Firsts

The names we use for each of the 12 months of the year have come down to us from the days of the ancient Romans. In early Roman times, March was the first month of the year, and February was the last. January didn’t become the first month of the year until 153 B.C. March … Read more

American Indians smoked tobacco for many centuries before Europeans arrived in the New World. The Aztec Indians of Mexico smoked tobacco they rolled in corn husks. But the first European to smoke tobacco was Rodrigo de Jerez, one of Christopher Columbus’s crew members. Jerez sampled tobacco given to him by Indians in the Caribbean, and … Read more

Delving into the curious connection between barley and shoe sizes, we unravel the mystery of the show size, exploring the historical intricacies that link this unexpected grain with the measurements of our footwear.” Supposing you wear a size 6 shoe. Did you ever wonder what that number means? No, it’s not six inches. In 1324, … Read more

Many people think that Charles Lindbergh was the first person to fly an airplane across the Atlantic Ocean. But that’s not true. In 1919, six U.S. Navy fliers crossed the ocean, stopping once in the Azores Islands. Later that year, two Englishmen flew across the ocean without stopping. In all, 78 people crossed the Atlantic … Read more

When Orville Wright became the first man to fly an airplane, he and his brother Wilbur became famous forever. But that historic first flight wasn’t really much of a flight at all. The plane that Orville flew never got more than 12 feet off the ground. And the entire flight lasted just 12 seconds!

Before 1903, men had already flown in balloons and gliders, but no one had ever taken to the air in what we would call an airplane. When the American inventors Orville and Wilbur Wright were ready to test their first successful aircraft in December of 1903, they flipped a coin to see who would be … Read more

Many Americans believe that the Pilgrims’ colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts, which began in 1620, was the first settlement in New England. But 17 years earlier, in 1603, a French settlement was briefly established in Maine. Then in 1607, a group of English settlers, led by George Popham, established a settlement in Maine, at the mouth … Read more

The United States was not the first nation to use the eagle, the “king of birds,” as its national symbol. The army of the Roman Empire also had the eagle as its symbol, and carried the figure of an eagle on the top of their standards. Other countries have used the eagle as a symbol … Read more

You probably would answer yes, but did you ever hear of a man named John Hanson? He was really the first president of our nation. In 1781, when the Continental Congress met to plan the shape of the new nation and adopt constitution, the Congress elected Hanson as the “President of the United States in … Read more

In ancient times, there was no paper. People pressed letters into clay tablets, or wrote with ink on papyrus, made from the stem of a plant that grew in Egypt, and on parchment, made from the skin of animals. The Chinese wrote on pages made of wood or silk. Then in the year 105, a … Read more

Cows have been on earth for thousands of years, but it wasn’t until humans first tamed or domesticated some of these animals that he was able to extract and use their milk. Cattle were probably first domesticated sometime before 9000 B.C., in India and Central Asia. But the first known domestication dates to around 6000 … Read more

Today, a silhouette is the outline of an object. But when the word was first used, it meant a shadow portrait, an all-black drawing that resembled the shadow of the object or person being drawn. Some artists made silhouettes by cutting out figures from black paper and mounting them against a lighter background. In 1759, … Read more

Ancient people knew about lenses, but they used them to start fires as we might do with a magnifying glass, and never to help them see better. The first person who suggested that lenses might be used to improve vision was Roger Bacon, an English scientist who lived in the 13th century. But Bacon never … Read more

The first fasteners used by man were straight pins made from thorns. But as far back as 20,000 years ago, primitive people made needles out of bone, with “eyes” for plant threads to pass through. Then the ancient Greeks invented the metal safety pin to fasten their robes. Some Greek safety pins were made with … Read more

In 1893, a man in Chicago named Whitcomb Judson got tired of lacing and unlacing his boots; he wanted to find a better way to fasten them. So he designed a device with interlocking metal teeth and attached them to boots. The boots themselves became known as zippers. But later, the word came to mean … Read more

Corks were used occasionally by the ancient Romans to stop up wine containers, and were common jar and bottle stoppers by the early 1600s. We don’t know who invented the corkscrew, but we do know that it didn’t appear much before the year 1700. Then how did people before that get the corks out of … Read more

Cellophane, which was invented in 1920, is made from cellulose, a substance found in the cell walls of plants. In 1929, scientists were trying to find a tape that could be used to seal packages wrapped in cellophane. One young scientist had an idea: Why not use cellophane itself, coating it with glue to form … Read more

The oldest pair of scissors that still exist come from Egypt, and were made around 300 B.C. But these scissors were not like the ones we use today. Instead of two blades connected by a screw, the scissors of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans were made out of one piece of metal, with two … Read more

