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TIL in 1700 India’s economy had a 24.4% share of world income, the largest in the world after which it steadily declined under the British Raj (Empire) until in 1952, it was only 3.8%.

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b90PZ TIL Not a single person accused of witchcraft in America has been burned at the stake. Burning at the stake was only done in Europe, where witchcraft was a crime against the church. In America, witchcraft was a crime against the state, for which the punishment was hanging.
oJVY TIL during World War II, Japan bombed China with fleas infected with Bubonic Plague
78wZx TIL That Alcatraz escapee John Anglin reportedly wrote a letter to San Francisco’s police department in 2013. In it, the 83 year old asked to be promised on TV no more than a year in jail and that he would reveal his location if followed through.
RLWj TIL President Reagan once wrote a letter to a boy who was requesting federal funds to clean his room.
JL4l TIL that in ancient Rome, one of the most common cooking ingredients was called “laser”, from the silphium plant. It does not exist today: it was so delicious that it was harvested to extinction from its natural habitat in what is now Libya. We think that it probably tasted something like garlic.