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tldrHISTORY, or “Too Long; Didn’t Read History,” offers a fun selection of historical nonfiction articles derived from books and primary source documents.
Please enjoy the wide range of topics, from myths and legends to the founding of the United States.
Each post is intended to be read in just minutes, so you’ll learn something new without wasting any of your valuable energy for the day. And if you’re already an avid scholar of history, hopefully you’ll find our various musings an agreeable delight.
Recent Posts
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Creation of the Congo Free State
Through a sophisticated scheme of subterfuge, King Leopold II acquired private ownership of the Congo River Basin. With the help of two men especially, explorer Henry Morton Stanley and diplomat Henry Shelton Sanford, he had Congo chiefs sign treaties giving up their land and got the United States and Europe to recognize these treaties as the creation of an independent state. In reality, Leopold II had more power over the Congo Free State than he did as King of Belgium. So, the outrageous acts of greed and violence committed against the people of the Congo went totally unchecked for 23 years.
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The Siege of Goa – 1342 AD
Invited by a disgruntled prince wanting to depose his father, an Islamic Sultan sieged a major Hindu city. He sailed south three days and entered the harbor of Sandabur-Goa with his army of armored cavalry and infantry. Catapults of massive stone were flung out from the harbor, but the sultan’s army made it ashore. Those who were not slaughtered fled into the king’s palace, which the sultan set on fire, forcing a surrender. Fighting over the city would persist for approximately two more years between this Islamic Bahmani Sultanate and the Hindu Kadambas Dynasty, but ultimately would fall to the Sultan for 15 years before returning to Hindu rule.
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The Executor of Estates – George Washington and Jacky Custis
George Washington, like all men in the American colonies, was entrusted with the property and estates of the women and children in his family, including his step-son Jacky Custis. Washington’s efforts to raise Jacky as a disciplined and educated man failed, and Jacky grew up to be a foolish socialite who died in his youth.
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