AskHistorians

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If you lived in the near East or North Africa 3000 years ago, was it particularly dangerous to eat pork (IE did the Jewish law have a practical backing at one time?)?	10
were living standards better in Maoist China or Stalinist Russia?	10
I can think of at least 3 post- apocalypse stories where China is broken up into several small states controlled by competing violent war lords, (I think) because of the assumption that’s just what China reverts to when it’s not unified. Historically do you think that assumption has much foundation?	10
imagine a typical 22 yr old rice farmer living in 105 BC in a part of Pakistan/India ruled over by an Indo-Greek king, imagine a typical 22 yr old rice farmer living in 1895 AD in a part of Pakistan/India ruled over by the British Empire. Which hypothetical farmer loses more income to taxation?	10
would the ancient Greeks have known how large Africa was? and how far south it went?	10
in ancient Egypt (lets say in around 2000BCE) how common were (competent) archers? if there was a battle what proportion of Egyptian combatants would be bowmen?	10
did Jewish people have any kind of special celebrations when they reached their year 5000, like we ("we" being white westerners) do with the Christian millenniums?	10
so long as the food supply from North Africa was stable, did what was happening at the borders affect daily life in Rome at all?	10
Today the crews of large merchant/passenger ships (At least ones operated by major shipping companies) have a military like hierarchy with ranks, officers, uniforms and what not. When did it become the case that (non military) ships were operated this way? And why?	10
my grandmother once told me they use to love it when American soldiers came in the theatre she worked in, because they didn’t know English money and tended to over pay for tickets. Why would there have been many American servicemen in Staffordshire in WWII?	10

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