My understanding is that the Ottomans applied uniformly the Jizya all over their empire, yet in the Balkans the only people who converted were Bosnians and Albanias, all others clinging to their orthodox or catholic faith. Why them not others?

I saw the news about some lost passages of the Epic of Gilgamesh being found and wondered if there is any reliable clue what the language sounded like. The language is so isolated and the written form seems to be based on pictograms so I wondered if there were any estimates.

I've found myself curious about this on more than one occasion. Spain posses two (?) small enclaves within Morocco, Ceuta and Melilla. I'm wondering if anyone can explain why these ended up this way? What conflict or concession ended up with these strange borders? Is there any conflict or tension over them?

Bonus points if you want to explain to me why the Strait of Gibraltar is British.

Thanks a lot!

Someone I met said that many of the neo nazis after the wall came down in the former east were not neo, they just never stopped being nazis. How true is this and how was this possible? How did people in such a controlled society carry on with nazi sympathies. Did parents secretly indoctrinate their children behind closed doors or at secret meetings? Was it easier to do this in rural areas. Did the stasi sometime turn a blind eye in some cases?

In medieval Europe the church was a major landowner, and for example monasteries would often own much of the surrounding land (at least this was the case in Germany but I would assume elsewhere too).

I am wondering if there were any general differences between how the peasants were treated if their lord was a noble compared to if they belonged to the church? Taxes, laws, administration etc.

I'm sure that this post is filled with misconceptions, but nevertheless I'll ask it. Assuming that he had the resources, could a Kenyan or Indian hop on a ship and settle down in England without any trouble? I understand that immigration and emigration as a concept was probably wildly different 200-100 years ago, but were natives of colonised countries given British "passports" so to speak?

Thanks

...Or did poetry<->music operate on a continuum that could depend even on a particular performer or performance?

Naturally I'm interested in the medieval angle, too, but I don't want to "since the dawn of time" it here.

Arma virumque cano is the opening phrase of the Aeneid; it means "I sing of arms, and of the man..."

From my general understanding, although the Japanese forces were outnumbered infantry wise, they had a vast array of superior technology and fire-power.

Why were the Japanese forces unable to cause a collapse of the Chinese government? Why were they unable to break the stalemate? How much foreign support did China rely on?

Maybe i'm just ignorant of the subject but why use all those men and resources when you had a war to win on 2 different fronts? Couldn't you just win the war and kill all the Jews later? Why not kill them as soon as you had them instead of using ghetto's and camps to house them until a later date?

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Also, was the concept of distributed fuel stations ever deemed unrealistic?

From my vague understanding, it was mostly racially motivated why they were expelled from the Malaysian Federation, or was the issue more nuanced? What was the perception within Singapore/Malaysia at the time, one of reluctance or good-riddance?

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Researching the family legend of a native American ancestor I found a female of unknown surname but unusual given name (Trasda) and inconsistent census race - usually counted as white, but occassionally indian. But given the timeline - marriage about 1828 in Tennessee, such a marriage would be illegal under Tennessee law as with many states. Perhaps this explains the lack of marriage certificate.

But given how common the story of native admixture is, there has to be many such marriages. How enforced were miscegenation laws for I/W couples? Is this something that went on in the most rural areas only? I know there was plenty of "marriages" with natives eventually discarded for white wives to "settle down" but this case was a life long marriage, eventually moving to Texas right after it joined the union.

If I had 1000 Denarius and went to Greece or any other more eastern location would they stop taking my currency, exchange it at a 1:(?) rate like we do in modern times, or simply would they give you your weight in what ever precious metal you had in flat local currency? How about a Lesser known currency then the romans? what was the standard practice of the time?

Hey there. Can anyone explain why Spain remained catholic during the Protestant Reformation? As in, why wouldn't the Spanish go the way of the English and the Dutch and embrace Protestantism's economic benefits and acknowledge the corruption plagueing the Catholic church at the time?

Thanks.

I know that Occitan is the first language that had its own literature apart from Latin in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. And my question is: Throughout the Middle Ages, how important was this language in Europe? Was it considered as a sort of language of prestige?

Hello everyone,

I was reading the Quran and in it we see multiple verses regarding Abraham.

In the Quran, Abraham and Ishmael are credited with building the Kabba and establishing Mecca.

All religious beliefs aside, I'm very curious as to what kind of historic evidence we have to back these claims up.

Thanks.

Did history's greatest conqueror look up to the scourge of late Rome? Other great conquerors and generals of history have looked to past greats for inspiration, did GK do the same?