In bestiaries, there were all kinds of animals, many of which existed, many of which did not. However, in some bestiaries, there are an overwhelming amount of birds. Sometimes half the bestiary or more was devoted to just birds, lots of which were fictional. And in medieval poetry, birds are used both symbolically and as characters. Chaucer specifically seemed to use birds on every other page, and doesn't seem to use other animals of any type nearly as often. Was there some fascination with birds that had a concrete source? Was it just that they were the most common animal at the time? Were there medieval bird watching clubs? Is there any way to tell if this interest, and others like it, were just those of these particular artists, or were these things widely popular among others?

In one of my major history classes our professor mentioned that Cleopatra (whom everyone is familiar with from all the films) was actually Greek and that she had to be tutored to learn the ancient Egyptian language. How true is this and does anyone have any books I can read on?

I have been to few Caribbean and Bahamas islands which they have great colonial history. Great buildings that belonged to the lords and governors of Great Britain for example. I don’t want to seem racist or insult anyone but what happened to all of the white British rulers of the individual islands. Thank you

Like how they travelled in these places while there is still war in Europe. What was international travel back then?

For example: red and green for Xmas, blue and orange for birthdays, purple and yellow for Easter, orange and black for Halloween. It seems arbituary to me.

Basically just the title. I’ve heard it said before that during the 1980s, Soviet Spies were told to acquire consumer electronics such as computers or just remote control toys, as the Soviet Union was lagging so far behind in electronics that they desperately needed to catch up. Is this true, or just made up?

For example If I wanted to travel from London to York how would I aproach this trip in regards to food and acomodations?

I'm looking for an overview of the history of Europe since the Renaissance. I found this book on Amazon: A History of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present by John Merriman Ph.D. An older edition from 2004 is available for a cheap price. Do history textbooks change much over different editions?

I've recently developed an interest in learning about history and various historical events and figures. But I question many of my sources when learning about such individuals and finding information that's both unbiased and accurate. I'm not an aspiring historian or anything, I'm just interested in learning about history and forming his own valid opinions on certain topics. So where do I start? Books? Documentaries? As I said I'm an amateur, I have no idea what I'm doing

I'm 6 hours away form completing a bachelors in History, but I'm unsure as to where I should continue my education. How did you go about making this decision? My fear is that I would select a school and realize that the program doesn't cater to my areas of interest and I would be stuck researching topics for which I have no real passion. Can this be avoided?

Despite declaring neutrality we now know there were secret contingency plans and co-operation with Britain, could the government or other groups have been looking at other options at the same time?

Good Day Historian's, I'm just reading Gudarian's Panzer Leader and it's noted that during the early attacks into France that both the German Armour and Infantry had been attacked by the Luftwaffe by mistake. Gudarian humorously notes that after shooting down one of their own reconnaissance aircraft he waited on the pilots and calmed their nerves with some "procured" champagne.

Would airmen face any sort of reprimand for attacking friendly units? If so would it go upwards to their superiors as well?

I feel like I'm missing something rather obvious.. So the general rule of thumb is for every meter under ground, the finds are another thousand years old.

But how do they get buried? Is it just people build over it? But why would they leave pots, bodies etc with half a wall?

Or does dirt etc just slowly drift over and accumulates over years, and people build over it not knowing that anything was once there?

Article 8 of the Treaty of Paris of 1783 gave British subjects and Americans access to the Mississippi River. Was this formally repealed in any other treaty or official document?

This was posted a long while ago, but many responses were deleted.