Sweden's 1st Female Prime Minister Back in Charge November 29, 2021
Sweden will have its first female prime minister, again. Magdalena Andersson, who stepped down mere hours after being elected last week, is once more the leader of the country. The former finance minister and current leader of the Social Democratic Party, Andersson won election but then stepped down after losing a budget vote and a coalition partner. After the Riksdag embraced a budget proposal by the opposition, the Green Party left the two-party ruling coalition. Seeing that, Andersson resigned. This week, she won re-election, on a technicality.
December: 31 Days of Fun and Celebration
It's Christmas and Hanukkah and Advent and Boxing Day and Santa and the reindeer and carols and much more, all rolled up into one.
COLONIAL AMERICA
Jamestown:
First English Colony in America Explorers had been
landing in America for some time before English settlers
arrived in what is now Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. But it
was in that spot on the James River that English
colonization began and with it, the history of America.
The
Pilgrims: Voyage to
Freedom
Follow the Pilgrims as they sail across the Atlantic Ocean,
from England to America, in search of religious freedom. See
who they meet when they land in New England. Find out about
the first Thanksgiving.
The
13 American Colonies
This fun, illustrated article describes the 13 American
Colonies in detail, from economics to religion to
agriculture to revolution. Also includes a clickable map
with links to individual descriptions of each colony and a
list of the first European settlements in North America.
Outstanding resource!
IN DAYS GONE BY
Rosa Parks Jailed A long, arduous journey can start with a small step. It can also start with someone refusing to get up. The latter was the case with Rosa Parks, who was jailed on Dec. 1, 1955, for refusing to move to the back of the bus to make way for a white man in Montgomery, Ala. She was fined and put in jail for disobeying the discrimintory law about race separation on the city's buses. The publicity surrounding her arrest added fuel to the drive for civil rights in America.
ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL MESOAMERICA AND SOUTH AMERICA
The Ancient Olmecs
The Olmecs were one of the first advanced civilizations in Mesoamerica and, as such, influenced later, more well-known civilizations in that area. Historians estimate that the Olmec civilization arose somewhere between 1400 and 1200 B.C. (although some estimates push this back to 1600 B.C.). The people found very helpful the land and waters of the Coatzacoalcos river basin, with the Gulf of Mexico to the north. As the civilization grew, it spread out, to what is now southern and western Mexico and Guatemala. Prime among the remnants of the Olmec civilization are the colossal stone heads, some of which still adorn wings of modern museums. The heads weigh several tons and are, in some cases, more than 10 feet in height. Moreover, archaeologists have discovered that the stone heads rested, in some cases, dozens of miles from where the stone was quarried.
The Ancient Maya
From humble beginnings in the Yucatan, the Maya rose to dominance across what is now Central America and southern Mexico, spreading their knowledge of science, architecture, and survival far and wide. The Maya are famous for many things, among them advanced farming techniques, writing in hieroglyphs, superior knowledge of astronomy and the passage of time, creators of sturdy art, and a war-based ball game that has echoes down through the centuries. Maya settlements began about 1800 B.C. in what is now Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Three distinct areas evolved: the Northern Lowlands on the Yucatan Peninsula, the Southern Lowlands in the Petén district of what is now northern Guatemala and an area of what is now Mexico, and the Southern Highlands, in the mountains of what is now Guatemala.
The Aztecs
The Aztecs were an economic and cultural powerhouse, ruling much of what is now Mexico and the surrounding area for a few centuries in the late Middle Ages. They came to power by defeating internal rivals, and they lost power by underestimating an overseas foe. The Aztecs arrived in what became their most well-known homeland, what many today call Mesoamerica, in the early 13th Century, taking over from the Toltecs (and, some sources say, having a hand in their downfall). The Aztecs eventually ruled over a large amount of territory; the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, was one of the largest cities in the world at its height. The Spaniards arrived in 1519 and, two years later, conquered the Aztecs, laying waste to Tenochtitlan and to the rest of the empire, through a combination of superior weaponry and firepower and the spreading of European diseases for which the Native Americans had neither immunity nor cure.
