Special Sub-Topic: Second Millennium AD: Part 2 Click Here To Play: Second Millennium AD: Part 2

The first U.S. wire suspension bridge opened in which year?

1842. The bridge opened Jan. 2, spanning the Schuylkill River at Fairmont, PA. The span was 358 feet long, 25 feet wide, and cost $35,000 to build.

The first public systematic dissection of a human body took place in Italy, but in which year?

1315. Surgeon Mondino Luzzi, age 40, supervised the operation, showing his students the abdominal organs, brain, thorax, and external organs. His "Anatomia" will be the first manual based on practical dissection.

In 1559, ice cream first appeared. Which country gets the credit?

Italy. The Italians were the ones to discover that ice and salt make a freezing combination.

Eastman Kodak was the first to produce 35-mm film cartridges. Those cartridges held 18 color exposures, making color photography as easy for amateurs as for professionals. What was the year?

1936. The cartridges went on sale that August for $3.50 each, including processing.

The first documented voyage to the New World took place in which year?

1003. The voyage was undertaken by Norse mariner Thorfinn Karlsefni, who left Greenland with 3 ships for a 3-year visit to "the northern continent of the Western Hemisphere," but his attempts at settlement were unsuccessful, as were everyone else's for the next, oh, 600 years. In case you were thinking it was Leif Ericsson, he was the one to discover "the northern continent of the Western Hemisphere" and did so in 1000 AD when his ship was blown off-course during a series of storms.

The African slave trade began in the markets of Lisbon, Portugal. When?

1441. That slave trade eventually sold more than 20 million Africans in 460 years, transporting them all over Europe and the New World.

Which contraceptive method's first known reference appeared in France in 1655?

the condom. The reference was made in "L'Ecole des Filles." For those of you who don't use them because they're "uncomfortable" or "don't feel natural," think about this: the first condoms were made of LINEN. Condoms were primarily used by upper-class French, but fell out of favor by the end of the century, when the sponge took over the popularity contest. A French noblewoman described the condom of the day to her daughter as "an armor against pleasure and a spider web against danger."

When were the first fire insurance policies issued?

1151. Iceland, isolated from everyone else, issued these policies in addition to plague insurance.

Who introduced Western civilization to eyeglasses?

the Mongol hordes. And in 1237, no less. In addition to eyeglasses, the Mongols also introduced us to distilled alcoholic beverages that year.

Los Angeles was founded in which year?

1781. Spanish settlers get the credit. But "Los Angeles" is a nickname, of sorts. They named the place El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula.