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TIL German Southwest Africa, later Namibia, bought the Caprivi Strip in 1890 to access the Zambezi river in order to provide a route to Africa’s east coast. Shortly afterwards it was learned this was impossible due to the presence of Victoria Falls downriver, one of the world’s largest waterfalls.

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a8Y0N TIL Ciabatta was invented in 1982 to compete with imported baguettes.
8arXP TIL that there are more IPv6 addresses than there are atoms on the surface of the Earth.
v1OXR TIL that, on 16 november 1949, students in Ghent (Belgium) stormed the medieval castle, lowered the portculis and threw fruit from the walls at the police to protest a new tax on beer. The event is still commemorated yearly by the city as the greatest student prank in its history.
N7WQ TIL that when Rock Band was in its developing stages, Harmonix codenamed it Rock Band: Nickelback “on the theory that the name of the quintessentially generic modern rock group would be enough to deflect all curiosity.”
OGVZX TIL that in 1988 with the 1,390th pick, the Dodger's drafted Mike Piazza because the manager of the team owed a favor to Piazza's father. Piazza ended up playing in the league for 16 years and is regarded as one of the best offensive catchers in baseball history.