A Quarter of the Netherlands Lives Below Sea Level
GeographyThe Netherlands is so low-lying that 26 percent of its land area and most of its population sit below sea level. The Dutch joke that God may have built the…
Exporting Merino Sheep from Spain Was Once Punishable by Death
HistoryFor several centuries, Spain maintained a royal monopoly on Merino sheep, the breed that would go on to underpin Australia wool industry. Exporting live Merino…
French Cavalry Once Captured a Fleet of Naval Ships Frozen in Ice
HistoryIn January 1795, French hussars rode across a frozen strait in the Netherlands and accepted the surrender of 14 Dutch warships trapped in ice — the only known…
Tomatoes Were Feared as Poison for 200 Years Because of Aristocrats' Plates
FoodEuropean elites avoided tomatoes for over two centuries, believing them deadly — but it was actually their pewter plates that were killing people. The high…
