Many historical facts are misunderstood by us and most people to this day. Maybe because we misunderstood it or it could be because of information about history that has changed from time to time.
Summarized from various sources, here are five historical facts that turned out to be untrue
1. The first person to discover the American continent was not Christopher Columbus. Christopher Columbus's name is popular as the discoverer of the Americas. The first person to discover the Americas was not Christopher Columbus. When Christopher Columbus arrived at the Americas, he considered the land he found was the continent of Asia, because the purpose of Christopher Columbus's expedition at that time was to find a direct water route from Europe to Asia.
Then, who was the first person to discover the Americas? About four centuries before Christopher Columbus set foot on the American continent, Leif Eriksson had first set foot on the second largest continent in the world. So, the first person to discover the Americas was not Christopher Columbus, but Leif Eriksson.
Leif Eriksson is the son of the founder of the first European settlement that we now know as Greenland, namely Erik the Red. The beginning of Eriksson's discovery of the Americas was from his return journey from Norway to Greenland. However, on his way, Leif Eriksson got off track so Leif Eriksson landed in the Americas
2. Cleopatra was not Egyptian
Cleopatra was an Egyptian Queen who was very famous for her beauty and controversial life story. Cleopatra is known to have married her sibling, to maintain the purity of the lineage. In addition, Cleopatra also had a romantic relationship with the great leader of Ancient Rome, namely Julius Caesar.
History also tells that Cleopatra remarried Mark Antony, an Ancient Roman general. The end of Cleopatra's life was very tragic, namely suicide with her husband Mark Antony after suffering a war defeat. There are stories that they committed suicide by using poison and some are told by stabbing their bodies with swords.
Because of her highly controversial life story, Cleopatra's life has been immortalized in many works of art. One of the modern works of art that depict Cleopatra's life story is film. The Hollywood film industry once made a film about Cleopatra in 1963, then in 2020 the film Cleopatra was remade and played by actress Gal Gadot.
3. Napoleon Bonaparte was not short
Napoleon Bonaparte is often depicted as a man in a waistcoat and short stature. However, is it true that Napoleon Bonaparte had a short body?
style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Reporting from the History page, based on information from Napoleon's servant, General Gourgaud, Napoleon Bonaparte's height was 1.69 meters based on the calculation of the height unit in force at that time in France. Napoleon's height was the average adult male height in France at that time. In other words, Napoleon Bonaparte's height is not short.
Napoleon Bonaparte's assumption of short stature was due to differences in the French and British measurement systems. At that time 1 French inch was equivalent to 2.7 centimeters, while 1 British inch was equivalent to 2.54 centimeters.
4. The Vikings didn't wear horned helmets
The Vikings are a tribe originating from Scandinavia. To survive, the Vikings usually chose to trade and clear land for farming. However, the most famous and the image of the Vikings to date are pirates. Until now, the Vikings are often described as strong, brutal, and the most iconic is the helmet they wear, the horned helmet.
However, the helmets of the Vikings were hornless. As reported by the History Extra page, there is no evidence from any archaeological excavations that found a horned helmet like the one depicted on the current figure of the Vikings. The only Viking helmet found by archaeologists was in 1943, a round iron hat without horns.
5. Thomas Alva Edison wasn't the first person to invent the light bulb
Who was the first person to invent the electric light bulb? If you answered Thomas Alva Edison, then your answer is wrong. As reported by LiveScience, in 1802, Humphry Davy, a chemist from England managed to find the world's first electric lamp, namely by connecting a voltaic pole to a charcoal electrode. The lamp invented by Humphry Davy is known as the electric arc lamp.
In 1840, the electric arc lamp wasdeveloped by the British scientist Warren de la Rue. Warren made a more efficient lamp, replacing the copper with a circular platinum filament. However, the high cost of platinum at the time made this lamp design unsuccessful for commercial purposes.
In 1850, the English chemist Joseph Swan began looking for a solution to the problem of the effectiveness and cost efficiency of making light bulbs. In 1860, Joseph Swan succeeded in developing a light bulb using a filament of carbonated paper instead of platinum. The filament was placed in a vacuum tube to reduce exposure to oxygen. However, the problem at this time is that the cost of procuring a vacuum pump is expensive.
Furthermore, Thomas Alva Edison realized the weakness of the lamp made by Joseph Swan was in the filament. After conducting thousands of experiments, in 1879 Thomas Alva Edison was able to make a more efficient filament than Joseph Swan had made.
From the history of the creation of the electric light bulb, it can be concluded that Thomas Alva Edison was not the first person to invent the electric light bulb. Thomas Alva Edison is just a scientist who succeeded in perfecting the electric light bulb from the previous inventors.