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TIL In 1824, Charles Macintosh, a Scottish chemist, invented the Mackintosh, one of the first waterproof fabrics ever made.

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P187L TIL when the Velvet Underground released their 1967 debut album, it was a flop. Due to it’s content, it was banned from many record stores, and radio stations refused to play it. Magazines also refused to carry ads for the album. Nowadays, it’s regarded as one of the greatest debut albums ever made.
BKLd TIL that during ‘Operation Focus’, the opening offensive airstrike of the 'Six-Day war’, the Israeli Air Force managed to destroy the entire Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian Air Forces in about 3 hours. Over 450 planes were destroyed, and 18 airfields were rendered unusable.
N7aKb TIL that there is a small town in South Africa established solely for the preservation of Afrikaans and the Afrikaner identity by keeping their language and culture alive.
l7aja TIL: After the trans-Saharan slave trade ended, Muslim-African Hajj pilgrims were deceived by tribal leaders, who offered low-cost travel to the East Coast. Upon arrival, they were trafficked across the Red Sea and sold into slavery in Saudi Arabia, instead of being allowed to perform the Hajj.
N8Y1 TIL that pre-columbian population of the Americas is estimated to have been 50-100 million people. 90% of the indigenous population died from diseases imported by europeans, most of which got infected and died without direct contact - fuelling the legend of an empty continent ready to be seized