Episodios

  • Ep. 63 Hawaii
    Feb 19 2023
    https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/52783169/download.mp3 The beginning of Hawaii Hawaii is said to have been named after Hawaiʻiloa, the legendary Polynesian navigator who first discovered it. Other accounts attribute the name to the legendary realm of Hawaiki, a place from which some Polynesian people are said to have originated, the place where they transition to in the afterlife, or the realm of the gods and goddesses. View on Napali Coast on Kauai island on Hawaii Hawaiʻi [həˈvɐjʔi] or [həˈwɐjʔi]) is a state in the Western United States, about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from the U.S. mainland in the Pacific Ocean. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state in the tropics. Hawaii comprises nearly the entire Hawaiian archipelago, 137 volcanic islands spanning 1,500 miles (2,400 km) that are physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania.The state's ocean coastline is consequently the fourth-longest in the U.S., at about 750 miles (1,210 km). The eight main islands, from northwest to southeast, are Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and Hawaiʻi—the last of these, after which the state is named, is often called the "Big Island" or "Hawaii Island" to avoid confusion with the state or archipelago.  Shaping of the Islands The Hawaiian islands were formed by volcanic activity initiated at an undersea magma source called the Hawaiʻi hotspot. The process is continuing to build islands; the tectonic plate beneath much of the Pacific Ocean continually moves northwest and the hotspot remains stationary, slowly creating new volcanoes. Because of the hotspot's location, all active land volcanoes are on the southern half of Hawaiʻi Island. The newest volcano, Kamaʻehuakanaloa (formerly Lōʻihi), is south of the coast of Hawaiʻi Island. The last volcanic eruption outside Hawaiʻi Island occurred at Haleakalā on Maui before the late 18th century, possibly hundreds of years earlier. In 1790, Kīlauea exploded; it was the deadliest eruption known to have occurred in the modern era in what is now the United States.Up to 5,405 warriors and their families marching on Kīlauea were killed by the eruption. Volcanic activity and subsequent erosion have created impressive geological features. Hawaii Island has the second-highest point among the world's islands. Human History in Hawaii Based on archaeological evidence, the earliest habitation of the Hawaiian Islands dates to around 1000–1200 CE, probably by Polynesian settlers from the Marquesas Islands. A second wave of migration from Raiatea and Bora Bora took place in the 11th century. The date of the human discovery and habitation of the Hawaiian Islands is the subject of academic debate. Some archaeologists and historians think it was a later wave of immigrants from Tahiti around 1000 CE who introduced a new line of high chiefs, the kapu system, the practice of human sacrifice, and the building of heiau. This later immigration is detailed in Hawaiian mythology (moʻolelo) about Paʻao. Other authors say there is no archaeological or linguistic evidence of a later influx of Tahitian settlers and that Paʻao must be regarded as a myth. The islands' history is marked by a slow, steady growth in population and the size of the chiefdoms, which grew to encompass whole islands.  Local chiefs, called aliʻi, ruled their settlements, and launched wars to extend their influence and defend their communities from predatory rivals. Ancient Hawaiʻi was a caste-based society, much like that of Hindus in India. Population growth was facilitated by ecological and agricultural practices that combined upland agriculture (manuka), ocean fishing (makai), fishponds and gardening systems First Euro Contact Early British influence can be seen in the design of the flag of Hawaiʻi,
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  • BSB #16 Grigori Rasputin
    Jan 22 2023
    https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/52480042/download.mp3 Alright, welcome back to another episode of Bite Size Bios, BSB, this week we are gonna learn about Grigori Rasputin. I did not know much about this guy going in.  I knew he was kinda weird looking and that he was connected to Russia. That’s about it. We are gonna dive into the life of a man who was basically Russian royalty for a period of time. Don’t at me.  But before we get to the episode as always since this is a HDTH mini episode we have to talk about last week’s topic. Tattoos. That was also a subject that I knew little about. If you listened to the ep then you know that I don’t have any tattoos.  