country
Eiffel Tower: Eiffel’s Revolutionary Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a landmark of modern Europe, the design of French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel for the Paris International Exhibition in the late 19th century. The tower is 984 feet high and consists of an open iron framework on four masonry piers. The piers support four columns that come together to form the [...]
FIFA World Cup: The Home Continent Advantage
Only three times in 14 World Cup competitions (through 1990) has a country from outside the host continent won the Cup — and on two of those occasions, a South American team won in Mexico. Five times, the host country has won the Cup: Uruguay in 1930, Italy in 1934, England in 1966, West Germany [...]
Thomas Edison Lights The Night
After two years, Thomas Edison finally saw the light. In 1877, he had begun studying how to make an electric lamp and within a year had performed 1,200 experiments. In 1879, after spending $40,000, he made a bulb using a carbonized cotton thread for a filament. It burned for two days in the vacuum bulb. [...]
Writing: A Key to Success
More than 5,000 years ago in what is now Southern Iraq, people began living together in towns and cities. This set the stage for one of the most important advances in civilization: writing! The Sumerians of Mesopotamia were apparently the first to hit upon the idea of marking clay tablets with a sharp reed pen [...]
Vought F-8 Crusader
EAST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, USA The Vought Crusader was the first US Navy fighter capable of sustained supersonic speed in level flight. It was extremely well liked by its pilots and, because of its agility, was considered one of the most potent combat aircraft of the Vietnam War. It was also designed to have a reconnaissance [...]
What is Delicatessens?
Deli is short for delicatessen, and comes from the Greek word “delicatesse,” meaning delicacy. A deli is a store where ready-to-eat foods — especially foods of various ethnic groups — are sold. New York, home to many ethnic groups, has numerous delicatessens. Perhaps the best known are the Jewish and Italian delicatessens. Here, respectively, corned-beef [...]
Antebellum Architecture: Old South Grandeur
Antebellum architecture in America refers to the style of building that existed before the Civil War in the South. Here, wealthy plantation owners built magnificent estates on their land and in towns. During the antebellum years, Natchez, Mississippi, was a center of wealth and culture, where many cotton barons had estates. Today, these homes still [...]
African-Americans: Unwilling Immigrants
In 1619, the first African slaves were sold in the Jamestown colony. Slavery, however, was not new. In 1442, Portuguese ships took some Africans as slaves and the Spanish quickly followed their lead and began to trade slaves as cheap labor to the New World. The British followed suit in 1562 and by 1600 the [...]