After the Civil War many Confederates fled south to Latin America to establish villages that exist to this day!

They were called Confederate Colonies, and they weremade up of emigrants from the Confederate States of America who fled the United States after the Union won the American Civil War (1861-1865). They settled in many Latin American countries like Brazil and Mexico.

No one has determined how many American southerners immigrated to Latin America, but it's said that almost 20,000 Americans entered Rio de Janeiro a couple of years after the Civil War ended. An extra fun fact: Many established small villages in Brazil with names that resembled their old hometown or state at the U.S.Some examples: America, New Texas, etc.

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Fahrenheit 451 got its name after a fire station burned a book and told the author about it!

Some of you might know that “Fahrenheit 451” is a science fiction novel, a disturbing story of a future civilization in which firemen burn books! Sadly no one was allowed to enjoy reading a nice book. Books were meant to be burned, along with the houses they were found in.

Ray Bradbury originally titled Fahrenheit 451 as 'The Fireman', but he and the editors found the name so boring that they decided to call the physics and chemistry departments at several universities, but no one could pinpoint this temperature.

Then, wondering why he hadn’t thought of it first, he called the local fire station, and asked what temperature book paper burnt at. The firemen put Bradbury on hold, burnt a book, and reported that the temp it burnt at was Fahrenheit 451.

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When they banned nuclear power, New Zealand refused to let US warships dock in their waters

In 1985, tension developed between New Zealand and the US. The US had been declared a nuclear power while New Zealand was anti-nuclear. New Zealand’s prime minister David Lange banned nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed ships from docking in New Zealand ports and even entering New Zealand waters.

The United States refused to confirm or deny whether their ships contained nuclear weapons so this essentially banned all their ships from New Zealand waters. In response, the US suspended it's treaty obligations to New Zealand until they would allow US Naval ships to enter their waters. The US described New Zealand as “a friend, but not an ally.”

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All the first American in space could think about was that his rocket was built from parts by the lowest bidder!

In January 1961, Shepard was chosen for the first American manned mission into space. Although the flight was originally scheduled for October 1960, delays by unplanned preparatory work meant that this was postponed several times, initially to March 6, 1961 and finally to May 5.

While on the other hand, on April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first person in space and to orbit the Earth. According to Gene Kranz in his book, Failure Is Not an Option, "When reporters asked Shepard what he thought about as he sat atop the Redstone rocket, waiting for liftoff, he had replied, 'The fact that every part of this ship was built by the low bidder.'"

He had a successful career afterward and as he once said: “They say any landing you can walk away from is a good one.”

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Portugal stayed neutral in World War II to honor a treaty it made with England in 1386!

In 1386, the Treaty of Windsor was signed between England and Portugal, as a display of the countries mutual friendship, and can now be found on display in the National Museum of Portugal. Fast forward just under 600 years to WWII, the Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, was faced with a crucial decision: Should he break the treaty signed so long ago, and ally with the Axis Powers?

The decision was surprisingly easy for Salazar - he would honor the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance by refusing to sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, which was the document allying Germany, Japan, and Italy.

On June 29, 1940, Spain and Portugal signed an additional protocol known as a Treaty of Friendship and Non-Aggression. This document declared to the world that these two nations were going to stay out of the war, which didn't please Adolf Hitler.

In fact, a plan known as Operation Isabella was going to be executed in 1942, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The plan involved invading Portugal and Spain and using them as air bases to strike Britain. Thankfully for Portugal, the plan was never executed.

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The Pyramids may have been built using poured limestone concrete!

One of the mysteries about the pyramids is how such a primitive civilization in comparison to our modern civilization, was able to move massive slabs of limestone. One historians theory, may just be the most logical answer to this question.

The theory posed by Joseph Davidovits is that the Ancient Egyptians actually poured limestone concrete molds and the massive bricks were cast that way. Joseph believes that using the tools of the ancient Egyptians, water from the Nile, and a lengthy amount of time in the sun, the Egyptian workers were able to follow a simple process in order to create this massive bricks.

Basically, the limestone was broken down and mixed with water from the Nile, and left out until the mixture blended together. The mixture was then carried to the Pyramid and poured into a wooden mold, where it would then harden over the course of a few days.

Researchers tried to see if this was a realistic way to build the pyramid. A crew of 10 people in France, followed these exact steps proposed by Davidovits and it was found that over the course of a few weeks, the crew made a structure of 5 blocks, weighing anywhere between 1.3 - 4.5 ton blocks! Which means, we may have once and for all figured out how the Egyptians built the pyramids.

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JFK's brain wasn't buried with his body!

John F. Kennedy was unfortunately assassinated while doing a tour of America. The famous question 'who REALLY killed Kennedy' has sparked controversy ever since the incident occurred back in the 1960's.

Sometimes, conspiracy theorists often make interesting observations and are able to make connections between JFK's assassination and corruption in the American government that could make one believe the conspiracy theories.

