Edutainment

The Primary Sourcebook

2010-12-27T18:05:00.001Z

For more great history posts, visit my new site

A collection of the most interesting and entertaining primary sources of history from all
over the world, covering ancient, medieval, early modern and modern history.

http://www.primarysourcebook.com/

Queen Anne - First Sovereign of Great Britain

2010-08-23T15:57:00.004+01:00

Anne was the last of the Stuart monarchs, and the first sovereign of Great Britain. Anne was born on 6 February 1665 in London, the second daughter of James, Duke of York, brother of Charles II.

She spent her early years in France living with her aunt and grandmother. Although Anne's father was a Catholic, on the instruction of Charles II Anne and her sister Mary were raised as Protestants. In 1683, Anne married Prince George of Denmark. It was to be a happy marriage, although marred by Anne's frequent miscarriages, still births and the death of children in infancy.

In 1685, Anne's father James became king. He was overthrown in 1688 and Anne's sister Mary, and her Dutch husband William, took the throne. Anne became their heir and with the death of Mary (1694) and then William, with no children, in 1702 Anne was queen.

Within months, the War of the Spanish Succession began. A series of military victories by John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, including the Battle of Blenheim strengthened England's negotiating position at the end of the war. Under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, France recognised Anne's title over that of James II's Roman Catholic son, James Stuart and confirmed England's possession of Gibraltar.

The last years of the 17th century had seen differing policies pursued by parliaments in England and Scotland which included disagreements over the succession. The solution seemed to be unification and so on 1 May 1707 England and Scotland were combined into a single kingdom, and Anne became the first sovereign of Great Britain.

One British parliament would meet at Westminster, and there would be a common flag and coinage but Scotland would keep its own established Church and its systems of law and education.

Full article: bbc.co.uk
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Vampire Found in Italy?

2010-08-23T15:18:00.004+01:00

An archaeological excavation of mass graves of plague victims on the island of Lazzaretto Nuovo near Venice, Italy found the first example ever discovered of a suspected vampire.

The skull, buried in 1576, was found along with part of the body in March 2009 and was unusual as the jaw was forced permanently open by a brick, known to be a medieval exorcism technique to prevent ‘vampires’ returning from the dead.

Matteo Borrini, a forensic archaeologist at the university of Florence, has been leading a team digging on the island since 2006 and describes the find among the mass graves there as unexpected and lucky.

Vampire legends in Europe date back to at least the 9th century and were probably brought by merchants from the Far East along the trade roots to Eastern Europe. The myths were made more popular from the 15th century by the most famous suspected vampire of them all, Vlad Tepes Dracula. Dracula earned the name Tepes, which means impaler, because of the methods of torture and execution he used and rumours of him drinking the blood of his victims led many to believe him to be a vampire.

A living vampire would be relatively easy to spot, so it was believed. They had an aversion to silver, garlic and holy water and could not enter a house unless invited. They had enlarged incisors, hairy palms, cast no shadow and had no reflection in the mirror.

It was believed that if you were bitten by a vampire, you were doomed to become one along with heretics, criminals and people who commit suicide.

Full article: bukisa.com
Image source

René Descartes - I Think, Therefore I Am

2010-08-23T14:28:00.000+01:00

Born in 1596, Descartes studied under Jesuits, who stressed the method of acquiring knowledge over everything else, even the content itself--unlike other universities which stressed the rote memorization of a massive amount of classical and scientific material.

This gave rise to Descartes's life-long obsession with how knowledge is acquired rather than the substance of knowledge itself. Over the course of his career, he wrote on Optics, on Passions of the Soul, and on the human body.

But his first and best love was the basic principles of philosophy: How do we know things to be true? How do we distinguish the false from the true? He wrote on this subject over and over again in works like the Meditations on the First Philosophy and The Search for Truth .

However, his most famous and influential treatise on the matter was the roughly sketched and quickly-written Discourse on Method , intended to be a quick and dirty summary of the philosophy spelled out in detail in the Meditations . In the Discourse , Descartes lays out all the essential ingredients of Cartesianism:

In the first part, he describes how he arrived at a radical skepticism. Suppose the entire world and universe were a lie created by the devil: how could you prove that what you see around you is not a lie? How could you prove that various mathematical truths are indeed true and not some satanic fraud? Descartes finds that when he investigates all the human sciences, he can't prove them to be true against the objection that they might be false.

So, he quite literally stops believing in everything, which he outlines in Part II of the Discourse; he refuses to accept anything that might be false. He is, as he says in Part II, going to tear down everything in order to rebuild a more solid structure on which to base his thinking.

In Part III, he describes the problems this entails: if you stop believing in everything, including mathematics, how do you live your life? So he sets up some provisionary rules: if you can't be sure that anything is true, then you should accept for the time being what the people around you believe, especially in the field of morals. Once you arrive at certainty, then you can reject what other people say is true, but until then, you need some system of knowledge and morality to live by.

Part IV narrates Descartes' increasing desperation to find some certain truth upon which he can build a solid structure of certainty; while mulling over the problem, Descartes suddenly realizes that the very fact that he is thinking proves that he, Descartes, exists: Cogito, ergo sum , "I think, therefore I am."

Full article: wsu.edu
Image source: bibibeyondborders.blogspot.com

Isabella I of Castile

2010-08-21T16:21:00.002+01:00

Isabella of Castile was a powerful queen as Europe passed from the Late Middle Ages to the Renaissance. When she was eighteen she already favored jewels and beautiful gowns which she wore throughout her life.

She had beautiful blue eyes and chestnut hair and was just striking. Isabella was queen of Castile from 1474 to 1505, and she had to fight a civil war to secure her throne. Her marriage to Ferdinand II of Aragon began a thirty five year joint rule of a unified Spain by the Catholic Monarchs.

