AskHistorians

Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
I often wonder what historically has happened near my home, or places I visit. Is there a "Google Maps" of Local History?	2587
Was the standard 4-suit deck of playing cards originally meant for a specific game? How did we arrive at the standard 52-card deck?	2291
What was the reaction of the general public in 1924 when Edwin Hubble announced that the spiral nebula Andromeda was actually another galaxy, and that our own galaxy was just one of many? This seems like it would have a profound effect on the world, but did anyone care?	279
In the 1992 track ‘Baby Got Back’ Sir Mix-a-Lot raps, “I’m tired of magazines Sayin’ flat butts are the thing” Was there a time in history when flat bottoms were seen as the ideal form, and what led to the change?	153
How did sailing ships in the 1700s know when it was their turn to dock at a busy port? What was the protocol? Was it different for major ports in smaller settlements/colonies vs. the major shipping ports?	62
Where did the American “Tall Tales” originate, and why do they all seem to be from around the same period?	53
Stede Bonnet was a moderately wealthy land owner before becoming a somewhat unconventional pirate. Did his social status mean that more records of his pre-piracy life, genealogy, or possibly even contemporary portraits could exist when compared to most pirates of his time? Or have these been lost?	46
How do 'surviving documents' survive? How and why do court depositions, trade records, tax information, and countless private correspondence (on paper!) survive for hundreds of years without someone just tossing out that big pile of obsolete paperwork?	36
When did art and sculpture of the human form start to 'get muscular' and is there a -most- muscular statue?	23
How and why did Houston (a great deal inland) overshadow the port of Galveston as major port of entry in the Gulf of Mexico?	19

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