AskHistorians

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How did the practice of bottomry (ship insurance) work in the late Roman Republic and early Empire? Were there people earning most of their wealth specifically through this practice? Was insurance fraud a known problem within this system?	25
Television broadcasts in Germany started in 1935. How did the programming evolve over the Third Reich era and what were the longterm plans for it, in regards to propaganda?	24
What prompted the first emperor of Qin to have hundreds of scholars buried alive and their works burned? If history was the primary concern, what interpretations and narratives was he trying to suppress? Was live burial a "normal" punishment or an exceptional one, to make an example?	23
The third cholera epidemic in the mid 19th century caused an estimated 1 million deaths in Russia. However, the short Wikipedia article mentions mostly The Great Britain (23k deaths) and specifically London. Do we know more about the Russian side of this horrible outbreak?	23
According to the 1851 "An Act to Regulate Rodeos" it was obligatory for a stock farm owner to hold one annual rodeo event. What was the reasoning behind this and how did it come to be? Is there any reason why the legislation itself was necessary?	23
During the first century of Spanish contact with the New World, what was the mutual reaction to and influence of different standards of female beauty? How quickly was the native fashion overtaken? Did any European trends arise due to the contact with America? Was Creole fashion specific in some way?	22
What do we know about childhoods of The Beatles' members?	21
The inventor Léon Theremin, of the musical instrument fame, worked for the KGB on listening devices. “The Thing”, disguised as a plaque, hanged in the office of the U.S. ambassador and was accidentally discovered in 1952. Do we know the fallout of this incident and what kind of information leaked?	21
What was the state of evolutionary thought in 19th century China? How quickly and with what influence did Darwin's work reach South East Asia? Did Taoism play any role in establishing pre-scientific evolutionary thought? Did the ability to observe monkeys in natural habitats have any impact?	20
The list of Roman censors on Wikipedia ends in 14 AD. Is this a lack of information on the part of Wikipedia or did the role disappear in the Empire? What changed about the census?	18

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