The Tiny Treasures of Niihau

Each winter, storm waves crash onto the bank of Hawaii's "Taboo Island," Niihau. Tremendous amounts of vacant, scaled down ocean snail shells are heaved shoreward by the waves and appear on specific shorelines. Niihau​—covering only 70 square miles [180 km2]—​is the littlest of the seven occupied Hawaiian Islands. How fitting, at that point, that this volcanic island ought to be home to a portion of the world's most minor treasures​—the choice shells of Niihau.

In contrast to Niihau's nearest neighbour island, Kauai, 17 miles [27 km] toward the upper east, Niihau is generally low-lying and bone-dry. In any case, for what reason is it called the Forbidden Island? Niihau is exclusive and shut to excluded guests. The independent occupants of the island have no focal power plant, no running water, no stores, and no mail station. With an end goal to protect their old culture, the 230 or so local Hawaiians who live there chat in the Hawaiian language. When they are not tending sheep and steers, most are engaged with tapping their "gold mine" of modest shells. *

During the warm Hawaiian winter months, families walk or bicycle down dusty streets to the immaculate shorelines and rough bays, where they spend long days gathering shells. When the shells are accumulated, they are spread out in the shade to dry. Afterward, they will be arranged, evaluated, and hung into fragile leis, or pieces of jewelry. On increasingly verdant islands, most leis are made of blooms. On Niihau, shells fill in as the "blossoms."

“Jewels” From the Sea

Shells have long been used as jewelry in Hawaii. In the late 18th century, seafaring explorers​—including Captain James Cook—​encountered shell ornaments here and wrote about them in their journals. They also brought back samples, some of which may have come from Niihau. As time went by, Niihau’s beguiling leis began to appear around the necks of Hawaii’s notable women, including dancers and even royalty. In the 20th century, thanks to curio shops, tourism, and soldiers who passed through Hawaii during World War II, these special “jewels” found a niche in a wider market. Today the lovely necklaces that once graced Hawaii’s nobility are worn by admirers in lands near and far.

The shells most often used in making Niihau leis are called momi, laiki, and kahelelani in Hawaiian. Variations in colour and pattern present an enjoyable challenge for the leimaker​—usually female—​who meticulously threads the shells into a work of art. Some 20 different varieties of pearly, oval-shaped momi are used, ranging from brilliant white to dark brown. When strung in the highly prized Lei Pikake style, the momi’s oillike sheen and small size​—only 3/8 of an inch [10 mm] in length—​produce leis that look much like strands of fragrant white jasmine, or pikake.

Multiple strands of glossy ricelike laiki often adorn brides in Hawaii. These lustrous shells vary in hue from pure white and ivory to yellowish beige, with some having brown striations. Kahelelani shells, perhaps named after an ancient Hawaiian chief, measure a mere 3/16 of an inch [5 mm] in length. These delicate, turban-shaped shells are the most difficult to string, and leis made from them are the most costly. They range in colour from deep burgundy to the rarest colour, hot pink, which fetches a price three times that of other colours.

Making a Niihau-Shell Lei

Once the lei-maker decides on a pattern, she removes all the sand from the shells and pierces them with a fine-pointed awl. Although she works carefully and skillfully, 1 out of 3 shell breaks. Thus, many extra shells must be on hand just to complete one lei, a process that may take years! To string the lei, she uses a nylon thread stiffened with fast-drying cement or beeswax. Traditionally, a small button-shaped shell, such as a sundial or a puka, is attached to each end of the strand, and one or two cowrie shells are added where the ends of the lei are joined together.

There are nearly as many ways of stringing leis as there are variations in the shells themselves. Styles include classic single-strung white momi leis ranging from 60 to 75 inches [150 to 190 cm] in length, rope leis consisting of hundreds of minute kahelelani shells, and garlands woven in symmetrical geometric patterns​—some with mixtures of shells and seeds. Lei making is painstaking, time-consuming, and eye-straining work. But the creative and patient Niihau artisans regularly create intricate leis of uncommon beauty. Each lei is unique, and it is easy to understand why they can rival precious gems and heirloom jewelry in value, some costing thousands of dollars.

Niihau may be relatively bare, sparsely populated, and tucked away in a remote corner of Hawaii. But thanks to its imaginative, artistic lei makers, people far beyond Niihau’s sunny shores can share the beauty of treasures of the “Forbidden Island.”

She Belonged to the Family of Caiaphas

Now and again, an archeological revelation legitimately or in a roundabout way affirms the presence of a Bible character. In 2011, for example, Israeli researchers distributed data with respect to a find that does as such. It is a 2,000-year-old entombment ossuary—an improved limestone chest into which the bones of an expired individual were set after the tissue had disintegrated.

This specific ossuary bears the engraving: "Miriam little girl of Yeshua child of Caiaphas, minister of Ma′aziah from Beth ′Imri." The Jewish devout cleric engaged with Jesus' preliminary and execution was Caiaphas. (John 11:48-50) Historian Flavius Josephus alludes to him as "Joseph, who was called Caiaphas." This ossuary obviously had a place with one of his relatives. Since the engraving on a recently discovered ossuary thought to have a place with the devout cleric himself calls him Yehosef bar Caiaphas, or Joseph, child of Caiaphas, * Miriam was identified with Caiaphas somehow or another.

As indicated by data given by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), Miriam's ossuary was seized from criminals who had ravaged an old tomb. The examination of this relic and its engraving affirm its legitimacy.

The ossuary additionally reveals to us something new. It alludes to "Ma′aziah," which was the remainder of the 24 holy divisions, or courses, serving in a revolution at Jerusalem's sanctuary. (1 Chron. 24:18) The engraving on this ossuary uncovers that "the Caiaphas family was identified with the Ma′aziah course," says the IAA.

The engraving additionally makes reference to Beth ′Imri. There are two potential elucidations of this piece of the engraving. "The main plausibility is that Beth ′Imri is the name of a consecrated family—the children of 'Immer (Ezra 2:36-37; Nehemiah 7:39-42) whose relatives incorporate individuals from the Ma′aziah course," says the IAA. "The second probability is [that Beth ′Imri is] the spot of the root of the perished or of her whole family." For any situation, Miriam's ossuary gives proof that the Bible talks about genuine individuals who had a place with genuine families.

Protecting an Ancient Gem From the Trash

WHAT rings a bell when you think about a refuse pile? You likely partner such a sight with reject and an unsavoury smell. So you would scarcely hope to discover anything of significant worth there, considerably less a precious pearl.

However, a century prior to a fortune of sorts was found in simply such a spot—the rubbish. The fortune was, not an exacting jewel, however something different of incredible esteem. What sort of fortune was revealed? For what reason is its disclosure critical to us today?

AN UNEXPECTED FIND

At the turn of the twentieth century, Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Chase, researchers at the University of Oxford, visited Egypt. There, among the trash piles near the Nile Valley, they found various papyrus parts. Afterward, in 1920, while the two associates were caught up with recording the accumulation, Grenfell procured some extra sections that had been delved up in Egypt. He obtained these for the benefit of The John Rylands Library in Manchester, England. In any case, the two men passed on before the list was done.

Colin H. Roberts, another researcher at Oxford University, finished the undertaking. While he was arranging the pieces, he detected a papyrus scrap estimating 3.5 by 2.4 inches (9 x 6 cm). Surprisingly, the Greek penmanship contained words that were natural to him. On one side were words are taken from John 18:31-33. The opposite side contained pieces of refrains 37 and 38. Roberts understood that he had discovered an invaluable pearl.