We found out that tattoos were common in basically all cultures and civilizations and that most of the early ones were used as some form of acupuncture or to help with child birth. The next evolution saw them being used to mark criminals and that is where the criminal aspect of tattoos really begins to take shape. As always if you like what you hear here there is more where that came from over at HDTHappen.com. there you will find episode transcripts as well as work cited. There is also a blog there with interesting articles written by yours truly. Be sure to like and subscribe wherever you listen to this podcast. It helps the pod grow. The goal is to be top 100 history podcast on Apple Podcast! Give us 5 stars if you feel so inclined or if you wanna give us 2 stars and explain why you didn’t  want to give us 5 stars that is fine as well. Early Life Rasputin was born a peasant in the small village of Pokrovskoye, along the Tura River in the Tobolsk Governorate (now Tyumen Oblast) in the Russian Empire. According to official records, he was born on 21 January [ 9 January] 1869 and christened the following day. There are few records of Rasputin's parents. His father, Yefim, was a peasant farmer and church elder who had been born in Pokrovskoye in 1842 and married Rasputin's mother, Anna Parshukova, in 1863.  Yefim (the father) also worked as a government courier, ferrying people and goods between Tobolsk and Tyumen. Although he attended school, Grigori Rasputin remained illiterate, and his reputation for licentiousness (lewd behavior) earned him the surname Rasputin, Russian for “debauched one.” He evidently underwent a religious conversion at age 18, and eventually he went to the monastery at Verkhoture, where he was introduced to the Khlysty (Flagellants) sect.  Rasputin perverted Khlysty beliefs into the doctrine that one was nearest God when feeling “holy passionlessness” and that the best way to reach such a state was through the sexual exhaustion that came after prolonged debauchery. Rasputin did not become a monk. In 1886, Rasputin traveled to Abalak, Russia, some 250 km east-northeast of Tyumenand 2,800 km east of Moscow, where he met a peasant girl named Praskovya Dubrovina. After a courtship of several months, they married in February 1887.  Praskovya remained in Pokrovskoye throughout Rasputin's later travels and rise to prominence and remained devoted to him until his death. The couple had seven children, though only three survived to adulthood: Dmitry (b. 1895), Maria (b. 1898), and Varvara (b. 1900). In the presence of the royal family, Rasputin consistently maintained the posture of a humble and holy peasant. Outside court, however, he soon fell into his former licentioushabits.  By the early 1900s, Rasputin had developed a small circle of followers, primarily family members, and other local peasants, who prayed with him on Sundays and other holy days when he was in Pokrovskoye.  Building a makeshift chapel in Efim's root cellar—Rasputin was still living within his father's household at the time—the group held secret prayer meetings there. These meetings were the subject of some suspicion and hostility from the village priest and other villagers.
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  • Ep. 49 Signatures
    Nov 14 2022
    https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/51881162/download.mp3 The traditional function of a signature is to permanently affix to a document a person's uniquely personal, undeniable self-identification as physical evidence of that person's personal witness and certification of the content of all, or a specified part, of the document. The reason a signature exists is important. It’s another thing that ties civilization together and provides order to society but its origin is not linear.  The First Signatures The Sumerians invented the earliest signature which wasn’t a signature at all. It was a seal. Typically, these seals were attached to a small round cylinder about one inch in length and would be pressed into wet clay. The Sumerians are one of the earliest known civilizations. They existed about 5,000 years ago. Sumer is in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia which is present day Iraq. Recently, what is considered the oldest signature in history was sold at auction and it was said to have come from this place and time. This “signature” has been interpreted by experts as spelling “Kushim.” Since very few were literate in ancient Sumeria, this individual was likely a government scribe and the object itself a record kept for administration purposes.  It has been generally accepted that Kushim spells a personal name, but some have speculated that it is an official title. The signature Kushim is believed to be the earliest example of an autograph.  The Daily Mail reports that the name “Kushim is known from 17 other tablets and in some of those addressed as ‘Sanga’ or temple administrator.” The clay tablet reads “29,086 measures barley 37 months Kushim.” It appears to be a receipt for barley that was the main ingredient in Sumerian beer. This clay tablet is another illustrative example of how writing emerged from practical needs. There are several markings on the object that seem to show how beer was produced at a temple in Mesopotamia in 3100 BC. Some images appear to show grains and jars and the process of brewing.  The tablet apparently depicts or details the entire process, from the building of the brewery to the transportation of the beverage in jars. Signatures on written transactions have been customary in Jewish communities since about the second century and among Muslims since the Hegira (the migration of Muhammad and his followers to Medina) in 622 One popular way to create these impressions was to press a signet ring into beeswax.  