Ferdinand and Isabella succeeded as joint sovereigns to the throne of Castile on the death of Isabella's half brother Henry IV in December of 1474. From 1481 the "Catholic Kings," as Ferdinand and Isabella were known, ruled both kingdoms jointly, but it was a union of crowns not countries. The two kingdoms maintained their separate laws, institutions and governments. In 1478, they established the Spanish Inquisition as a royal council under royal control. In 1492 The Inquisition persuaded the Catholic Kings to expel the Jews whose conversion to Christianity was doubtful.

It was typical of Isabella's political vision that she agreed to finance the expedition of Christopher Columbus which brought the New World and wealth to Spain. If it weren't for Queen Isabella of Spain, Christopher Columbus would never been able to set sail. Isabella took an interest in the Native Americans of the new lands and when some of them were brought back to Spain as slaves she had them returned and freed, she wanted the Indians to be treated fairly.

Isabella had five children: Isabel, John, Joan, Maria, and Catherine. Of her five children, two of them were deceased before Isabella, also her grandson and heir passed on, which brought many sorrows during her last few years. Also her daughter Joanna Juana la Loca was mentally unstable and her son Charles, after Ferdinand's death, became Holy Roman Emperor. Catherine was the first wife of Henry VIII of England and mother of Mary I of England.

Through all of this Isabella found the time for education, which was very important to her. She learned Latin at age thirty five. Also, she wanted scholars to set up palace schools at her court. She also educated her sons and daughters. Isabella lived a life as a mother, wife, Catholic and queen. Her dream was for continued rule for her family, which was successful, and greatness for her country.

Souce: departments.kings.edu
Image source: do-while.com

Alchemy

2010-08-21T15:04:00.004+01:00

Alchemy has its origins in the ancient civilisations of the Babylonians and the Egyptians who had the ability to mine and refine metal ores, turning them into precious metals.

Early texts give recipes for producing various precious metals, gemstones and dyestuffs. One example of a popular alchemist practice was to add silver or copper to gold which made it appear that there was an increase in gold.

The theories behind alchemy in Renaissance Europe owe much to the ancient Greeks. According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, matter consisted of four elements, earth, water, air and fire. It was believed that as everything was made up of these four elements, it was possible to transmute any starting material into anything else.

Although turning base metals into gold, known by the Greek term chrysopoeia, was not the only aspect of alchemy, it was seen as the ultimate goal and it was believed it would be possible if the right combination of ingredients was mixed together. Although some believed finding the secret would be a long process of mixing the exact ingredients in the right way, others searched for what became known as the ‘philosopher’s stone’, a material that would turn anything into gold. Despite thousands of years of trying, the formula for transmuting base metals into gold was never found.

Alchemy is and was seen by many as a mystical art, some alchemists however took an approach that was more scientific. From the medieval period, the name for it was ‘chymistry’ and it laid the basis for the modern practice of chemistry.

Source: scienceray.com
Image source:

Women's Roles in Early Japanese Society

2010-08-21T14:09:00.001+01:00

The entry of Asian martial arts into the Western world has happened to coincide, through no particular design, with the transformation of women's role in society. Women of the late twentieth century have risen into prominence in business, science, and as players on the political stage.

The victimization of women in domestic violence and sexual and physical assault is still rampant, but it is increasingly countered through legislation and political activism and, on a personal level, through women's pursuit of fighting skills to defend themselves. Ever greater numbers of women are involved in martial arts and self-defense training.

For most people, identifying with one's predecessors is a strong desire. One often models oneself on an ideal that is personified in heroic myths or tales. For many women interested in Japanese martial practice, there is the image of the woman warrior bearing a naginata in the protection of her home and even on the field of battle. Although it is a glorious image, it is difficult to separate fact from fancy because of the almost complete absence of historical records that document the role of arms-bearing women.
Early History

The battle tales of Japan, chronicles of wars in the Heian, Kamakura, and Muromachi periods, focus almost completely on the deeds of the nobility and warrior classes. These tales, passed down by blind bards much as Homer's Iliad, present warriors as archetypes: the tragic Loser-Hero, the Warrior-Courtier, the Traitor, the Coward, etc. Women warriors are almost never described or even mentioned.

Women's roles in such tales are slight: the Tragic Heroine who kills herself at the death of her husband; the Loyal Wife who is taken captive; the Stalwart Mother who grooms her son to take vengeance for his father's death; the Merciful Woman whose "weak" and "feminine" qualities encourage a warrior chieftain to indulge in unmanly empathy and dissuade him from slaughtering his enemy's children, who later grow up to kill him; and the Seductress who preoccupies the warrior leader and diverts him from his task with her feminine wiles.

Finally, almost casually mentioned, are women en masse: either slaughtered or "given" to the warriors as "spoils-of-war." That they were surely raped and often murdered was apparently considered too trivial a fact to even mention in later warrior tales once the conventions of the genre had been codified, just as the wholesale burning and pillaging of peasants' farms was considered such a matter of course that it ceased to be mentioned, as if such repeated references would only disturb the flow of narrative.

Unless one is willing to imagine a conspiracy of silence in which women's role on the battlefield was suppressed in both historical records and battle-tales, it is a fair assumption that onna-musha (women warriors) were very unusual.

Souce: koryu.com
Image source:

Agincourt

2010-08-21T02:26:00.004+01:00

His teenage life was extremely eventful. He became Prince of Wales at the age of 12, and by age 14 was already proving himself in battle fighting the forces of Owain Glyndwr, a Welsh rebel who was in favour of the Plantagenet kings, whose reign had been usurped by the young prince's father, Henry IV.

