Potatoes were a crop from the Americas, so during the age of colonialism, potatoes were brought to Europe, and quickly became one of the most essential crops for a lot of countries(i.e. Ireland) why did a new world crop like this become one of the most common sources of nutrition in the old world?

I read in Robert Betts' Christians in the Arab East that Edessa in pre-Islamic era was a major cultural center for Christianity, especially for Syriac Christianity (the Jacobite one).

This isn't explored further in his book, so I gather a few information from the internet and found that its fringe position (between Byzantium and the Arab desert) made it not completely Hellenized and was a hub for trading. But that's all about it.

How exactly was the process that it became the major cultural center in the 6th century? And if Edessa was a major Christian center, how was the religious life in the city? How was it compared to Antioch or Alexandria?

Anything like signaling to turn while in a carriage or signals to cross the street. Was there any way to tell when the carriage in front of you is slowing or stopping? Any traffic laws that i've never heard of?

Chris Rock (a comedian) has a bit where he states this. Is it true that the US Government would kill smart black folks?

You always read of people becoming wealthy from selling supplies to prospectors, but did any prospectors get really wealthy from gold finds?

For example: in the early 1800's Paris the police have a suspect. How do they confirm that he is who he says he is or who they think he is? Especially in a large city like Paris with hundreds of thousands of residents?

Given the amount of casualties I can't believe that this was an easy task? Were they just the final push that was needed but couldn't be provided by French and British forces? Did they introduce new tactics that helped?

To add to this question, are these kinds of sites found often by archeologists? Are there any popular landfills of note from any century discovered?

My question is the following :

• Why did the Vikings keep sailing to the west ?

They went from Norway / Sweden to Great Britain, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and finally Isle aux Meadows (for a short period of time). Never stopping for very long. Why ?

I would guess that their main reason would be acquiring more arable land but event then it seems a bit strange that they took so many risks for this goal.

• Did they have so many enemies in their previously discovered / conquered territories that they felt they weren't safe ?

Thank you in advance for your answers !

It seems a little far away for a viking raid, or did vikings really raid locations in Byzantium?

I was recently reading "A Song of Ice and Fire" and it talked about how essentially Daenerys (who was 13 at the time) married a much older, 30 year old man and obviously wed him and had sex with him in consummation. This behavior was obviously apparent in the middle ages and still was in parts of America and Europe in the 1900s with children marrying older adults at 16 or less. What has happened in our history that created this taboo of older adults marrying pubescent children? Why was this originally a normal part of life back then and when was the point in which people stared to say "sex under (Age) is statutory rape and marrying a pubescent child to an adult is wrong"?

Sorry if this as already been answered- I didn't see anything that quite related to it in the FAQ. I'm wondering how peasants in medieval Europe and Byzantium would have felt the Church influence in their every day lives. I know that most people were Christian, and I have heard that in many areas, peasants tended to believe a mix of Christianity and more traditional beliefs (dragons and witches and such). I also know that mass was given in Latin in Europe, which most peasants wouldn't have known. Perhaps peasants in Byzantium where mass was in Greek would have been better able to relate to the Church?

I'm basically wondering how peasants interacted with the Church and felt the Church's influence. Would the peasants attend mass regularly? Would they be expected to tithe? Would they have known their local priests, and expected visits from priests to sick and dying family members? I know the question is fairly broad in scope. I am hoping to get answers about Europe and/or Byzantium 1000-1500, but please feel free to give partial answers in your area of expertise.

I would like to read a book that draws primarily from Native American sources on the history and development of the United States and how it affected Native peoples. Any suggestions?