Deciding ITS AGE

Roberts presumed that this papyrus scrap was exceptionally old. Be that as it may, how old? To discover, he contrasted the penmanship on it and other dated old original copies—an order called paleography. * By applying this technique, he had the option to allow a surmised age. However, he needed no doubt. So he shot the section, sent duplicates of it to three papyrologists, and requested that they decide its age. What did these specialists finish up?

By examining the style of the content and the strokes, each of the three of the master researchers concurred that the section had been written in the primary portion of the second century C.E.— only a couple of decades after the messenger John's passing! Paleography, in any case, is certifiably not an idiot proof technique for dating original copies, and another researcher trusts that the content could have been composed whenever during the second century. However, this little piece of papyrus was—and still is—the most seasoned existing original copy section of the Christian Greek Scriptures that has ever been found.

WHAT THE RYLANDS FRAGMENT REVEALS

For what reason is this piece of John's Gospel so critical to admirers of the Bible today? For at any rate two reasons. Above all else, the configuration of the part gives us some understanding into how the early Christians esteemed the Scriptures.

In the second century C.E., composed content came in two configurations—the parchment and the codex. Parchments were bits of papyrus or material that were stuck or sewed together to shape one long sheet. This sheet could then be moved up and unrolled at whatever point required. Much of the time, just one side of parchment was utilized for composing.

In any case, the modest piece that Roberts found has penmanship on the two sides. This proposes it originated from a codex instead of a parchment. A codex was produced using sheets of material or papyrus that were sewn together and collapsed in an arrangement looking like a book.

What were the upsides of the codex over the parchment? All things considered, the early Christians were evangelizers. (Matthew 24:14; 28:19, 20) They spread the Bible's message any place they could discover individuals—in homes, in commercial centers, and in the city. (Acts 5:42; 17:17; 20:20) So approaching the Scriptures in a conservative organization was considerably more down to earth.

The codex additionally made it simpler for gatherings and people to make their own duplicates of the Scriptures. Hence, the Gospels were duplicated again and again, and this no uncertainty added to the fast development of Christianity.

A moment of the motivation behind why the Rylands section is imperative to us today is that it uncovers how dependably the first Bible content was transmitted. In spite of the fact that the section contains only a couple of stanzas from John's Gospel, its substance concurs precisely with what we read today in our own duplicates of the Bible. The Rylands piece in this way demonstrates the Bible has not been adjusted regardless of being replicated and recopied after some time.

Obviously, the Rylands section of John's Gospel is nevertheless one bit of proof among a large number of pieces and compositions that affirm the dependable transmission of the first Bible content. In his book The Bible as History, Werner Keller finished up: "These old [manuscripts] are the most persuading answer to all questions with regards to the validity and dependability of the content that we have in our Bibles today."

Genuine, Christians don't put together their confidence with respect to archeological finds. They trust that "all Scripture is roused of God." (2 Timothy 3:16) Nonetheless, how consoling it is when invaluable diamonds from the past affirm what the Bible has said up and down: "The idiom of Jehovah suffers everlastingly"!— 1 Peter 1:25.

Fulfilled Prophecy

Envision a climate forecaster who has a long record of being right​—without fail. On the off chance that he anticipated downpour, okay convey an umbrella?

The Bible is loaded up with expectations, or predictions. * Its record, as reported by history, is clear. Book of scriptures prescience is in every case right.

Recognizing highlights.

The book of scriptures predictions are frequently explicit and have been satisfied down to the littlest of subtleties. They typically include matters of extraordinary significance and foresee something contrary to what those living at the season of the composing may have been anticipating.

An exceptional model.

Deliberately assembled on the back of the Euphrates River, old Babylon has been classified as "the political, religious, and social focal point of the old Orient." About 732 B.C.E., the prophet Isaiah wrote an unfavourable prophecy​—Babylon would fall. Isaiah gave points of interest: A pioneer named "Cyrus" would be the hero, the defensive waters of the Euphrates would "evaporate," and the city's entryways would "not be closed." (Isaiah 44:27–45:3) Some 200 years after the fact, on October 5, 539 B.C.E., the prediction was satisfied in the entirety of its subtleties. Greek student of history Herodotus (fifth century B.C.E.) affirmed the way of Babylon's fall. *

An intense detail.

Isaiah made a further surprising expectation in regards to Babylon: "She will never be occupied." (Isaiah 13:19, 20) To foresee lasting devastation for a rambling city possessing a key area was intense to be sure. You would ordinarily expect that such a city would be revamped whenever demolished. In spite of the fact that Babylon waited on for some time after its success, Isaiah's words, in the long run, worked out as expected. Today the site of old Babylon "is level, hot, left and dusty," reports Smithsonian magazine.

It is magnificent to mull over the greatness of Isaiah's prediction. What he anticipated would be what might be compared to foreseeing the careful way in which a cutting edge city, for example, New York or London, would be devastated a long time from once in a while vehemently expressing that it could never again be possessed. Obviously, most surprising is the way that Isaiah's prediction materialized!

The Bible precisely predicted that a pioneer named Cyrus would vanquish compelling Babylon.

In this arrangement of articles, I have considered a portion of the proof that has persuaded millions regarding individuals that the Bible is dependable. They, hence, look to it as a dependable manual for direct their means.

Scientific Accuracy

Science has made extraordinary walks in present day times. Thus, old hypotheses have offered an approach to new ones. What was once acknowledged as actuality may now be viewed as a legend? Science course books regularly need an update.

The Bible isn't a science course reading. However, with regard to logical issues, the Bible is vital for what it says as well as for what it doesn't state.

Free of informal perspectives.

Many mixed up convictions increased wide acknowledgment in antiquated occasions. Perspectives about the earth ran from the possibility that it was level to the idea that unmistakable substances or items held it high up. Sometime before science found out about the spread and counteractive action of sickness, doctors utilized a few practices that were incapable, the best case scenario, deadly even from a pessimistic standpoint. Be that as it may, not once in it's in excess of 1,100 parts does the Bible underwrite any informal perspectives or unsafe practices.

Experimentally stable explanations.

Somewhere in the range of 3,500 years back, the Bible expressed that the earth is hanging "after nothing." (Job 26:7) In the eighth century B.C.E., Isaiah unmistakably alluded to "the circle [or, sphere] of the earth." (Isaiah 40:22) Round earth held in void space with no obvious or physical methods for support​—does not that depiction sound astoundingly current?

Expounded on 1500 B.C.E., the Mosaic Law (found in the initial five books of the Bible) contained sound laws in regards to isolating of the debilitated, treatment of dead bodies, and transfer of waste.​—Leviticus 13:1-5; Numbers 19:1-13; Deuteronomy 23:13, 14.

Mostly because of turning ground-breaking telescopes toward the sky, researchers have presumed that the universe had an unexpected "birth." Not all researchers like the ramifications of this clarification. One teacher noticed: "A universe that started appears to request the first reason; for who could envision such an impact without an adequate reason?" Yet, well before telescopes, the absolute first stanza of the Bible evidently expressed: "at the outset, God made the sky and the earth."​—Genesis 1:1.

Long ways relatively revolutionary, the Bible effectively expressed that the earth is roundabout and hangs "after nothing"

Despite the fact that it is an old book and addresses numerous subjects, the Bible contains no logical errors.

TOP 10 MOST MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCES IN HISTORY

Nearly every day, historians and archaeologists work to reveal hidden things in the past. There have been so many ground-breaking discoveries in the past years but there are still some mysteries, that after many decades and sometimes, centuries, still puzzle researchers today.