At the tender age of 16 Henry commanded his father's forces at the battle of Shrewsbury, establishing his reputation as a formidable soldier and a shrewd military tactician. History does not record whether he was troubled with acne and girl problems at this time!

Henry V ascended the throne at the age of 26 following the death of his father in March 1413.

Two years later he sought to marry the French princess Catherine, but her father Charles VI would not allow it. Such a marriage and the accompanying Dowry would have meant giving up the Plantagenet lands the French had previously owned.

This refusal prompted Henry to declare war with France. After arriving at Normandy and capturing the port of Harfleur, the English army turned towards Calais, but were ambushed by the French at Agincourt. Legend has it that there were 25,000 French fighters and only 5,700 English.

But the English were using longbows, and the French cavalry had muddy ground to contend with. It is alleged that the infamous middle finger salute originated at Agincourt, the scene of Henry's most famous battle. The confident French threatened to cut off the middle fingers of the English bowmen which they needed for drawing the bowstring.

Against the odds, the English defeated the French, and their gloating victory gesture has survived for centuries. Henry went on to capture Normandy, Rouen and other French lands the English had never held before.

Source: bbc.co.uk
Image source

Mae West

2010-08-20T18:49:00.002+01:00

Don't keep a man guessing too long - he's sure to find the answer somewhere else
~ Mae West ~

Celtic Society

2010-08-20T17:35:00.001+01:00

The Celts are traditionally ignored in world history textbooks and course, but the Celtic way of life, Celtic institutions, and the Celtic world view were superimposed onto Germanic and classical culture. The later monolithic European culture is greatly influenced by these early peoples.

Most of what we know about Celtic life comes from Ireland—the largest and most extensive of the Celtic populations, the Gauls in central and western Europe, we only know about through Roman sources—and these sources are decidedly unfriendly to the Gauls.

We know that the early Celtic societies were organized around warfare—this structure would commonly characterize cultures in the process of migration: the Celts, the Huns, and later the Germans. Although classical Greek and Roman writers considered the Celts to be violently insane, warfare was not an organized process of territorial conquest.

Among the Celts, warfare seems to have mainly been a sport, focussing on raids and hunting. In Ireland, the institution of the fianna involved young, aristocratic warriors who left the tribal area for a time to conduct raids and to hunt.
When the Celts came into contact with the Romans, they changed their manner of warfare to a more organized defense agains a larger army. It was these groups that the classical writers encountered and considered insane.

The Celtic method of warfare was to stand in front of the opposing army and scream and beat their spears and swords against their shields. They would then run headlong into the opposing army and screamed the entire way—this often had the effect of scaring the opposing soldiers who then broke into a run; fighting a fleeing army is relatively easy work. If the opposing army did not break ranks, the Celts would stop short of the army, return to their original position, and start the process over agian.

Celtic society was hierarchical and class-based. Tribes were led by kings but political organizations were remarkably plastic. According to both Roman and Irish sources, Celtic society was divided into three groups: a warrior aristocracy, an intellectual class that included druids, poets, and jurists, and everyone else.

Society was tribal and kinship-based; one's ethnic identity was largely derived from the larger tribal group, called the tuath ("too-awth") in Irish (meaning "people") but ultimately based on the smallest kinship organizational unit, the clan, called the cenedl (ke-na-dl), or "kindred," in Irish.

The clan provided identity and protection—disputes between individuals were always disputes between clans. Since it was the duty of the clan to protect individuals, crimes against an individual would be prosecuted against an entire clan.

One of the prominent institutions among the Celts was the blood-feud in which murder or insults against an individual would require the entire clan to violently exact retribution. The blood-feud was in part avoided by the institution of professional mediators. At least an Ireland, a professional class of jurists, called brithem, would mediate disputes and exact reparations on the offending clan.

Even though Celtic society centered around a warrior aristocracy, the position of women was fairly high in Celtic society. In the earliest periods, women participated both in warfare and in kingship. While the later Celts would adopt a strict patriarchal model, they still have a memory of women leaders and warriors.

Source: wsu.edu
Image source: fanpop.com

The Queen With One Hundred Lovers - An Aztec Folktale

2010-08-20T13:59:00.000+01:00

When Axaiacatzin, King of Mexico, and other lords sent their daughters to King Nezahualpilli, for him to choose one to be his queen and lawful wife, whose son might succeed to the inheritance, she who had the highest claims among them, for nobility of birth and rank, was Chachiuhnenetzin, the young daughter of the Mexican King.

She had been brought up by the monarch in a seperate palace, with great pomp, and with numerous attendants, as became the daughter of so great a monarch. The number of servants attached to her household exceeded two thousand. Young as she was, she was exceedingly artful and vicious; so that, finding herslf alone, and seeing that her people feared her on account of her rank and importance, she began to give way to an unlimited indulgence of her power.

Whenever she saw a young man who pleased her fancy she gave secret orders that he should be brought to her, and shortly afterwards he would be put to death. She would then order a statue or effigy of his person to be made, and, adourning it with rich clothing, gold, and jewellry, place it in the apartment in which she lived. The number of staues of those whom she thus sacrificed was so great as to almost fill the room.

When the king came to visit her, and inquired respecting these statues, she answered that they were her gods; and he, knowing how strict the Mexicans were in the worship of their false dieties, believed her. But, as no inquity can be long committed with entire secrecy, she was finally found out in the manner: Three of the young men, for some reason or other, she had left alive. Their names were Chicuhcoatl, Huitzilimitzin, and Maxtla, one of whom was lord of Tesoyucan and one of the grandees of the kingdom, and the other two nobles of high rank.