Signet rings themselves were also used as validation: A king might, for example, dispatch a herald bearing an oral message to a foreign power, and give him the royal signet ring so that the message’s recipient would be confident of its origin. Stamps/Japanese Hankos Hanko/inkan (used interchangeably) is a carved stamp that can be used in any situation where an individual, or an individual on behalf of a company, might otherwise use a signature or initials.  Signing contracts, doing your banking (at a bank) or receiving a parcel are just three such cases’ Hanko’s came over to Japan from China via the Silk Road about 2000 years ago. They originated in Mesopotamia but were made a little differently then. The first evidence of writing in Japan was of a hanko that dates back to 57 CE. It was made of solid gold and was given to the ruler of Nakoku (a state which was located in and around modern-day Fukuoka City), by Emperor Guangwu of Han. The seal is known as ‘King of Na gold seal’. The idea of Stamps as signatures dates back to 5500 BCE in the Middle East where it was used as personal symbols engraved on stones, clay, wood and shells.  It all began when cattle farmers wanted to brand their livestock. People soon followed suit using the same method to identify their personal property. Hanko eventually found its way to Europe then to Asia. There are 3 types of hankos:
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  • Ep. 47 – Australia
    Oct 31 2022
    https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/51732869/download.mp3 The name Australia (pronounced /əˈstreɪliə/ in Australian English) is derived from the Latin Terra Australis which means southern land. This was a name used for a hypothetical continent in the Southern Hemisphere since ancient times.   The idea being that if there is land in the Northern Hemisphere then there has to be land in the Southern Hemisphere to balance out the globe.   I love that idea because it’s so simple. Like the smartest people alive at that time we’re like if there is land up here there has got to be land down there or the world would be lopsided? They thought this as far back as the 5th century. Other names for the hypothetical continent have included Terra Australis Ignota, Terra Australis Incognit' ("the unknown land of the south") or Terra Australis Nondum Cognita ("the southern land not yet known"). Other names were Brasiliae Australis ("the southern Brazil"),and Magellanica ("the land of Magellan"). Matthias Ringmann called it the Ora antarctica (antarctic land) in 1505, and Franciscus Monachus called it the Australis orę (Austral country). In Medieval times it was known as the Antipodes.   For the record Australia is both a country and a continent. The only of its kind. I think it was best described in one of the articles I read. It said “Australia is a country that is part of a continent also called Australia, all of which is part of a region known as Oceania. Make sense” Oceania is a created idea to classify all of the island nations in that area and they include Australia in that. It’s kinda weird. When I was growing up we were taught that Australia was a continent. Australia is a country that is part of a continent also called Australia, all of which is part of a region known as Oceania. Make sense? Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, and mountain ranges in the south-east. Aboriginees The indigenous people in Australia are broken down into 2 groups. The aboriginal people are from the mainland and Tasmania and then there are the Torres Strait people who are Melanesian.       For a long time in my life I didn’t know Tasmania actually existed. I thought it was something created by Looney Tunes. Imagine my surprise when I found out what a Tasmanian Devil actually looked like.     People have been living on Australia’s land for 65,000 years. They came over from land bridges and short sea crossing from Southeast Asia. This was 1000’s of years before humans made it to Europe. The land bridge thing is wild to me. I wish we could find one of those in present day. Aboriginal Australian culture is one of the oldest continuous cultures on Earth. At the time of first European contact, Aboriginal Australians were complex hunter-gatherers with diverse economies and societies and about 250 different language groups. That’s not an insignificant number. 250 language groups?  There is evidence that about 3000 years ago there was contact between Indians and Aboriginees because they share about 11% of the same DNA. So aboriginal Australians are part Indian. I’m sure there’s a story there. The Rainbow Snake The indigenous people believe in something they call dream time. Which is a hard concept to articulate but it has to do with the fact that they don’t see time as a linear thing. Dreamtime or Dreaming for Australian Aboriginal people represents the time when the Ancestral Spirits progressed over the land and created life and important physical geographic formations and sites. It is sometimes called the Every-when.     They see past, present, and future as a cyclical thing. They also believe the world started as flat and then was carved out by what they call a rainbow sna...
