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1. Thomas Crapper invented the modern flushing toilet.
John Harington (4th August 1560 to 20th November 1612) was an English writer and godson of Queen Elizabeth I, and the inventor of the system used in modern flushing toilets. Earlier flushing toilets or similar mechanisms existed in ancient times, used by the Romans and the Indus Valley civilisation, among others.
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2. The last mammoth died around 4,000 years ago.
Mammoths disappeared from their mainland range 10,000 years ago but lived on Wrangel Island off Russia up until around 4,000 years ago.
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3. The world's first jet aircraft was invented in the US.
The Heinkel He 178 was the first, created in Germany just before WW2.
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4. The Silk Road was one long overland trade route.
It was network of trade routes, including several overland routes and maritime routes as well.
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5. Guy Fawkes was Protestant when he died.
He was a Catholic. The idea behind the Gunpowder Plot was to restore Britain to a Catholic monarchy.
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6. Polynesians located and settled the Pacific islands using wave formations.
They also used the stars and followed flocks of birds. The practice of identifying wave patterns is still known today.
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7. The Habsburgs had protruding jaws.
It was the result of serious inbreeding, and one of many medical issues that affected members of the family.
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8. All buildings in Angkor were made of stone.
Only religious buildings were made of stone, which is why the temples have survived.
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9. The Ancestral Puebloans of North America built buildings with 200 rooms.
Two hundred was the average, but the largest Great Houses had up to seven hundred rooms.
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10. Timur was descended from Genghis Khan.
However, he did want to effectively restore the Mongol Empire as it was under Genghis Khan.
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11. Carthage was founded by Berbers.
It began as a Phoenician colony.
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12. The Kingdom of Kush built more pyramids than Egypt.
The former built more than two hundred, while the Egyptians built just over one hundred.
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13. Ninjas typically wore black.
A ninja's uniform was typically dark blue or yellowish-red, which blend into darkness more than black does. This is also what farmers wore, since ninjas were often farmers during times of peace. They would also wear armour into battle that looked very similar to samurai armour. Otherwise, they would disguise themselves as other people, such as merchants, samurai or priests, and convincingly act the part. Ninjas do wear black clothing in Japanese art. However, this was due to the many legends surrounding ninja, especially the belief that they could turn invisible; this is generally what the black clothing is supposed to represent.
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14. The Crusades were all fought between Christians and Muslims.
There were many crusades between different Christian factions. The Albigensian Crusade was proclaimed to suppress the Christian sect called the Cathars. The commanders of the Fourth Crusade ended up in debt to the Venetians so accepted two offers. One was to seize the Christian city of Zara (which they did, for which Pope Innocent III excommunicated them) and the second was to take over Constantinople for an exiled prince. They took Constantinople but the prince was assassinated by the citizens. The citizens also attacked the crusaders, destroying their ships and supplies, so the crusaders sacked the city. A council of six Venetians and six Franks later partitioned the gains, including Constantinople, and established the Latin Empire. There were also crusades in northern Europe against the pagan Slavic, Baltic and Finno-Ugric tribes.
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15. Submitting to the Inca Empire was often beneficial.
Cultures and civilisations that became part of the empire would gain access to better trade and the local elite could gain more power by marrying into Inca nobility. The Inca would also offer gifts to people they wanted to conquer and would allow the continuation of local religions. As such, the Inca often didn't need to fight those they wanted to conquer.