I want to highlight the answer that /u/terminus-trantor provided to my borderline one-time deleted question How close was the Old World from discovering the New World right before Columbus?.

He provided a brilliant answer that also covered stuff that I was going to include in the question itself at first. Despite the well-known topic, I've learnt new stuff and I've bought some books to go deeper.

Hello all you wonderful readers and contributors of AskHistorians! I hope everyone is having a great weekend and bring you the latest batch of popular and/or interesting questions which did not get an answer yet:

/u/124876720 - In the 1990 East German general election (the only fair democratic election in East Germany), the formerly-ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) still managed to achieve 16% of the votes (1.6 million). What can you tell me about the average SED voter in 1990?

/u/Medieval-Evil - Why was Bernard Montgomery preferred over Harold Alexander as commander of ground forces for the Normandy campaign, when Eisenhower and Churchill favoured the latter?

/u/PatKelves - Hamilton biographer Ron Chernow writes that some scholars have argued Hamilton's "elective monarch" speech did not reflect his actual wishes for the US government but was instead designed to make the Virginia Plan seem more moderate & adoptable. How likely is it that this was Hamilton's actual plan?

/u/amandycat had a couple of fantastic answers this week, particularly in the Shakespeare lawyer jokes.

But more than that, I want to recognize the utterly stupefying work answering follow-up questions--and friends, that's no fluke, if you scroll through earlier work. Amandycat is incredible at diving into follow-up questions to the extent they're as thorough and entertaining as the original in a lot of cases.

Ave!

I want to give a shout-out to u/NientedeNada, for his her excellent answer to a question about sex toys in James Cavell's historical novel Shogun.

In that same thread, I want to specifically call out /u/Anon4comment for asking an well-informed follow-up question that provoked a detailed answer about living standards of ordinary people during the Early Edo Period.

Let’s look at the theme of the week! And also of the previous one, because I’m horrible! What did we learn about decorative art and empires?

/u/sunagainstgold and /u/Guckfuchs on A lot of Andalusian architecture stayed after the Reconquista--did many Arabic designs survive after the Norman conquest of Sicily?

/u/chocolatepot on Arts, Crafts, and Clothes of a 5th/6th century Saxon?

/u/NientedeNada on Average people's views on the Emperor-Shogun relationship in Japan

Better late than never...

• /u/hillsonghoods on "When and how did ~3 minutes become the standard length of pop songs?" and "How did Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" - a gibberish parody of contemporary rock ballads - become one of the most famous and celebrated songs of all time?", the latter with addendum by /u/mikedash.

• Mike then solo'd to answer "When Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigated the Earth, he came across supposed "White Giants of Patagonia". Who were these giants and why were they so tall?"

• /u/gekkostatesofamerica on "Was there any pushback to Sykes–Picot Agreement in the West?"