It happened that one day the king recognized on the apparel of one of these a very precious jewel which he had given to the queen; and although he had no fear of treason on her part it gave him some uneasiness. Proceeding to visit her that night, her attendants told him she was asleep, supposing that the king would then return, as he had done at other times.

But the affair of the jewel made him insist on entering the chamber in which she slept; and, going to wake her, he found only a statue in the bed, adorned with her hair, and closely resembling her. Seeing this, and noticing that the attendants around were in much trepidation and alarm, the king called his guards, and, assembling all the people of the house, made a general search for the queen, who was shortly found at an entertainment with the three young lords, who were arrested with her.

The king referred the case to the judges of his court, in order that they might make an inquiry into the matter and examine the parties implicated. These discovered many individuals, servants of the queen, who had in some way or other been accessory to her crimes - workmen who had been engaged in making and adorning the statues, others who had aided in introducing the young men into the palace, and others, again, who had put them to death and concealed their bodies.

The case having been sufficiently investigated, the king dipatched ambassadors to the rulers of Mexico and Tlacopan, giving them information of the event, and signifying the day on which the punishment of the queen and her accomplices was to take place; and he likewise sent through the empire to summon all the lords to bring their wives and their daughters, however young they might be, to be witnesses of a punishment which he designed for a great example.

He also made a truce with all the enemies of the empire, in order that they might come freely to see it. The time having arrived, the number of people gathered together was so great that, large as was the city of Tezuco, they could scarcely all find room in it. The execution took place publicly, in sight of the whole city. The queen was put to the garrotte, as well as her three gallants; and, from their being persons of high birth, their bodies were burned, together with the effigies before mentioned.

The other parties who had been accessory to the crimes, who numbered more than two thousand persons, were also put to the garrotte, and burned in a pit made for the purpose in a ravine near a temple of the Idol of Adulterers. All applauded so severe and exemplary a punishment, except the Mexican lords, the relatives of the queen, who were much incensed at so public an example, and, although for the time they concealed their resentment, meditated future revenge.

It was not without reason, says the chronicler, that the king experienced this disgrace in his household, since he was thus punished for an unworthy subterfuge made use of by his father to obtain his mother as a wife!

Source: astronomy.pomona.edu
Image source: goetia-girls.com

19th Century Drug Dealers - The British Government

2010-08-17T16:54:00.001+01:00

Two things happened in the eighteenth century that made it difficult for England to balance its trade with the East. First, the British became a nation of tea drinkers and the demand for Chinese tea rose astronomically. It is estimated that the average London worker spent five percent of his or her total household budget on tea.

Second, northern Chinese merchants began to ship Chinese cotton from the interior to the south to compete with the Indian cotton that Britain had used to help pay for its tea consumption habits.

To prevent a trade imbalance, the British tried to sell more of their own products to China, but there was not much demand for heavy woolen fabrics in a country accustomed to either cotton padding or silk.

The only solution was to increase the amount of Indian goods to pay for these Chinese luxuries, and increasingly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the item provided to China was Bengal opium. With greater opium supplies had naturally come an increase in demand and usage throughout the country, in spite of repeated prohibitions by the Chinese government and officials.

The British did all they could to increase the trade: They bribed officials, helped the Chinese work out elaborate smuggling schemes to get the opium into China's interior, and distributed free samples of the drug to innocent victims.

The cost to China was enormous. The drug weakened a large percentage of the population (some estimate that 10 percent of the population regularly used opium by the late nineteenth century), and silver began to flow out of the country to pay for the opium. Many of the economic problems China faced later were either directly or indirectly traced to the opium trade.

The government debated about whether to legalize the drug through a government monopoly like that on salt, hoping to barter Chinese goods in return for opium. But since the Chinese were fully aware of the harms of addiction, in 1838 the emperor decided to send one of his most able officials, Lin Tse-hsu (Lin Zexu, 1785-1850), to Canton (Guangzhou) to do whatever necessary to end the traffic forever.

Lin was able to put his first two proposals into effect easily. Addicts were rounded up, forcibly treated, and taken off the habit, and domestic drug dealers were harshly punished. His third objective — to confiscate foreign stores and force foreign merchants to sign pledges of good conduct, agreeing never to trade in opium and to be punished by Chinese law if ever found in violation — eventually brought war....

Read more: afe.easia.columbia.edu
Image source: photobucket.com

101 Zen Koans - Numbers 31, 32 & 33

2010-08-07T15:54:00.001+01:00

33. Mokusen's Hand

Mokusen Hiki was living in a temple in the province of Tamba. One of his adherents complained of the stinginess of his wife.

Mokusen visited the adherent's wife and showed her his clenched fist before her face.

"What do you mean by that?" asked the surprised woman.

"Suppose my fist were always like that. What would you call it?" he asked.

"Deformed," replied the woman.

Then he opened his hand flat in her face and asked: "Suppose it were always like that. What then?"

"Another kind of deformity," said the wife.

"If you understand that much" finished Mokusen, "you are a good wife." Then he left.

After his visit, this wife helped her husband to distribute as well as to save

Read more: bukisa.com
Image source: bymichaelo.com

National Archives Reveal Churchill's UFO Cover-Up,

2010-08-05T23:44:00.002+01:00

The government took the threat of UFOs so seriously in the 1950s that UK intelligence chiefs met to discuss the issue, newly-released files show.

Ministers even went on to commission weekly reports on UFO sightings from a committee of intelligence experts.

The papers also include a wartime account claiming prime minister Winston Churchill ordered a UFO sighting be kept secret to prevent "mass panic".

The files show reports of UFOs peaked in 1996 - when The X Files was popular.