This should make conspiracy theorists a little excited: JFK's brain wasn't buried with his body. In fact, JFK's brain is missing from National Archives. Nobody knows what happened to JFK's brain, which has led theorists to believe that the brain showed remarkable evidence that would be contrary to the official government report.

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Michelangelo started dissecting cadavers at the age of 17!

Michelangelo, a world renowned artist emerging from the Renaissance has a lengthy list of famous works. However, you could argue that the work he did in the Sistine Chapel is the most recognized, as well as his work that is viewed the most often. It's a little known fact that when Michelangelo wasn't busy creating artistic masterpieces, he was fascinated by human anatomy and dissecting cadavers to see what the inside of a human looked like.

According to two researchers at John Hopkins University, Michelangelo let his passion for anatomy show in one of his paintings - despite the Catholic church looking down on human dissections. In Michenagelo's 'Separation of Light from Darkness' which is posed right above the main altar in the Sistine Chapel - an anatomically correct brain is drawn inside of God's neck.

Look at the picture and judge for yourself, but neurosurgeons and neuroatonomists around the world unanimously agreed that when they looked at the picture, they can see a perfectly drawn brain stem.

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The microwave oven was discovered by accident!

The microwave oven is a necessity for every college student in order to survive. It's easy to use, and cooks food for you in a matter of minutes. Little do people know, that this nifty contraption was discovered completely by accident in 1945 during the second World War.

The British high powered radios had been dispersed through the front lines of the troops. This new technology provided a stronger radio signal - allowing messages to be spread faster. One of the engineers that worked at the copy that producer the radios, Raytheon, was a man named Percy Spencer.

While tinkering with one of the radios, Percy noticed that a Mr. Goodbar he had in his pocket began to melt. Percy hypothesized it was the radio waves that melted his candy bar. The first food that was deliberately cooked with this technology was popcorn, then an egg, which exploded in the face of the experimenters.

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The stereotype of Jewish people being greedy comes from Christians not being able to perform certain jobs!

The Middle Ages were an era of time when Christianity was essentially ruling Europe. The Christian Church had such a high power of authority, it was able to tell citizens what they could and could not do. For example, the Church proclaimed that Christians were not allowed to lend money and charge interest, a practice called usury.

The world, being the cruel place that it is, gave restrictions onto the occupations that Jews were allowed to have. Guess what one of those occupations was? Bingo. Jewish people were restricted to being usurers and money lenders, meaning that they could loan people money and charge them interest.

Since being a money lender was one of the only occupations that a Jewish person could be, the idea that Jews are greedy and money-mad developed. As a result, Jewish people still have to live with that stereotype today.

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The 1/4 audio plug (like the one on headphones) was created even before plug sockets!

The plug you use to hook up your headphones to your phone or computer is a piece of living history. Originally used as a telephone switchboard connector, it was invented in 1878, and has been in use ever since.

This invention was created in 1878 making it even older than plug sockets, the first of which was invented in 1883! Making this one of the oldest and yet modern invention of our times. Some inventions come and go, but as for the ¼ audio plugs it seems that it is here to stay.

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A town in Michigan disappeared because they helped rebuild Chicago after the fire!

No good deed goes unpunished, they say. It might have been the case for the town of Singapore, Michigan. After the devastating fire that destroyed Chicago, Holland and Peshtigo in 1871, Singapore became a valuable source of lumber for the reconstruction.

The town became completely deforested after supplying lumber for helping with the reconstruction. This was their big mistake. Without the trees to cover them from the great Lake Michigan winds, the town became completely eroded. Sand started covering streets and houses.

By 1875, the town was completely vacated and it was consumed by sand. The town of Singapore now only lives in the name of the Singapore Yacht Club, located at one end of the town.

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Incredible Photo Of Vietnam War Revealed

            

Unbelievable And Rare Photo Of VIETNAM WAR

ABOUT THE WAR

The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The war began in 1954 (though conflict in the region stretched back to the mid-1940s), after the rise to power of Ho Chi Minh and his communist Viet Minh party in North Vietnam, and continued against the backdrop of an intense Cold War between two global superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union.  More than 3 million people (including 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War; more than half were Vietnamese civilians. By 1969, at the peak of U.S. involvement in the war, more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were involved in the Vietnam conflict. Growing opposition to the war in the United States led to bitter divisions among Americans, both before and after President Richard Nixon ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973. In 1975, communist forces seized control of Saigon, ending the Vietnam War, and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year.

UNBELIEVABLE FACTS ABOUT VIETNAM WAR

• 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975.
• 58,148 were killed in Vietnam.
• 75,000 were severely disabled.
• 23,214 were 100% disabled.
• 5,283 lost limbs.
• Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21.
• Of those killed, 17,539 were married.
• Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old.
• The oldest man killed was 62 years old.
• As of January 15, 2004, there are 1,875 Americans still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.
• 87% of Americans hold Vietnam Veterans in high esteem.

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