Trivia #5

A. China

Gunpowder was invented in 9th-century China, attributed to experimentation in Chinese alchemy by Taoists in the pursuit of immortality, and is listed as one of the "Four Great Inventions" of China. Gunpowder was first used for warfare about 904 A.D. by the reigning Sung dynasty against the Mongols, whose constant invasions into the country plagued the Chinese. The Mongols were the first to be subjected to flying fire — an arrow fixed with a tube of gunpowder that ignited and would propel itself across enemy lines. More gunpowder-based weapons were invented by the Chinese in the next centuries, including the first cannons and grenades. Chinese innovation actually included a rife made of bamboo. Gunpowder spread via the Silk Road and eventually to Europe where it changed warfare forever.

B. Kiribati

Kiribati tops the list with about 52.2% of the population identifying them as smokers. In this small country in the South Pacific, laws regulating tobacco are not strict and smoking is not prohibited in many public places. It is said that two-thirds of all men in Kiribati are smokers. The World Health Organization calls tobacco use in Kiribati an "epidemic."

Rank	Country	Prevelence of Smoking (%)
1	Kiribati	52.2%
2	Nauru	47.5%
3	Greece	42.4%
4	Serbia	41.6%
5	Jordan	41.0%
6	Indonesia	39.8%
7	Russia	39.1%

A. Los Cabos, Mexico

Los Cabos, Mexico is the most dangerous city in the world with a murder rate of 111.33 per 100,000 people. This city's position on the list of the world's most dangerous cities is indicative of the increase in crime that Mexico has experienced over the last year. In 2017 and 2018, the resort town made headlines news for a string of alarming murders. The majority of the violence in Los Cabos has mostly been related to the drug trade, and tourists have not been the target. Nonetheless, the instances of violence are still drastic, and have earned the popular vacation destination first-place of the world's most dangerous cities.

Rank	City	Country	Homicide Rate (Per 100,000)
1	Los Cabos	Mexico	111.33
2	Caracas	Venezuela	111.19
3	Acapulco	Mexico	106.63
4	Natal	Brazil	102.56
5	Tijuana	Mexico	100.77

The World Health Organization

B. India

India has 22 official languages, with Hindi by far the most spoken language in the country. The other major languages of the country are English, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, and Tamil.

Zimbabwe has 16 official which are Chewa, Chibarwe, English, Kalanga, Koisan, Nambya, Ndau, Ndebele, Shangani, Shona, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, and sign language.

The United States technically had no official language at the federal level. America's Founding Fathers did not wish to establish an official language, and were happy to distribute documents like the Declaration of Independence in non-English languages (which at that time meant primarily French and German) to speakers of those languages, in order to win their support for the revolutionary cause. English today is the primary written language used for legislation, regulations, executive orders, treaties and federal court rulings. Recently, 32 U.S. states, as part of what has been called the English-only movement, have adopted legislation granting official status to English. Nonetheless, laws require documents such as ballots to be printed in multiple languages when there are large numbers of non-English speakers in the respective state. For example, Hawaii recognizes both English and Hawaiian as official languages, and Louisiana both English and French. English and twenty native languages are official in Alaska, and in New Mexico, although the state constitution does not specify an official language, laws are published in English and Spanish, and government materials and services are legally required (by Act) to be made accessible to speakers of both languages as well as Navajo and various Pueblo languages. New Mexico also has its own dialect of Spanish, which differs from Spanish spoken in the rest of Latin America.

The World Atlas

E. Tomatoes

• Tomatoes (170.75 million metric tons).
• Bananas (114.13 m.m.t.)
• Watermelons (111 m.m.t.)
• Apples (84.63 m.m.t.)
• Grapefruit (83.97 m.m.t.)

The Tomato has origins tracing back to around 700 A.D.  The word tomato is derived from the Aztec word xitomatl. The tomato most likely originated in the Andes mountains of Peru and spread to most parts of South and Central America and eventually to Mexico. The tomato was discovered by the Spanish Conquistadors while conquering the Americas, who brought it back to Spain in the mid-sixteenth century. The fruit was called “tomatl.” The first written account of the tomato in Italy dates to 1548 in Tuscany. The cuisine of Southern Italian peasants, who often lacked meats and other proteins, developed a diet in which tomatoes, olive oil, spices and vegetables were eaten with rice, polenta or on top of bread – creating something very close to the modern pizza. In Naples around 1800, a recipe was written about – pasta al pomodoro, which is the very first mention of tomatoes being married to pasta.

The odd thing is that the tomato became popular in Europe long before it came to be used in North America. Colonial America thought the tomato was a poisonous plant, a close cousin of Nightshade.