The umbrella is so old that no one knows where it came from, it was invented before man learned how to write. But for thousands of years, the umbrella was used only for protection from the sun, rather than from the rain. The word umbrella, in fact, comes from the Latin word umbra, which means … Read more

From ancient times, when coins were first issued, right up until our era, gold and silver were the usual metals used for coins, and for good reasons. First of all, gold and silver were valuable even before they were used in coins because of their beauty and their use in jewelry and religious decoration. Second, … Read more

That depends on what you mean by “money.” In ancient times, before coins and bills existed, people bought and sold things by trading directly with other people. A craftsman who made leather, for instance, might trade some of his leather to a farmer in exchange for wheat. But that system, known as bartering, did not … Read more

Various kinds of oil have been burned in lamps for thousands of years. Whale oil was once widely used for lighting, and so was kerosene, an oil produced from coal. But the only petroleum available in earlier times was the small amounts that leaked naturally from the ground, or came from wells dug by hand. … Read more

Not the kind of dentists we know today. In ancient times, the only treatment for aching teeth was having them pulled out when they began to hurt. It wasn’t until the Middle Ages that cavities were first filled, usually with wax or gum. Later, soft metals were molded to fit the shape of the cavity. … Read more

Everyone knows that the symbol “&” means “and,” even if they don’t know that the real name of that symbol is ampersand. This symbol was invented by a Roman, Marius Tiro, in ancient times, along with about 5,000 other shorthand symbols. But of all his symbols, only the ampersand has survived. Tiro created the ampersand … Read more

In his early life, Samuel Morse was a painter, and also the first president of the National Academy of Design. In 1832, during a voyage home from Europe where he studied painting, Morse heard about some new discoveries in electricity. Intrigued by its possibilities, Morse soon set to work building a telegraph machine that could … Read more

The skin on the tip of your finger has a network of ridges, and the pattern that these ridges form is called your fingerprint. Everyone has fingerprints, but no two people have ever had the same ones! The idea of using fingerprints to identify people began late in the 19th century, when Francis Galton, an … Read more

The 13 stripes on the American flag stand for the 13 original states of the Union. But all 13 states did not become part of the United States at the same time. The first state to accept the Constitution and thereby become a state was Delaware. Delaware accepted the Constitution on December, 1787, five days … Read more

The world’s first postage stamps appeared in England in 1840, but the first U.S. stamps didn’t appear until 1847. There were two stamps issued at that time: a five-cent and a ten-cent. The five-cent stamp had a picture of Benjamin Franklin, who had been in charge of the mails during the American Revolution. The ten- … Read more

Stock markets, places to buy and sell stocks and bonds, existed before this country was born. A stock exchange in Paris, called the Bourse, grew out of a money-changer’s market that dates back to the 12th century. The first real stock exchange was founded in Holland in 1602, and there was a stock exchange in … Read more

The first large insurance company, and the most famous in the world today, is Lloyd’s of London. This company was founded in 1689 by a group of men who met in Lloyd’s coffee house in London, and originally sold only ship insurance. Today you can buy insurance on almost anything, a house, a car, a … Read more

The first organized mail system in America began before our country was born. In 1639, the city of Boston declared that people who wanted to send mail to or receive mail from England should deposit and pick up their letters at Richard Fairbanks’ tavern. Before that, a person who wanted to send mail to England … Read more

Yes, but not the kind of mail delivery we know today. During ancient times, only government and military officials could use the postal system. Everyone else had to hire their own messengers to deliver a letter to another person. The Egyptians had a mail delivery system by the year 2000 B.C. Its purpose was to … Read more

Before the 17th century, men sometimes wore scarfs around their necks, or large ruffled collars called ruffs, but there was no such thing as the necktie as we know it. Then in 1660, a group of soldiers from Croatia, which is now part of the nation of Yugoslavia, came to Paris to join in a … Read more

Denim is a kind of tough cotton cloth that is used today to make blue jeans. Originally the word was used for a kind of serge cloth made in the French city of Nimes. In French, it was called serge de Nimes. The last two words of the French name, de Nimes, were eventually shortened … Read more

Until the 18th century, men’s pants as we know them today didn’t exist. At that time, well-dressed men wore knee breeches that reached just below their knees, with long hose to cover the rest of their legs. Then in 1789, when the French Revolution began, men who supported the Revolution gave up the knee breeches … Read more

The first living thing to fall to earth with a parachute was a sheep. The animal, attached to a seven-foot-wide umbrella, was dropped from a tower in France late in the 18th century, but the first person to use a parachute was a Frenchman named Andrê Garnerin. In 1797, Garnerin climbed into a basket attached … Read more

