26Chili peppers
When the Portuguese introduced chili peppers to Japan in the 16th century, rather than being eaten they were commonly put into socks to keep toes warm.
27. Around the 16th century, there was a chamber in Romania’s Biertan fortified church where all the couples that wanted to divorce were forced to live, with only one item of everything: one bed, one spoon, one chair, etc. before breaking up. Only one couple in 300 years ended up divorcing.
28. The traditional Japanese dish of Tempura was actually introduced to them by Portuguese missionaries in the 16th Century.
29. A 16th-century serial killer named Christman Genipperteinga is said to have murdered 964 individuals. This including 6 of his newborn babies, birthed from a sex slave he held captive 7 years. He was caught when she (slave) convinced him to let her go to the town where she betrayed him by dropping peas for the town’s men to follow and capture him.
30. In the 16th century, prestigious mathematics professorships could be "won" by defeating the current professor in a public algebra competition.
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31Yasuke
Yasuke was a 16th century African who traveled to Japan as a slave and caused such a sensation that a powerful warlord wished to see him. He thought his black skin was painted and ordered it to be scrubbed. However, they became friends and Yasuke was later given the prestigious rank of a Samurai.
32. In 1567, Hans Steininger, the man said to have the longest beard in the world, died after he tripped over his beard and broke his neck running away from a fire. He usually bundled up his beard in a leather pouch, but that day he hadn't.
33. The equals sign was invented in 1557 by a Welsh mathematician named Robert Recorde. He only invented it because he was fed up with the ‘tedious repetition’ of the phrase is ‘is equal to.’
34. Whilst being burnt alive at the stake in 1556, a woman gave birth to a live baby who the executioner then threw back into the flames.
35. The deadliest earthquake in recorded history struck in the Shensi province of China in 1556, which killed about 830,000 people.
