Arab sieges Constantinople walls Greek fire 674 718

Constantinople survived sieges with walls and burning weapons

Arab armies repeatedly tried to capture Constantinople in the 7th and 8th centuries. The city’s massive walls held back attacks from land, while Byzantine ships used Greek fire—an incendiary weapon that could burn on water—against enemy fleets. Together, these defenses helped keep the capital from falling.

Hispaniola's Taíno population fell steeply

Spanish forced labor and enslavement devastated Taíno communities on Hispaniola. Reports put their population at about 400,000 before it fell to 60,000 by 1508 and 26,334 by 1514. A smallpox outbreak killed as many as one-third of those remaining by May 1519. Estimates of the pre-contact population vary widely, so the decline over the century after Spanish arrival is described as up to 95%.

U.S. gun homicide rates dwarfed high-income peers

25×

In 2010 mortality data, the U.S. gun homicide rate was 25 times the rate in other high-income countries. Overall, the U.S. homicide rate was seven times theirs, driven by the much higher gun homicide rate.

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Arab sieges Constantinople walls Greek fire 674 718

Constantinople survived sieges with walls and burning weapons

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