In very ancient times, people bathed right in the nearest river or lake. But when cities began to grow, it was no longer possible for everyone to bathe in the same river. So, wash basins came into use for bathing in the house. Most of these ancient vessels were too small to hold a person, … Read more

Portable clocks were invented in Germany around 1500, but no one had the idea of putting a watch around the wrist until very recently. Until around 1900, most watches were carried in a pants or vest pocket, often at the end of a chain. Both the chain and the pocket were called the watch. In … Read more

You might think that the compass has long been used by sailors to navigate on the open seas. The truth is, there was no such thing as the compass in ancient times, and even after the compass was invented, it wasn’t used all that much for marine navigation. Sailors in ancient times charted their course … Read more

The custom of decorating a house with tree leaves or branches in December is actually older than Christmas itself. The ancient Romans celebrated a December feast, called Saturnalia, by giving presents and decorating their houses with green branches. At the same time, pagan people in Germany worshipped a sacred oak tree. Then, when Christian missionaries … Read more

Christmas has been celebrated for many centuries, but the custom of sending greeting cards at Christmas didn’t begin until 1843. That year, an Englishman named Henry Cole wanted to send his friends a note wishing them happiness at Christmas. He hired an artist named John Horsley to design the world’s first Christmas card. This card … Read more

St. Nicholas was a Christian bishop who lived during the fourth century in what is present-day Turkey. Little is known about his life, but he was thought to be the protector of children and travelers. After he died, he was made a saint. According to legend, three daughters of a man who lived in St. … Read more

On December 25, we celebrate the date of Christ’s birth. But no one knows when Christ was really born. When the church decided to mark Christ’s birth with a celebration, it chose December 25 as the date because it was already a holiday in most places in Europe, a holiday called the winter solstice. Since … Read more

Today, Sunday school is a place where young people learn about their religion after they attend church on Sunday. But it didn’t begin like that. The first Sunday school was opened in 1780, in the poor section of Gloucester, England, to teach children reading, writing, and arithmetic. Sunday was the only day these children could … Read more

The Boy Scout movement was founded early this century in England by Sir Robert Baden- Powell. While trying to find his way through the London fog, an American businessman, William D. Boyce, was helped by a British Boy Scout. Boyce then decided to set up a scouting organization in the United States too. In 1910, … Read more

Kindergarten is really a German word. It means “children’s garden.” We use the German word because in 1837, a man named Friedrich Froebel set up a school for children in Germary and called it by that name. Froebel used games, toys, stories, songs, and other playtime things to teach preschool children to exercise their senses … Read more

A toy is anything a child can play with. It might be simply a piece of wood or a spoon or some other common object. But objects made especially for children to play with are as old as history itself. Greek and Roman children played with balls, wagons, and other toys that are still popular … Read more

No, people didn’t always sleep on what we would call a bed, and many people today still have never slept on a bed! Perhaps half of the world sleep on piles of rugs, or on mats or cushions. The beds used by the ancient Egyptians looked very much like couches, and were used during the … Read more

In 1795, the French government offered a prize to anyone who could invent a way to preserve food for the French army. A man named Francois Appert won the prize by devising a way to keep food fresh in sealed glass bottles that were placed in boiling water. But no one knew why the food … Read more

When a person wins money in a lottery or on a TV game show, people often say that he had a “windfall,” which means that he had an unexpected piece of good luck. The word “windfall” came into being 900 years ago in 11th century England. It seems that William the Conqueror, who ruled England … Read more

Surprisingly enough, yes! It all happened back in 1152 in France. King Louis VII, who wore a beard, married the lovely Eleanor of Aquitane, daughter of a French duke. As a dowry, Eleanor’s father gave Louis two provinces in Southern France. Then Louis went off to the Crusades and, alas, returned without his beard. Eleanor … Read more

The popularity of growing beards has increased greatly in the 1960s and 1970s, but men have been letting their chin hair grow since ancient times. And not only did they grow them, but gave them as much care as women give their hair-dos today. The ancient Syrians oiled and curled their beards. The ancient Egyptians … Read more

This may sound silly to you, but there were many ancient taboos against whistling that have come down to us today as superstitions. These taboos probably began when early man heard strange, new sounds and gave each its own special meaning. For example, when he heard the whistling of strong winds and it was followed … Read more

To shave or not to shave? That has been the question down through history. The answers, however, have been closely associated both with fashion and with religious customs. Although we do not know who the first man was to shave off his beard, we do have records showing that ancient Egyptian men shaved because it … Read more

