http://www.randomhistory.com/ Wed, 16 May 12 17:31:16 -0700en-usShuRecent Randomhistory Articleshttp://www.randomhistory.com/history-of-golf.html Hushed crowds several rows deep line the greens of one of the worlds pre-eminent golf courses. The golfer, sporting clearly branded apparel, drops down to her stomach to size up the topography of the perfectly manicured green. She practices a couple of strokes before stepping up to the ball. The sound of the club face striking the ball pops lightly but audibly, sending the ball on its jour...]]> 2011-09-21http://www.randomhistory.com/history-of-snowboarding.html Its difficult to imagine early humans shredding mountain slopes onprimitive snow equipment of any kind, and certainly not a snowboard. Earlycivilizations in the colder northern latitudes did develop methods for movementand transport over snow, and the human cultural impulse for play suggests eventhe earliest humans must have enjoyed sliding down snowy slopes. Though thereare early versions of s...]]> 2011-05-17http://www.randomhistory.com/zipper-history.html Its not an exaggeration to say its as common as blue jeans. In fact, its really as common as pants. And while the button fly still has its fans, the zipper is truly the fastener of choice among wearers of pants, dresses, shirts, jackets, and any other article of clothing that needs a good, reliable close. Zippers, not limited in use to clothing, are among the defining inventions that resul...]]> 2011-03-10http://www.randomhistory.com/history-of-gay-marriage.html Historians of same-sex marriage take great care to place the modern debate over the legality of gay marriage into an historical framework. The debate has taken on a sharply political dimension in recent years, a culmination of some 40 years of heightened tension surrounding the cultural question. That question is not easily answered because it is complicated by societal and individual inte...]]> 2011-02-04http://www.randomhistory.com/christopher-columbus-in-the-history-of-america.html Between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, a countless number of European explorers navigated the globe in search of new lands and new treasures. The era, known as The Age of Discovery, gave fame to some of historys greatest seafarersFerdinand Magellan, Vasco da Gama, and John Cabot to name but a few. Of all the great explorers, though, none are as celebrated as Christopher Columbust...]]> 2010-12-31http://www.randomhistory.com/history-of-human-rights.html In the wake of World War II, the United Nations General Assembly compiled and adopted a document called The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The day of its adoption, December 10, 1948, became known internationally as Human Rights Day. But over the next several decades, the declaration could do little to actually prevent widespread abuse against human rights throughout the worl...]]> 2010-12-10http://www.randomhistory.com/history-of-volcanoes.html Volcanoes are one of nature's deadliest killers. Breathtakingly beautiful yet devastatingly fatal, volcanoes have fascinated human beings since time immemorial. They stand as permanent reminders of the fragility of the human raceconstantly at the mercy of the unpredictable ruthlessness of the natural world. Volcanic eruptions create and destroy landscapes, fascinate and terrify observers, ...]]> 2010-11-21http://www.randomhistory.com/us-economy-history.html The fledgling thirteen colonies established their independence oningenuity, the frontier, and support from France and her allies. The United States and her national debt were born, and both have expanded seemingly without limits. However, in the years leading up to Americas sestercentennial, serious questions about the unsustainability of Americas economic practices have developed. Once the...]]> 2010-09-08http://www.randomhistory.com/history-of-st-patricks-day.html No country celebrates its patron saint like Ireland. Nor, indeed, has any national day been embraced the world over like Saint Patricks Day. For a country whose history is characterized by conflict with the British, however, it is perhaps the biggest irony of all that the man himselfthe quintessential Irish Catholic herowas a Briton. The St. Patrick of the twenty-first centurythe green-gar...]]> 2010-09-01http://www.randomhistory.com/money-history.html Easy as it is to comprehend now, money has not always been so clearly defined. For millennia, the exchange of things throughout civilization had much to do with an objects intrinsic value to its society. Money, in other words, meant something useful, such as barley, tools, or precious metals. Today, most currency systems use money that has symbolic value. Whether a dollar, yen, euro, or bo...]]> 2010-07-16