askhistorians

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Did the Spanish and the Portuguese Christian missionaries in Japan really had intentions of initiating an invasion of Japan? How valid were the Japanese Shoguns' suspicions that Christian missionary activity was a prelude to an invasion of Japan?	174
I am a Soviet girl living in 1970s/1980s USSR and I am going to shop for toiletries, cosmetics and fashionable clothing. Okay, how do I do that?	146
In ancient times, there was reportedly a "Sylphium plant" used by Romans as a contraceptive, birth control and aphrodisiac - now extinct. Have modern scientists, botanists and doctors studied on what plant could it be and its effectiveness, or was it mythical?	132
Why did the practice of countries selling or buying territory from other nations ceased? When was the last time this occurred?	115
How come that Israel's nuclear program, a US ally remain so mysterious compared to North Korea which is more isolationist? How much do we know of it?	108
The Terracotta Army was discovered in 1974, when China was still under the Maoist Cultural Revolution. But still, it was successfully archeologically excavated. How did the archeology and the preservation of it was like in such a political environment?	103
Why is it that most Koreans' last names are "Kim", "Lee", and "Park"? What is the historical reason for this?	98
Where there any fantasy and science fiction made in the USSR and other Communist countries? What does it look like?	98
Why did St. Thomas Aquinas, in Summa Theologica, write about arguments for the existence of God and Christianity if everybody back then in Medieval Europe was Christian theist? Who was his intended audience?	86
Playing EU4, I notice I can easily convert people through missionaries which seem impossibly easy. In real-life, how do nations and empires convert large amounts of populations to their state religion after conquest, what methods they use to convince them to change their faith?	83

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