NOTEWORTHY FACTS; PART 2
HISTORY
* The earth is four billion years old. Modern Human species evolved only about one to two hundred thousand years ago. Human species started first in Africa and then gradually spread in the rest of the world.
* Human beings started to cultivate food by farming only 10 thousand years ago.
* The art of writing is only five to six thousand years old.
* The chronological order of the ancient civilizations in the world is approximately as follows: Mesopotamia (today's iraq) 3500 b c, Egypt 3000 b c, India 2500 b c, Crete (a Greek island) 2000 b c, China 1500 b c. The well-known Greek and Roman civilizations came later. The Mayan civilization of Central America came even later than those.
* 'zero' and the decimal system in arithmetic were invented in India.
* During 15th century a d the rulers of Aztec empire in Mexico practiced the custom of human sacrifice to propitiate God. The victims were chosen from the people of defeated tribes.
* Starting from about 1500 a d, European countries, namely, Holland, Spain, Portugal, France and England established colonies and gained economic and political supremacy in many different parts of the world. Their superiority in the technology of gun weaponry and ship-building played a major role in their success.
* For thousands of years in the past, lives of common people were characterized by deprivations and hard labor. Today, common people in many parts of the world live a much more comfortable life. They have better food, clothing, medical care, protection against bad weather and more hours for rest and recreation.
* When Jews were persecuted in Germany under Hitler's rule, many German scientists emigrated out of Germany. Albert Einstein was one of them. This led to the fact that U.S.A. was first to develop atomic bomb. Otherwise Germany may have developed it first, and that may have resulted in a different outcome of the World War II.
* Around the years of 1940 there were separate movie theaters for whites and blacks in Princeton, New Jersey. Also, Blacks were not allowed to try clothes or shoes when they visited shops in Princeton.
*In a survey conducted among Princeton University freshmen in 1938, Adolf Hitler was the number one choice as the greatest living individual in the world. This indicates the prevalence of antisemitic attitudes among the students of that university.
* Under Pol Pat's communist party rule in Cambodia following the Vietnam War, about 2 million people were either killed by authorities or died of starvation.
* During the genocide of Tutsis at the hands of Hutus in Rwanda, in1994, 800,000 people died within a period of 100 days.
*At the onset of 21st century average income per person was less than a dollar a day in 30 countries of the world, of which 24 were in the continent of Africa.
* Around 1960,many countries of Africa became independent from colonial rule.Over the next 40 years the rate of poverty has increased in many of these countries. It is not fair to blame prior colonial rule for this situation. Corruption and inefficiency of those who came to power appear to be the primary causes of the economic decline in these countries.
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