Questions are everywhere: Simple ones, complicated ones, mundane ones, unanswerable ones – it can be overwhelming. When it comes to questions about history, this is definitely true.
Wanting to know more about the people, places, and things from bygone eras is common, but getting answers to history-based questions isn’t easy. Limited resources, long-forgotten ideas, and even buried secrets prevent us from getting clear answers to some of our most pressing inquiries.
When you do get insight into a historical quandary, it can be incredibly satisfying. We found many answers to questions that have been on our minds lately, and we have to admit, we’re pretty content with what we learned. Vote up the answers that leave you saying, “Good to know!” too.
1. What Does It Mean When A Country’s Name Ends In ‘-ia’?
Around the world, countries end with the suffix “-ia” – something that is especially true in Eastern Europe. When “-ia” is used in Latin and Greek, it creates an abstract noun referring to like a collection of people or locations. Within the Roman Empire, for example, territories like Germania were named after the people living there. Contemporary usage embraces the same tradition, with countries like Russia as the “land of the Rus.”
There are instances of Latin being used to describe other abstract aspects of territories, however. Australia, for example, comes from “austral,” which means “pertaining to the south.” Nigeria derives its name (used by British imperialists since the 19th century) from the Niger River, while Algeria is a Latinization of the city of Algiers adopted by French imperialists.
2. What Does The ‘QR’ In A QR Code Mean?
QR codes were developed in 1994 by Denso Wave, an automotive company in Japan. Barcodes, which QR codes are increasingly replacing, were invented by Norman “Joe” Woodland during the late 1940s. He and Bernard “Bob” Silver, a student at Woodland’s alma mater, received a patent for barcodes in 1952.
The difference between a barcode and a QR code is the shape, which is essential when it comes to the amount of data the latter holds. Because a QR code is vertical and horizontal, it has the ability to carry hundreds of times more data than its horizontal counterpart.
When it comes to what QR means – it simply stands for “quick response.”
3. When Did White Flags Become A Signal Of Surrender?
To wave the white flag is to give up, surrender, and signal non-violence, a practice that traces back many centuries. During the Second Punic War (218 to 201 BCE), a ship from Carthage was said to have displayed “white wool and branches of olive” to indicate it wanted to discuss terms. White flags of surrender can be traced to Han China and Rome during the first and second centuries CE.
White was also used to distinguish noncombatants on the battlefield during the Middle Ages. Hugo Grotius mentions “hanging out a white flag as a tacit sign of demanding a parley” in his The Rights of War and Peace, and during the American Civil War, white flags were waved to protect individuals tending to the wounded.
Support for the white flag as an international sign of ceasefire and truce can be found in the Hague Conventions of 1899 as well:
An individual is considered as a parlementaire who is authorized by one of the belligerents to enter into communication with the other, and who carries a white flag. He has a right to inviolability, as well as the trumpeter, bugler, or drummer, the flag-bearer and the interpreter who may accompany him.
4. Has Iceland Ever Been Invaded?
While conflicts between Icelanders and outsiders took place during the Middle Ages, fighting with other countries has never really reached Icelandic shores. The one exception took place during World War II, when the British launched Operation Fork.
In May 1940, British troops arrived in Reykjavik by ship in a preemptive move to keep Iceland out of German hands. Despite having gained sovereignty in 1918, Iceland was still in joint monarchy with Denmark, which had just fallen to the Germans.
Iceland declared itself neutral, and the invasion of its shores prompted a protest by the government. The British brought additional equipment to Iceland, Canadian reinforcements arrived soon after, and the US sent troops once it officially joined the war in 1941.
The occupation of Iceland lasted through the war, but was also the impetus for the country declaring itself completely independent from Denmark in June 1944.
As of 2022, Iceland has no standing military and has never officially declared war, although it is a member of NATO.
5. What Have Astronauts Left Behind On The Moon?
Since humans first walked on the moon in 1969, they’ve been leaving behind markers of their time there. Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin placed the first lunar flag, something China was only the second country to do in 2020. An additional US flag was placed on the moon for each of the subsequent Apollo landings, making six total.
Before heading back to Earth, the crew of Apollo 11 discarded a camera, tools, and the tube that held the American flag to lighten their load. Apollo 14 astronauts in 1971 played golf at the end of their mission, reportedly leaving three balls behind.
After Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke reached the moon, he deposited a family photo that read “This is the family of astronaut Charlie Duke from planet Earth who landed on the moon on April 20, 1972.” The ashes of Gene Shoemaker, an American astrogeologist, were taken to the moon after his passing in 1997.
Among the other lunar trinkets are a feather, a hammer, a commemorative sculpture for the 14 astronauts and cosmonauts known to have lost their lives as of 1971, and a golden olive branch.
Roughly 106 objects in total sit on the moon, including lunar buggies, technical and science equipment, crashed aircraft, and observational devices. This doesn’t seem to include 96 bags of human waste.
6. Who’s The ‘Pete’ In ‘For Pete’s Sake?’
The phrase “For Pete’s sake!” may or may not be one that you use, but the saying does have a place in the English language, as does “For the love of Pete!”
Largely exclamations or utterances used to express frustration, aggravation, or some comparable feeling, the “Pete” in these sayings often swaps for “Christ” or “God” – likely to avoid taking the Lord’s name in vain.
This is one explanation for where the idiom “For Pete’s sake!” comes from, but it doesn’t clarify who Pete actually is. No one knows for certain, but the leading contender is St. Peter.
