History Facts

John Adams was born October 30th, 1735 and died July 4th, 1826. He was one of the most important figures for the foundation of the United States of America. He served as the nation’s first vice president for the first two terms under George Washington, and was the nations 2nd president serving one term. His vice president, Thomas Jefferson, defeated him in the election and became the nation’s 3rd president. Ironically, Adams and Jefferson both died on the same date, the 50th anniversary of the declaration of independence.

John Adams was married to Abigail Smith in 1764. They had five children, and John Quincy Adams would one day be president of the United States as well. Adams was a prominent lawyer in his state of Massachusetts, going to Harvard College at the age of 16. Prior to the revolution, he defended Brittish soldiers after the Boston massacre.  He then pleaded with the colonies to form a declaration of independence from Britain. During the war, he headed to France and Holland for financial and military support.

After the revolution was won by the Americans, a new constitution and government was installed with the influence of Adams. Colonel George Washington was elected to be the first leader of the new country, with Adams receiving the second highest amount of votes, which landed him the VP slot.

Adams lived another 25 years after being defeated by Jefferson.  He outlived his wife and his daughter, but lived to see his son John Quincy become the 6th president of the United States.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. He is commonly known around the world as Mahatma and is commemorated in India on a National holiday for his movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. For more information and facts about Ghandi, please keep reading.

Fact #1 - Mohandas Gandhi was born in Porbander, a coastal town in present-day Gujarat, Western India.

Gandhi was raised by his parents and they instilled values into his every day life. These included compassion to sentient beings, vegetarianism, fasting for self-purification, and mutual tolerance between individuals of different creeds. If only parent today took the time to raise their children with these values… the world may be a better place.

Fact #2 - At 13 years old Mohandas was married to 14-year old Kasturba Makhanji in an arranged child marriage, as was the custom in the region.

I can’t imagine having an arranged marriage, but that is the custom in India. Being married at such a young age in America is probably illegal. They had their first child about 2 years later, while his wife was still hardly a teenager. They had four children together.

Fact #3 - In 1888 Mohandas Gandhi traveled to London, England, to study law at University College London and to train as a barrister.

Very few people know that Gandhi was a lawyer. He even tried to establish his own practice in Bombay, but it never picked up.

Fact #4 - He instituted Satyagraha campaign in India to protest the Rowlatt Acts, which deprived all Indians of important civil liberties.

Fact #5 - Gandhi led a march to the sea to collect salt in protest of the British salt tax.

Fact #6 - Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu extremist, an act that prompted riots throughout India.

Why is it that people who try to do good in the word are always assassinated? Gandhi was shot and killed while having his nightly public walk on the grounds of the Birla House in New Delhi. The assassin, Nathuram Godse, was executed for his crime.

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust that creates seismic waves. They can come without warning and cause destruction beyond imagination. Earthquakes with a magnitude 3 or lower are generally not issues, but a quake with a magnitude 7+ will cause serious damage over large areas. Continue reading to find out some interesting Earthquake Facts.

Fact #1 - An earthquake’s point of initial rupture is called its focus or hypocenter. The term epicenter means the point at ground level directly above this.

In most cases, the epicenter is the location of the greatest damage. It’s the place you least want to be.

Fact #2 - The largest recorded earthquake in the United States was a magnitude 9.2 that struck Prince William Sound, Alaska on March 28, 1964. The largest recorded earthquake in the world was a magnitude 9.5 in Chile on May 22, 1960.

These size earthquakes can shift the geography of their regions. They are so massive that they can be felt hundreds of miles away.

Fact #3 - It is estimated that there are 500,000 detectable earthquakes in the world each year. 100,000 of those can be felt, and 100 of them cause damage.

That is a hell of a lot of earthquakes. That means there are about 274 earthquakes that can be felt every single day. My guess is most of us just pass it off as something else because the feeling is so small.

Fact #4 - The world’s deadliest recorded earthquake occurred in 1556 in central China. It struck a region where most people lived in caves carved from soft rock. These dwellings collapsed during the earthquake, killing an estimated 830,000 people.

Often times it isn’t the earthquake itself that kills the most people, it is the resulting tsunamis, landslides and fires.

Fact #5 - An aftershock is an earthquake that occurs after a previous earthquake, the mainshock. An aftershock is in the same region of the main shock but always of a smaller magnitude.

The aftershock is formed as the crust around the fault line adjusts itself.

Sir Edmund Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer. On May 29, 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. This feat propelled Hillary into stardom and he instantly became an international hero across the globe. Continue reading for interesting Edmund Hillary facts.

Fact #1 - Sir Edmund Hillary was born on July 20, 1919 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Many people mistakenly think he was from England. Maybe it’s because of the “Sir” in front of his name? New Zealand at the time was a British Commonwealth.

Fact #2 - In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary became the first known climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

The expedition took over 2 months, but when they finally reached the summit on May 29, Hillary said “A few more whacks of the ice axe in the firm snow, and we stood on top.” They spent only 15 minutes on the summit before they had to turn back

Fact #3 - Sir Edmund Hillary was named one of TIME’s 20 most influential heroes of the 20th Century.

Included on the list were Muhammad Ali, Anne Frank, Mother Teresa and Charles Lindberg… not bad company if you ask me.

Fact #4 - Sir Edmund Hillary also reached the North Pole and South Pole on other expeditions, becoming the only man to stand on both poles and the summit of Mount Everest.

The Hoover Dam is a massive concrete dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. The large resevoir behind the dam is called Lake Mead. The Hoover Dam is not only used for river diversion, but it’s also used to generate power for Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Today’s topic will cover some interesting facts on the Hoover Dam.

Fact #1 - Construction on the Hoover Dam began in 1931 and was completed in 1935, more than two years ahead of schedule.

You have to be impressed with the engineering of the Hoover Damn during the 1930s. They were way ahead of their time. Such a massive structure and complicated project… it’s hard to believe they finished ahead of schedule.

Fact #2 - The Hoover Dam measures 726.4 feet high, 1,244 feet across at the top, 660 feet thick at the base, and 45 feet thick at the top.

That’s a lot of concrete!

Fact #3 - The Hoover Dam cost ONLY $49,000,000 to build.

Sounds like a bargain to me. You can’t even build a shopping center these days for $49 million. Cost effective labor combined with local raw materials resulted in a very cheap project.

Fact #4 - There were 112 deaths associated with the construction of the dam.

There are different death counts floating around out there, but 112 seems to be the most accepted. Some of the deaths associated with heat stroke, were not counted as it didn’t necessarily pertain to the construction of the damn. Others may have died from drowning or falling off towers.

Fact #5 - The Hoover Damn crosses 2 timezones.

There are two clock faces on the intake towers set for Nevada and Arizona time, in the Pacific and Mountain time zones respectively (although because Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, the two clocks show the same time throughout much of the year).