Here are 10 most disorienting stories of mysterious deaths and disappearances in history.

10. Bettie Page
Bettie Page, who was ridiculously famous for being a pinup girl in her prime, was an American model. She came into fame in the 1950s for her pinup photos. She was dubbed the "Queen of Pinups" and almost every teenager had her picture on the walls of their bedrooms. At the peak of her career, she mysteriously disappeared into the dark. She lived as a recluse and became a devoted Christian eventually working as a secretary for Rev. Billy Graham. While attending Bible School, Page began hearing voices. Her mental health deteriorated and she was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and institutionalized for 10 years. She was later found at age 85 and died shortly after in December, 2008.

 
9. Agatha Cristie
Agatha Cristie was an English mystery novelist in the early 1900s. Cristie left Surrey town in her car in December, 1926. Not too long after, her car was found tottering over a cliff not far from her home. Cristie was not in the car nor was she anywhere near the scene of the accidents. She just vanished into thin air without a trace or explanation. As a famous novelist, over 1000 police and volunteers and even airplanes searched for her but she could not be found. Thankfully, she was 11 days later in a hotel room at Harrogate hale and hearty. Her reappearance posed even more questions and less solutions as Cristie claimed to have remembered nothing from the incident. She refused to speak about why she disappeared abruptly and why she did so in a way that suggested that she might have been killed.

8. MV Joyita
MV Joyita was a merchant vessel from which 25 passenger and crew mysteriously disappeared in 1955. This vessel was commissioned by the US Navy as a patrol boat during WW II, serving in the South Pacific. It was found drifting in the South Pacific without anyone aboard. The ship was also in very poor condition which included oxidized pipes and a radio, although functional, only had a range of about 2 miles, which was likely due to faulty wiring. A puzzling fact was that the hull of the Joyita was sound and her design made her unsinkable. It is a mystery why the passenger and crew did not wait on board till help came.

7. Brian Shaffer
27 year old second-year medical student at Ohio State University disappeared into thin air on the night of March 31, 2006. It was spring break and he decided to celebrate with his two friends. The trio went into a bar called the "Ugly Tuna Saloona". After some time and some drinks, Shaffer's friends noticed that he was missing. He went into bar and never came out. In fact, after that night, Brian Shaffer was never seen or heard from again. His family members were in shock and insisted that Shaffer's life was good and clean and that after school, he had planned to propose to his girlfriend who was also a medical student. Till today, Shaffer's case is still a thing of mystery.

6. Louis le Prince
Louis le Prince was widely known for being a French Artist and the inventor of an early motion picture camera, possibly being the first person to shoot a moving picture using a single lens camera and a strip of paper film. on September 16, 1890, le Prince disappeared never to be seen again. He had promised that he would rejoin his friends in Paris for a return journey to England but he did not arrive at the appointed time and he was never seen or heard of by his family or friends ever again.

5. The Mary Celeste
An American merchant brigantine, the Mary Celeste, was also discovered adrift and completely deserted in the Atlantic Ocean, off the shores of the Azores Islands, on December 5, 1872. It was found in near-perfect condition with only three and half feet of water that was in the ship's bottom, under a partial sail and with her lifeboat missing. The fate of the passengers and crew aboard the Mary Celeste remains one of the most baffling in the history of the sea.

4. The Sarah Joe
On the afternoon of February 11, 1979, five friends (Benjamin Kalama, Scott Moorman, Peter Hanchett, Patrick Woesner and Ralph Malaiakini) boarded a Boston Whaler named Sarah Joe. They were semi-experienced sailors and the 17 foot long vessel was not equipped for any major sea voyages. The vessel left the coast of Hawaii and would not be seen for a decade. When the vessel was eventually found on a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in 1988, all but one of the sailors had vanished into thin air. The skeletal remains of one of them who would later be proven to be Scott Moorman was found in the makeshift cairn of the Whaler. This, and the strange ritualistic discovery on this shallow grave raised many questions. Is the ritual a covering for something more sinister? What caused the death of Moorman? Where were the other four sailors? Where was the vessel before it was found and why did no one see it? Forty years later and no one knows the answers to any of these questions.  

3. Mallory and Irvine on Mount Everest
George Mallory and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine were two of some British explorers and mountaineers who went on the second expedition with the goal of achieving the first ascent of Mount Everest, which stands at a magnificent 29, 106 feet. After two summit attempts, Edward Norton set a world altitude record of 28, 126 feet. On the third attempt, Mallory and Irvine disappeared in 1924. Mallory's body was eventually found in 1999 at 26, 106 feet. Neither Irvine nor a camera was found. The long standing unanswered question is whether or not the pair made it to the summit before their speculated deaths.

2. D.B. Cooper
D.B. Cooper or Dan Cooper were the names given to an unidentified man who hijacked a plane by the media. In the afternoon of Wednesday, November 24, 1971, Cooper hijacked a Boeing 727 and extorted $ 200, 000 (equivalent to $ 1, 240, 000 in 2018) in ransom and parachuted to an uncertain fate. Despite the extensive search for him by federal investigators, this hijacker has not being identified till today. It remains the only unsolved case of hijacking in aviation history.

1. Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was a female aviation pioneer and an author who was seen at her time as the future of aviation for females. Her most popular feats in aviation gained her numerous awards, one of them being her successfully flying solo across the Atlantic Ocean. On July 2, 1937, during an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight in 1937 in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10-E Electra, Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared over the Central Pacific Ocean, near Howard Island and they were never found again. In 1939, she was declared deceased in absentia.

Roman Aqueducts—Marvels of Engineering

OF ALL the accomplishments of antiquated designing, Roman water channels are among the most exceptional. "With such a variety of vital structures conveying such a significant number of waters, look at, maybe, the inert Pyramids or the futile, however well known, works of the Greeks!" composed Sextus Julius Frontinus (35–c. 103 C.E.), Roman representative and water magistrate.

Why the Need for Aqueducts?

Old urban communities were generally worked almost a copious water supply, and Rome was no exemption. Initially, the Tiber River and close-by springs and wells gave adequate water. From the fourth century B.C.E. on, be that as it may, Rome developed quickly, as did its requirement for water.

Since few individuals had running water in their homes, the Romans constructed many private and open showers. The main open shower in the city of Rome was nourished by the Aqua Virgo, committed in 19 B.C.E. The manufacturer of this reservoir conduit, Marcus Agrippa, a dear companion of Caesar Augustus, poured quite a bit of his huge fortune into upgrading and expanding Rome's water-supply framework.

Showers likewise ended up social scenes, bigger ones notwithstanding having greenhouses and libraries. In the wake of leaving the showers, reservoir conduit water, which couldn't be stopped, streamed into the sewers, always flushing them of deny, including waste from the toilets joined to the showers.

Development and Maintenance

When you hear the words "Roman water passage," do you consider elevated curves rushing too far off skylines? Indeed, curves framed under 20 percent of those channels, the bigger bit of which lay underground. This progressively efficient structure secured water systems against disintegration as well as limited their effect on fields and neighborhoods. For instance, the Aqua Marcia, finished in 140 B.C.E., was around 57 miles (92 km) long yet included only 7 miles or thereabouts (11 km) of curves.

