Example: A part of a '90's kid' childhood (at least in America) is watching Disney movies on VHS and sharing that experience with millions of other kids. Without such ease of access, did people then share a similar cultural experience when say The African Queen came out? Did someone just have to buy a film reel and show it with a projector to have any chance of seeing something out of theaters?

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Also as a side note: What was film piracy like before VHS? Did people set up cameras in theaters to bootleg movies?

Would peoples in for example pre-colonial Congo, independent of Western ideas, have a notion of race or ethnicity and did they use it to legitimize inequality, divisions in society or between societies? If race and/or ethnicity wasn't an 'issue', what was?

Essentially would anyone in China and/or Japan and/or Europe have knowledge of a landmass East/West of them based on the knowing something was across the (future) Bering Strait by the time Columbus sailed? Would the Mongols or their descendants have talked to the Itelmans, Koryaks, Chukchies, Aluti, Ayni, Ayvens, Kamchadals or any other local tribes and learned from them about it?

I heard somewhere that the Scots brought a rhyming-insult practice over to America where they taught it to African Americans slaves. Thus allowing African Americans to make rap. Is this true?

Sorry for the bad English.

So nowadays we have medicine and all that, but I was wondering if the discovery of fire could have been the start of us treating wounds and helped humanity evolve.

I see tons of questions on the subreddit asking ___ about Feudalism, with an assumption that it was a monolithic entity. I also get the impression that the people asking these questions have some agreement on what Feudalism generally entails. Why is this, and what era/area do they take that information from?

I'm vaguely aware that the Mormon groups were prone to schism, but focusing on the LDS specifically, what happened when Smith died? Was there a struggle for who would lead the church?

Hello.

I'm planning a novel, part of which takes place on a Chinese pirate ship in the mid 16th century, just before the Portuguese were allowed to legally trade with China. I am looking for good sources on this time, specifically relating to piracy in the Chinese waters (I understand there was much Portuguese smuggling happening too), and the politics around the Portuguese incursions.

What I obviously would like to glean from the sources are tidbits of historical colour that lend authenticity, as well as a basic overview of maritime life at the time.

I have read some articles, but thought someone here probably knows a LOT more about it and could point me in a good direction.

Thanks.

It seemed like a good idea at first what with good beer, reading and serving God but I'm beginning to wonder if I really want to spend the rest of my life like this. I understand that in the middle ages as today joining a monastry is meant to be for life but do I have any chances of getting released?

Was this likely to differ at all between male and female religious?

Is my reason for wanting to go likely to effect things at all. If my aged parents have suddenly fallen into poverty and I want to supprt them or something similar might I get an exception?

Would there be any flexibility if one was a foundling who had come into the Monastry at a very yound age?

What if I don't bother asking for permission and just leave? What exactly are likely to be the consequences?

So, there was a thread in /r/OutOfTheLoop the other day about the recemt report of the "1776 Commission", from which I gather that said commission was a reaction against the "1619 Commission".

Being a Brit, the existence of either of these was news to me, and I'm still not sure what basis either has (are they governmental bodies? Political think-tanks? Academic discussion groups?).

Obviously the OOTL thread gave me some details, and from what I understand it goes something like this:

• The 1619 Commission, named after the year the first enslaved people were brought to the (now) US, seeks to reinterpret US history through the lens of slavery, and show that from its very inception the country was up to its neck in the slave trade.

• The 1776 Commission was instigated by or on behalf of President Trump and/or his supporters to kick back against what was seen as an overly negative "bleeding-heart-liberal" interpretation of US history, and its recent report has rather sought to downplay the severity and evils of slavery. Some have suggested its release was expedited in the days before the inauguration in order that certain conservative districts, especially in the South, can use it as a basis for their school curricula going forward. Again, as a Brit, I'm not sure how any of that works.

• The 1619 Commission itself "has been criticised" (weasel words, I know - I'm quoting) as academically flawed and biased, with one user commenting that "the idea that the United States was founded on or for or about white people is a LIE". Which threw me, because that seemed like a given to me.

So can anyone help me untangle all of this and give me an idea of the various arguments and counter-arguments? Obviously this is all very bound up in modern politics, much like the continuing arguments in the UK over the legacy of World War 1, so I understand it's a tricky subject.

Edit: punctuation

He is perhaps the most famous pirate and often the first one that comes to mind when thinking about pirates.

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But how and why did he get this reputation? He was only active for about two years. I expected him to be more important as a historical figure considering his fame.

I find extremely bizarre that there is little agreement about the order of magnitude of deaths attributable to the Chernobyl incident.

From my understanding international surveys from reputable sources (like the UN International atomic energy agency, and the international Red cross) yield a very low number: roughly around 200.

However, recently an MIT historian challenged this scientific consensus by claiming that the true number is in the hundred of thousands, if not more (Kate Brown, Manual for survival). She even suggests an international cover up.

I don't have the competence to asses the respective reports, can any expert here chime in?