I'm currently reading in my history text book (Give me liberty, by Eric Foner) about titles given in colonial New England, one of which is mistress (the female equivalent of master). In modern American English this normally refers to a woman involved in an extramarital affair with a man. When did the change in the meaning of the word occur? Was there any justification of why the meaning changed?

Thanks!

We know there are people living off the grid and stockpiling guns and canned food but is that something born out of the Cold War or have there always been people preparing like this for the Rapture or a giant meteor?

Like were there paranoid doomsayers in the wild west or colonial America?

Nazi Germanys goal was to kill all the Jews, blacks, gays, gypsies, ect. Why did it take so long?

Is there anywhere where I could find a translated text of it? I can never find it, maybe I'm not looking in the right place.

In Total War games all Hellenic factions use them. Why were they so popular? I assume they were thought of as highly effective.

What are the best books to read on the Ottoman Empire for beginners?

The question here relates to the 'establishment' of the Roman Empire. I have always been confused by this historiographical issue as it would have been interpreted at the time.

27 BC is the year that historians used to mark the moment at which Octavian simultaneously became princeps, commander of Rome's armed forces with proconsular imperium, and given the name Augustus. Would this have been seen as a major turning point in Roman history at the time by regular citizens?

edit: Additional question: would it have been seen as a more radical move than what Caesar did? I feel like I remember that Ronald Syme argued that Augustus governed more like Pompey than Caesar in his efforts to maintain republican trappings.

My understanding is that over the course of several hundred years, the Spanish removed thousands of tons of gold and silver from their colonies in the Americas and shipped them back to Spain.

Putting aside shipwrecks, privateer attacks, etc., I'm curious what happened to the gold and silver that made it back to Spain. Was it melted down? Turned into jewelry, coins, various other things? Were these things hoarded in the royal treasury or spent?

Finally, do we know where all this treasure is today? Did it just disappear into general circulation? Could my aunt's gold necklace be made in part from looted Spanish gold?

With all the world watching the American Armada heading towards the Korean Peninsula I began to think about what Korea would even begin to look like if it unified.

My question is, what did Korea look like as a country before the Korean war in the 1950's? It's economy, the distinction of it's culture vs it's neighbors and the country's feeling about it's place on the world stage in a post WW2 era before the war. Did it expect us to use nuclear weapons again the communist armies?

I understand that the Holocaust is a main focus when talking about genocide because of the fact that over 1 million were slaughtered but I do not understand why things like the Rape of Nanking are not as widely talked about. I do not remember learning much, if anything, about the extent of their crimes in grade school. In the case of Nanking, more than 200,000 people were murdered in a 3 month span and thousands raped. So why is it not really talked about in America? Is it due to the fact that China is a Communist country and therefore shouldn't be painted in a sympathetic light?

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New york seems to have a different naming system for their courts than the rest of the country, I'm curious as to how this came about

Reading most threads here is sifting through a ton of deleted comments. I understand your commitment to having citable informed answers, but I think there are a wealth of interesting and colorful anecdotes lost to this rule. Would a disclaimer of anecdotal fix this issue? I hate when there's an interesting question, and many censored answers.

I've always read that only cities were the target of both bombs that may, or may not, have played a role in ending WWII, but I've always wondered why only cities were chosen. I'm sure by the beginning of August and the known decision to invade the Home Islands that the Japanese would have had areas of significant military presence built up on Kyushu. I know at the time the effects of atomic bombs were not yet understood very well, so why didn't military planners target large troop gatherings? Wouldn't wiping out thousands of soldiers, equipment, and fortifications with one bomb been more effective than destroying cities? Obviously, by this point in the war, the Japanese wouldn't have been dumb enough to have huge, easy to bomb groups standing around, but wouldn't a nuclear bomb still been very effect on fortified areas? Why did the US command focus only on cities?

I've read that the mass killing of cats in Europe from the 12th century - notably after pope Gregory IX called them demonic creatures - helped the spread of the black plague. As rats populations were not controlled anymore by cats. And also that part of Europe where the mass killing of cats didn't occurred were the least affected by the black plague.

Is it true? Is there any historical evidences of such things?

thanks !

As follow-ons:

How does the demographic picture of victims of demonic possession change when outside the scope of Catholicism or Christianity as a whole?

Going back to Catholicism, at the time when exorcists were also from among the laity, are the victims of possession mostly female?

Or are characters like Regan MacNeil stock damsel-in-distress characters?

I am attempting to gain detailed knowledge on what the opponents of Athens did and who they were.

What I've read on Wikipedia is

1. After besieging Isagoras and the Spartans in 508 BC on acropolis, the Athenians executed several supporters of Isagoras and also ordered the death of Isagoras. Do we know who the Athenians executed? Members of Isagoras aristocratic class?

2. Boeotia and Sparta attacked Athens in 507-506 BC, but Sparta retreated at Eleusis. Why Cleomenes I and Damaratos decide to fall back instead of moving on to Athens?

3. Who was leading the army of Boeotia against Athens?

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