Prior to building a reservoir conduit, engineers evaluated the nature of a potential water source by inspecting the lucidity, rate of the stream, and taste of the water. They likewise observed the physical state of local people who drank it. When a site was affirmed, surveyors determined the correct way and inclination for the course, just as its channel size and length. Slaves obviously were given labor. Water channels could take a very long time to finish, making them exorbitant—particularly if curves were required.

A chart appearing of a reservoir conduit water framework

Additionally, water passages must be kept up and secured. To think about them, the city of Rome at one time utilized around 700 individuals. Arrangements for upkeep were additionally consolidated into the structure. For example, underground segments of the water systems were made available by methods for sewer vents and shafts. At the point when real fixes were required, designers could incidentally occupy the water far from a harmed area.

Rome's Urban Aqueducts

By the early third century C.E., 11 noteworthy water passages served the city of Rome. The main, the Aqua Appia, worked in 312 B.C.E. also, a little more than ten miles (16 km) long, ran essentially underground. Still saved to a limited extent is the Aqua Claudia, which was exactly 43 miles (69 km) long with around 6 miles (10 km) of curves, various which stood 90 feet (27 m) high!

How much water did the city's reservoir conduits convey? A great deal! The Aqua Marcia, referenced prior, every day directed about 6.7 million cubic feet (190,000 cup m) of water into Rome. When the water achieved urban territories—gravity being the main impetus—it streamed into dispersion tanks and after that into branches, which diverted the water to other circulation tanks or to areas for water use. Some gauge that Rome's water dispersion framework developed to the point that it could have day by day provided in excess of 265 gallons (1,000 L) of water for every occupant.

The Man Who Mapped the World

In the early piece of 1544, Gerardus Mercator wound up in a chilly, dull jail cell. He believed he was confronting sure passing. For what reason did this happen to the best cartographer of the sixteenth century? To discover, let us first investigate his life and times.

MERCATOR was conceived in 1512 in Rupelmonde, a little port close Antwerp, Belgium. He got his instruction at the University of Louvain. In the wake of graduating, he considered the lessons of Aristotle, and after a short time, he was grieved by his failure to accommodate the perspectives on Aristotle with the lessons of the Bible. Mercator expressed: "When I saw that Moses' form of the Genesis of the world did not fit adequately from numerous points of view with Aristotle and the remainder of the savants, I started to have questions about reality everything being equal and begun to research the insider facts of nature."

Since he would not like to turn into a logician, Mercator surrendered further college thinks about. Be that as it may, his mission to discover proof to maintain the Biblical creation account consumed his psyche for a mind-blowing remainder.

Going to Geography

In 1534, Mercator started to ponder arithmetic, space science, and geology under the mathematician Gemma Frisius. Moreover, Mercator may have taken in the specialty of etching from Gaspar Van der Heyden, an etcher and globe creator. Toward the start of the sixteenth century, cartographers utilized overwhelming Gothic, or dark letters, type, which constrained the space accessible for composed data on maps. Be that as it may, Mercator received another style of cursive composition from Italy called italic, which demonstrated to be valuable in globe making.

In 1536, Mercator functioned as an etcher with Frisius and Van der Heyden in the generation of an earthly globe. Mercator's delightful cursive penmanship added to the accomplishment of the task. Nicholas Crane, a cutting edge biographer of Mercator, composes that while another cartographer "had figured out how to fit fifty American areas onto a divider map as wide as a man was tall, Mercator diminished sixty onto a circle whose breadth was two handspans"!

A Cartographer Is Born

By 1537, Mercator made his first "solo production"​—a guide of the Holy Land, which he made to add to a "superior comprehension of the two confirmations." In the sixteenth century, maps of the Holy Land were pitifully erroneous, some with less than 30 place-names​—and a large number of them in the wrong area. Mercator's guide, in any case, distinguished in excess of 400 spots! Further, it demonstrated the course pursued by the Israelites on their adventure through the desert after the Exodus. In view of its precision, the guide was greatly respected by numerous individuals of Mercator's peers.

Energized by his prosperity, Mercator distributed a world guide in 1538. Prior to that time, mapmakers thought minimal about North America, considering it the Unknown Distant Land. Despite the fact that the topographical name "America" as of now existed, Mercator was the first to apply that name to both North and South America.

Mercator inhabited when the world's seas were being investigated and numerous new terrains were being found. Mariners passed on opposing data, making the assignment of mapmaking practically inconceivable, as cartographers needed to fill in the holes. By the by, in 1541, Mercator accomplished his objective of making "a more complete globe than [had] been done as such far."

Blamed for Heresy

In Louvain, where Mercator lived, there were numerous Lutherans. By 1536, Mercator identified with Lutheranism, and it creates the impression that his significant other later turned into a Lutheran. In February 1544, Mercator was captured together with 42 different natives of Louvain on the allegation of stating "suspicious letters." However, it might likewise have been on the grounds that the distribution of his guide on the Holy Land had excited the doubt of Tapper and Latomus, two scholars from the college in Louvain. The two men had directed at the preliminary of Bible interpreter William Tyndale, who had been executed in Belgium in 1536. Maybe Tapper and Latomus were worried that Mercator's guide of the Holy Land, similar to Tyndale's interpretation of the Bible, energized Bible perusing. Regardless, Mercator was detained in the mansion of Rupelmonde, the place where he grew up.

Antoinette Van Roesmaels, one of the different individuals on preliminary, affirmed that Mercator had never gone to private Protestant Bible readings. Be that as it may, in light of the fact that she herself had gone to such readings, Antoinette was covered alive, to pass on gradually of suffocation. Mercator was discharged following seven months of detainment, yet the entirety of his effects was seized. In 1552, Mercator moved to Duisburg, Germany, where he found an increasingly tolerant religious atmosphere.

The First Atlas

Mercator kept on safeguarding the Biblical record of creation. He committed the greater part of his life to making a union, or review, of the whole creation "of paradise and earth, from the earliest starting point of times to the present," as he put it. This work contained both ordered and land data.

In 1569, Mercator distributed a rundown of the most significant recorded occasions from the creation onward​—the initial segment of his combination, entitled Chronologia. His point was to enable his perusers to comprehend their place in time and history. Be that as it may, in light of the fact that Mercator had incorporated into his book Luther's challenge against guilty pleasures in 1517, Chronologia was put on the Catholic Church's list of precluded books.

In the years that pursued, Mercator gave much time to drawing and etching the plates for the maps of his new topography. In 1590, Mercator endured a stroke that dropped him unfit to talk and incapacitated his left side, making it amazingly hard for him to proceed with his work. He was, be that as it may, decided not to leave his labour of love incomplete, and he proceeded with it until he kicked the bucket in 1594 at 82 years old. Mercator's child Rumold finished five incomplete maps. The total accumulation of Mercator's maps was distributed in 1595. It was the absolute first accumulation of maps to manage the name map book.

Mercator's Atlas contained an investigation of the principal part of Genesis, in which the validness of God's Word was guarded notwithstanding resistance from logicians. Mercator called this investigation "the objective of all my work."

The Greatest Geographer of Our Day"

An extended version of the Atlas, distributed by Jodocus Hondius in 1606, was imprinted in numerous dialects and turned into a success. Abraham Ortelius, a sixteenth-century cartographer, commended Mercator as "the best geographer of our day." More as of late, author Nicholas Crane depicted Mercator as "the man who mapped the planet."

Mercator's inheritance is still a piece of our day by day lives. For instance, at whatever point we counsel a map book or switch on a Global Positioning System, we are profiting by the works of Mercator, a noteworthy man who for his entire life looked to know his time and spot in God's creation.

