Interesting Facts - Page 73

361

The city of Saint Pierre, on the island of Martinique, was once called "The Paris of the Caribbean". It was completely destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Pelee in 1902. Of the 28,000 people in the town at the time, only 2 survived.

362

The birth rate in Japan was 25% lower in 1966 than it was in 1965 or 1967. This is because of a Japanese superstition that says its unlucky for a girl to be born in the Year of the Fire Horse, an event which happens every 60 years.

363

Seventeen different U.S. Presidents didn't have a Vice President at some point in their term. Four Presidents never had a Vice President at all. Why? Prior to the passage of the 25th Amendment in 1973, there was no established procedure for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President.

364

The city of Tokyo includes many small outlying islands, the furthest of which is located more than 1800 kilometers away from the central city.

365

Turkeys (the bird that is) are named after the country of Turkey. But they don't come from Turkey. They are originally from Mexico.

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Level ∞

Nov 21, 2019

Thanks to @Geographystar for fact #363.

Level 67

Nov 29, 2019

Thanks for the mention! (It just occurred to me that the two that I suggested both have to do with presidents)

Level 52

Feb 28, 2020

Dang, number 361 made me feel sad.... 28,000 people might not be the highest death toll from a volcanic eruption in an absolute sense, but it wiping out all human life on that island is a different kind of messed up. Imagine how those 2 survivors must feel...

Level 52

Mar 2, 2020

For one of them, it was because he was in jail and the walls were so thick that he only got burnt but lived.

Level 58

Jul 19, 2021

Ludger Sylbaris!

Level 41

Aug 18, 2021

There is a rather beautiful short novel by the British author Patrick Leigh Fermor called "The violins of St Jacques" which is directly inspired by this disaster (althoiugh he sets it to another, fictional Caribbean island), cleverly setting the physical destruction of the town against the decadent atmosphere of its late colonial society.

Level 82

May 4, 2020

With municipal territory 1800 km away from the city center does that make Tokyo easily the largest city in the world in terms of area? Or does it not count because the space in between is not technically part of the city?

Level 68

May 20, 2020

I guess the island is part of the city, not the land (or water) you have to cover to go to it.

Level 32

Jul 2, 2020

The year of the Fire Horse is only 5 1/2 years away.

Level 71

Aug 3, 2020

In all of history has nobody worked out that those children born in the 'Year of the Fire Horse' are no more unlucky or lucky than the children born in other years?

Level 44

Aug 14, 2020

Superstition is an ugly and powerful thing

Level 86

Nov 4, 2020

As a girl born in 1966, I find fact #362 disturbing. It also explains so much about my life.

Level 41

Jul 20, 2023

I wish you better luck, thanks for being open. Also better luck to the others.

Level 51

Nov 1, 2020

Apparently, there were actually three people who survived the volcano : Louis-Auguste Cyparis (the one in the jail), Léon Compère-Léandre (a shoemaker, managed to escape), and a little girl named Havivra Da Ifrile (tried to escape to a cave, got washed into the sea, and still managed to survive).

Level 59

Jan 24, 2023

Source?

Level 41

Jul 20, 2023

Cut and paste "Havivra Da Ifrile". Then you get different sources. I think you knew this. I usually like what i reply to.

Level 39

Apr 17, 2021

#365 I am from Turkey. Hahaha

Level 49

Sep 8, 2021

Another cool fact, in portuguese we call the animal "Turkey" as "Peru", what is the name of another country haha

Level 71

Jan 1, 2022

I particularly like the Portuguese for Mouse - Camundongo !

Level 67

Feb 13, 2022

As I understand it, the reason that turkeys are called that is more complicated than indicated in the fun fact. Originally, some birds from Africa, presumably Guinea Fowl, were kept in captivity in Turkey, during Ottoman times. Later on, some Europeans started calling those birds turkeys; then, when they encountered vaguely similar birds in the New World, they applied that name to the bird which we now call the turkey.