The Dutch tulip mania of the 1600s is often cited as an example of greed, excess, and financial mania, with the prices driven by the fear of missing out and crowd psychology. Tulips were imported into Europe in the 16th century by the Dutch East India Company, arriving via the spice trading routes that lent …
Author Archives: Michael Carver
Curaçao
In 1499 the Spanish sent an expedition to the Caribbean island of Curaçao in an attempt to cultivate Seville oranges. Oranges were vital to naval operations in the region as they were used to fight scurvy. The Seville oranges, however, struggled under the island’s harsh equatorial sun, arid climate, and infertile soil eventually evolving into a small, bitter, …
Every Wonder Why We Call it a “Duffle” Bag?
If you make your tent out of ordinary “canvas” you are going to get wet in the rain. Canvas is a stout cloth, probably named after cannabis (Latin: “hemp”), made by tightly weaving material, mostly cotton, wool, and linen. This definition has not been that precise forever since the word canvas has come to signify …
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Gov Franklin made each soldier brew their own beer.
On December 6, 1769 Governor of New Jersey William Franklin (son of Benjamin Franklin) worried about using the colony’s dwindling beer supply to provide British troops with rations. To address the crisis he issued a proclamation: ENACTED: That… in Lieu and Stead of Four Pints of Small Beer hereby allowed each man per day it …
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Mead was not Mainstream in Colonial America
Honey bees are not native to North America. They were originally imported from Europe in the 17th century. In a letter written December 5, 1621 by the Council of the Virginia Company in London and addressed to the Governor and Council in Virginia, “Wee haue by this Shipp and the Discouerie sent you diurs [divers] …
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The Scourge of Slavery (#10) — Concessions were made to slave owners in the US Constitution — the 3/5ths Compromise
At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, it is important to remember that none of the delegates called for an actual the end of slavery. While some of them expressed their discomfort with it — George Mason of Virginia called for anti-slave trade laws and Gouverneur Morris of New York called slavery “a nefarious institution – …
Could one of our Founding Fathers have been a Jew?
While writing the blog on Chanukah in Colonial America, I came across some lectures and articles by Andrew Porwancher, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, who has an interesting hypothesis. It seems that while researching the early life of Alexander Hamilton, Porwancher uncovered some interesting facts. Alexander Hamilton is the son of Rachel Faucette …
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Glögg
Hot spiced wine has been offered to messengers and postmen in Norway who travelled on horseback or skis in cold weather since at least the 16th century. Glögg is a common winter drink consisting of sweet wine or grape juice mixed with syrup and some harder spirits like rum, brandy or cognac. Glögg begins by …
How to Survey Land with 18th Century Tools – Measuring Lines
Land surveys consist of six basic tasks: Determinizing your position on Earth using celestial navigation methods Measuring distances with a Gunter’s Chain. Measuring changes in elevation with a Range Pole Measurement of directions and angles using a Compass. Drawing the map on a Plane Table, and Computing areas with basic plane geometry In this series …
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Prescription Julep
Most people in the United States associate Julips drinks with The Kentucky Derby and certainly mint juleps have a storied history in that event but julep drinks have been around a lot longer and there are more julep drinks than the mint julep. This cocktail has origins back to the late 1700s, and ‘Julep’ is based …
Michael Carver -- Historical Interpreter/Reenactor 