Mercator trusted that the earth would turn into a position of exemplary nature, harmony, and flourishing. He composed an unpublished editorial on Romans sections 1-11, in which he discredited the Calvinistic thought of destiny. Curiously, he additionally couldn't help contradicting Martin Luther and expressed that notwithstanding confidence, works are essential for salvation. Mercator wrote in a letter that transgression "comes not from the planets [astrology] nor from any tendency of nature made by God, however just from the unrestrained choice of man." In his correspondence he dismissed the Roman Catholic authoritative opinion of transubstantiation, expressing that Jesus' words "this is my body" ought not to be translated truly in any case, rather, profoundly.

Have you at any point endeavoured to smooth the skin of an orange? Obviously, it is difficult to do as such without contorting it. That precedent outlines the issue looked by mapmakers​—how to extend a globe (the earth) on a level guide. Mercator tackled the issue by presenting a framework that is currently known as the Mercator projection. In this technique, the lines that structure the degrees of scope from the equator to the shafts are divided relatively. In spite of the fact that this methodology mutilates separations and sizes (particularly toward the north and south), it was a noteworthy achievement in cartography. Mercator's divider guide of the universe of 1569 was a perfect work of art that incredibly added to his distinction as a cartographer. As a matter of fact, his projection is as yet utilized in sea maps and by the cutting edge Global Positioning System.

What It Takes to Drive an Elephant

AS A mahout, or elephant driver, cooked his supper by the side of the Narmada River, he left his tyke between the storage compartment and forefeet of his resting elephant. The kid over and over endeavoured to move away, yet "the supine elephant delicately twisted its trunk around the kid and stepped him back to where his dad had dropped him," describes the book Project Elephant. "The dad proceeded with his cooking and seemed to have outright certainty that the youngster was in safe guardianship."

Work elephants have been in the administration of man from as right on time as 2000 B.C.E. In antiquated occasions, elephants were prepared primarily for fighting. In current India, they are prepared to work. They are utilized in the logging business, at religious celebrations and weddings, in promoting, in bazaars, and notwithstanding for asking. How are these elephants tamed? What's more, how are they prepared?

A Course in Elephant Training

Various focuses in India are prepared to think about elephant calves that have been caught, deserted, or harmed in nature. One such instructional hub is in Koni, in the territory of Kerala. Here the calves are prepared to progress toward becoming work elephants. A mahout should initially win the trust of a calf. Bolstering is a significant method to manufacture this trust. A calf perceives its mahout's voice, and when called for nourishing, it will rush over to get its milk and millet glue. Preparing for work does not typically occur until youthful elephants achieve their initial youngsters. At that point, they are given something to do when they achieve the age of 25. In Kerala, government standards necessitate that working elephants be resigned at 65 years old.

To drive an elephant securely, the mahout must have great preparing. As indicated by the Elephant Welfare Association of Trichur, Kerala, another mahout needs serious preparing for at any rate three months. Such preparing isn't constrained to figuring out how to give directions. It additionally covers elephant science overall.

A grown-up elephant takes more time to prepare. From outside the fenced-in area where the elephant is kept, the coach first shows his creature to comprehend verbal directions. In Kerala, a mahout utilizes somewhere in the range of 20 directions and sign to get his elephant to do the required work. The mahout gives clear and uproarious directions and, in the meantime, nudges his elephant with a stick and demonstrates to it what to do. At the point when a direction complies, the elephant is compensated with a little treat. At the point when the coach is certain that his elephant is agreeable, he enters the fenced in area and touches it. This communication strengthens shared trust. In time, the elephant can be taken outside​—with an alert, obviously, as despite everything it holds a portion of its wild attributes. Until it turns out to be certain that the elephant is completely subdued, it is anchored between two mentor elephants when taken out for washing and for different journeys.

After an elephant handles verbal directions, the mahout sits on its back and shows it how to react to physical directions by goading it with his toes or heels. To make the elephant push ahead, the mahout presses both of his huge toes behind the elephant's ears. To make it back up, he presses both of his heels into the creature's shoulders. To stay away from any perplexity, verbal directions are given by only one mahout. An elephant will see every one of the directions inside three or four years. From that point, it always remembers them. Despite the fact that an elephant has a mind that is little in the extent to its body, it is an extremely shrewd creature.

Elephant Maintenance

An elephant should be kept solid and in great spirits. An everyday shower is significant. At shower time, the mahout utilizes stones and perfectly sliced coconut husks to scour his charge's thick yet delicate and touchy skin.

At that point comes to breakfast. The mahout readies a thick glue of wheat, millet, and pony gram, a sort of grub. The principle course incorporates bamboo, palm leaves, and grass. The elephant is enchanted if crude carrots and sugar sticks are included too. Elephants invest the greater part of their energy eating. They need around 300 pounds [140 kg] of sustenance and nearly 40 gallons [150 L] of water each day! To remain great companions with his pachyderm, the mahout needs to fulfill these requirements.

The Results of Abuse

The delicate Indian elephant can't be driven or made to work past a specific point. Elephants may turn on mahouts who dispense discipline, verbal or something else. India's Sunday Herald paper talked about one tusker​—that is, a male elephant with tusks—​that "went be[r]serk . . . following sick treatment by the mahouts. The elephant which was responding to the outsmarting allotted by the mahout went out of control . . . what's more, must be sedated." In April 2007, India Today International detailed: "In the previous two months alone, in excess of 10 tuskers have run wild at celebrations; since January a year ago, 48 mahouts have been killed by the seething mammoths." Such shows frequently happen amid the period known as musth. This is a yearly physiological marvel associated with the mating season, amid which the testosterone dimension of solid grown-up male elephants rises. The outcome is forceful and unpredictable conduct toward other bull elephants and people. Musth can last from 15 days to a quarter of a year.

Another circumstance where an elephant can get unsettled is the point at which it is sold and another mahout dominates. Its connection to the old mahout is clear. To impact smooth progress, the past mahout more often than not makes a trip with it to its new home. There, the two handlers cooperate until the upgraded one becomes acclimated to the mind-sets of the elephant. At the point when a mahout bites the dust and another one assumes control over, issues can be considerably more prominent. Be that as it may, the elephant, in the end, comes to perceive and acknowledge the new circumstance.

Despite the fact that a few people may fear this powerful land creature, a well-prepared elephant will comply with a benevolent ace. At the point when benevolence rules, the elephant need not be affixed when his mahout is incidentally missing. The mahout should simply put one end of his stick on the elephant's foot and the opposite end on the ground and ask the creature not to move. The elephant loyally stops with the stick set up. As represented in the presentation, the participation between an elephant and its mahout can be both astonishing and contacting. Truly, a great driver can confide in his elephants.
MAN AND ELEPHANT​—A LONG HISTORY

Man's taming of elephants has a long history. Maybe the most popular precedent in ancient history is that of Hannibal, a Carthaginian general. In the third century B.C.E., the North African city of Carthage was battling Rome in a century-long arrangement of fights known as the Punic Wars. Hannibal collected a military in the city of Cartagena, Spain, with the arrangement of walking on Rome. He previously crossed the Pyrenees to enter what is presently France. At that point, in what Archeology magazine terms "one of the boldest military moves ever," his military of 25,000 men​—joined by 37 African elephants and scores of pack creatures stacked with provisions—​crossed the Alps into Italy. They needed to fight with cold, snowstorms, rockslides, and unfriendly mountain clans. That venture was amazingly strenuous for the elephants. Not one of them endures Hannibal's first year in Italy.