7. When Did People Start Making Pinky Promises?
Pinky promises, also called pinky swears, are often associated with children, but they’re one of the numerous outward signs affirming a covenant or a bond that has been developed through history. Handshakes, for example, can be traced as far back as 9th-century BCE agreements between Assyrian and Babylonian rulers.
Pinky swearing’s origins may derive from the Japanese practice of yubikiri, which means “finger-cutting” and is what Japanese children say to each other when linking their little fingers together. This seals a bond and implies that the person who breaks it will lose a finger as a result. Some observers tie the practice directly to the Yakuza, a Japanese organized crime syndicate.
In the western world, the first references to pinky swearing appear in the 19th century, although different terms for one’s smallest finger have resulted in variations like “piggy promise” in Northern Ireland. The 1860 Dictionary of Americanisms lists the pinky as:
The little finger. A very common term in New York, especially among small children, who, when making a bargain with each other, are accustomed to confirm it by interlocking the little finger of each other’s right hands, and repeating the following doggerel:
Pinky, pinky, bow-bell,
Whoever tells a lie
Will sing down to the bad place,
And never rise up again.
8. When Did Internet Browsers Get Tabs?
If you were an early user of the internet, you probably remember the days when browsers didn’t have tabs, and you were limited to a single search window. In 1994, BookLink Technologies released InternetWorks, a browser that featured tabs.
It was a relatively little-used browser compared with Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer, released in 1994 and 1995, respectively. In 1997, Adam Stiles created a feature for browsers called SimulBrowse (later called NetCaptor), which allowed users to toggle back and forth between different webpages – essentially using tabs.
The introduction of browser Mozilla Firefox (previously called Firebird and Phoenix) in 2002 quickly usurped the dominance of both Navigator and Explorer. Browsers Safari and Chrome were both released during the first decade of the 2000s. According to Stiles, “Modern tabbed browsers… based their tabbed browsing systems either directly or indirectly on NetCaptor.”
After 2004, Firefox is credited with popularizing tabs and influencing other browsers to add them to their software.
9. What Was The Name Of The First Bridge Across The River Thames?
As of 2022, the oldest bridge still in use across the River Thames in London, England is Richmond Bridge. It dates to 1777, was built by James Paine, and replaced the Crown-operated ferry service.
According to Ron Carmichael, the two contenders for the oldest bridge that still stands over the Thames are the Newbridge and Radcot bridges, both of which date to the 13th century.
It’s difficult to assess whether there would have been any bridge over the Thames prior to the arrival of the Romans during the first century CE. When the Romans did build a bridge, it was made of wood and was likely in the modern borough of Southwark.
Archaeological evidence indicates another of the earliest Roman bridges was located near the modern London Bridge, perhaps built during the late first century.
10. What Are The Parts Of Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces Called?
Jigsaw puzzles have their origins in cartography, with map engraver John Spilsbury credited with creating the first jigsaw puzzle in 1762. It was essentially a dissected wooden map intended to be an educational tool for geography.
Since then, the puzzles have taken shapes and sizes of all kinds. There’s similar variability when it comes to the terminology for puzzle pieces themselves.
The protruding ends are generally called tabs, although it’s not uncommon to refer to them as knobs, bumps, bobbles, heads, loops, keys, and outies. For some, they might be referred to as “male” because they insert into a “female” counterpart. Those female openings are called blanks, holes, slots, indents, sockets, locks, and innies.
11. Is Graceland Named After Someone?
Known as the home of Elvis Presley, Graceland now serves as a private residence for his daughter Lisa Marie and a tourist destination. Presley purchased the property in 1957 when he was 22 years old, shortly after finishing his second studio album.
He reportedly paid $102,500 for 13.8 acres of land and the Graceland mansion in Memphis, TN. After he bought Graceland, Presley kept its original name. The land upon which the mansion sits was first owned by the Toof family. When Ruth Brown Moore and her husband Thomas built the mansion in 1939, they named it for Ruth’s aunt, Grace Toof Ward.
Elvis, his wife, Priscilla, (and later several girlfriends), his parents, and members of his extended family lived at Graceland, while friends came and went at various times. According to Lisa Marie:
There was lots of mischief. There were golf cart convoys, motorcycles, fireworks, firecracker wars, snowmobiling, sledding and horseback riding… for his closest friends and his family… and we all had a lot of fun doing that sort of stuff, getting into mischief and having fun. It was incredible.
12. Is Thomas Edison’s Last Breath Really In A Test Tube?
If you were to visit the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan, you would see a test tube containing the “last breath” of Thomas Edison. Before the great inventor passed in 1931, Ford reportedly asked son Charles to catch his father’s dying breath.
Thomas and Ford were longtime friends and spent time together in Florida, where they both had houses, in the years leading up to Thomas’s death. Charles had a physician seal test tubes that were in the room when his father died:
…there was a rack of eight empty test tubes close to his bedside. They were from his work bench in the Chemical Room at the Laboratory in West Orange. Though he is mainly remembered for his work in electric fields, his real love was chemistry. It is not strange, but symbolic, that those test tubes were close to him in the end. Immediately after his passing, I asked… his attending physician, to seal them with paraffin. He did. Later I gave one of them to Mr. Ford.
Ford passed in 1947, followed by his wife Clara in 1950. At that point, the test tube was documented as part of the Ford estate, but it wasn’t until 1978 that the tube was “rediscovered” and put on display.