› added 4 years ago

66

TIL of the Pequot War (1636-1638), now considered a genocide by historians. English settlers led a campaign against the Pequot tribe, culminating with the Mystic massacre, when Pequot women and children were set on fire. Afterwards, Connecticut was formed and the word "Pequot" was banned.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

9WKr TIL South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world and a basket case economy in 1960, with a GDP Per capita of $79 (poorer than some African countries). 50 years later, the GDP per capita was over $20,000 and the country is a major world economy.
8aBAZ TIL that when NASA's New Horizons spacecraft passed by Pluto, the trip took about 1 minute less than predicted or in a decade-long journey, NASA's forecast was 99.99998% accurate or the equivalent of forecasting a trip from New York to Boston & being accurate to within four-millionths of a second.
4mGN TIL that in 2005, security guards at Australia’s Parliament House were banned from calling people ‘mate’. The ban lasted one day.
brP4 TIL The U.S.S. Enterprise had a six-lane bowling alley on board.
rNd1x TIL that WWII British commandos were trained to instinctively take cover by having live ammunition shot 3 to 5 feet from them if they needlessly exposed themselves while maneuvering