The Romans Won a Battle but Killed a Genius

It may surprise you to know that the famous Greek mathematician, Archimedes, was technically Italian. He was born in Sicily and died there. However, in the 3rd century BC, the area where he lived was called Magna Graecia, and the city he lived in, Syracuse, was a Greek colony. He was ethnically and culturally Greek.

Among other things, Archimedes was an outstanding scientist who conceived many amazing inventions, including pulleys and the Archimedes' screw pump. He is considered to be not only the greatest of the ancient mathematicians but also one of the greatest of all times. His mathematical theories were hugely influential in the Renaissance.

As mentioned in earlier facts, Sicily was the front line of fighting between Carthage and Rome; and Syracuse, although part of neither empire, got drawn into these conflicts. …which were happening when Archimedes was an old man, his reputation as a genius already sealed.

The city of Syracuse was, for its time, huge and very well defended, particularly from the sea. The Romans began their siege in 214 BC when their fleet brought a floating siege tower and ships with pre-erected scaling ladders, which were repelled by the wall-mounted catapults and fire arrows hurled by the population. Archimedes, as a loyal citizen of Syracuse, was asked to put his great intellect towards helping with the defenses. To this end he invented a massive crane and claw that was mounted on the walls and could smash down onto the attacking Roman galleys, hurling them upside down.  Hundreds drowned because of this invention.

There is a later tale of Archimedes inventing a weapon composed of metal mirrors that angled the light to create a heat beam.  Seeing that modern science has failed to recreate this device, it is likely that the story is a myth, but it is a testament to his reputation that Archimedes is supposed to have created this magic weapon.

The siege of Syracuse dragged on for two years, and Roman casualties were high. This led to the people of the city becoming over-confident, and they let their guard down during a feast to the goddess Artemis. When the Romans discovered this, a small band of troops scaled the walls and let the army in.

As all hell broke loose, the Roman soldiers were ordered to find Archimedes and bring him to their general - alive. After all, this man was a genius who had created powerful war machines, just the sort of man the Romans needed to fight Carthage.

When a Roman soldier found Archimedes, he was deep in thought. The soldier demanded that Archimedes come with him, but he was totally absorbed in a thorny mathematical issue and ignored the soldier. The Legionnaire was so frustrated at being ignored by the old man that he stabbed him with his spear, killing one of the greatest minds that ever lived - in mid-thought.

The Romans may have gained Syracuse, but they lost Archimedes.

Mehmed II

Mehmed II conqueror of Constantinople is pretty famous. However what's less well known is the arther ignominious story of what happened to his body afater he died-

Mehmed died in May of 1421, aged just forty. It’s not clear how he died, but it wasn’t foul play. Perhaps, after the previous nineteen years of capture, war, and rebellion, he was just worn out. However, after the long period of volatility and all the hard work to rebuild the empire, it was understandable that his court officials felt uneasy about the passing of power to the new sultan, Mehmed’s son, who would be Murad II.

Even in death Mehmed had one last vital duty to carry out. Since time was needed to ensure the smooth transition of power to Murad, Mehmed’s death was not initially reported. However, the lack of sightings of the sultan led to suspicions by the Janissaries so, to stop the gossip, an important Islamic law was broken. Mehmed was not buried immediately.

Instead, Mehmed’s close circle of advisors came up with a macabre plan and had the body of the dead sultan placed in a litter. An official would hide underneath the sultan and (presumably using wires) would manipulate his arms so that it appeared Mehmed was stroking his beard. Unbelievably, this worked and bought the time the courtiers so badly needed to have Murad ready to be installed on the throne and to avoid another period of uncertainty.  (That was to come anyway, but you have to admire the effort.)

The reader will be pleased to hear that after this brief period of ignominious behaviour by the court, Mehmed was eventually buried in the imperial mausoleum in Bursa.

A House Painter Called Richard Lawrence Made History

Richard Lawrence was a house painter who had immigrated to America with his family at the turn of the 19th century. He was, in many ways, an average person, but as he got older, he became more and more erratic. At one point he told his family he was going back to England, only to return a month later, declaring he had changed his mind because it was too cold. Unfortunately he became obsessed with Andrew ‘Old Hickory’ Jackson, who finally became president in 1829.
The two men’s worlds notably intercepted at a funeral in January of 1835. Lawrence had been following Jackson for some time and was seen to be agitated on the day. As he left a paint shop, he was heard to mutter to himself, "I'll be damned if I don't do it”.

When Jackson was walking away from the funeral gathering, Lawrence stepped out behind the president, raised and fired a pistol. Nothing happened. However Lawrence had been thorough in his plans and raised a second pistol, but this, too, failed to fire. Jackson was a man of action in every possible sense, and on this occasion he showed Lawrence just why he was sometimes called ‘Old Hickory’ as he wielded his hickory walking stick and beat senseless his would-be assassin. Jackson was in his late sixties but still had enough fire in his belly to retaliate against the man who had tried to kill him. This was the first assassination attempt carried out against a sitting President of the United States of America.

In the ensuing court case, Lawrence explained that he associated the president with the loss of his job, and that by killing Jackson, he hoped for a better world. He also informed the court that he was not just Richard Lawrence but Richard III, King of England (who had been dead for some 350 years). Because of such outlandish statements and other testimony about his ever more bizarre behaviour, he was found ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ and institutionalised for the rest of his life.

As crazy as Lawrence was, his plot didn’t fail because he was stupid. When the two pistols were inspected, they were found to be new and in good working order. However, later research suggested that this particular model was prone to misfire in damp conditions, which would have been the case on that late January day in Washington D.C.
Many more attempts would be made on other presidents’ lives - some successful, some not. Like these later attempts, conspiracy theories were linked to Lawrence’s action, but there was never any evidence to implicate anyone else in this assassination attempt.

Putting science to one side, the president had been saved by two misfires from pistols. It felt as if Providence had had a hand. The same divine blessing that had nurtured this young nation through good times and bad had intervened once again and convinced the country that Jackson was the embodiment of everything American.

The Crusades, an era of bloodshed, religious war and...a culinary exchange?

While it was a little ephemeral, there genuinely was a sharing of cuisine during the crusades in the Middle East.

Chronicles from crusaders coming to the Middle East for the first time would marvel at the diversity of fruits and spices readily available in the Outremer. This led to a number of these food stuffs travelling west. Two fruits that in particular were popular amongst European aristocracy were lemons and pomegranates. Indeed, it’s from this point onwards that you can sometimes see images of the Virgin Mary holding a pomegranate, a fruit with many seeds, a sign of fertility. This association of Mary with this fruit  just didn’t exist before the crusading era.

Then there was sugar. Before the slave produced plantations of sugar cane in the Caribbean, sugar was very expensive and in the 11th to the end of the 13th century, virtually all sugar in Europe came from the east. However once Acre fell in 1291 so did the consumption of sugar. Genoa and Venice still had trading connections but as people were now less exposed to Middle Eastern tastes then it seems demand also waned.

One spice did however linger, pepper. Pepper was originally spread throughout the Roman Empire, but after its collapse in the West, we lost our taste for it. This spice was a staple in the Middle East and so was one of the culinary innovations that was shared with cooks in Europe during the era of the crusades. This however continued to be popular in Europe on into the 14th and 15th centuries, once it returned it seemed that the populations of Europe never wanted to let go.

