› added 4 years ago

49

TIL that exactly 190 years ago, The Indian Removal Act was passed, allowing U.S. President Andrew Jackson to grant Native American tribes unsettled western prairie land in exchange for their settlements within the borders of extant U.S. states, thereby clearing the way for further white settlement.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

6974Q TIL New Guinean tribes attempted to domesticate cassowaries eighteen thousand years ago
nW9Y TIL during Hurricane Katrina, police officers responding to reports of gunfire opened fire on an unarmed group killing one person immediately. Two brothers tried to run but were pursued and one, who was developmentally disabled, was gunned down with a shotgun.
RbM1 TIL that a secret message was engraved inside Lincoln’s pocketwatch by a jeweler, and it was not discovered until 2009.
4XLX TIL Just as some people talk in their sleep, sign language speakers have been known to sign in their sleep.
DQoYV TIL about the ancient Mesopotamian practice of using a substitute king to protect the real king from evil omens. The real king would go into hiding, and rites were performed to transfer the danger onto the substitute. At the end of the ritual, the substitute is put to death.