Project “The history of things that surround us. Interesting stories for children about the origin of things History of any thing

After millennia human history we have come to understand that our daily lives revolve around certain things. Essentially, there are many things that we take for granted without thinking about where they came from and how they became part of our routine. However, there are amazing stories behind some of the things we encounter every day.

1. Metric system

There are only three countries in the world that do not use the metric measurement system - Myanmar, Liberia and the United States of America. Liberia has already partially adopted it, and Myanmar is in the process of transition, leaving the US alone. Recently, a proposal to switch to the metric system was presented to the Hawaii State Legislature, but was rejected because it did not receive enough support.

For the rest of the world, the metric system is a necessary part of everyday life. It was first introduced in France in 1795 and soon became popular throughout Europe, eventually reaching Asia, Africa and the rest of the world. Its origins can be traced back to the explosive atmosphere of the French Revolution, when angry peasants demanded a unified system of weights and measures. The government wanted to make the system “natural, eternal and ideal”, describing the entire Earth.

The French Academy of Sciences sent its most respected astronomers, Pierre François-André Méchain and Charles Messier, to accurately measure one ten-millionth of the distance between the equator and the North Pole. This distance was to be known as a "meter". To do this, Messier had to go north to Dunkirk, and Méchain had to go south to Barcelona.

Their journey was not without danger, as they were often mistaken for spies. After arriving in Barcelona and sending the results of his data, Méchain suffered an accident. While he was recovering, war broke out between France and Spain, and he became an enemy of the nation, placed under house arrest. Having nothing else to do, Mechain began to carefully study all 10,000 of his records and, to his horror, discovered an error. The astronomer returned to France and found that it was too late to make any corrections, but he was still determined to find the most accurate record. Unfortunately, upon returning to Barcelona he contracted malaria and died.

2. Spices, seasonings and other flavorings

In the past, every pinch of salt or pepper or spoonful of sugar required enormous effort to obtain. Salt was needed to preserve raw meat and other foodstuffs for long voyages, so it was more valuable than it is today. Salt caravans crossed the Sahara Desert, finding their way through the stars, wind and sand dunes. West Africa, one of the poorest regions today, prospered between 800 and 1500 AD due to the abundance of salt deposits in the region.

However, the salt trade began much earlier. The city of Solnitsata in modern Bulgaria, the oldest known city in Europe, was a salt production complex that was the envy of the entire Balkans. It is believed that between 4700 and 4200 BC the city flourished thanks to the import of salt.

Civilizations have risen and fallen, but salt has always been present in the human diet. It was of such importance that the English word “salary” is derived from the Latin “salarium,” which was the money given to Roman soldiers to buy salt.

Meanwhile, sugar consumption likely began in New Guinea 10,000 years ago, where cane was chewed like licorice sticks. Knowledge of this sweetener reached the Asian continent, where Indians began making powder from it after 500 AD. The ancient Greeks referred to "a type of honey similar to salt" and thought that sugar was a medicine. Later, when the crusaders returned to their villages and castles, they spoke of the delicious "sweet salt".

European travel to the Americas and Asia was spurred by the promise of enormous wealth and mountains of spices, especially black pepper, which only the rich could afford. Black pepper was also used in the mummification ritual of ancient Egyptian pharaohs, and Ramses II famously had his nose stuffed with black pepper. Pliny once complained that Rome spent too much money on pepper: in fact, 50 million sesterces were spent on importing pepper from India every year. Pepper was such a hot commodity that it became known as “black gold” and was used as a convertible currency. For example, Alaric, the first king of the Visigoths, and Khan Attila demanded more than one ton of spices for peace.

3. Selfie

Technological advances in photography allow us to capture beautiful moments on film or digital media, but the process of creating them took thousands of years. The idea of ​​photography was first mentioned by the Chinese philosopher Mo Tzu in the 5th century BC, and even Aristotle is known to have used a “camera obscura” to observe an eclipse a century later.