The Joint Intelligence Committee is better known for providing briefings to the government on matters relating to security, defence and foreign affairs.

But the latest batch of UFO files released from the Ministry of Defence to the National Archives shows that, in 1957, the committee received reports detailing an average of one UFO sighting a week.

The files also include an account of a wartime meeting attended by Winston Churchill in which, it is claimed, the prime minister was so concerned about a reported encounter between a UFO and RAF bombers, that he ordered it be kept secret for at least 50 years to prevent "mass panic".

The documents also include reports of a famous incident dubbed the "Welsh Roswell" in 1974, where members of the public reported seeing lights in the sky and feeling a tremor in the ground.
Other cases included in the files are:

A near-miss with an "unidentified object" reported by the captain and first officer of a 737 plane approaching Manchester Airport in 1995.

A mountain rescue team called to investigate a "crashed UFO" in the Berwyn Mountains in Wales in 1974.

Attempted break-ins at RAF Rudloe Manor in Wiltshire - sometimes referred to as Britain's "Area 51" - the US's secretive desert military base.

The Western Isles incident, when a loud explosion was reported in the sky over the Atlantic in the Outer Hebrides.

The 14-minutes of "missing" film relating to the Blue Streak missile test launch in 1964, believed by some to show a "spaceman".

A gambler from Leeds who held a 100-1 bet on alien life being discovered before the end of the 20th Century, and who approached the government for evidence to support his claim after the bookmakers refused to pay out. The MoD said it was open-minded about extra-terrestrial life but had no evidence of its existence.

Read more: bbc.co.uk
Image source: womenofscifi.blogspot.com

Cortes and the Distraction of the Aztec Capital Tenochtitlan

2010-08-03T12:19:00.000+01:00

On the 8th of November, 1519, Cortes and his men arrived at the city of Tenochtitlan and were greeted with a state welcome by Moctezuma, who still did not know whether he was dealing with men or gods.

The Spanish acted like perfect guests for two weeks and marvelled at the sights of the city that included a huge market place, an aqueduct that carried water to more than a hundred thousand citizens and the Great Temple, which was a towering pyramid.

Cortes tricked his way into Moctezuma’s palace and took him prisoner and persuaded him to declare to his people that he had been placed under guard willingly; by 1520, the Aztec emperor declared that he was the vassal of the Spanish king Charles I. Cortes installed a crucifix on the Great Temple infuriating the people of Tenochtitlan and in a bid to quell any ideas of uprising, he slaughtered hundreds of unarmed Aztec nobles while they attended a ritual dance.

Moctezuma pleaded with his people to remain calm but was stoned by them and killed, leading to the city rebelling against the invading force. In just one night that became known as ‘the sad night’, two thirds of the Spanish force were killed along with hundreds of Aztecs and the remainder of Cortes’ men and their allies fled.

Cortes formed alliances with local towns and raised an army numbering around ten thousand men. He divided his forces into three and launched short, sharp attacks on Tenochtitlan which were fiercely resisted by the Aztecs. The Spanish then turned to siege warfare burning bridges and buildings, cutting off food supplies and destroying the capital’s aqueducts.

To make matters worse, many Aztecs were dying from smallpox, which they had caught from the Spanish. On 13th of August, 1521, after ninety-three days of daily fighting while their city burned around them, the Aztecs finally fell after the royal palace and Great Temple were seized and the new emperor had been captured.

The Aztec capital Tenochtitlan was left in ruins by the Spaniards; Moctezuma’s treasure and the Temple’s religious idols went missing, they are believed to have been smuggled out by priests and have never been found. Over the following years, Cortes built a new Christian city on the site and claimed the regions gold mines for Spain, generating vast wealth for the most powerful nation on earth.

Read more: socyberty.com
Image source: Buy at AllPosters.com

The Last Great Gold Rush in the American West

2010-08-02T21:59:00.001+01:00

While salmon fishing near the Klondike River in Canada's Yukon Territory on this day in 1896, George Carmack reportedly spots nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparks the last great gold rush in the American West.

Hoping to cash in on reported gold strikes in Alaska, Carmack had traveled there from California in 1881. After running into a dead end, he headed north into the isolated Yukon Territory, just across the Canadian border.

In 1896, another prospector, Robert Henderson, told Carmack of finding gold in a tributary of the Klondike River. Carmack headed to the region with two Native American companions, known as Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie.

On August 16, while camping near Rabbit Creek, Carmack reportedly spotted a nugget of gold jutting out from the creek bank. His two companions later agreed that Skookum Jim--Carmack's brother-in-law--actually made the discovery.

Regardless of who spotted the gold first, the three men soon found that the rock near the creek bed was thick with gold deposits. They staked their claim the following day. News of the gold strike spread fast across Canada and the United States, and over the next two years, as many as 50,000 would-be miners arrived in the region. Rabbit Creek was renamed Bonanza, and even more gold was discovered in another Klondike tributary, dubbed Eldorado.

"Klondike Fever" reached its height in the United States in mid-July 1897 when two steamships arrived from the Yukon in San Francisco and Seattle, bringing a total of more than two tons of gold. Thousands of eager young men bought elaborate "Yukon outfits" (kits assembled by clever marketers containing food, clothing, tools and other necessary equipment) and set out on their way north.

Few of these would find what they were looking for, as most of the land in the region had already been claimed. One of the unsuccessful gold-seekers was 21-year-old Jack London, whose short stories based on his Klondike experience became his first book, The Son of the Wolf (1900).

