Does anyone know if the Japanese used to believe that the Earth was the center of the universe? If they didn’t then did they believe the sun was the center?

Reading about late 14th and 15th century England, it feels like you cannot throw a rock without hitting an important Beaufort. Despite Edward III having NINE children, it feels like the John of Gaunt/Katherine Swynford brood played an outsized role in English politics. How did the bastard descendants of a third son end up so involved in Plantagenet England?

I've just finished Norman Davies' Europe: A History which goes from prehistory neolithic up to modern times. Loved how thorough he was (for such as broad period), plus all the maps. I'm looking for something similar on India. There is plenty on Amazon, but it's hard to judge based on book reviews. Anyone here have a book or author they loved in the history of India?

Whenever I read anything that purports to explain the social norms of the Victorian era vis-à-vis marriage, exactly how it was that couples got engaged and married is always glossed over. I’m curious to know both what would have been going through the minds of a new debutante, a single nobleman, their families, etc. as well as what historians with the benefit of hindsight think was actually governing their actions (as what people say they care about usually differs from what actually motivates them).

Were people just trying to find the richest or most titled spouse they could? How did an individual person’s physical attractiveness, personality, or “morality” figure into this? Was there room for someone poorer (but still in the gentry/peerage) to “marry up” if they were very charming or desirable? Or since everyone was apparently having affairs were these marriages purely for the sake of social status and furthering one’s lineage?

Could a man who didn’t find a wife in London one Season try his luck in Paris a few months later, or vice-versa? Would English and French nobility have cared about different things in a match? Was there a stigma attached to marrying a foreign (but still wealthy/noble) spouse beyond the widely known phenomenon of American industrialists marrying their daughters into the British peerage?

I’m still very interested in other time periods before/after the above, so please don’t interpret any of my wording narrowly.

Or more broadly, how do historians decide on the names of eras and how they are defined?

In today’s media, when Marie Antoinette is mentioned, we think of an aloof french noble who cared little about peasants. She’s become a staple of the french revolution. Was she actually a careless aristocrat, or was there more to her story?

Modern navies have robust antimissile capabilities. But I don't think they have anything that can intercept a "bullet" or a "shell" from a naval gun.

So why did all naval guns go out of favor, replaced by missiles and bombers?

As a medieval peasant, I am obviously aware of the need for cleanliness and hygiene, both to combat disease, and just so I don't stink, because nobody likes that.

However unlike all my friends in Paris and Aachen where they have bathhouses of both the salacious and normal variety. I don't think we have one of those in my small village... or maybe we do, and I just don't know about it. Or is there a communal pond we all go skinny dipping in somewhere? I know those show up sometimes in various stories? Or should I just sponge off and forget bathing entirely? And how frequently do I bathe? Once a month? One a week? Every day?

Anyway, how do I as a villager/peasant, take a bath in rural Europe? I'm open to answers for any of the surrounding regions also, and if we have sources going back to antiquity I'd be interested in those as well. And for bonus points, what about winter when it's cold outside and I can't take a dip in the pond/lake/river out back?

Help, I feel so dirty :(....

So if I'm not mistaken, the Arab slave trade was at least as large if not larger than the Atlantic slave trade. However, if I'm not mistaken, Oman does not have a large population of black people descended from slaves from Zanzibar. What happened to them all?

The division of Berlin after the war has big symbolic value of course, but what were the practical considerations for the city to be governed in this unique manner? What exactly were the Allies' intentions in 1943-45 when they formulated these plans for post-war Germany? Cold War politics aside (using Berlin as a western outpost in the East), the whole setup appears to be a bit of a gimmick and serve no real purpose for the occupiers.

There are obviously 100s of books on this topic out there, I'm just asking historians which ones are best from a historical accuracy standpoint since y'all seem like you'd know better about that than I would.

In Peanuts, the short lived character 555 95472, along with his sisters 3 and 4, was a victim of their dad's frustration at how everyone was being numbered, and their dad decided that if everything was going to be numbered anyway then they may as well take on their zip code as their last name and numbers for first names. (It's funnier in the strip.) Did people really have strong feelings about the institution of zip codes? Was this part of a larger trend of things being numbered (area codes, ID numbers, Idunno...)? Or is it just another contextless Peanuts joke like the kite in the tree?

Colonial troops made up of native soldiers were very important in both world wars, and often hoped their service would help further causes of independence.

Once these countries were gaining independence, were soldiers in those units (Kings African Rifles, Senegalese Tirailleurs, French Army of Africa) expected to hand over their equipment? Were any that wished to move to the colonizing nation given permission to? Were these soldiers ever incriminated for suppressing their own nations independence movements in the past?

There's a really widespread myth about Peter I's trip to Europe which states that he was replaced by a stranger, possibly Alexander Menshikov's puppet. The scientists who first did research on this topic weren't historians but mathematicians, the author of New chronology Fomenko and Nosovskiy, therefore it is not to be trusted.

However, is there any actual historical evidence that would support those claims or is it completely groundless? I don't have experience at working with historical sources so I would really appreciate any help regarding this question with the sources. Thanks in advance.

The American war of independence happened when the 13 British colonies in USA tried to get rid of the monarch. Why didn't the British who came to South Asia try the same? Instead of paying taxes to the British monarch, wouldn't it be easier for East India Company to administer the South Asia all by themselves?

This question is meant in the following sense:

We know Troy is the city described in the Iliad, where the legendary battle took place. Many legends spawn from it, including the Odyssey.

However, there is little to no archaeological evidence to point to its existence (as far as I know).

Therefore, it’s possible that Troy was a legend unto itself, a figment of a fictional narrative. One can draw semblance to Atlantis, but I won’t do that here, as Atlantis’ existence is even weaker in potential - and the origin limited to one source.

Are there examples of places, which like Troy, exist in story and legend, but the archaeological proof is not there?

Having multiple sources helps, as one of the intentions of this question is to elucidate and separate entirely fictional places, from merely forgotten, destroyed, abandoned, or eroded places.

Or, in the end, was Troy truly just a literary fiction, like Atlantis?

I just want to clarify a few things. I am specifically asking about the structure where they had a roof, some feed and water. I know they were tied to hitching posts but I was wondering about the buildings they were kept in. Doesn't make much sense to leave a horse out in front of a shop when it will just create a mess that will detract customers. I'm currently writing a western myself so any help about the names or history of these horse "parking" solutions would be super helpful.

I could not find anything that said yes or no

In both western and eastern medieval art drawings of people are not very realistic and sometimes quite cartoony. Was this because artists lacked the tools and materials to create detailed art? Or was it because they lacked the time/motivation to learn. Or another reason.