From the history videos I’ve watched so far it seems like every continent had at least one major civilization form (South/Central America, Europe, Asia, Africa). How come there wasn’t one in North America? Is there any trace/information about pre-colonized North America? Did they have forms of writing? I know they did trade art with other peoples but was it more tribe to tribe or did they know of the Central/South American empires?

How can I read up more on the americas pre-colonization? Sorry if this has been asked before.

Edit: as a follow up question, since it is theorized that the people in the Americas came from Asia, how come there were so many more people in South America than in the north? Is it that there were perhaps an equal number of people that migrated over time and the places that formed civilizations were able to grow their population, is it differences in lifestyle/resources, or was it some disaster out phenomenon that maybe happened to North America?

The breakup of Yugoslavia involved brief conflict in Slovenia, and longer wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. I know that Serbian paramilitary groups were involved, but the Yugoslav People's Army was also involved. Certainly involvement of aircraft and large ships seems like their involvement, and not something paramilitaries could do on their own.

It's interesting how such a large and well established army lost against Croatia, who were building up their armed forces from almost nothing. It's also interesting how JNA did seemingly very stupid things, like bombarding civilians in Dubrovnik's old town.

I'm curious what happened inside the JNA, in their chain of command. How did they become willing to attack people who they were until recently meant to protect? How did they accept the change of command, towards becoming more like a Serbian army? How did they lose so easily? Why were they willing to engage in war crimes which didn't seem useful for accomplishing military objectives? What happened to officers and soldiers who weren't willing to do these things?

I suppose some of this has been documented by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), but I'm looking for a summary of what happened.

What is the historical consensus on this claim?

"Stop sending assassins to Belgrade. We've already captured five of them, one of them with a bomb and another with a rifle (...) If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow, and I won't have to send a second."

The story goes that "someone" discovered the note in Stalin's desk, when he passed away.

If this is true, who found that note? Are they trustworthy? And what happened to those assassins?

Is there any way a layman like myself can investigate, as the Yugoslav government itself has been dissolved?

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This might be better as a cross-post with AskScience, but I am also curious about the historical component. The Northeast was, in large swathes, considered completely deforested due to agriculture and the appetite for wood and charcoal in early industry. Did tree seeds in the soil seed bank survive the full duration of this period of deforestation? Or was it a gradual spread, or did people in the Northeast help along the process by planting new forests?

Additionally, since this is such a dramatic change to a landscape, I am curious how Americans of this region reacted to, and felt about, the change from a widely-deforested environment to one that was quickly returned to forest cover. Did people notice the change happening? Did they have some sense of unease as farms and pastureland was swallowed up by the old "howling wilderness" that their ancestors had described? When old farm towns were abandoned and forests overgrew them, did Northeasterners feel a sense of community decline, like someone in an old factory town watching a boarded-up abandoned factory crumble?

Since it seems that the notion of progress would have been in many ways different in the 19th century than our notion of it today, I am wondering if they saw the regrowth of forest as a bad sign rather than a good one!

My grandfather died three years ago on the 16th.

He served briefly in World War 2 and longer in Korea. I spoke to him a great deal, took notes, and was really hoping that someone here could tell me what unit he served in. By the time we spoke, he couldn’t remember everything perfectly, but I do have some films he took at the time and my uncle and I plan to get them digitized.

Here’s the information I have:

He was in Company F in an old, well established unit, with lots of WW2 vets in it, but many new men as well. He was a driver. He started basic training stateside but finished it overseas, and remembered hearing about a police station that was overrun by North Koreans.

He knew that he arrived at his first station by rail or truck, but remembered that it was via “Inchon Po Hang Dong”, which he remembered as a fishing village. His next stop was “Yung Heil Bay”, which was below the 38th parallel. He remembered that there was a mountain range that enclosed the bay.

He was stationed about ten miles from the bay, and there were lots of traditional Korean huts. This area had been a Japanese base at some point, and when he moved on from there, he went to Taegu along the Naktong River. He remembered very clearly that there were lots of mountains, and one mountain had a notch in it cut toward the mountain range.

He said that he spoke to a few English speaking Koreans there that said this notch was where Noah’s Ark was.

In this area were some Buddhist places or worship, and he drove up to a monastery. He said a river flowed down from there, and he visited the valley below. Apparently this area had been the site of what he called the “Silla” dynasty. I’m pretty sure that’s not spelled right, but it might help. There were lots of turtles carved in stone.

I have more personal stories and I can answer a few questions, I think, but I’m really hoping someone can tell me what unit he served in and where exactly he was.

As I understand it, the Gulags were the worst prison in the Soviet Union, dedicated to prisoners who the state felt committed crimes of political nature (and I’d imagine other crimes as well)

What actually happened to the Gulag once the Soviet Union collapsed?

