Tag

history

8 entries tagged history.

Bridge & Games

Chess: From Chaturanga to the Modern QueenModern chess did not appear fully formed.
From Whist to Contract BridgeContract bridge belongs to a long family of trick-taking card games.
Go: Territory, Influence, and 2,500+ Years of ContinuityGo is one of the oldest continuously played strategy games.
History of Games: How Rule Systems EvolveGames are unusually durable cultural objects.
Mancala: A Family of Sowing Games"Mancala" is often treated as the name of one board game.

Napoleon's Height MythNapoleon was probably around 1.68–1.69 m tall — about 5 ft 6½ in in modern units. That was not unusually short for a French man of his era and may have been around average or somewhat above it depending on the comparison sample.

How the Modern Political Map Was MadeA country map looks like a finished jigsaw. History looks more like repeated rebuilding: political units expand, combine, split, change regimes, and retain parts of earlier administrations. The same place can acquire a new flag without a new population, while a language can cross many borders without producing a single state.