In the Middle Ages, knights put cloth coats over their armor to keep the sunlight from making the metal too hot. On each knight’s cloth coat was sewn an original design which was a symbol of important events in the knight’s life, outstanding qualities he possessed, or a pictorial representation of his name. Designs included … Read more

People have always been superstitious about mentioning the name of a dead person. Primitive man thought that by doing this, the dead person’s spirit would be disturbed and it would return to haunt the living. By wishing for a soul to “rest in peace,” people hoped that the spirit would stay within the dead body. … Read more

The marking of graves goes back to ancient times when primitive people put stones on top of graves. These superstitious people believed that evil spirits lived in the bodies of dead people and that the stones would prevent these evil spirits from rising up. These stones also served to mark the grave as a warning … Read more

Although yo-yos have been found on ancient Greek vase paintings from the 8th century B.C., not too much is known of their use in those early times. Much more is known of their origin and use in the Philippine Islands, where for centuries yo-yos were jungle fighting and hunting weapons. Hundreds of years ago, the … Read more

Most people all over the world, even if they do not understand English, understand and use the American expression “OK.” Nobody knows for sure exactly where or when that expression became part of our language, but there are several possible sources that are accepted. Some believe that “OK” may have come from the Choctaw Indian … Read more

The custom of mounting a horse from the left side has really nothing to do with the horse’s preference. The custom probably began hundreds of years ago when men wore long swords on their belts. A man’s sword hung down his left leg, making it easier for him to pull it out quickly with his … Read more

The custom of playing tricks on friends on April 1st is believed to have originated in France in the middle 1500s. Before that time, one calendar was used throughout Europe. Under this calendar, each new year began on April 1st. On that day, people celebrated by exchanging gifts and visiting each other. Then in 1564, … Read more

The earliest toothbrush was shown to the world back in 1770, but what a strange beginning it had! A man named William Addis was serving a sentence in England’s Newgate Prison for having started a riot. With a great deal of time on his hands, he began thinking how he would make a living when … Read more

The history of the pretzel goes back to the early part of the 7th century. Its beginnings are attributed to a monk in Southern France whose duties in a monastery included baking bread. One day, so the story goes, the monk took strips of bread dough and shaped them into looped twists. Its design was … Read more

If you want to go back in history and take the ingredients that go into pizza to see when they might first have been put together, you could probably trace the pizza back 2,000 years to the time when Roman soldiers added olive oil and cheese to Jewish matzohs! Ever since ancient times, Italians have … Read more

Pencils, as we know them, are a fairly recent invention, less than 200 years old, although man has been writing with other tools since ancient times. These include flints to scratch on cave walls, fingers dipped in plant juice or animal blood, lumps of earth, and pieces of chalk. The earliest crude “pencils” were probably … Read more

Sailors on early ships had no real way of knowing how fast they were traveling and how far they had gone in a specific period of time. So a system of measuring was devised, using a log of wood. The log had a weight tied to one end and a long rope attaching the other … Read more

Laws regulating the direction of traffic began hundreds of years before the automobile was even invented. England was the first country to establish any kind of law regarding its roads. In 1555, a law was passed requiring people to keep the roads in front of their property repaired at their own expense. Because of this … Read more

Our practice of driving to the right can be traced back to Ancient Rome, where soldiers carried shields in their left hands. To protect themselves from strangers on the road, they walked on the right side so that the shield on the left provided that protection. As the Roman Empire spread over Europe, people followed … Read more

Although no one knows for certain how the custom of taking food home for a doggie, or anyone else, began, we do know that in Ancient Rome, when a host had guests to dinner, he gave each one a fine cloth napkin in which to take home fruit from the meal. Any guest refusing to … Read more

It is believed that 3,500 years ago, an Asian traveler set out on a long journey across a hot desert. He probably carried a canteen filled with milk to satisfy his thirst. At that time, canteens were made from the linings of sheep’s stomachs, since they were waterproof. When the traveler stopped to rest for … Read more

Madame Jacques Montgolfier, the wife of a French paper manufacturer, had washed one of her petticoats and hung it on a line over a small fire to dry. As her amazed husband watched, heat from the fire inflated the petticoat and caused it to rise. This led Jacques and his brother, Joseph, to begin experimenting … Read more

Because bowling was a popular sport in many European countries beginning in the 1100s, it was only natural that colonists brought this game with them to the New World. The English brought 9-pin bowling here; the Germans brought their version called Kegles; and the Dutch brought their Skittles. As bowling increased in popularity in the … Read more

Relics found in tombs of ancient Egyptian children who lived in 5200 B.C. show that these children used 9 pieces of stone set up as pins and a stone ball to roll against them. This ball had to be rolled through an arch made of three pieces of marble before it hit the pins. There … Read more