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  • Ep. 44 – Card Based Transactions
    Oct 10 2022
    https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/51444627/download.mp3 This week I take a look at card based transactions and find out who invented the first credit card. Come along for the ride this week as I ask, card based transactions, how did that happen? The beginning: Money lending is one of the world’s oldest professions. In fact some of the earliest written laws pertain to the idea of lending. The concept of credit is goods are traded but the seller does not immediately receive payment. Instead, the debt is recorded and paid at a later date. Beginning as far back as 9,000 B.C. with cattle and camels, currency took some truly odd shapes, from cowrie shells, bronze and copper imitation cowrie shells, and gold and silver nuggets to Chinese deerskin notes and Native American stringed wampum beads. The concept of using a valueless instrument to represent banking transactions dates back thousands of years to a time when the ancient Mesopotamians used clay tablets to conduct trade with other civilizations. Early Modern Uses: The concept of using a card for purchases was described in 1887 by Edward Bellamy in his utopian novel Looking Backward.  Bellamy used the term credit card eleven times in this novel, although this referred to a card for spending a citizen's dividend from the government, rather than borrowing, making it more similar to a debit card. Early Charge Cards: Charge coins are probably the earliest modern predecessor of credit cards. These came to prominence in the 1860’s.  They would usually have some sort of words on their usually linking to whatever store or account they were connected to and usually only usable at one company or location. Charge coins were usually given to customers who had charge accounts in hotels or department stores. Which explains why department store credit is a thing. The people would come into the store and when they were about to buy something they would present the coin and the cashier would check the number against a ledger to make sure the account was up to date. These accounts were usually settled at the end of every month. Beginning in the late 19th century charge cards came in various shapes and sizes, made of celluloid (an early type of plastic), copper, aluminum, steel, and other types of whitish metals. Paper slips entered the mainstream as well serving the same purpose. In 1914 Western Union launched “metal money”. Gas companies  were next. They began offering credit cards that you could use to gas and maintain your car at their stations. 1936 American Airlines and the Air Transport Assoc. created the idea of credit for airplanes. They used a dog tag like product that was popular at the time.  They made it so the customer could sign a receipt for the flight in lieu of payment at the time and then pay it off later. doing this also took 15% off the price of the flight. 5 years later these dog tag credit cards accounted for half of their revenue. In 1946 John C. Biggins of Flatbush Brooklyn, NY created the idea of a universal credit card. He called it a charge it card.  The idea being that when the customer used the card the business would charge the bank who would then get the money from the customer.  When it started they only worked at businesses close to the bank itself. Bank of America was first out of the gate in 1958, mailing unsolicited credit cards to select California markets. In 1966, BankAmericard went national to become the nation’s first licensed general-purpose credit card.  By 1970 Bank of America has passed on ownership to a group of issuer banks that manage Visa. It went international in 1974 and issued its first debit card in 1975. Credit card, front. NU*84.17.10. Some of the original banks that went in on this agreement still have the original stock from their merger to create Visa. The Marquette Decision Have you ever wondered why some if not all your credit statem...
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    19 m
  • Ep. 43 Cereal
    Oct 3 2022
    This week I take a look at cereal! Come along for the ride as I ask, cereal, how did that happen? Wikipedia defines cereal as any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain.  The roman goddess Ceres, who was the protector of grain is where we get the term cereal. Roman Goddess Ceres The early neolithic or New Stone Age shows evidence that they would process grains all the way back then too. Wheat originated in the cradle of civilization in the Tigris & Euphrates river valley near present day Iraq. Archeological findings show that wheat first occurred in parts of Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, the Levant, Israel, Egypt and Ethiopia. Domesticated Einkorn wheat in Turkey dates back to 9,000 B.C. Evidence of the existence of wild barley (Hordeum sp) goes as far back as 23,000 B.C. Cultivation of wheat began to spread beyond the Fertile Crescent after about 8000 BC. Wheat reached Greece, Cyprus and India by 6500 BC, Egypt shortly thereafter, followed by introductions in Germany and Spain by 5000 BC.  The early Egyptians were developers of bread and with the use of oven technology, developed baking into one of the first large-scale food production industries.  By 3000 BC, wheat had reached England, and Scandinavia. A millennium later it reached China. Recent findings of wheat grains in the Kunming area of Yunnan Province, China date the wheat at around 4000 BC.  