The medieval craze for mirrors led to the creation of self-portraits, and the first “selfie” is believed to have been taken in 1839 by Robert Cornelius, an amateur chemist and photography enthusiast from Philadelphia. Using the daguerreotype, a technology that only lasted for a few months, Cornelius stood slightly to the side of the center, peering into the mechanism before taking a photo. On the back of the photo there is the inscription “The world's first light painting.” Decades later, group selfies became fashionable, as evidenced by a photograph of Joseph Byron and his friends from 1909. Even Grand Duchess Anastasia, the unfortunate daughter of the Romanovs, fell under the influence of fashion in 1914.

4. Cutlery

Initially, forks were used only during cooking, and while eating, everyone used only their fingers and knives. However, by 1004 AD, forks were also used during meals in the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire, although they were only served to the rich.

After a Byzantine princess married the Doge of Venice, his subjects were shocked when she brandished cutlery during a feast. They considered using a fork an insult to God, because “why do we need a fork if God gave us fingers”? They mocked the princess for her “luxury habits” and refusal to “touch food.” When the princess died a few years later, it was called God's punishment.

The practice slowly caught on in parts of Europe centuries later. In 1608, the English traveler Thomas Coriat described how Italians “cut meat with a knife, holding it with a fork on the other side, and those who touch the dish with their hands violate the rules of good manners.” Coriat tried to spread these rules of table etiquette in England, but the English rejected him, calling Coriat "Furcifer" and "Fork Bearer".

The British remained indifferent to the fork even after it became popular in France during the reign of the Sun King Louis XIV, who made sharpened knives illegal. Even as late as 1897, British sailors preferred to eat without forks because they were considered “unmanly.”

On the other side of the world, the Chinese used chopsticks more than 5,000 years ago, when branches were first used to lift large pieces of food out of pots. Around 400 BC, the Chinese began cutting food into small pieces, so using large knives was no longer necessary. Even Confucian teachings advised the use of chopsticks instead of knives, because “a noble and honest husband... should not have a knife at the table.”

The use of chopsticks spread throughout East Asia. The ancient Japanese used them for ceremonial purposes, so the sticks should not be left sticking out in the rice bowl as they resemble incense sticks used during funerals. Likewise, Koreans believed that the closer you held the tips of your chopsticks, the longer you would be single. And while the villagers used wooden sticks, the members royal family they used silver ones, believing that they would turn black if the food was poisoned.

5. Playing cards

The 52-card deck is generally believed to have Arab origins, either from the Egyptian Mamluks or the Spanish Arabs. System playing cards was very similar to the modern one: four suits and high cards, otherwise known as pictures. However, royal courts were dominated by men at the time, so, strange as it may seem now, the decks did not include ladies.

Initially, the suits were: cups, swords, coins and wands. These later evolved into the familiar spades, clubs, hearts and diamonds. The practice of using suits could have come from China, which already had its own version of playing cards since the 800-900s AD.

As the popularity of cards grew, there was a need to regulate their practical use. In 1674, Charles Cotton published The Complete Player, and ten years later, paper money was issued in America in exchange for playing cards, which served as promissory notes. Maps even reflected the political situation: during the Renaissance, they were decorated with bright images of Christian or philosophical content.

Meanwhile, revolutionaries in France began playing the game "Ace High!", imagining the triumph of man over monarchy. They also replaced kings, queens and jacks with "liberty, equality and fraternity" due to their disdain for royalty. Napoleon's rise to power later reversed many of the radical changes adopted by the revolutionaries.

6. Toilet paper

The use of toilet paper dates back to at least 6th century China, when a scholar named Yang Zhitui declared: “Paper on which there are quotes from the five classics or the names of sages, I dare not use for toilet purposes.” When Muslims visited China in the 9th century, they were stunned by Chinese practices, noting with disgust that the Chinese "don't care about cleanliness - they don't wash with water, but wipe with paper!"

