A bit of self promo this week, hopefully not too much:

• I wrote an answer on indigenous experiences of/after the Spanish conquest. Tried to keep it more general in the 1st part, with some indigenous accounts of disease and forced labor from central Mexico in the 2nd.

• Not exactly a new one, but I was glad for a chance to rewrite my earlier answers on [how some scholars in early Spanish America explained the reversal of the seasons.] (https://de.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9xldah/when_did_humanity_first_realise_that_the/e9t9c6e/)

It's the most, Wonderful time, of the week

Sunday Digest day! Woo!

First off I encourage everyone to check out some of the weekly features. The Saturday Showcase has the continuing, amazing epic story told by /u/Klesk_vs_Xaero.

There's also the usual Friday Free For All with a host of good comments and threads.

and the final weekly feature (that's still running right now!) is the AskHistorians 2018 Holiday Book Recommendation Thread. If your looking for a good historical book, or know one you want to share, chip in and let people know in that thread! Christmas is coming, and what better way to fill your list with good books.

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To start off the weekly posting, lets have a look at the question 100 Million Native Americans, asking about how historians try and determine population of the America's pre-colonization. With great answers and discussion from /u/jschooltiger and /u/Reedstilt and more.

I wrote this post giving an account of women and children during the Siege of Magdeburg (which I think was really good), as well as this post about why people became pirates and this post about the myth surrounding the pirate "Black Caesar."

The Legion marches! Earn honor, glory and land of your own! But how many will actually survive to claim that prize? /u/FlavivsAetivs and /u/Celebreth talk the Marian reforms, Caesar, and life in the Legions in [

Under the Marian Reforms, enlistment in the Roman Army was opened to the landless classes. Legionaries were granted land after completing their period of service( 25 years) How many Legionaries would actually survive to complete their term? How many could the state afford to survive?](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9zpn30/under_the_marian_reforms_enlistment_in_the_roman/)

(Boy that was a long title.)

In general, did the position of women improve in non-Arab lands after the Arab/Muslim conquests? has a great answer from /u/lcnielsen on the role of women in Zoroastrianism.

From the past few days; neither got much visibility as I had to put off writing each for a while:

How did Zoroastrianism influence Judaism?

Gender in Zoroastrianism and the status of women in pre-Islamic Persia

Both by /u/lcnielsen

/u/frederfred1 answered "Why did the British people vote Winston Churchill and the Conservative Party out of office in 1945?" and "How did the Slavs manage to cross the Danube in the 5th-6th century into the Balkans in such high numbers?"

/u/bodombeachbod answered "What was life like for Tobacco Brides in early 17th century Virginia?"

/u/tablinum on "After the JFK assassination, guns sold via mail order were banned. Did the NRA or other groups oppose this?"

I've been fascinated by the saga of General Georges Boulanger's rise and fall in 1880s France for years now, and last week finally got a question on the subject that spurred me to write up a summary of the entire saga. But the question itself, being specific and about someone most people have never heard of, unsurprisingly never got any traction and thus the answer seems to have largely slipped through the cracks.