These processed grains would be used to make things like oatmeal, porridge, gruel and other warmed grain based cereals. This would continue for thousands of years until civilization modernized. The idea of breakfast in the household has changed over time. In the Middle Ages breakfast could be something as simple as a chunk of bread and a bit of wine. As time went on other things were added to the menu such as anchovies and fish fillets. Ferdinand Schumacher Ale Anchovies - smoked or preserved. Beef Beer Bread - any variety. Cheese Herring - smoked or preserved. Salmon - smoked or preserved. Salt Fish - preserved pieces of filleted ling, hake, cod, or whiting. Sop in Wine - toast or bread in wine. Trout - smoked or preserved. Wine One that may be well known is the kippered herring  from Britain. It was breakfasts like these that were popular when inventors went looking for more healthy breakfast alternatives. Modern Cereal Food reformers in the 19th century called for cutting back on excessive meat consumption at breakfast. They explored numerous vegetarian alternatives. Ferdinand Schumacher, a German immigrant, began the cereals revolution in 1854 with a hand oats grinder in the back room of a small store in Akron, Ohio.  Ferdinand Schumacher was born in Celle, Hanover, Germany March 30, 1822, son of a merchant. He completed high school locally, and apprenticed in the grocery business. He pursued this, and clerked in a manufacturing business until age 28, when he and his brother Otto emigrated to the United States. He farmed for two years and established a grocery trade in Akron, Ohio in 1852. Remembering that back in Germany he used to grind oats and sell them as breakfast food.  He decided to do the same in Akron, Ohio and in 1854, Ferdinand Schumacher started selling his oatmeal, and from there it branched out to the rest of the United States His German Mills American Oatmeal Company was the nation's first commercial oatmeal manufacturer.  In 1877, Schumacher adopted the Quaker symbol, the first registered trademark for a breakfast cereal.  In 1863, James Caleb Jackson, a religiously conservative vegetarian who ran a medical sanitarium in western New York, created a breakfast cereal from graham flour dough that was dried and broken into shapes so hard they needed to be soaked in milk overnight. He called it granula. John Harvey Kellogg, a surgeon who ran a health spa in Michigan, later made a version and named it granola.  KELLOGG John Harvey Kellogg John Kellogg,
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  • Ep. 42 Panama Canal
    Sep 26 2022
    This week I look at the Panama Canal and find out some interesting facts about its creation. Come along for the ride this week as I ask, the Panama Canal, how did that happen? The Beginning: The idea of creating a water passage across the isthmus of Panama to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans dates back to at least the 1500s. An isthmus is defined as a narrow strip of land with sea on either side, forming a link between two larger areas of land. Political map of Panama with capital, national borders, most important cities, rivers and lakes. Vector illustration with English labeling and scaling. After explorer Vasco Nuñez de Balboa realized that a narrow strip of land separated the two oceans, King Charles I of Spain tapped his regional governor to survey a route along the Chagres River. The only other route was to sail around South America via the stormy, unpredictable Strait of Magellan, or use the Panama Railroad to transfer goods and people from one ocean to another.  Types of Canals: A sea level canal is one through. which vessels may pass without obstruction of any kind. A lock canal is an enclosure or basin located in the course of a canal or a river (or in the vicinity of a dock) with gates at each end, within which the water level may be varied to raise or lower boats. The French France was the first to attempt to make the canal. There were actually 2 locations that the French were deciding between. The other was in Nicaragua but they chose Panama due to the Panamanian railroad.  There were incessant rains that caused heavy landslides and there was no effective means for combating the spread of yellow fever and malaria. An estimated 22,000 people died during the French effort. Its necessary to mention malaria and its impact on these endeavors because if it weren’t for the discovery of mosquitoes role in malaria there may not be a Panama Canal today.  The term Malaria comes from the ancient Greeks. They initially thought malaria came from drinking swamp water and then their ideas shifted to that it came from the air. so you get Mal meaning bad and aria meaning air. Bad air. Malaria In 1892 Sir Ronald Ross became interested in malaria and, having originally doubted the parasites’ existence, became an enthusiastic convert to the belief that malaria parasites were in the blood stream when this was demonstrated to him by Patrick Manson during a period of home leave in 1894. On his return to India in 1895, Ross began his quest to prove the hypothesis of Alphonse Laveran and Manson that mosquitoes were connected with the propagation of malaria, and regularly corresponded with Manson on his findings.  Enter America: The actual Panama Canal was developed following the failure of a French construction team in the 1880s. The United States commenced building a canal across a 50-mile stretch of the narrow Panama isthmus in 1904. When a proposed treaty over rights to build in what was then a Colombian territory was rejected, the U.S. threw its military weight behind a Panamanian independence movement, eventually negotiating a deal with the new government. Following the deliberations of the U.S. Isthmian Canal Commission and a push from President Theodore Roosevelt, the United States purchased the French assets in the canal zone for $40 million in 1902.  Now this is worth stopping and digging deeper. Because I did not know much about that part of the world. So I would like to take a moment to talk about the history of Panama. First off, it’s whats known as a transcontinental country because it is a country that is technically on two different continents. It’s at the bottom of North America and at the top of South America.  It was originally inhabited by indigenous people before the Spanish showed up. They broke away from Spain in 1821. They eventually fall in with Nueva Granada and create the republic of Columbia around 1831.