For his part, Carmack became rich off his discovery, leaving the Yukon with $1 million worth of gold. Many individual gold miners in the Klondike eventually sold their stakes to mining companies, who had the resources and machinery to access more gold. Large-scale gold mining in the Yukon Territory didn't end until 1966, and by that time the region had yielded some $250 million in gold.

Today, some 200 small gold mines still operate in the region.

Source: History.com
Image source:photobucket.com

Return of The Leech

2010-07-31T23:30:00.002+01:00

Early in the 20th century doctors discarded leeches as having no place in modern medicine. But today leeches are back, helping to heal skin grafts.

Few images conjure up the horrors of primitive medical practice more powerfully than that of the leech. This parasitic worm was used to suck blood from the veins of sick people in the belief that it could draw out the “evil vapors” responsible for their disease.

Large numbers of leeches were employed. In 1837 alone, 96,000 leeches were applied to 50,557 patients at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. Their use was so common in England that British-bred leeches became scarce, and foreign leeches had to be imported from India and Mexico.

In the 19th century more than 50 leeches were sometimes applied simultaneously to a patient. In modern-day plastic surgery usually only one or two leeches are used at one time. But if the arteries to the grafted area take a long time to develop, leeches may be applied at six-hour intervals over a week-some 28 leeches in all.

Read more: http://scienceray.com/biology/human-biology/return-of-the-leech/#ixzz0vIl5kMwj

The Great Fire of London

2010-07-27T19:56:00.006+01:00

Fires in London were common, even inevitable, given the capital's largely timber construction.

Yet for years there had been warnings of London's total destruction by fire: in 1559 Daniel Baker had predicted London's destruction by 'a consuming fire'. In April 1665, Charles had warned the Lord Mayor of London of the danger caused by the narrow streets and overhanging timber houses.

Furthermore, a long, hot summer had left London dry and drought had depleted water reserves. Thus by September 1666, all that was required was a spark. This was provided at the house of Thomas Farynor, the king's baker in Pudding Lane, near London Bridge.

At 2.00am on Sunday 2nd September his workman smelled smoke and woke the household. The family fled across the nearby roofs, leaving only a maid, too scared to run, who soon became the first of the four listed casualties of the fire.

With only narrow streets dividing wooden buildings, the fire took hold rapidly, and within an hour the Mayor, Sir Thomas Bloodworth, had been woken with the news. He was unimpressed, declaring that 'A woman might piss it out'.

Yet by dawn London Bridge was burning: an open space on the bridge, separating two groups of buildings, had acted as a firebreak in 1632. It did so again: only a third of the bridge was burned, saving Southwark from destruction and confining the fire to the City of London, on the north bank.

Samuel Pepys lived nearby and on Sunday morning walked to the Tower of London. There he saw the fire heading west, fanned by the wind, and described 'pigeons... hovering about the windows and balconies till they burned their wings and fell down'. With Bloodworth dithering, Pepys went to Whitehall, informing the King and his brother James, Duke of York, of the situation.

Although Charles II immediately ordered Bloodworth to destroy as many houses as necessary to contain the fire, early efforts to create firebreaks were overcome by the strength of the wind, which enabled the fire to jump gaps of even twenty houses. By the end of Sunday the fire had begun to travel against the wind, towards the Tower, and Pepys had begun to pack.

By the following dawn, the fire was raging north and west, and panic reigned. The Duke of York took control of efforts to stop the fire, with militias summoned from neighbouring counties to help the fight, and stop looting. But the flames continued relentlessly, devouring Gracechurch Street, Lombard Street, the Royal Exchange, and heading towards the wealthy area of Cheapside.

By mid afternoon the smoke could be seen from Oxford, and Londoners had begun to flee to the open spaces of Moorfields and Finsbury Hill. By nightfall the streets were jammed with the carts of fleeing Londoners, and the fire was heading down Watling Lane, towards St Paul's Cathedral.

The next day saw the greatest destruction. Both the King and the Duke of York were immersed in the battle against the fire, which was contained until late afternoon, when it jumped over the break at Mercers' Hall and began to consume Cheapside, London's widest and wealthiest street.

Although demolition began to take effect in the east, in the west the fire had destroyed Newgate and Ludgate prisons, and was travelling along Fleet Street towards Chancery Lane. It was visible as far away as Enfield, embers were falling on Kensington, and flames surrounded St Paul's Cathedral, covered in scaffolding. This caught fire, soon followed by the timber roof beams. The lead roof melted and flowed down Ludgate Hill, and stones exploded from the building. Within a few hours the Cathedral was a ruin.

This marked the height of the inferno. On Wednesday morning the fire reached a brick wall - literally - at Middle Temple and at Fetter Lane. Workers took the opportunity to pull down more buildings and widen the break.

At the same time, the wind slackened and changed direction, turning south and blowing the fire onto itself and into the river. In the north, it was being checked at Smithfield and Holborn Bridge, and the Mayor, finally useful, was directing demolition in Cripplegate.

Written by Bruce Robinson: bbc.co.uk
Image source: forcg.com

Okinawan Karate - Te

2010-07-25T17:00:00.000+01:00

Te means ‘hand’ or ‘hands’, but in its widest context means martial arts. Te is the newer description of ‘Ti’ that has been practised, nurtured and developed through time in the Ryukyu Islands.

Prior to the fashionable influx of Chinese based kata, Te was a personal form of self-defence and development for the Okinawan royalty and nobility. The closest thing resembling kata was free-form dance.

From the 17th century onwards and with the learning of new katas from China, the villages of Shuri, Tomari and Naha had Te put on the end of those village names, thereby perpetuating a myth that the ancient ‘Ti’ had been mysteriously swallowed up and bettered by these Chinese empty hand and weapons based arts (called Kobudo).

