/u/spikebrennan's posts in /r/askhistorians

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Why did Napoleon convene the Great Sanhedrin? What was he trying to accomplish? Was its outcome a sincere effort to explain the consensus understanding of Jewish law, or to curry favor with the French authorities?

30 upvotes

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Why do courthouses and other public buildings in the United States typically have the main entrance well above ground level, necessitating stairs?

30 upvotes

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How many times has the concept of writing been independently invented?

29 upvotes

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When North American Indian tribes sent representatives to Europe to participate in the negotiations to end the War of 1812, how did they interact with Europeans? Is there any record of what their visit was like?

28 upvotes

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How was agriculture invented? Given the low amount of usable food from pre-domestication plants and the long time it takes between planting seeds and harvest, why did the first agricultural society take it up in the first place?

27 upvotes

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What did Egyptians think of non-Egyptian Romans starting to worship Isis?

27 upvotes

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Are there any Yuan-dynasty written records that corroborate Marco Polo's accounts of his time in China? If not, can any meaningful conclusions be drawn from that?

26 upvotes

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Why isn’t Africa more linguistically diverse?

26 upvotes

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If St. Petersburg was the capital of the Russian Empire in the Napoleonic era, why did Napoleon's army march on Moscow?

24 upvotes

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Why did people continue to emigrate to the United States during the Civil War?

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Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
Why did Napoleon convene the Great Sanhedrin? What was he trying to accomplish? Was its outcome a sincere effort to explain the consensus understanding of Jewish law, or to curry favor with the French authorities?	30
Why do courthouses and other public buildings in the United States typically have the main entrance well above ground level, necessitating stairs?	30
How many times has the concept of writing been independently invented?	29
When North American Indian tribes sent representatives to Europe to participate in the negotiations to end the War of 1812, how did they interact with Europeans? Is there any record of what their visit was like?	28
How was agriculture invented? Given the low amount of usable food from pre-domestication plants and the long time it takes between planting seeds and harvest, why did the first agricultural society take it up in the first place?	27
What did Egyptians think of non-Egyptian Romans starting to worship Isis?	27
Are there any Yuan-dynasty written records that corroborate Marco Polo's accounts of his time in China? If not, can any meaningful conclusions be drawn from that?	26
Why isn’t Africa more linguistically diverse?	26
If St. Petersburg was the capital of the Russian Empire in the Napoleonic era, why did Napoleon's army march on Moscow?	24
Why did people continue to emigrate to the United States during the Civil War?	24