Was it shut down? Were prisoners released? Does it still exist in some form today?

If it does still exist, who gets sent there, and how does it compare to what it was like during the soviet era?

During the Great Northern War, when Sweden invaded Russia, IIRC, their objective was to take Moscow. However, in July 1709, they wound find themselves defeated at Poltava. Poltava is roughly 900km south of Moscow, so how did they end up there?

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone is familiar with sources regarding the civilian (everyday) life during the Spanish Civil War. The best one I was able to dig up is “Blood of Spain: An oral history of the Spanish War”, a book by Ronald Fraser. Scientific articles are welcome too.

Thank you.

It doesn't seem like it would be easy to find me if I manage to get a brief head start, so what's stopping me?

And if I understand correctly, as long as I'm not a slave miner or something awful like that my life could be pretty good. Was that a motivation for slaves to stay at their post?

Hi,

I'm looking for a source or historian that basically believes that Alfred the Great wasn't so great. Any help or guidance would be much appreciated!

Is this book worth reading? I’m just looking for a good book on US History from the beginning up to the middle-end of the 20th century. Any other recommendations?

Thanks!

So I was researching Iberian surnames, and from what I got, by the high Middle Ages both noblemen and commoners were using only patronyms, but starting in this period nobles started adopting into their names the names of their manors or of the lands they controled - so Pero Gomez who controled the lands of Souza would become Pero Gomez de Souza.

But the thing is - surnames of this kind are among the most common surnames in Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries - especially Portuguese ones. If you search for the origin of a Portuguese toponymic surname you'll often find sites saying that it comes from a homonymous manor in some small village in Portugal or Galicia.

So how did these surnames adopted by nobles from some manor somewhere became so popular? Did the villains from these manors adopt them and then they spread through pure chance? Or did the common folk just start adopting surnames in a way that would fit them? For instance, Costa, Oliveira, Pereira, are all very common and have "literal" meanings. However, Andrade, Araújo, Almeida are also common and they mean nothing except the manors they originate from. How did it work?

Hey guys I have a paper where I have to focus on those that are missing from our history particularly in the medieval period. Does anyone know of any primary sources or readings I should look into?? I know this is really general I just don’t know where to look.

Why didn't Genoa, Venice or the Ottomans have any colonies outside the Mediterranean and Black Seas? I've seen this asked and answered before specifically about the New World, but why not colonize coastal parts of Africa or India, or any islands in the Indian Ocean or West Atlantic?

Every time I read about history, the Persian civilization (and some incarnation of it as an empire) is ubiquitous. But while the Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Hellenic civilizations are well-remembered with their place in history well defined, the Persian civilization seems to only ever be recognized in relation to the history of other civilizations.

Why is this?

Every time I take the time to read about the Persian civilization it seems very rich with a long list of novel accomplishments that are historically noteworthy. But instead we don’t hear much about this civilization compared to the other major ancient Eurasian civilizations.

Looking at the casualty counts for Chinese wars - the Three Kingdoms wars, An Lushan revolt, Taiping rebellion, Chinese civil war - are all massive, enough to depopulate entire European nations. However, death during a rebellion almost seems counterproductive - not only is war and murder morally repugnant, but assuming that the rebellion succeeded, they'd be taking a land devastated by the very war they fought, rebuilding what they destroyed. So, what made Chinese revolutions so destructive? And why are some revolts, such as the Xinhai revolution, comparatively peaceful?

It must have been expensive to produce a new steel ship, especially when they just came out, so I believe the process must have been gradual. How quickly and in what ways were wooden ships phased out? Were there any naval battles involving ships of the line and early ironclad or steel warships?

Hi-

I am a writer based in Maryland, USA, and I am writing a novel which is initially set in 1930's London. I am trying to find some resources on British foodways in 1930, as well as some information about social demographics for the city during the interwar period.

-My main character is a middle class doctor-- Where would he have likely lived? I am not native to Britain, though I have been several times, and I know neighborhoods in London have likely changed vastly.

-Are there any good books that give an overview of London life during that period? I've been sort of swamped with results, and am looking for something that is concise with a good index.

Thanking you in advance.

Hello,

This might seem like a stupid question but I am curious to know if anyone can help me out.

I tried googling my question but I don’t seem to get results for what I look up.

My question is did the vikings ever conquer Scotland entirely? or did they only really manage to take over parts of Scotland?

I ask as my good friend is very interested in vikings and their way of life and how they did things like raiding.

I personally don’t really know much about this time era of vikings besides the name King Alfred the Great and Ragnar lol so any help answering my question would be greatly appreciated