It's easy to understand why a settlement would be formed on the shore of an ocean or a large lake, but what determined the location of cities on rivers? If a river has, say, a 100 or 200 km portion of fairly uniform landscape, what was it that made settlers decide that yes, our city is going to go here and not 10 km further up or down? In particular I'm curious about the new world where there was so much open space and no visible borders for the European settlers looking for a place to settle down.

I know this is a really broad question so I'll break it down into three areas of interest.

What kind of relationship did white southerners think they would have with their slaves in the afterlife?

• Did they even envision interacting with blacks in paradise?

• Did they expect that slavery would continue?

• Was it presumed that slaves would continue working in conditions similar to what they experienced in life?

What did the enslaved blacks think awaited them in heaven?

• Did they plan on seeing white people there?

• What quality of "life" did they expect?

How did the catholic beliefs in the French and Spanish caribbean colonies affect their images of the afterlife as it pertained to slavery?

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Best I can tell, just before the US left, they had bombed North Vietnam back into the stone age with Operations Linebacker I and II, bringing them to the peace table. What happened?

I remember hearing from somewhere that Heinrich Himmler got the idea of rounding up the Jews into death camps after he had read about the way the United States set up concentration camps in Oklahoma for Cherokees after they had been relocated from their homeland via the Trail of Tears. Is this true? If that is the case, then it gives another good reason to take Andrew Jackson's face off the 20 dollar bill for having an influence on the Nazis.

Hey guys!

First and foremost, I apologize if this isn't the right place for this. I know this isn't the usual type of question you guys answer. I checked the FAQ and couldn't really find what I was looking for.

I'm recently engaged, and my SO and I have always wanted to do a Medieval wedding. I'm having a bit of trouble finding legitimate marriage traditions/ceremony ideas. We want to avoid doing a LARP style wedding (not that there's anything wrong with them) and want to keep it as historically accurate as possibly.

I already have a few ideas from what research I've already done, but any ideas/advice would be greatly appreciated. It could be about anything; the ceremony, the clothing, the food, I'm open for whatever expertise you have. Even if you guys could just point me in the direction of reliable sources! Thanks so much!

Both sides have had several military encounters, how did this affect both sides? Thanks :)

Specifically a Roman Latin accent. Would it sound similar to that of Italians or more so like Spanish or French? Obviously I am talking about an accent in English.

"Fury" is on tv at the moment and the battle between the single Panzer and the four Americans is one of my favorite WWII scenes of all time. U.S. intelligence and Army planners must have known their workhorse would be outclassed, right?

I took a few semesters of Latin in college and in the short amount of time I studied it I feel as though I learned quite a lot. I know that could have just been me, but objectively it seems like an easy language to learn. Who/what decided to stop using it, and what was it primarily replaced with?

It doesn't necessarily need to be about politics, but I think the setting is interesting.

The only one I can think of at the moment is Pan's Labyrinth.

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I've been reading a bit on the Black Plague, which is as far as I understand one of the most (if not the most) significant epidemics in history. What I don't understand is how it ever died out. I understand that poor hygiene and crowded medieval cities led to millions and millions being infected and dying, but why did it just stop after a bit? Is there a reason why it stopped infecting people at the rate it had been doing so for the past several decades? Wikipedia doesnt mention this at all. Wouldn't a plague that wide-spread and uncurable just keep growing exponentially?

After watching the "world response" to Mark Watney portrayed in The Martian. I was wondering how Apollo 13 was portrayed around the world especially in the USSR. In my googling I was unable to find a review of the soviet media's coverage.

I never learned anything about Apartheid in high school (other than Nelson Mandela existed and ended it), and my university doesn't offer any classes on the subject. This seems like a huge gap in my knowledge. I know questions about apartheid have been asked in this subreddit, but I have absolutely no information with which to contextualize them. A list of recommended reading (books or articles) would also be appreciated.

Just a curiosity I had. I read that they were used ever since the crusades and even before that by some other populations, is this true? Do we know anything about their use?

If so: Where how and why was this carried out? If not: What became of old ships no longer deemed fit for duty?