The names of the days of the week came to us from the mythological gods of Ancient Rome. It was the Romans who were the first to begin their days at midnight, while the ancient Babylonians began theirs at sunrise and the ancient Jews, at sunset. Sunday was named because it was the day sacred … Read more

A baby born on February 29, 1980 will not have another February 29th birthday until 1984, the next time a Leap Year occurs. What does he do then to celebrate his birthday in 1981, 1982, and 1983? A Leap-Year baby can choose his own birthday from either February 28 or March 1, two dates which … Read more

Birthdays are one of our very oldest customs. We can suppose that prehistoric mothers and fathers noticed that their children grew up in stages. One day, the baby could only gurgle; then the next, he might repeat a word he heard his parents say. One day, a baby could only crawl; then the next, he … Read more

In ancient times, people believed that evil spirits could do harm to infants. They also believed that these evil spirits were allergic to certain colors, especially blue. Since blue was the color of the Heavenly sky, it was the color that was supposed to make evil spirits powerless and drive them away. This belief in … Read more

Long, long ago, barbers did much more than cut people’s hair. Barbers performed some minor operations on people, especially blood-letting, or bleeding. This was believed to be a cure for some illnesses in which the “bad blood” was supposed to leave the body. To perform the operations, barbers had their patients hold onto a pole … Read more

Easter began as the most joyous of Christian holidays to celebrate the rebirth of Christ. Since Easter comes at the same time as spring, when new life begins with growth and rebirth in nature, many ancient people honored the coming of spring. Ancient Egyptians and Persians celebrated the coming of spring by coloring and eating … Read more

Back in 16th century England, before homes had indoor plumbing such as toilets and sinks, chamber pots were used as receptacles for dirty water and wastes. People had the habit of emptying these chamber pots by throwing them out of upper-story windows of their homes into the gutters. Therefore, a stroll along the city streets … Read more

The buttons on the sleeves of men’s jackets serve no real purpose today. But there are many stories explaining how they came to be there. One story involves Frederick the Great, who was King of Prussia in the 1700s. Frederick’s armies were involved in a great many wars, and he was often on the field … Read more

Buttons have been used since ancient times to fasten or decorate clothing. Archeologists have unearthed buttons dating back to times earlier than written history. But in the 1200s, when fitted clothes took the place of loose robes tied by string or fastened by pins, buttons became popular. At that time, both men and women had … Read more

As far back as the 1500s, men had been trying to devise a camera to make photographs. The first rough camera was called the camera obscura, which means “dark chamber,” for that is exactly what it was, a large darkened box with a hole in one side through which light could enter. This light formed … Read more

Charles Cros, a Frenchman, drew up a plan for a phonograph in 1877, but never built his mechanism. At the same time, Thomas Edison had been working on a phonograph of his own and later that same year, patented the first of his many versions. When Edison had learned of Alexander Graham Bell’s new invention, … Read more

Wallpaper was created in the 1500s as a practical and cheap substitute for woven tapestries, leather, and wood paneling that had covered the walls of European homes and palaces for hundreds of years. The earliest wallpaper uncovered, a black and white pinecone and leaf design, dates back to 1509. The date is known because the … Read more

The earliest card games were played with bank notes, but playing cards as we know them are believed to have originated about 800 A.D. in Hindustan, an area in Northern India. During the next several hundred years, their use spread to Europe. The four suits, hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs, first appeared in France in … Read more

The earliest collection of animals, though not a public zoo, was established by Shulgi, ruler of Ur (now Southeast Iraq), around 2400 B.C. Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt collected animals from all parts of Africa and established the first real zoo in 1500 B.C. Chinese Emperor Wen Wang followed her example in 1100 B.C., when he … Read more

The tradition of wearing earrings goes back to early days when earrings were treated not as jewelry, but as amulets to protect the wearer from wicked spirits. This tradition carried over to sea-going men, especially pirates who believed that earrings made them see better and could give them stronger eyesight. Did it work? Who knows! … Read more

In ancient times, sea traders often raided cargo ships on the Mediterranean Sea and in the Far East. These men were called sea rovers, or pirates. They also robbed coastal towns of their riches and held prisoners for ransom. Since piracy was against the laws of all nations, pirates did not fly any one nation’s … Read more

In 1780, a group of French chemists discovered how to combine chemicals to produce fire. Their matches worked well, but the burning of one chemical, phosphorus, was found to be poisonous. A safe striking match was developed by John Walker, an English pharmacist, in 1827. He accidentally scraped the end of a stick he was … Read more