Historical Trivia
1. Tower Green - Tower Green is a place within the famous ‘ Tower of London ‘ where two British queens and several other nobles were executed .
2 .First British queen to be executed - Anne Boleyn was the queen of England and second wife of King Henry VIII . She was accused of adultery with several men including her brother and treason - plotting to kill the king . She was beheaded on 19. 05.1536 in the Tower Green . She failed to deliver a male child . However she gave birth to a baby girl who later on became Queen Elizabeth I ( who ruled England 1558-1603 ).
3. Second British queen to be executed - Catherine Howard was the queen of England and fifth wife of King Henry VIII . She was accused of adultery with men before and during her marriage to the king . She was beheaded on 13.02.1542 in the Tower Green . She failed to deliver any child .
4 . Modern Fire Brigade System - The Great Fire of London in 1666 destroyed almost the entire London and almost half of its population . This accident is believed to give birth to the modern fire fighting ‘ Fire Brigade ‘.
5.Democracy and Right to Vote - Some countries got independence early but right to vote was given to limited persons in the beginning . Women were given voting rights quite later , just have a look -
A . The British ruled a huge part of the globe until a few decades ago . England got democracy through a series of Parliamentary acts between the 19th and the 20th centuries -
1832 - The first Parliamentary reforms gave voting rights to only around 7% men .
1918 - Voting rights were extended to all men 21 and above .
1928 - All Women 21 and above got right to vote
1969 - All men and women 18 and above got the right to vote .
B. The USA got independence from the British on 4th July 1776 . The US constitution was written in 1787 and came into force in 1789 . In the beginning only property owning , tax paying white males got the right to vote . Different states had different voting rules for white men and women . This underwent changes time to time in respect of blacks and other races.
In 1920 women got the right to vote and the same restrictions applied to non white women as were applied to nonwhite men .
Initially blacks or African Americans and immigrants were excluded from voting rights .Subsequently a few states started giving restricted voting rights to Blacks also. Later on in 1964- 65 , a uniform voting right for all persons ‘ one man , one vote ‘ , electoral system granted voting rights to all blacks also throughout the USA .
C. Switzerland got independence from the Roman empire in 1648 but Swis women got the right to vote as late as 1971 .
D. While India got independence in 1947 and all men and women 21 and above got the right to vote from the very beginning itself . It’s a matter of pride for us . Subsequently all Indians 18 and above have got their rights to vote .
6 . Who discovered America - It is usually said that Columbus discovered America and he was the first European to land in America . But it is not true . In the year 1021 the Vikings discovered North America. They landed in Newfoundland , Canada in 1021 AD . The Vikings were seafarers from the Nordic countries ( Denmark , Norway , Sweden ) .They were farmers , sea merchants and warriors . Christopher Columbus landed in America on 12.10.1492 . He first landed in the Bahamas on an island , which he named San Salvador which is now known as El Salvador . His mission was funded by Spain .
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