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1.Jan van Eyck and Rembrandt both had the same tutor.
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Jan van Eyck died in 1441, while Rembrandt was born in 1606.
2.The Battle of Hastings occurred before humans had travelled to New Zealand.
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It is believed that Polynesians reached New Zealand between 1250 and 1300, which was after 1066, the year in which the Battle of Hastings took place.
3.Imhotep was the architect behind the first Egyptian pyramid.
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He was the vizier of Djoser, the pharaoh for whom the pyramid was built.
4.The first gasoline/petrol-powered tractor was invented before the first petrol-powered lorry (truck).
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The first lorry to be powered by petrol was created in 1895 by Karl Benz, while the first tractor to use petrol was created in 1892 by John Froelich.
5.Russia was the most populous state in Europe in 1600.
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Of the states that had territory in Europe at the time, Russia (then the Tsardom of Russia) was the fifth largest in terms of population, after the Iberian Union, the Ottoman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France.
6.Rice was used in the construction of the Great Wall of China.
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Rice flour was mixed with slaked lime to create a strong mortar known as sticky rice mortar. It was used for the stretches of the Great Wall built during the Ming Dynasty.
7.The Roman Empire was, by area, the largest empire the world had ever seen at the time.
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The Roman Empire was around 1.93 million square miles at its greatest extent, in 117. However, the Xiongnu Empire had reached 3.47 million square miles by 176 BC, only surpassed by the Umayyad Caliphate (4.29 million square miles) in 720. In addition to the Xiongnu Empire, there were four empires that existed before the Roman Empire that controlled a greater area: the Eastern Han dynasty (2.51 million square miles in 100), the Western Han dynasty (2.32 million square miles in 50 BC), the Achaemenid Empire (2.12 million square miles in 500 BC) and the Macedonian Empire (2.01 million square miles in 323 BC).
8.The Black Death was the first known pandemic caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis.
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The Plague of Justinian was the first, lasting primarily from 541-42 but with recurrences until 750.
9.The first electric lap steel guitar was nicknamed the "Frying Pan".
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It received the nickname due to its circular body and long neck. It was invented by George Beauchamp in 1931 and subsequently manufactured by Rickenbacker Electro.
10.The largest Roman temple existed in what is now Turkey.
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The ruins of the temple, dedicated to Jupiter, can be found in Baalbek in Lebanon. Only six columns with their entablature remain today.
11.Dutch independence was one of the outcomes of the Thirty Years War.
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The Dutch were ruled over by both Spain and the Holy Roman Empire before the war. The treaties that concluded the war allowed the Dutch to become independent and to form the Dutch Republic.
12.The Cambodian genocide had a higher death toll than the Rwandan genocide.
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The highest estimate for the Rwandan genocide is 1,071,000 deaths, which is still lower than the lowest estimate for the Cambodian genocide, at 1,386,734 deaths.
13.Memphis was the largest city in the world in the year 3000 BC.
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It is believed that the largest city at the time was Uruk, with a population of 40,000 to 45,000.
14.The figures for China's military and civilian deaths of World War II are roughly equal.
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Deaths of the country's military personnel range from 3,000,000 to 3,750,000+, whereas civilian deaths range from 7,357,000 to 8,191,000 from military activity and war crimes alone. Civilian deaths due to war-related famine and disease range from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000.
15.The Diquis culture of what is now Costa Rica built large, perfectly-carved stone spheres.
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The largest of these has a diameter of 2.66 metres.