The story of the Palestinian who became VERY English

St George is the patron saint of England, but how did a Roman soldier bear in Palestine who never went to England get that honor?
The story of the real St. George is the simple tale of a Roman officer in the early 4th century AD who refused to renounce his Christian faith and was executed for it…and that’s it, sorry no dragons.
However in the medieval era Saints became associated with certain roles, Mary was the mother of all women, St. Honoré is the patron saint of bakers and as St George was a soldier, he became the patron saint of knights, soldiers, and men of war.

For a religion about peace, Christianity has been calling on military based miracles for centuries. It started with the Pagan Emperor Constantine who had visions of the cross before his pivotal battle at the Milvian Bridge. That was in the 4th Century AD so by the era of the crusades there had been more than 600 years of calling on God/Jesus/Saints to help out in a time of violence.

George became the protector of knights in battle and he appears by the sides of the crusaders at the Siege of Antioch during the First Crusades, his description at the battle is a matter of fact like all the other nobles that featured in the siege and following battle- the logic is why wouldn’t the warrior saint be helping this Christian pilgrimage to reclaim the Holy Land?

However, we have to go to the 14th century to see the specific connection with England. In the first half of the 14th century, Edward III King of England also claimed the French crown triggering the dynastic feuding that would later be dubbed “the Hundred Years War”. In 1346 the French (with lots of Genoese Crossbowmen) and the English (with LOTS of Welsh archers) faced each other at Crecy.
By the end of the day the French nobility had been massacred, the volleys of Longbow arrows punctured the French armor and the French barely got to the English front lines (also Edward used the first cannons in battle on that day too). If victory was heavenly sent than clearly, the warrior saint had deserted the French. This logic evolved into- “well if the French had been abandoned, then the English had been shown special favor”. So St George was clearly blessing the English. Therefore it was on a bloody, corpse-strewn battlefield in France that George became “English”.

Although it's worth noting that the English by no means has a monopoly on this saint, he's also the patron saint of Portugal, Russia and of course Georgia, the country that's named after him. The real George (if that was even his name) of course never visited any of these places.

Back to Britain, Saint Patrick, often dubbed the most famous Irishman in the world, wasn’t Irish he had earlier been enslaved by Irish pirates so he was either English or Welsh, Saint Andrew never went to Scotland. Only Saint David the patron saint of Wales was a man from the country he became a patron of.

The story of the Nazi super cows

This may sound like an internet hoax but it isn’t. In January of 2015, farmer Dereck Gow from Devon had to put down seven of his rare breed Heck cows. The reason for their demise? The cows were so aggressive they had tried on multiple occasions to attack him and his farm hands (and this is a breed with large horns so attacks by goring could lead to very serious injuries).

In a way this shouldn’t have surprised farmer Gow because of the Heck cow’s history, you see the Heck cow is a result of Nazi breeding experiments.

It is well known that Hitler and Himmler were obsessed with the “Aryan” history of Europe and when they couldn’t find it they made it up. Archaeological finds were faked or the wrong conclusions were placed on innocent artifacts to support his idea of a pre-Christian nirvana in Northern Europe.

Some of the greatest and most well-respected archaeologists of the day were co-opted into spending exaggerated time looking at Pagan Germanic ancestors, some of the research and conclusions were legitimate, but when the facts didn’t match the propaganda, then the facts were discarded in favor of the Aryan fantasy.

Attempts were made to get back Europe’s true roots which included looking at bloodlines and lineage. Nowadays we would call this looking at the human genome or DNA but DNA was unknown in the 1930s. There is footage of Nazi researchers in places as far afield as Tibet taking head, nose and eye measurements to look for racially pure subjects.

If all this interest in human past and human breeding was weird, prior to the 1940s experiments on humans were limited, the experimentation and breeding of livestock weren’t and animal husbandry was and is a standard way of creating new breeds of animals for various uses. The idea that with the cows was the selective breeding of livestock to get them to revert back to an early form of the breed. This is what the Heck cow is. It was specially bred by German zoologists and brothers Heinz and Lutz Heck (hence the name) to simulate what in essence a racially pure cow would have looked like (according to Nazi theories anyway).

The Nazi’s, in particular, wanted to create the long extinct auroch (a kind of ancient bovine species) but also wanted the cows to be aggressive and part of the breeding process involved Spanish fighting bulls. The Heck cow then is a kind of Nazi super cow (a phrase you don’t get to write all that often).

As for the Heck’s in Devon that were culled? They were somewhat appropriately turned into rather tasty sausages.

The Maid of the North

Alexander III of Scotland was a man in a hurry. He became king as a minor and couldn’t wait to become a sole ruler (fair enough). Then he couldn’t wait to rid Scotland of the scourge of Scandinavian incursions (which were still going on in the 13th Century) leading him to create a treaty with Norway, sealed with his granddaughter being sent to Norway to be married into the Norwegian royal family. However, he was also in a hurry to have a male heir, which was to be his undoing.  His first wife Margaret was the daughter of Henry III King of England, but she had drowned in a river when a practical joke (hers) went badly wrong- I am not making this up, she tried to push a courtier into a river but instead drowned in the strong current herself.

Margaret had borne Alexander children but over the next decade, they all perished while he was still king making the topic of an heir a pressing one, time of the middle-aged king to get a new wife. Which he promptly did in the form of Yolande of Dreux and in the winter of 1284 married her. However, in March of 1285, he was so keen to get to the Queen on her birthday that he rushed out into the night with barely any retainers into the teeth of good old Scottish storm. The next day he was found dead, his horse had taken a fall and he had died in the storm and dynastic disaster struck Scotland. The king was dead, the queen had been in the country for only a few months so had no real support, and the throne now potentially was in the hands of a child, Margaret, Alexander’s granddaughter. Already the wolves were circling their prey. John Balliol made a claim for the throne and the Bruces, a powerful family, backed Margaret’s claim. It was a civil war. The group of guardians appointed to rule for Margaret (also known as the Maid of the North as she was raised in Norway…long story) until she arrived from Norway and was old enough to rule did their best to keep the peace but tensions were high.

However, Scotland had a potential savior. Edward Longshanks King of England. He was seen as a great diplomat as well as a warrior. He had been involved in a number of continental disputes, both as an antagonist and as a conciliator, and he was viewed as a wise ruler, one who could work through the different grievances and come up with an independent solution. Why not ask him for some help?

Edward’s solution, readily agreed by the Scottish nobles, was that his firstborn son (who was about the same age as Margaret) would marry her, and together they would be the rightful rulers of both nations, uniting the two crowns of Britain. It was a simple and elegant solution that gave Scotland the footing as a partner, not subject, to the English throne. Edward had pulled off a diplomatic triumph.

So Margaret, aged just seven was sent from Norway in 1290. True, there would be a long period of stewardship under the guardians, but in the long term, both nations would benefit from this union. However the North Sea, even in summer, is a rough place to be and this little seven-year-old girl fell ill on the journey, it’s physical demands taking its toll on such a young body. At the Orkney Islands, things got worse, and she died. The fate of two nations had rested on Margaret and her sad demise was to lead to centuries of further warfare between the two nations. It was one of the great missed opportunities of British history…

Get ready for the most British story you'll ever read.

Queen Victoria was famous "not amused" (although this seems to be an actually apocryphal tale) but she was quite the literary critic too.

In 1882, Roderick Maclean decided he was so happy with his new poem, that he would share it with the Queen. She didn't like it and sent him a reply, that he thought was rather curt. Taking this to heart, Robert went a stage further than most on receiving some bad feedback, he set out to assassinate Queen Victoria.