The history of toilet paper did not develop for several hundred years, until in 1391 the Chinese emperor ordered its mass production. The Bureau of Imperial Supplies was tasked with producing 720,000 sheets of paper measuring 0.6 x 0.9 meters annually for the Emperor's personal use.

About 300 years later, Joseph Gayetti introduced packaged toilet paper called "medicinal paper." The sheets were coated with aloe to soothe inflammation, and each package of 500 sheets sold for $0.50. Joseph's name was printed on each package to remind people who the source of their relief was.

7. Feminine hygiene products

IN Ancient Egypt menstruation was likely viewed in a positive light. It was associated with the Nile, which was a symbol of renewal and fertility, and may have been used for medicinal purposes. For example, it was believed that if you smeared menstrual blood on your breasts, they would become more erect. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans used a wide variety of materials to create tampons, such as papyrus, wool, animal skins and even herbs.

It wasn't until 1896 that Joseph Lister, the same man who convinced millions to rinse their mouths and wash their hands before treating patients, inspired the Johnson brothers to create packaged menstrual pads known as Lister towels. Unfortunately for Johnson & Johnson, as their company is called today, this project failed because women were simply not yet ready to buy such things in public.

In 1998, Arunachalam Muruganantham was tired of listening to his wife complain about using “nasty rags” instead of sanitary pads during menstruation. After his wife said that such things were outrageously expensive, Muruganantham decided to come up with cheaper gaskets, but he had one problem: he had no idea how menstrual cycle. In an effort to find out, he made a “uterus” filled with goat blood and hid it under his clothes to test the absorbency of his invention. Every time he washed clothes, the villagers thought he had become a pervert, gone crazy, or was possessed by demons, but his sanitary pads eventually earned him an innovation award from the Indian President.

8. Bras

The ancestor of the modern bra was created in 1910, when 19-year-old Mary Phelps Jacob was preparing a dress for an upcoming ball. She chose a dress that showed off her rather wide figure, but found corsets too restrictive. Instead of a corset, she asked the maid to bring two handkerchiefs and a ribbon.

Ladies of high society asked young Mary how she was able to move and dance so freely, and four years later she received a patent for a “backless bra.” Although Mrs. Jacob is historically credited with inventing the bra, recent archaeological finds indicate that women were wearing bras as early as the 1400s.

In the decades following Jacob's breakthrough, the bra went through a series of transformations. A special place among them is occupied by “Wonderbra”, created in 1964 by Louise Poirier for the “Canadelle” brand. However, contrary to popular belief, the idea of ​​the push-up bra originated much earlier. It was first developed by Frederick Mellinger in 1946 and soon became all the rage in Hollywood. But, of course, the strangest thing is the Nipple Bra, a nipple-exposing bra created in the 1970s, when visible nipples were considered the height of sexuality. © www.surgpu.ru

Divorce rate in modern society is at an all-time high, and old-fashioned people consider couples who break up after mere hours of marriage due to such mundane reasons as snoring to be a mockery of the institution. However, divorce was a fairly common practice in ancient civilizations.

In Ancient Egypt, marriage had no legal consequences: husband and wife were considered a man and a woman simply living under the same roof. Thus, divorce and remarriage were widespread. In Greece, the case reached the judges and was examined in detail. In Japan, if a husband refused to give a divorce, the wife could choose to live in the temple for three years, after which the marriage was automatically dissolved. Viking women could easily leave their husbands if they could not provide for the family.

In medieval England, divorce was strictly a church matter. Ironically, the Anglican Church, which was created as a result of the Pope's refusal to divorce Henry VIII from his first wife, became even more rigid than the Catholic Church, which it tried to overpower. Changes were only possible thanks to Caroline Sheridan, wife of MP George Norton.

