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TIL the Mughal Empire was the second richest empire ever, only behind Qing China. Even though its land was smaller than the Mongol or British empires, it produced about a quarter of the world’s GDP at its peak in the sixteen hundreds.

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xVn05 TIL From 1847, Rudolf Wolf started counting sunspots. He peered through a telescope every day, if he could, and recorded the number of spots he observed. Today, all sorts of models use Wolf's sunspot record to predict things like the climate, the orbit of satellites, and the stability of power grids
b6lG7 TIL that Iceland was once covered in trees until the Vikings came and cut them down to make room for sheep
wLbx7 TIL: Chickens are naturally cannibalistic and wearing rose tinted glasses made for chickens reduced their ability to see blood, which reduces their cannibalistic tendencies.
69bDl TIL of Pfeilstorch - storks who, whilst wintering in Africa, were injured by arrows or spears, survived and flew back to Europe with the weapon still embedded in their body.
JY0d4 TIL Many Japanese swords can be traced back to one of five "Gokaden" or "The Five Traditions" which were traditional schools of sword smithing. Each is named for the historical regions of Japan where they originated. As time went on, different schools merged techniques to forge more unique swords.