I'm reading a book on African tribalism and clan system and it got me wondering... Did Europe ever have a clan system as today exists in Libya, Somalia etc, and what happened to them? I've heard about the various Germanic and other European tribes but when did their role in everyday life of common people begin to fade and states and churches take that role?

I was teaching Plato to undergrads this week, and one of them asked if Plato was on shrooms when he came up with some of his more out there metaphysics. The idea was part joking, but I started wondering what exactly the culture of drugs was in this era and if there were any of the mind-altering variety available.

I've been doing research for a project and one thing I have come across is the name for Africa. In the first volume of Encyclopedia of African History and Culture, by Willie Page, he mentions that "The Moors, Nubians, and Numidians, on the other hand, frequently called the continent Alkebulan, meaning 'mother of humankind.'" I'm confident in the source but would like another voice just to round things out. I've seen some people claim its Arabic and others disclaim that. The author makes no mention of the origin of the term, just that the people used to call Africa this. Before hand he mentioned what other cultures like the Greeks used to call it. I'm wondered if this is the earliest name for Africa known, if not then what is and anything else about this name. Thank you for replying.

There's a quote of Mozart's about Handel that got me wondering how familiar composers like him and Beethoven were with the latter's music? Was it performed at all in Vienna during their time? If not, was there ever a Handel renaissance, like in the case of Bach?

Hi guys, I just read one time that waffen ss are weaker than the wehrmacht(heer) and showed lack of training,but i read another article that said waffen ss were stronger and more elite than the wehrmacht, so who is right, who was stronger and had better equipment the waffen ss or the wehrmacht(heer).

Interested more in the time period between 1400-1800

My mother was teaching me how to cook some basic foods today, and this question came to my mind.

When the Nazis and the Soviets invaded Poland in 1939, why did the French and British only declare war on the Germans?

My grandfather was a Lancaster bomb aimer/forward gunner and when I was a kid told me war stories. Two I remember are one time while dropping incendiary bombs one hit his bomber and he had to quickly poke it back out of the hole it made. Also a sentiment he expressed was that the forward gun was useless and detrimental to the planes flight characteristics.

So basically my questions are how often did bombers accidently hit each other and what was the general consensus about the effectiveness of the forward guns on the Lancaster/ bombers?

*edit I think it may have been his pilot/ Co-pilot that shoved the bomb back out of the plane.

It would be interesting to have an account from diverse places

Public school really did us wrong by not teaching my generation enough about Nixon, LBJ, and Carter. Any books about Nixon or any other President post WWII up to the fall of the USSR would be appreciated. I mainly want to see how each president reacted and dealt with the Soviets.

I have to write an essay regarding basically anything related to the Scandinavian presence in Anglo-saxon England. This subject seemed most interesting.

I've been reading Stenton's 'Anglo-saxon England' and J. Blair's 'The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society'. Neither of the books seem to deal very directly with my essay topic, however.

Do the experts of AskHistorians know of any good books which deal with the this topic in particular or, at least, to some extent?

I would also like to include some primary source material. I've been considering including some Asser and perhaps Alcuin. Are there other/better primary sources which comment on the destruction wrought by the scandinavians?

Thanks in advance! I hope this homework question is of adequate quality.

As a player on /r/HistoricalWorldPowers I wonder about this a lot. Can anyone explain to me the differences between the two styles of shipbuilding? Thanks.

What new kinds of policies started showing up? In what way did the treaty change the world in practice?

This question is stemming from my complete ignorance of the pre-colonial history of West Africa - so, I do not know to what extent cultures like the Nri, Oyo, Benin, and Kaabu etc. shared similar characteristics or whether they had completely different societal and religious systems. Massive question, I know - but I'd love to learn about the history of love and marriage in African thought! So contributions also regarding just one of the empires or periods would be also fab, or answers to less narrow questions like, did people in the pre-colonial Africa marry for love? Did they have myths and stories of epic romances? Were they monogamous cultures? How were LGTB people treated? Thanks?