During the Age of Discovery, pirates likely kept parrots ... | funfact.wiki | funfact.wiki
During the Age of Discovery, pirates likely kept parrots on board not as pets but as merchandise. With their vivid colors rare in Europe and ability to mimic human speech, parrots could be sold for high prices.
The barbershop pole originated from a time when barbers in Europe also performed surgery. Red represents arteries and bleeding, blue represents veins and shaving, and white represents bones and bandages.
When syphilis spread across Europe, Naples called it "the French disease" and France called it "the Neapolitan disease." European countries then named syphilis after whichever nation they considered most immoral—the Spanish disease, the German disease, the Polish disease, and so on.
Paris Green, an 18th-century pigment, became popular in Europe. It even repelled insects when painted on walls. But its ingredient, arsenic, killed many before it was banned. The convention of depicting poison as green may originate from this deadly pigment.
Medieval Europeans believed for centuries that "Prester John," a Christian king, ruled a powerful kingdom in Asia. This legend drove Prince Henry of Portugal to launch expeditions around Africa, helping catalyze the Age of Discovery.
In 1807, the Portugal royal family fled to Brazil to escape Napoleon. In 1815, Rio de Janeiro became the capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves—a rare case of a European nation having its capital on another continent.