Asia
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Smoking throughout history
Smoking can be dated to as early as 5000 BC, and has been recorded in many different cultures across the world. Many ancient civilizations, such as the Babylonians, Indians and Chinese, burnt incense as a part of religious rituals. The Israelites and the later Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches also practiced this as part of religious worship. Early smoking evolved in association with religious ceremonies- as offerings to deities, in cleansing rituals or to allow shamans and priests to alter their minds for purposes of divination or spiritual enlightenment. After the European exploration and conquest of the Americas, the practice of smoking tobacco quickly spread to the rest of the…
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Noor Inayat Khan- The Spy Princess
Noor Inayat Khan was a mass of contradictions. She was a devout Muslim Sufi who believed in nonviolence and refused to tell a lie and disliked the British because of their involvement in India. Described as a “dreamy” and “sensitive” person who spent time writing children’s stories, poetry and music, Noor was the last person who anyone would have thought could be a spy against the Nazis. However, underneath that soft exterior was a spine of steel the Nazis could not break no matter how hard they tried. Noor Inayat Khan was born in the Kremlin in Moscow on January 2, 1914. Her father was a musician and a Sufi…
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The Battle of Karansebes
They say that ultimately someone can be their own worst enemy. This is definitely the case for the Austrians in this battle. It was 1788 and Austria was at war with the Ottoman Empire. At stake was control of the Danube River. At the same time, the Ottoman Empire was fighting the Russians the same time. All these people that hated the Ottoman Empire got together and became allies. Great, right? Well, no. It was kind of Tower of Babel situation as the allied army had Austrians, Czechs, Germans, French, Serbs, Croats and Polish soldiers and commanders. It was a communications nightmare and a disaster waiting to happen. This even…
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The Hasanlu Lovers
Their remains were found by a team from the University of Pennsylvania led by Robert Dyson at the Teppe Hasanlu archaeological site, located in the Solduz Valley in the West Azerbaijan Province of Iran, in 1972. It was the site of the Teppe Hasanlu citadel. Around 800 B.C. when the pair was alive the area had been burned out from a military attack. People fighting from both sides were killed in the fire, which apparently spread quite unexpectedly and quickly through the town. The skeletons were found in a plaster grain bin, probably hiding from soldiers, and they almost certainly died from asphyxiated quickly due to the fire. The “head…
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The Loves of John Smith
As we discussed in our previous post on Pocahontas (http://www.historynaked.com/pocahontas/), explorer John Smith had his life saved by the Native American princess. Some historians have cast doubt on this story as the only source we have is a letter Smith wrote to Queen Anne describing the event in 1616 when Pocahontas journeyed to England. Smith’s only journals from that time make no mention of the event and describe the Powhatan people as nothing but friendly. What is known is Smith had a thing for princesses as another one made a significant impact on his life. Before his journeys to the New World, John Smith was a bonafide pirate. As a…