Sheridan was abused by her husband and found solace only in caring for her children and writing. Norton once advised her to become "friendlier" to Lord Melbourne, just to accuse her of adultery in 1836. Norton lost the case, but continued to live with the children and take his wife's income, which forced Sheridan to campaign for rights married women in the UK. She lobbied statesmen, published pamphlets and even wrote to Queen Victoria herself. Sheridan's penetrating words regarding harsh and unequal marriage laws influenced the passage of the Infant Custody Bill of 1839 and the Marriage and Divorce Act of 1857.

10. Crime and punishment

Crime and punishment as an instrument of the state were written about in the Code of Laws of Hammurabi, which was declared the “law of retribution” for those who violate it. The Greeks, for example Plato, prescribed imprisonment for crimes such as treason or debt to the government. Because the poor were unable to pay, they were often imprisoned, resulting in maximum penalties being imposed.

However, in most cases, justice was achieved in a simpler and faster way. In Rome, if you were rich, you faced house arrest, and if you were poor, you faced the executioner's blade or the slave market. In some cases, the criminals offered to voluntarily leave their homes and go into exile. Criminals held captive while awaiting trial were called publica vincula or carcer.

By the 1570s, workhouses had become common, to which vagabonds were sent as labor as a substitute for harsher punishments. In the 1680s, Quakers began to agitate for the introduction of imprisonment as a replacement for the death penalty. A century later, Pennsylvania abolished the death penalty for some crimes, while many called for reform, arguing that "an indiscriminate system of punishment encourages criminals to be equally indiscriminate." Currently in the United States, only 32 states still have the death penalty.

The practice of notifying the public of an offender may have its origins in the Bible. After Cain killed his brother Abel, he was marked by God to stand out among other people and be forever shamed for his crime. By the 1700s, the practice of singling out criminals had spread. For example, adulterers had to wear a scarlet letter "A" (from "adulterer"), blasphemers - "B" ("blasphemy"), drunkards - "D" ("drunk"), guilty of manslaughter - "M" (" manslaughter"), and thieves - "T" ("theft" - theft).

We live in a world of inventions - old and new, simple and complex. Each of them has their own fascinating story. It’s hard to even imagine how many useful and necessary things our distant and close ancestors came up with. Let's talk about the things that surround us. About how they were invented. We look in the mirror, eat with a spoon and fork, use a needle, scissors. We're used to these simple things. And we don’t think about how people could get by without them. But really, how? How did much of what has long become familiar, but once seemed outlandish, come into being?

Hole awl

What came first - the needle or the clothes? This question will probably surprise many: is it possible to sew clothes without a needle? It turns out that it is possible.

Primitive man sewed animal skins by piercing them with fish bones or sharpened animal bones. This is what ancient awls looked like. When the ears were drilled into the awls with fragments of flint (a very hard stone), needles were obtained.

After many millennia, bone needles were replaced by bronze, then iron. In Rus', it happened that silver needles were also forged. About six hundred years ago, Arab merchants brought the first steel needles to Europe. The threads were threaded into their ends bent into rings.

By the way, where is the eye of the needle? It depends on which one. The regular one has the blunt end, the machine one has the sharp end. However, some new sewing machines can do just fine without needles or threads - they glue and weld fabric.

Treasure of Roman soldiers

Ancient Roman warriors - legionnaires - received orders to quickly leave the fortress. Before leaving, they dug a deep hole and placed heavy boxes in it.

The secret treasure was found by accident today. What was in the boxes? Seven tons of nails! The warriors could not take them with them and buried them so that not a single one would fall to the enemy.

Why was it necessary to hide ordinary nails? These nails seem ordinary to us. And for people who lived thousands of years ago, they were a treasure. Metal nails were very expensive. It is not surprising that, even having learned to process metal, our distant ancestors for a long time used the most ancient, albeit not so durable, but cheap “nails” - plant thorns, sharpened splinters, bones of fish and animals.

How the thumbs were thrown

Roman slaves mixed and laid out food in the kitchen with huge metal spoons, which we would now probably call ladles. And when eating in ancient times, they took food with their hands! This went on for many centuries. And only about two hundred years ago they realized that they couldn’t do without a spoon.