Although these styles have some elements of Ti in them, they certainly haven’t bettered it, as anyone who has trained in the full Ti system would surely know.

Previously the two surviving Ti schools on Okinawa were the Seidokan of Seikichi Uehara and the Bugeikan of Seitoku Higa along side a few branch dojos. Today there are other scattered sources around the world. In particular Tigwa (Te and related arts) was introduced in the early 90s by Mark Bishop upon his return to Great Britain after 15 years of living and training in Okinawa.

The Te dynamics of soft and circular based on the curved sword and naginata, and the straight directness of bow and arrow and spear, interlink so perfectly with all its aspects that from the very first health exercise to a mortal technique, there is an unlimited progressive evolution from the core principles of hand configuration and footwork that is the same in exercise, basic and advanced striking techniques, grappling, pressure points, weapons, Kiko (Chi Kung) and meditative walking (based on the old Okinawan dances) and therapeutic bodywork (Shiatsu). These aspects go hand in hand, and are one and the same.

Source: freewebs.com
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Pistols at Dawn - The Duel

2010-07-25T12:43:00.001+01:00

Accounts differ as to whether duelling existed in ancient Greece and Rome, but certainly it was a fixture in the barbarian Germanic tribes, later spreading through Europe and America.

The duel is defined as a prearranged combat between two persons, fought with deadly weapons according to an accepted code of procedure to settle a private quarrel.

Thus the duel is distinguished from a brawl (which is not prearranged or fought according to rules), a war (a prolonged affair with many combatants), and a tournament (which although it operated by the same rules, was a test of skill that decided no private dispute). The customary duelling weapon was the sword, superseded in the 19th century by the pistol.

The duel evolved from its origins as a legal method of resolving disputes into an extrajudicial avenue for settling private matters that could not be regulated by law: matters of honor and insult. Coincident with the formulation of code, which provided procedural guidance in conducting a duel, were attempts by church and state to curtail the practice.

The fascination of duelling may have its roots in the curious dichotomy of a prevalent and culturally accepted yet illegal pursuit, governed by a “code.” Its persistence as a fixture in so many cultures speaks of its universal appeal as the expression of a visceral human response that managed to survive, in assorted manifestations, for many centuries.

But the notion of duelling as an atavistic reaction alone falls short of the mark, since it looks past the reality that duels were fought chiefly by one segment of society, its aristocrats. It is this social ingredient that defines the duel as an institution and has fixed its status as a legal conundrum.

Although condemnation by governmental and ecclesiastical authorities progressively increased, duelling originally was a legal means of deciding disputes between two people. The “judicial duel” or combat was based on religious belief: that God would protect the party in the right by allowing him to win.

Although many combats were arranged to decide criminal matters, combat also could serve as a means for resolving civil disagreements such as disputes over property. Women, the infirm, very young, and very old men were not required to enter combat but could engage champions on their behalf. The judicial duel was a ceremonial affair presided over by royalty who proclaimed the victor.

The earliest known law that governed the judicial duel is found in the Burgundian Code, an early East Germanic barbarian code promulgated in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. The date of legal establishment of the trial by combat traditionally is stated as the year 501.

Eventually trial by combat was permitted only in cases of serious crimes, such as murder and treason. The right to choose trial by combat existed in England until the early 19th century, where the last claim for combat occurred in 1817. Although the court granted this claim, circumstances did not permit the encounter, and promptly in 1819 Parliament abolished the right to trial by combat.

Source: www.gwu.edu
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Stonehenge Had Neighboring, Wooden Twin

2010-07-24T22:06:00.001+01:00

Britain's Stonehenge once had a long-lost twin just a stone's throw away from the prehistoric monument, archaeologists announced Thursday.

The discovery, made completely without digging, suggests that now solitary Stonehenge may have been surrounded by "satellite Stonehenges," archaeologists say.

"This finding is remarkable," said survey-team leader Vince Gaffney, an archaeologist the University of Birmingham in the U.K. "It will completely change the way we think about the landscape around Stonehenge."

Using the latest geophysical imaging technology, Gaffney's team captured digital impressions of the now buried remains of the newfound henge formation, just over half a mile (900 meters) from its world-famous neighbor.

Measuring 82 feet (25 meters) wide, the circular feature had a segmented ditch dotted with 20 or so large holes—suspected to have been postholes for a timber, rather than stone, circle, the team says. (Also see "Wooden 'Stonehenge' Emerges From Prehistoric Ohio.")

The circle's estimated date of 2,500 to 2,200 B.C. suggests "it was operating when Stonehenge was in its final and most dramatic form," Gaffney told National Geographic News (interactive Stonehenge time line).

Currently the leading view is that the immediate area around Stonehenge was a sacred, off-limits area where only a select few, such as high priests or nobility, were allowed. (See "Stonehenge 'Hedge' Found, Shielded Secret Rituals?")

"If [the newfound henge] was there at the same time, it demonstrates there was massively more activity going on in the landscape adjacent to Stonehenge," Gaffney said.

That isn't to say Stonehenge was open to anybody, he added, "but we are saying there seems to be more activity inside that boundary.

"Stonehenge," he added, "is one of the most studied monuments on Earth but this demonstrates that there is still much more to be found."

The team suggests the supposed wooden henge, like Stonehenge, performed an important ceremonial role for ancient Britons who gathered at the summer and winter solstices to mark the passing year with sacred rituals.

Also like Stonehenge, the now vanished henge is oriented toward the solstice sunrise with entrances to the northeast and southwest.

"This new monument is part of a growing body of evidence which shows how important the summer and winter solstices were to the ancient peoples who built Stonehenge," said Amanda Chadburn, as archaeologist with English Heritage, the government agency that manages the Stonehenge World Heritage site.

