› added 8 months ago

45

TIL of an attempt to establish the first English settlement in America in 1587 -- before Jamestown -- called the Roanoke Colony. When a ship visited the settlement in 1590, the town was found deserted with the word "Croatoan" carved on a post. The whereabouts of the 117 colonists remains unknown.

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168jr TIL The most recent invasion of mainland Britain failed in part due the majority of the invading French force consisting of irregulars, including republicans, deserters, convicts and Royalist prisoners. Order broke down once they discovered the town's supply of wine.
j684R TIL Leonhard Euler wrote 234 letters to 15 year old German Princess Friederike Charlotte over a period of two years in order to teach her math, physics, and sciences. These letters were later reprinted as a textbook for "every female academy in the kingdom"
o9L TIL that the Brazilian passport is the most sought after passport in the black market due to the ethnic and culturally mixed make-up of Brazilian society.
1avYO TIL that cereal is so popular at Pixar that they even have a cereal bar with over a dozen types of cereal available. Workers eat cereal in the screening rooms, during meetings, and even at their desks.
l7nJ5 TIL That in 1856, the revolutionary French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin was sent on a mission by Napoleon III to pacify the tribes of French Algeria by showing them that 'French Magic' was stronger than that of their local religious leaders