EIGHT SURPRISING HISTORICAL FACTS

This list puts historical moments into a time-line context that will surprise you when you discover which one of two happenings is older.  At least most of them surprised me. :)

1)  Harvard University was founded before calculus was invented

Originally called the New College, 1636 is the date for the founding of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher education in what is now America.  It should also be noted that physicist, mathematician and astronomer Galileo was still alive during Harvard's early years.  He died in 1642.  The invention of calculus didn't come about until 1684 with Gottfried Leibniz's publication of Nova Methodus.

2)  The Pyramids of Giza were built before wooly mammoths became extinct

It's believed that the last wooly mammoths died out approximately 1700B.C. on Russia's Wrangel Island.  The Pyramids of Giza, in Egypt, were built approximately 300 years earlier (about 4,000 years ago).  There are some claims that the pyramids might be even older than that.

3)  The fax machine is the same age as the Oregon Trail

1843 is the year Alexander Bain, a Scottish mechanic, invented the first fax machine.  The same year the Great Migration on the Oregon Trail began when a wagon train of approximately 1000 migrants attempted to travel west but probably died of dysentery along the way.

4)  Jewelry store Tiffany & Co. was founded before Italy was a country

1837 is the year Charles Tiffany and John Young founded Tiffany & Young which became Tiffany & Co. in 1853.  1861 is when General Giuseppe Garibaldi led a successful campaign to bring the various city-states together as one nation, although Rome held out for a number of years after that.  Macy's was founded in 1858, also prior to Italy becoming the nation we know today.

5)  France was still using the guillotine when the first Star Wars movie was released

1977 is the release date of the first of the Star Wars movies.  A few months later is when France conducted its last execution by guillotine.  The guillotine had been used in France for approximately 200 years.  And another French time line fact to boggle the mind:  1889 is the year of the Eiffel Tower, the same year Nintendo was founded (the company originally made playing cards) and Van Gogh painted The Starry Night.

6)  Betty White Is Older Than Sliced Bread

1928 is the date when bread was first sold commercially as sliced rather than the traditional whole loaves.  Prior to that, bakers didn't believe that sliced bread could stay fresh.  Betty White was born in 1922, six years before the invention that became the benchmark for greatness with future inventions being heralded as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

7)  Two of President John Tyler's grandsons are still alive

1841 to 1845, John Tyler was America's tenth president.  And, surprisingly, two of his grandsons are still alive.  As of March 2018, both Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Jr. (born in 1924, 94 years old this year), and Harrison Tyler (born in 1928, 90 years old this year), are still alive. President Tyler was born in 1790 which means just three generations of his family covers almost the entire history of the United States of America starting with the winning of our independence at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War in 1783.

8)  Oxford University is older than the Aztecs

Teaching began in Oxford as early as 1096. The University was officially founded by 1249. The Aztec civilization as we know it began with the founding of Tenochtitlán in 1325.

And there you have it…a few surprising dates from history.