Weekly History Quiz No.243

Wampanoag leader Ousamequin negotiated the agreement in order to secure his position against the Narragansett, their rivals in the region. The first Thanksgiving dinner came about when the colonists were marking their first successful harvest with celebratory gunfire. Ousamequin heard this, and fearing a Narragansett attack led 90 Wampanoag men to help defend the colony. This was followed by a joint dinner.

There are records of Sumerian futures contracts from around 2000BCE. These detailed the agreement for the sale of an agreed amount of commodities at a set future date at a specified price.

Stalin's son, Yakov Dzhugashvili, was a lieutenant in an artillery unit, and was captured by the Germans in 1941. Stalin was angered that his son had surrendered. Yakov Dzhugashvili died at Sachsenhausen concentration camp two years after he was captured, Stalin then softened his stance towards Dzhugashvili.

Byblos was know for its production of paper, and the Latin word for book derives from the city name.

She was employed as court writer to Dukes Louis I of Orleans, Philip the Bold and John the Fearless of Burgundy. Her work included novels, poetry, history and political analysis, and is considered to be some of the earliest feminist writings.

Beginning with the murder of Emperor Commodus on New Year's Eve 192, political machinations, assassination and war led to Pertinax, Didius Julianus, Pescennius Niger, Clodius Albinus, and Septimius Severus all claiming the title of Emperor over the year.

Over the period 1768 to 1779 he led three voyages to the Pacific. Cook's voyages are shown in this map.

Britain occupied Egypt in 1882 and directly or indirectly controlled the Suez canal until 1956, when the Egyptian leader Nasser announced that they would nationalise the canal. Several months later Britain and France joined a pre-existing Israeli attack on Egypt that aimed to overthrow Nasser and re-establish control of the canal. While militarily fairly successful, the Egyptians sunk 40 ships to block the canal. The USA was highly critical of the invasion, threatening Britain with an oil embargo and dumping all their UK bonds on the open market to devalue the pound. This economic threat caused the British to back down, and the Egyptians retained control of the canal.

The Parliamentarian New Model Army, commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, destroyed the main Royalist Army under Charles I and Prince Rupert.

Van Gogh painted Café Terrace at Night in Arles, France. Visitors can stand at the north eastern corner of the Place du Forum to see where Van Gogh painted it from.