Team Marco Polo

History Schmistory: July 22. Vrrrroooooooommmm-put-put… -put.

Tuesday, July 22, 2025 by teammarcopolo

1894: The first motorcar race is held in France. Local horses start a betting racket.

History Schmistory: July 21. Rough days ahead…

Monday, July 21, 2025 by teammarcopolo

1542: The Roman Inquisition is established. Hold on to your heads! (and fingers and toes…)

Pope Paul V, by Caravaggio, public domain

Fun Fact: The inquisition’s most famous defendant is probably Galileo Galilei (the telescope guy!) He was hauled before the inquisition in 1633 on charges that his scientific findings denied the existence of God. Despite protestations he was found guilty of heresy.

History Schmistory: July 20. Danger! Pun Crossing.

Sunday, July 20, 2025 by teammarcopolo

1514: The rebellion of Hungarian peasants under George Dozsa is defeated at the Siege of Temesvar. They weren’t Hungary enough, I guess.

Costumes of Peasants from Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Germany, from ‘Esquisses de la Vie Populaire en Hongroie’ by Gabriel de Pronay, 1855 (colour litho); Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France [public domain]

History Schmistory: July 19. CAN anybody open this thing?

Saturday, July 19, 2025 by teammarcopolo

1870: The can opener is patented by William Lyman, a good fifty years after the tin can was invented. Luckily all the contents were well preserved.

By Tomomarusan (This is the creation of Tomomarusan) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons