Dog of War Besides ruling the largest land empire the world has ever seen, Genghis Khan apparently is also the ancestor of 0.5 percent of the world’s male population. That’s around 16 million living, breathing great, great, great (and so on) grandkids of the Scourge of God himself. While the Phoenician Empire was built through commerce, Genghis Khan’s empire was…

Introduction to Ancient Hebrews Source: http://strangebananadailybluster.blogspot.com/2013/08/introduction-to-ancient-hebrews.html The Hebrews, who settled in Palestine about 4000 years ago, were a nomadic tribe that came from southern Mesopotamia. They were among the many peoples who lived in the Fertile Crescent. Hebrew came from the Hebrew word Ibri, which means people who passed over, or people from the other side. Their story is told…

Revenge of the Mongols Khwarezmia was a bustling Islamic empire during the 1200’s when it made the terrible mistake of pissing off Genghis Khan. Then ruled by Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad, Khwarezmia was a huge, sprawling empire that encompassed the lands of Greater Iran. The Shah had at this time just extended the empire’s borders, and was involved in a…

Their Alphabet Started It All http://strangebananadailybluster.blogspot.com/2011/09/their-alphabet-started-it-all.html The Phoenicians were members of an ancient civilization based in the north of ancient Canaan, which approximates today’s modern Lebanon. Their civilization was a trading maritime culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550 BC to 300 BC, a period in history when there was no major military power in Mesopotamia, thus enabling smaller…

Typhoons and Earthquakes in the Philippines Source: http://strangebananadailybluster.blogspot.com The Philippines has more than its fair share of disasters, and not because the country is particularly cursed or anything, but because the entire archipelago—purportedly composed of 7,100 islands—lies on a region in the Pacific Ocean called the “Ring of Fire” (actually, the area is shaped more like a horseshoe, although to…

How Did the First Cities Begin? Source: http://strangebananadailybluster.blogspot.com Before the Neolithic Period, humans led harsh lives. They lived in caves, foraging, searching for food from dawn until dusk. They hunted wild animals. Sometimes wild animals hunted them. Life was very uncertain, and humans always worried about where their food will come from next. Fortunately, somebody figured out that certain seeds could…

Where Did Money Come From, Anyway?​ Source: http://strangebananadailybluster.blogspot.com/ It is difficult to imagine the world today without money, or the concept of money. But surely, the first civilizations did not start out using money, right?            Long ago, people did not use money to buy things. They also did not use money to pay the person who repaired their roof, or built their…