The first tablespoons were decorated with carvings and precious stones. They were made, of course, for the nobility and the rich. And those who were poorer ate soup and porridge with cheap wooden spoons.

Wooden spoons were used in different countries, including in Russia. They made them like this. First, they split the log into pieces of suitable size—baklushi. “Beating the pot” was considered a simple task: after all, carving and painting spoons is much more difficult. Now they say this about those who shirk difficult work or do things poorly.

Pitchfork and fork

The fork was invented later than the spoon. Why? It's not hard to guess. You can’t scoop up soup with your palm, but you can grab a piece of meat with your hands. They say that the rich were the first to give up this habit. Lush lace collars came into fashion. They made it difficult to tilt my head. Eating with your hands has become difficult - so a fork appeared.

The fork, like the spoon, was not immediately recognized. First of all, habits are hard to break. Secondly, at first it was very uncomfortable: only two long teeth on a tiny handle. The meat tried to jump off the teeth, the handle tried to slip out of the fingers... What does the pitchfork have to do with it? Yes, despite the fact that, looking at them, our ancestors came up with the idea of ​​a fork. So the similarities between them are not at all accidental. Both externally and in the name.

Why are buttons needed?

In the old days, clothes were laced up like boots or tied with ribbons. Sometimes clothes were secured with cufflinks made from wooden sticks. Buttons were used as decoration.

Jewelers made them from precious stones, silver and gold, covered with intricate patterns.

When precious buttons began to be used as fasteners, some people considered this an unaffordable luxury.

A person's nobility and wealth were judged by the number of buttons. That is why on rich ancient clothes there are often more of them than loops. Thus, King Francis I of France ordered to decorate his black camisole with 13,600 gold buttons.

How many buttons are on your suit?

Are they all there?

If some of them come off, it doesn’t matter - after all, you’ve probably already learned how to sew them on without mom’s help...

From bead to window

If you sprinkle sand and ash on pottery and then fire it, a beautiful shiny crust will form on it - glaze. Even primitive potters knew this secret.

One ancient master decided to sculpt something from glaze, that is, from sand and ash, without clay. He poured the mixture into a pot, melted it over the fire and grabbed a hot, sticky drop with a stick.

The drop fell on the stone and froze. It turned out to be a bead. And it was made of real glass - only opaque. People liked glass so much that it became more valuable than gold and precious stones.

Glass that lets light through was invented many years later. Even later it was installed in the windows. And here it turned out to be very useful. After all, when there was no glass, the windows were covered with bull's bladder, canvas soaked in wax, or oiled paper. But mica was considered the most suitable. Naval sailors used it even when glass spread: the mica did not shatter into pieces from cannon shots.

Mica, which was mined in Russia, has long been famous. Foreigners spoke with admiration about “stone crystal,” which is flexible like paper and does not break.

Mirror or life

In one old fairy tale, the hero accidentally ate magic berries and wanted to wash them down with water from a spring. He looked at his reflection in the water and gasped - he had grown donkey ears!

Since ancient times, the calm surface of water has indeed often served as a mirror for man.

But you can’t take a quiet river backwater or even a puddle into your house.

I had to come up with hard mirrors made of polished stone or smooth metal plates.

These plates were sometimes covered with glass to prevent them from darkening in the air. And then, on the contrary, they learned to cover glass with a thin metal film. This happened in the Italian city of Venice.

Venetian merchants sold glass mirrors at exorbitant prices. They were made on the island of Murano. How? For a long time it was a secret. Several masters shared their secrets with the French and paid for it with their lives.

In Rus' they also used metal mirrors made of bronze, silver and damask steel. Then glass mirrors appeared. About three hundred years ago, Peter I ordered the construction of mirror factories in Kyiv.

