Everybody mentions that Polynesian oral traditions were a big inspiration for the Kon-Tiki expedition, but I was under the impression that he had botanical evidence as well. What new findings undid his hypothesis since then?

I'm assuming it to be African philosophy only because of how humans migrated out from there. However, do any of those texts (?) survive? Do we know of any large figures in the earliest stages of philosophy?

I'm a western classics student, so this question has been nagging me for some time.

Exactly how disabled was he? Could he hold a conversation? Did he wear diapers?

I'm figuring that if slaves were the ones growing these crops, t hey would have basically unlimited access to cannabis. Surely, some of them must've snuck a bit back to their quarters for personal use. But this seems like the kind of thing that might have been wanted to be kept a secret, so maybe it's a stretch.

I was watching the movie "Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown", a film about Queen Victoria and her highland servant, John Brown, on Netflix and a scene came up that contained a joke which I did not understand. It was told during a party from one woman to two others and goes like this:

"Why is the Queen penny wise and pound foolish?"

"Because she looks afters the Browns...and lets the sovereigns take care of themselves!"

What is the meaning behind this joke?

How did this arrangement even make sense? It can't have been like the military coups of today, for a figure as universally revered as they were supposed to be, or was it?

I'm reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms (yep, probably the leading cause of questions re: that region in this sub) and the way the emperors get passed around between different hands like an object is almost a joke.

EDIT: I guess a better way to put this question would be: If Liu Bang was a warlord to begin with and became emperor through conquest, at what point did the position became purely ceremonial and lose control over the army?

What about the shoguns and the Japanese emperors?

Was it when the industrial era ended? Do the new cultural ideas and massive economy the shift of the fifties count as "development?" What does development even mean on a national scale?

Sorry if this should have been posted in another sub.

Basically, my Great Grandmother was conceived during WW1 out of wedlock when her mother was 16 years old. I know the time period of the conception and where the gentleman in question was stationed at, and a vague idea of what his name is, and what branch of the military he was in.

With this information, can I cross reference and narrow it down, and possibly find out more about him? My great grandmother was fed a bunch of lies about him; I assume he was married at the time while stationed somewhere else and the family had no desire to disrupt his family life.

I ask this because in the West, Diocletian's reforms (e.g. taxation in kind, tying certain people to land, making trades hereditary, etc.) had a profound effect and sowed the seeds of Feudalism. This led to further decentralization and break-up of the Western parts of the Empire.

I know that the East was richer, but was it impacted similarly by the reforms as the West?

The Soviets suffered enormously at the hands of the Nazis, and had every reason to hate them. It would seem that the Soviets should have been quite interested in finding and bringing the people responsible for this to justice. Not only that, but I'd imagine the propaganda value of finding Nazis being protected by the west would be immense.

I mean, if the Russians could say "Hey, look, Jewish people, NATO is protecting the butchers of our people and we are bringing them to justice" I'd imagine they could have one hell of a propaganda boon. It would be an excellent way to bring more Jews and Israelis in as sympathizers.

The KGB would have had significantly more resources than the Mossad, and the Soviet Union was a far more influential nation, so I'd imagine they could have done a pretty good job.

Yet, it seems they had no interest in it, outside of Stepan Bandera. Was there some sort of policy against it or did they just never bother?

Some examples please

Timespan: 1945 - 2000s

References to Communism in Japan, Occupation of Japan, prime ministers, economies, anything would be appreciated.

I'm sure there is a lot of variation, but what would a historian who works at a research university generally do on a day to day basis?