Source: National Geographic
Image source: miskawalksmiles.blogspot.com

The Life of Confucius

2010-07-19T00:26:00.003+01:00

Confucius was born in 551 BC in the Chinese state of Lu. His birth name was K'ung Ch'iu but the name Confucius is actually a Latinized version of the Chinese K'ung-fu-tzu, which he took later in life, and meant Master / Teacher K'ung.

He was a descendant of the house of Shang, which ruled China between the 17th and the 12th century BC. Confucius' father died when he was 3 years old and his mother raised him in poverty. After the age of the 15 he set his mind on studying and at the age of 17 he employed himself in book-keeping and watch-care of animals, agricultural production and state parks.

He got married when he was 20 and had two daughters and one son. His mother died by the time he was 23 and then Confucius retreated from public activities for a three-year period to mourn.
Confucius

At about the age of 30 he began teaching, while always acquiring further knowledge through studying, and by the age of 35, he had a significant number of students. After the age of 50 Confucius became active in politics and was appointed minister of Justice in the State of Lu and later on he served as prime minister.

He governed the state in such a way that the community flourished, something that competing neighbouring states viewed with worry, fearing the rise of power of the Lu state. However, Confucius had to resign after 4 years, probably due to differences of opinion in State-management with the nobility in Lu.

He then travelled to other States for a period of approximately 13 years where he sought to shift people of authority towards more rightful and virtuous ways of management, in an effort to implement his dominant idea of spreading virtuousness. He seldom achieved his target, as most leaders were not so open to his advice and some were even hostile. Confucius put himself at risk on several occasions during his travel period.

At the age of 68 he was called back in the state of Lu, where internal problems were brewing, however he did not assume any governmental position, rather he continued teaching. Confucius died at the age of 72, which was considered a number of great significance in Chinese culture, and his disciples mourned for many years after his death. His tomb was later turned into a great cemetery that has been expanded over time and is in very good condition for almost two and a half millennia.

Read more: deepspirits.com
Image Source: sonicey.com

The Plantagenet period

2010-07-18T23:28:00.000+01:00

The Plantagenet period was dominated by three major conflicts at home and abroad.

Edward I attempted to create a British empire dominated by England, conquering Wales and pronouncing his eldest son Prince of Wales, and then attacking Scotland. Scotland was to remain elusive and retain its independence until late in the reign of the Stuart kings.

In the reign of Edward III the Hundred Years War began, a struggle between England and France. At the end of the Plantagenet period, the reign of Richard II saw the beginning of the long period of civil feuding known as the War of the Roses. For the next century, the crown would be disputed by two conflicting family strands, the Lancastrians and the Yorkists.

The period also saw the development of new social institutions and a distinctive English culture. Parliament emerged and grew, while the judicial reforms begun in the reign of Henry II were continued and completed by Edward I.

Culture began to flourish. Three Plantagenet kings were patrons of Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry. During the early part of the period, the architectural style of the Normans gave way to the Gothic, with surviving examples including Salisbury Cathedral. Westminster Abbey was rebuilt and the majority of English cathedrals remodelled. Franciscan and Dominican orders began to be established in England, while the universities of Oxford and Cambridge had their origins in this period.

Amidst the order of learning and art, however, were disturbing new phenomena. The outbreak of Bubonic plague or the 'Black Death' served to undermine military campaigns and cause huge social turbulence, killing half the country's population.

The price rises and labour shortage which resulted led to social unrest, culminating in the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.

Source: royal.gov.uk
Image Source: AllPosters.com

The Hawaiian Hula Dance

2010-07-17T16:07:00.000+01:00

Hula dancing has become a tradition of Hawaiian culture and religion. Hawaiians use the dance to evoke the mana of gods, goddesses, the lightning, rain, oceans, animals, birds, and all aspects of nature that can be seen throughout the dancer.

The most esteemed hula dancers are able to invite deities to enter their bodies, therefore becoming vessels for the Akua that would take over the body and perform the rhythmic movements.

So who were these mysterious deities that created such movement and flow in the dancers? Many say it was Laka, who was the god they prayed and made offerings to. She was the patroness of art and her dancers kept her kapu.

Kapo was also worshipped; however Hawaiians believe they are one in the same. Kapo was an aspect of Laka. This spiritual experience in dance was once said to only happen in men, however since Hula is ruled by goddesses, it only makes sense that women be the ultimate vessels for the ritual Hula.

There are, however, some forms of Hula that are performed by men. These dances originated when there was a concern for war, and since many meeting places for the men of war at the time were the temples, women were strictly forbidden.

The ritual purposes of Hula are many including a use to increase fertility, the birth of a chief, anniversary of first born children, and after death to celebrate the dead. In the past, these dances were performed by specially trained performers that were under the patronage of Kapo and Laka. They were said to embody the ultimate in spirituality.

Read full article: bukisa.com

101 Zen Koans - Numbers 27, 28, 29 & 30

2010-07-11T02:42:00.000+01:00

30. Calling Card

Keichu, the great Zen teacher of the Meiji era, was the head of Tofuku, a cathedral in Kyoto. One day the governor of Kyoto called upon him for the first time.

His attendant presented the card of the governor, which read: Kitagaki, Governor of Kyoto.

"I have no business
with such a fellow," said Keichu to his attendant. "Tell him to get out of here."

The attendant carried the card back with apologies. "That was my error," said the governor, and with a pencil he scratched out the words Governor of Kyoto. "Ask your teacher again."

"Oh, is that Kitagaki?" exclaimed the teacher when he saw the card. "I want to see that fellow."

Read more: bukisa.com
Image source: trendland.net