Secret ice cream

Ancient manuscripts say that the ancient Greek commander Alexander the Great was served fruits and juices mixed with ice and snow for dessert.

In Rus', on holidays, next to pancakes, a dish with frozen, finely chopped milk, sweetened with honey, was placed on the table.

In the old days, in some countries, recipes for cold delicacies were kept secret, and court cooks faced the death penalty for disclosing them.

And it wasn’t easy to make ice cream back then. Especially in the summer.

Ice and snow were brought from the mountains to the palace of Alexander the Great.

Later they started selling ice, and how! Ships with transparent blocks in their holds hurried to the shores of hot countries. This continued until the advent of “ice-making machines” - refrigerators. This happened about a hundred years ago.

Today, ice cream is sold everywhere and everything: fruit and berry, milk and cream. And it is available to everyone.

How the iron became electric

Everyone is familiar with the electric iron. And when people didn’t know how to use electricity, what kind of irons were there?

At first - none. Ironed cold. The wet material was carefully straightened and stretched before drying. Coarse fabrics were wrapped around a roller and a corrugated board, called a ruble, was passed over it.

But then irons appeared. There weren't any among them. Stove-top, heated directly on the fire. Coal ones, with blowers, or even with a chimney, similar to stoves: hot coals smoldered in them. The gas iron burned with gas from a can attached to the back, while the kerosene iron burned with kerosene.

The electric iron was invented about a hundred years ago. He turned out to be the best. Especially after I acquired a device for temperature regulation - a thermostat, as well as a humidifier...

The irons are different, but their operating principle is the same - first heat, then iron.

Doesn't bark, doesn't bite...

The first locks did not need a key: the doors were not locked, but tied with a rope. To prevent strangers from opening them, each owner tried to tighten the knot more cunningly.

The legend of the Gordian knot has survived to this day. No one could untie this knot until Alexander the Great cut it with his sword. The attackers also began to deal with rope locks using the same method.

It was more difficult to unlock the “living locks” - just try to argue with a well-trained guard dog. And one ancient ruler ordered a pool with islands to be built in the palace.

The wealth was placed on islands, toothy crocodiles were released into the water... They, however, did not know how to bark, and so as not to forget how to bite, they were kept from hand to mouth.

By now, many locks and keys have been invented. There is also one that unlocks... with your finger. Don't be surprised - this is the most reliable lock. After all, the pattern on the skin of the fingertips is not repeated on anyone. Therefore, a special device unmistakably distinguishes the owner’s finger inserted into the well from someone else’s. Only the one who locked it can open the lock.

Singing button

Before you cross the threshold of your apartment, you press the button. The bell rings and mom rushes to open the door.

For the first time, an electric trill announced the arrival of a guest more than a hundred years ago, in France. Before that, there were mechanical bells - about the same as on modern bicycles. Such calls can sometimes be seen in homes today - as a reminder of the times when electricity was not used everywhere.

Another selection from fresher.
Some items may be questionable. For example, a tube with holes was found, I remember, in a Neanderthal cave and was interpreted by archaeologists as a flute. If this is indeed the case, then 40,000 years ago these cousins ​​of our Cro-Magnon ancestors were even somewhat superior to them in development.

Oldest socks (2500 years old)

These Egyptian wool socks, designed to be worn with sandals, were made between 300 and 499 AD and were discovered in the 19th century.

First written recipe (5000 years)

“Sumerian beer recipe from 3000 BC. The beer turns out to be very strong and contains pieces of bread floating in it.”

Oldest sunglasses (800 years old)

The oldest glasses in the world were discovered on Baffin Island in Canada. They were intended to protect against glare from the sun's rays reflected from the snow.

The oldest sculpture in the form of a man (35,000 - 40,000 years old)

The most likely age of the statue depicting a human figure is 40,000 years. This is the Venus from Hohle Fels Cave, Germany, carved from mammoth bone.

Oldest shoe (5500 years old)

This 5,500-year-old cowhide right moccasin was found in a cave in Armenia, preserved in grasses and dry sheep dung.