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  • Ep. 41 Ladders
    Sep 19 2022
    This week I look at ladders and tell you how a ladder helped to solve a crime. Come along for the ride this week as I ask, ladders, how did that happen? A ladder is a vertical or inclined set of rungs or steps. Etymology of the word Ladder The word ladder comes from an Old English (Anglo Saxon) word “hlæder”, which means “steps”. Like many Old English words, ladder comes from Old German, in this case “leitara” (“Leiter” in modern German). The root for these could come from a much older word meaning “to lean”. There are typically 2 types of ladders. They are rigid and flexible. History of Ladders No one really knows when the ladder was invented. However, the earliest evidence of it is located in Valencia, Spain. The Spider Caves have a Mesolithic rock painting of a ladder that’s about 10,000 years old.  This painting shows two men using a ladder to access a wild honeybee nest, most likely to get honey. The painting shows a flexible ladder that was made up of some kind of grass. While this is the first evidence of the ladder, most researchers are certain it is much older than that.  The roots of the functional design of ladders as we know them today, can be traced right back to the ancient Hebrew and Egyptian cultures; these are the civilizations that developed and perfected it. Over the years, different kinds of ladders have been created to suit different purposes. The ladder is also mentioned in the Bible. Jacob had a dream and in the dream he saw a ladder reaching from Heaven to earth. Jacob’s ladder is mentioned in the Book of Genesis. This comes from a vision that Jacob had of a ladder that led all the way up to heaven, with angels ascending and descending it constantly to carry out God’s work. First cave painting of a ladder. The significance of this dream has long been a subject of intense debate. However, what it tells us is that ladders were known about at the time the Bible was written.  Ladders were also commonly used as religious metaphors from the 2nd or 3rd century onwards, so they seem to have been objects that many people would have been familiar with.  Ladders in the middle ages Ladders were turned into tools of war during this period, and ones that could aid armies in causing huge amounts of damage to castles and fortresses. Ladders in this period were made from wood. This made it very easy to find the materials needed to build them and assemble them in the field. During a siege it was often archers would begin the conflict by firing at those atop the enemy walls. When enough of them had been shot down and there were little to no enemy arrows being fired into the field, soldiers would approach with long ladders that were made for scaling the walls. They would lean the ladders up against the walls of the castle or fortress and climb up in order to infiltrate and attack. Scalers had to be fast, and they often were, allowing them to reach the top of the ladder at amazing speeds while fully armored.  Of course, they were also met with retaliation as burning oil could be poured over the walls and arrows shot at those climbing the ladders. For a long time, the only ladders that people could build or buy were made of natural materials like wood. Widespread use of aluminium ladders didn't happen until the early 19th century.  Prior to this, there was no way for ladder manufacturers of extracting enough aluminium out of the ground! For a long time, aluminium was higher in value than gold, but nowadays, aluminium ladders are easy to get hold of and won't cost you an arm and a leg. And rollable ladders sometimes   made of rope or aluminium, that may be hung from the top. The vertical members of a rigid ladder are called stringers or rails (US) or stiles (UK). Step Ladder Invention of the step ladder In 1862 a man by the name of John H. Balsley received a patent for the first safety step ladder. This was in Dayton, Ohio.
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