askhistorians

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Rome famously conquered Egypt and used its vast and consistent grain harvest to feed Rome and other major cities at a level far beyond what their hinterlands could support. What did Egypt do with its excess grain before then? Where was it exported to, and were the Egyptians making a lot of money?	3370
The Aztec emperor Montezuma welcomed Cortes into his awe-inspiring palace and gave a speech in which he supposedly surrendered to the Spanish. But this speech went through two translators before reaching the ears of the Spaniards. How likely is it that Montezuma was misunderstood?	3361
Roosevelt used the WPA and U.S. Forest Service to plant a wall of trees from the Great Plains to Texas to slow the growth of the dust bowl. How successful was this initiative, and where are these trees today?	3321
I'm the 13-year-old daughter of farmers in a remote 13th-century German village. There are about 10 men of roughly my age to choose from. Am I excited about the prospect of "courtship" and getting married, or am I feeling pretty blase about the whole thing? Is marriage just another chore?	3310
Many small medieval European cities with populations under 7,000 built huge, resource-intensive cathedrals. How the Church compel the population to donate toward or work on these structures? Were the locals enthusiastic about helping bring them about? Were there outside benefactors paying the bills?	3307
Chesnut trees made up 25% of the forests in the Eastern US before chestnut blight killed almost all of them. They rained hundreds of thousands of pounds of food down every year. How big of an impact did this bounty have on the diets of Native Americans and colonials?	3290
If England gave its American colonies some political representation in the House of Commons, would it have changed much? Why did they fear giving the colonies representation?	3233
Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver is considered one of the best movies ever made. But Scorsese said he had trouble finding work after he made it, and was sort of blacklisted as a director. What happened to turn this critically-acclaimed movie into a career hurdle for him?	3209
Ancient Rome offered its conquered subjects a "good deal": We'll give you ports, roads, sewers, aqueducts, hook you into our wealth-building global trade network, and defend you. All we ask is that you say a prayer for our emperor once in awhile and pay your taxes. How onerous was that tax burden?	3165
In 1897 there were a quarter of a million US saloons, or 23 for every Starbucks franchise today. Every back alley and country crossroads had one, and they were the go-to option for socializing business meetings, and politics. What was the impact when the US made them illegal during prohibition?	3064

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