Oldest musical instrument (40,000 years old)

This is a 40,000 year old bone flute from southern Germany.

Oldest trousers (3300 years old)

The oldest pants in the world were found in Western China; they are 3,300 years old.

Oldest flush toilets (2000 years old)

The ancient city of Ephesus, Türkiye, had flushable public toilets. Running water under the seats was carried into the nearby river.

Oldest bra (500 years old)

This bra was worn between 1390 and 1485 in Austria. There are earlier historical descriptions this item, but no other copies have survived.

Oldest prosthesis (3000 years old)

This prosthesis helped someone in Egypt walk again 3,000 years ago.

Oldest wallet (4500 years old)

Dog teeth are all that remains from a disintegrated 4,500-year-old wallet found in Germany. They were probably part of the outer door.

Oldest condom (370 years old)

This reusable sheepskin condom was used in 1640 in Sweden. It came with instructions in Latin, which recommended cleaning the product with warm milk to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.

Old chewing gum (5000 years old)

This chewing gum from Finland has been chewed for at least 5,000 years. It is made from birch bark and was most likely used to cure oral infections or used as an adhesive.

Oldest recorded melody (3400 years old)

The oldest recorded melody was found in the ancient city-state of Ugarit, in what is now southern Syria. The music was written for the lyre.

Ancient coin (2700 years old)

The oldest known coin was found within the ancient Hellenic city of Ephesos (Ephesus) in Turkey. One side of it is decorated with an image of a lion's head.

Oldest globe (510 years old)

This old globe was painstakingly engraved onto the surface of an ostrich egg in Italy. The current owner purchased it at a card fair in London in 2012.

If you think about it, you will notice that there are many things in our lives that we take for granted, without thinking about where they came from and how they became part of our everyday life. Every day we come across things that contain amazing and fascinating moments in their history.

1. Metric system

There are only three countries in the entire world that do not use the metric system: Myanmar, Liberia and the United States. Liberia, however, has already partially accepted it, Myanmar is currently also in the process of transition, only the United States continues to remain in its position.

For all other countries, the metric system is a necessary part of everyday life. It was introduced in France in 1795 and soon gained popularity throughout Europe, eventually spreading to Asia, Africa and the rest of the world. Creating the concept of the “meter,” the French Academy of Sciences sent astronomers Pierre Mechain and Charles Messier on a special expedition to accurately measure one millionth of the distance between the equator and the North Pole. Having made the necessary measurements and sent them to his French colleagues, Mechain had an accident and was unable to return. While he was recovering, war broke out between France and Spain, also making his return impossible. At this time, the scientist discovered to his horror that an error had crept into the calculations. However, when he finally returned to France, he realized that it was too late to change anything.

2. Spices, seasonings and other flavorings

Salt in the past was extremely important for preserving raw meat and other foodstuffs for a long time, so its price was impossibly high. Caravans loaded with salt crossed the harsh Sahara Desert, guided only by the stars and the direction of the wind. West Africa, one of the poorest regions in modern world, was incredibly rich in 800-1500 AD. thanks to the abundance of salt deposits.

Over time, salt began to be given even more importance as its importance to the human diet became known. The need for it has become so urgent that the word “salt” itself served as the basis for modern English word“salary” (salary), since the word “salarium” was used by Roman soldiers to describe the money with which they bought portions of salt.

Sugar most likely originated in New Guinea 10,000 years ago, where people loved to chew cane. Around 500 AD. Indians began to produce powder from it. The ancient Greeks referred to “a kind of honey like salt,” considering sugar to be a medicine. When the Crusaders returned to their villages and castles in Europe, they spoke of the wonderful "sweet salt."

Black pepper, which only the rich could afford, was also used in the mummification ritual of the pharaohs. Pliny complained that Rome was spending too much on pepper. Pepper was such a valuable commodity that it was called "black gold", functioning as a convertible currency.

