A Brief History On November 30, 1936, the Crystal Palace in London, England was destroyed by a fire. The huge iron, wood, and mostly glass building had been built for the Great Exposition of 1,851 and stretched 1851 feet long with an interior height of 128 feet. Erected in Hyde Park, after the Exposition the entire structure was dismantled and rebuilt in South London. Digging Deeper Some other significant structures destroyed by fire include: The Great Library at Alexandria, burned in 48 BC when Julius Caesar burned a fleet in the harbor that spread to the iconic library. The White…
Browsing: Places
Read More
A Brief History On November 27, 2020, Iranian nuclear scientist and purported head of the Iranian nuclear weapons program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Mahabadi, was assassinated in Absard, Iran. Incredibly, the murder was carried out in a manner worthy of a Hollywood movie plot, by use of a satellite controlled autonomous gun that had been pre-staged, allegedly by Israeli operatives. Digging Deeper The Israeli and US governments both stated that neither would allow Iran to develop or control a nuclear weapon. The US is believed to have been behind a hacking attack of Iranian nuclear lab computers in 2010, as part of…
A Brief History On September 24, 2015, yet another religious related tragedy occurred when as many as 2,000 faithful Muslims in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj were stampeded and suffocated when a large crowd met another large crowd at a road intersection and chaos resulted. The worst tragedy in a long line of Hajj related tragedies, some estimates were as high as over 2,400 dead, the worst Hajj related disaster. Digging Deeper In previous articles we have discussed tragedies and disasters related to religious events and locations, and asked the question, “What do these tragedies mean?” If you are a…
A Brief History On September 21, 1170, invading Normans, Vikings that had settled in France, captured the Kingdom of Dublin and established their own Irish kingdom replacing a previous Viking kingdom in Ireland from the 9th Century called Dyflin. Digging Deeper Vikings, the premier seafarers of the 8th through the 11th Centuries, spread their DNA far and wide in their travels, both in trade and in conquest. Many Europeans today have genes passed down from the Vikings, people from modern Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, countries that today have a combined population of only around 22 million. Places that have Viking…
A Brief History On August 23, 1898, a new age of exploration began when the Southern Cross Expedition set sail for Antarctica in the aptly named ship, Southern Cross. Digging Deeper Thus began the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, a British venture exploring the Southernmost part of the Earth, an era that ended in 1922. Inspired by previous Antarctic explorers, Norwegian born Carsten Borchgrevink first gazed on Antarctica from the deck of a whaling ship, prompting his desire for further exploration. Carsten pursued financing in Britain and succeeded in organizing the expedition with the Southern Cross, the first such visit…