At Windsor, on March 2nd, Roderick drew a pistol and attempted to shoot Queen Victoria. What happened next is contested. One article claims his gun was a toy, others heard the shot. One version has Chief Superintendent Hayes, of the Borough Police thwarting Roderick, another has (and this is the wonderful bit) had Eaton school boys grappling with Roderick using their umbrella.

Either way, Roderick, of course, failed to kill the monarch. He was caught and tried. He was then found "not guilty, but insane" and had indeed been diagnosed as insane a few years earlier. Interestingly Queen Victoria was not happy about that and asked for a change in English law so that those implicated in similar cases would be  "guilty, but insane"; this led to an actual change of the law and the Trial of Lunatics Act 1883.

The Last Western Emperor Shared a Name with the Founder of Rome

Romulus Augustus, better known as Romulus Augustulus, little Caesar. was a boy who “ruled” for about ten months from 475 to 476 AD.  He was little more than a figurehead for his father Orestes, a Roman aristocrat (of Germanic ancestry), who had maneuvered his way into a position of power in the court in Ravenna.

Julius Nepos had been the previous emperor in the West, and he was still around at the time of Augustulus, but he was content to run his province on the Dalmatian coast and leave the rest to others. By now the title of Western Roman Emperor was virtually meaningless. The only remaining areas of the empire were the Italian peninsula, along with some fragmentary lands in Gaul, Spain, and Croatia. Barbarian groups had already sacked Rome twice, and any real power was held by these tribes and not by the Roman court in Ravenna.

Little is known about the teen-aged Romulus Augustulus, but he was neither a gifted young man like Octavian nor the decadent fool like Elagabalus.  He was simply the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. Coins were minted with his face, but he led no armies, and no monuments were built for him. He was an irrelevance.

The Germanic leader Odoacer knew this and, in 476, marched on Ravenna. Odoacer had been leading the Foederati, the barbarian contingents that by now made up almost the entire “Roman” army. He had all the real power and he knew it. Julius Nepos had allowed Odoacer to rise to prominence, and to be fair to Nepos, by the late 5th century, there was nothing unusual in this. It’s what happened next that was to make Odoacer a big name in late antiquity history. On arriving in Ravenna and finding no resistance, he met face-to-face with the so-called Emperor Romulus Augustus. However, the chronicles then say that Odoacer, "taking pity on his youth", spared Romulus' life. Odoacer carried out no bloody coup, nor did he take the imperial title because he knew that it had ceased to have any significance.  Instead, he recast himself as the first King of Italy, after which he granted Romulus an annual pension of 6,000 solidi and sent him to live with relatives in southern Italy.

Odoacer then got on with reshaping Italy, not in the mold of the old empire, but in the form of a new kingdom. The transformation was long overdue, and as a result, Odoacer was able to bring more stability to the time of his reign than the previous emperors had managed during the past eighty years.

So, as the barbarians broke through the walls of Rome, the last Western Roman Emperor did not go down in a battle, nor did he commit suicide.  He was deposed and sent home like a naughty schoolboy. This was final humiliation for a title which, from Scotland to Iraq, had once put fear in men’s hearts.

In his inaugural speech, James Buchanan, the 15th president, said two interesting things: that he would not seek a second term and that he would abide by the U.S. Supreme court ruling on Dred Scott versus Sandford. The decision came just a few days later and it was dynamite. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, could not be American citizens and, therefore, could not sue in federal court. This was bad enough, but it went on to say that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories (as opposed to the states). The South was delighted; the North was outraged.

The civil war had basically already stared in Kansas in what became known as ‘Bleeding Kansas’, were pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups were waging guerrilla war on one another. This rumbled on until 1861 when the American Civil War formally started. With regard to Dred Scott and the situation in Kansas, Buchanan said that the judiciary would make the right decisions, which made him look like a bystander watching events unfurl in his own presidency.

Unusually, Buchanan did show decisiveness when it looked like Utah, under the Mormons, was set to break away from the Union, and he sent troops in to resolve the issue. No major battles were fought, but brute military strength brought the Mormon community to heel.

In the end, it was Buchanan’s garbled policy of appeasement with the southern states that lit the touch paper for all-out war. Before he left office, all government military posts and forts in the seceding states were lost, with a few exceptions, most notably Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Buchanan made an unofficial agreement with the state that in return for no interference, he would not reinforce the garrison. Critically (and unforgivably), Buchanan did not inform the Charleston commander of the agreement, and on 26 December 1860, the commander violated this unknown pact by moving his command to Fort Sumter. Southerners responded that Buchanan should remove the reinforcements while northerners demanded support for the garrison. On 5 January 1861, Buchanan sent a civilian steamship to carry reinforcements and supplies to Fort Sumter. Four days later, South Carolina coastal batteries opened fire on the ship as it approached. The ship withdrew and returned to New York.

As a result, Buchanan was attacked by the South for breaking his agreement and trying to reinforce a fort that he had said he wouldn’t, while the North criticized the humiliating retreat from the South Carolina batteries. After this Buchanan thought a policy of doing nothing was best. This was the situation that was playing out as Abraham Lincoln was taking office.

On his death bed, Buchanan said, "History will vindicate my memory”, but like most of his presidential judgments, he was wrong about this, too.  While it is a matter of some debate that he was the very worst president, he is certainly near the bottom of the list.

When faced with a siege, there are three main ways to resolve it

1 A negotiated settlement, a direct assault or starvation (of the defenders). The negotiated settlement happened more often than you might think. Garrisons rarely wanted to die for the cause but, if they could hold out for relief, there was every reason to sit behind their thick walls and wait it out. The rules of sieges may sound barbaric now, but they served a purpose in their day. If the defenders gave up their fortifications, they could expect to leave with their honor and pretty much anything they could carry. However, if they resisted and the attackers finally breached the walls, they could expect no mercy. There is a brutal logic in this because it encouraged defenders to come to the negotiating table to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.

2 Starvation was a long, slow process. If any supplies were to get behind the walls, the siege would simply go on for much longer. Basic hygiene, as it was understood at the time, had to be observed both inside the fortifications and outside by the besiegers. An outbreak of diseases such as cholera could annihilate the attacking forces far more efficiently than any attack from inside the walls. However, if the besiegers could surround a city and if they had time on their side, this was a low-risk strategy and a guaranteed way to win. Starvation worked better with cities because there were more mouths to feed, and no amount of bravery offers protection from hunger. This kind of tactic (used for thousands of years by most civilizations) is now considered to be a war crime due to the disproportionate suffering of civilians.

3 A direct assault was always the least preferred option. Defenses are never impenetrable, and it was the job of defensive architects to work out how many men it would take to kill one member of the garrison. These multipliers meant that some sieges, with barely more than a hundred men, could successfully see off tens of thousands of the enemy. To get past these defenses an entire martial art form evolved. Tunneling under the walls of a city was a technical and dangerous business, but once the shafts were collapsed, the walls would usually come down with them. Then there were the highly sought-after giant siege engines, designed to rain down projectiles, anything from rocks, to pots of Greek fire, to diseased animals (to spread pestilence within). Later, cannons were used to batter the stone walls of these citadels. There were also giant siege towers, designed to roll up to the walls and allow easy access for attackers. Siege ladders, battering rams … the list of siege machines and weapons goes on and on. All of these were extremely expensive in terms of materials, resources and men’s lives.

Yes, there was always subterfuge, but that wasn't always a likely option but the complexities of above show you why the Middle Ages are sometimes referred to as the era of siege warfare.