, and culture around 1175 BC (or BCE). During this period, the Greek Dark Age, almost every city between Troy and Gaza was violently destroyed and abandoned and almost no records were preserved. 

These cities included Hattusa, Mycenae, and Ugarit (all of which are today preserved as archaeological sites). There is a flurry of speculation about what exactly happened. Theories range from volcanoes to earthquakes, from drought to migration, from raids to warfare changes. 

It’s definitely worth reading up on, as it’s one of the greater historical mysteries in the last few thousand years.

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China’s first astronaut was covered in blood when he landed.

When China’s first astronaut, Yang Liwei, returned to earth he was injured because of a design flaw in the shuttle. His face was covered in blood from a split lip. Most people were unaware he came back anything other than perfectly healthy. 

Workers opened up the door, cleaned Liwei’s face and shut him back in. It was only after he was cleaned up that they put him on camera and China experienced its victory without blood marring it. 

The reason Liwei was injured was because of excessive G-force. Due to the way the spacecraft slows down, the astronaut ends up being affected by a greater force of gravity. Liwei was also subject to flaws in the spacecraft during launch. 

He was affected by infrasonic waves, which caused his body to resonate. Infrasonic waves can be deadly and injure organs. Liwei faced some serious dangers as the first astronaut. 

It is not entirely clear why exactly China censored the information that Liwei was covered in blood when he returned. However, it is thanks to Liwei that later space crafts were designed more safely for future astronauts. 

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