Weekly History Quiz No.244

Jesuits went across the globe in search of converts to Christianity, having much success in Latin America and the Philippines. This was in part due to their connection to Spain, their founder being Ignatius of Loyola, a Basque nobleman.

Grotius wrote two highly influential texts, De jure belli ac pacis (On the Law of War and Peace) and the Mare Liberum (The Free Seas). He also contributed significantly to the development of the modern concept of rights. Before him, rights were perceived as attached to objects; after him, they are seen as belonging to persons.

Considered one of the masterpieces of the Romantic movement, Friedrich influenced and was influenced by similar works by J. M. W. Turner and John Constable.

Torah – Compiled between 450 and 350 BCE.

The Bible – The New Testament of the Bible was completed in close to its current form around 382 CE.

The Koran – Uniformly compiled in the period 644–656 CE.

Book of Mormon – Published in 1830 by Joseph Smith.

Following the secession of most of Ireland from the United Kingdom in 1922, the Irish Free State became a dominion of the British Empire with the British monarch as head of state. Ireland was the only member of the British Empire that remained neutral during WWII, and it became a republic shortly afterwards.

Republican Senator Hiram Revels was elected in 1870, during the post Civil War reconstruction era. One other African American Senator was elected in this era, his term ended in 1881. There was then an 86 year gap with no African American representation in the Senate, until the election of Edward Brooke in 1967. As at 2020 162 African Americans have served in Congress, out of a total of 12,348 individuals who have served in Congress over that period. This is just 1.3% of members of Congress.

While Kelvin was not the only one in the scientific community to hold such a view, given how many major principles of physics had been uncovered, his words would be remembered as one of the worst predictions of history.

Within a few short years, groundbreaking developments such as Albert Einstein's theories of relativity and the advent of quantum mechanics fundamentally transformed our understanding of the physical world.

A hen or cock was tied to a pole or basket or in some cases to a player’s back. The players then took turns to throw sticks or stones at the bird until one of them managed to kill it. When attempts were made to ban the sport in the 1600s it caused riots.

The Yellow River and the Huai and Yangtze Rivers, created fertile land, ripe for experimentation with agriculture. By around 4000 BCE, villages began to appear in these areas. The Neolithic Chinese cultivated a number of crops; the most important was a grain called millet. They also domesticated animals, such as pigs, dogs, and chickens. Silk production, through the domestication of silkworms, also likely began in this early period.

These villages influenced each other more and more over time, and by 2000 BCE a unified Chinese culture began to develop. There is also evidence of urbanism and the use of early writing at this time.

Ukraine, Estonia and Belarus were all part of the former USSR, regaining their independence in 1990-1991.

The Soviets occupied Romania at the end of WWII, installing a communist government that proclaimed Romania a people's republic in 1947. It nonetheless maintained a measure of independence, being the only Warsaw Pact country which refused to participate in the Soviet-led 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.