AskHistorians

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Disney's "Moana" (2016) depicts the inhabitants of Motunui as almost singularly dependent on the coconut palm. Is this accurate to the agricultural practices of prehistorical Polynesia?	2200
"The Gods Must Be Crazy" is a beloved South African movie released in 1980, during the most bitter years of the anti-apartheid struggle. How did it manage to overcome boycotts and South Africa's pariah status to become such an adored cult classic?	1283
English is ubiquitous in India, but Dutch has virtually no presence in modern Indonesia, although it was under Dutch control for over 300 years. What differences in colonial policies led to this difference?	532
How did Georgia and Armenia keep their own traditional scripts, while most other languages of the USSR switched to Cyrillic?	381
The Classic Mayan city-states are well known for their sophisticated astronomy; to accomplish this, they would have needed equally sophisticated mathematics. What was Classic Mayan mathematics like, and do we have any surviving Mayan mathematical works?	214
Did Irish immigrants to the US in the 19th century generally speak English or Irish as their first language?	93
The Roman Legions accepted only right-handed soldiers, to maintain unit cohesion. Do we know of any plans to make entirely left-handed units?	86
I'm a parish priest in rural England and I just got the news that King Henry VIII is breaking away from Rome. So...now what?	81
The Iberian Peninsula is home to a variety of languages, but only two (Spanish and Portuguese) managed to cross the Atlantic in any real capacity. Why are there no Catalan, Basque, Galician, etc. speaking areas in Latin America?	78
A Neo-Inca State existed alongside the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru for 35 years until 1572. What was life like in this state?	70

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