The Inca
The Inca Empire stretched thousands of miles along the western coast of South America. At its height, this empire, with its capital at Cuzco, was the largest in the world. It enjoyed supremacy over its neighbors for a few centuries in the early Middle Ages but fell victim to conquest by Spanish forces. Inca lands stretched for thousands of miles up and down the western coast of South America, with a large network of roads connecting the far-flung reaches of the empire. A succession controversy eventually consumed the Inca hold on power, at the same time that a Spanish force arrived in search of gold and territory. The result was the conquest of the Inca.
Why Is It Called Big Ben? Big Ben is actually the giant bell inside the famous Clock Tower in London. It is not the only bell in the tower, and it is certainly not the tower itself. The giant bell, the official name of which is the Great Bell, is more than 7 feet tall and more than 9 feet wide and weighs 13.5 tons. It sounds an E-natural note. As to why any of it is called Big Ben, that's a matter of some debate.
Significant Sevens are the highest, the lowest, the deepest, the farthest, the oldest, the youngest, and a host of other lists in economics, geography, history, and much more.
Sweden will have its first female prime minister, again. Magdalena Andersson, who stepped down mere hours after being elected last week, is once more the leader of the country. The former finance minister and current leader of the Social Democratic Party, Andersson won election but then stepped down after losing a budget vote and a coalition partner. After the Riksdag embraced a budget proposal by the opposition, the Green Party left the two-party ruling coalition. Seeing that, Andersson resigned. This week, she won re-election, on a technicality.
Explorers had been
landing in America for some time before English settlers
arrived in what is now Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. But it
was in that spot on the James River that English
colonization began and with it, the history of America.
A long, arduous journey can start with a small step. It can also start with someone refusing to get up. The latter was the case with Rosa Parks, who was jailed on Dec. 1, 1955, for refusing to move to the back of the bus to make way for a white man in Montgomery, Ala. She was fined and put in jail for disobeying the discrimintory law about race separation on the city's buses. The publicity surrounding her arrest added fuel to the drive for civil rights in America.
The Olmecs were one of the first advanced civilizations in Mesoamerica and, as such, influenced later, more well-known civilizations in that area. Historians estimate that the Olmec civilization arose somewhere between 1400 and 1200 B.C. (although some estimates push this back to 1600 B.C.). The people found very helpful the land and waters of the Coatzacoalcos river basin, with the Gulf of Mexico to the north. As the civilization grew, it spread out, to what is now southern and western Mexico and Guatemala. Prime among the remnants of the Olmec civilization are the colossal stone heads, some of which still adorn wings of modern museums. The heads weigh several tons and are, in some cases, more than 10 feet in height. Moreover, archaeologists have discovered that the stone heads rested, in some cases, dozens of miles from where the stone was quarried.
From humble beginnings in the Yucatan, the Maya rose to dominance across what is now Central America and southern Mexico, spreading their knowledge of science, architecture, and survival far and wide. The Maya are famous for many things, among them advanced farming techniques, writing in hieroglyphs, superior knowledge of astronomy and the passage of time, creators of sturdy art, and a war-based ball game that has echoes down through the centuries. Maya settlements began about 1800 B.C. in what is now Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Three distinct areas evolved: the Northern Lowlands on the Yucatan Peninsula, the Southern Lowlands in the Petén district of what is now northern Guatemala and an area of what is now Mexico, and the Southern Highlands, in the mountains of what is now Guatemala.
The Aztecs were an economic and cultural powerhouse, ruling much of what is now Mexico and the surrounding area for a few centuries in the late Middle Ages. They came to power by defeating internal rivals, and they lost power by underestimating an overseas foe. The Aztecs arrived in what became their most well-known homeland, what many today call Mesoamerica, in the early 13th Century, taking over from the Toltecs (and, some sources say, having a hand in their downfall). The Aztecs eventually ruled over a large amount of territory; the Aztec capital, 
The Inca Empire stretched thousands of miles along the western coast of South America. At its height, this empire, with its capital at Cuzco, was the largest in the world. It enjoyed supremacy over its neighbors for a few centuries in the early Middle Ages but fell victim to conquest by Spanish forces. Inca lands stretched for thousands of miles up and down the western coast of South America, with a 