3. Selfie

In the 19th century, a craze for mirrors led to the popularity of self-portraits. The first "selfie" is believed to have been taken in 1839 by Robert Corniglia, an amateur chemist and photography enthusiast from Philadelphia. Using the daguerreotype, a new technology at the time, Cornelius stood in front of the camera, looking straight into the lens, and took a photo.

Decades later, group selfies became fashionable, as evidenced by photos of Joseph Byron and his friends taken in 1909. This hobby in 1914 did not bypass the interest of even Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova.

4. Cutlery

Initially, forks were used only for cooking, and people preferred to eat with their hands. However, by 1004 AD. in the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire, nobles had already begun to use forks for dinner.

After the wedding of a Byzantine princess and the son of a Venetian doge, all subjects were shocked by the bride’s habit of using cutlery. They considered such a practice an insult to God, who gave man fingers for these purposes. However, centuries later, the practice of using devices in Europe still took root, but in some places its opponents remained until the last. Even as late as 1897, British sailors still preferred not to eat with forks, considering it “unmanly.”

Chopsticks have been used in China for 5,000 years. Around 400 BC The Chinese began cutting food into smaller pieces so that there was no need to use large knives at the table. The use of chopsticks quickly spread throughout East Asia.

5. Playing cards

The 52-card deck is believed to have Arabic origins. The ancient system of playing cards was very similar to the modern one: four suits and images of the royal family. However, the cards did not include queens. The original suits represented cups, swords, coins and polo bats. The latter eventually turned into clubs, as Europeans had difficulty understanding the term. The suits later evolved into the familiar spades, clubs, hearts and diamonds. The practice of using suits may also have come from China, where their form of playing cards was played centuries earlier.

6. Toilet paper

The use of toilet paper dates back to at least 6th century AD China. When Muslims visited China in the 9th century, they were stunned to witness such practices, noting with disgust that the Chinese were "careless about cleanliness, not washing with water, wiping themselves with paper!"

In 1391, the Chinese emperor ordered the mass production of toilet paper. The Imperial Supply Bureau was tasked with producing 720 thousand sheets each year, each sheet measuring 0.6 m by 0.9 m and intended for the personal use of the emperor.

About 300 years later, Joseph Gatey began producing the product “Medical Paper” in the United States. The sheets were coated with aloe juice to soothe damaged skin. Each 500-sheet package sold for 50 cents.

7. Feminine hygiene products

In ancient Egypt, menstruation was associated with the Nile River, a symbol of renewal and fertility. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans used a wide variety of materials to make tampons, such as papyrus, wool, hides and even grass.

In 1896, Joseph Lister, the man who inspired millions to rinse their mouths and wash their hands, teamed up with the Johnson brothers to create the sanitary pads known as Lister Napkins. Unfortunately for Johnson & Johnson, this product did not gain the traction it deserved because women were simply not willing to buy such items in public at the time.

In 1998, Arunachalam Muruganantham, sympathizing with his wife, who was forced to use inconvenient or extremely expensive hygiene products, decided to come up with a more affordable product, but he had one problem: he had no idea how the menstrual cycle works. In an effort to understand the mechanism, he created a "womb" from the chamber of a soccer ball filled with goat's blood and hid it under his clothes to test his invention's absorbency. Every time he went to wash his clothes, his neighbors thought he had become a pervert, gone crazy or even possessed by demons, but the sanitary pads he created eventually earned him an innovation award from the President of India himself.

8. Bra

The modern bra began its history in 1910. It was then that 19-year-old Mary Phelps Jacob, planning an outfit for an upcoming party, chose a dress that emphasized her figure well. However, the girl considered the corsets of that time too restrictive of freedom. Instead, she asked the maid to bring her two handkerchiefs and a ribbon, creating the forerunner of the modern bra.

Ladies from high society marveled at young Mary's ability to move and dance freely, interestedly asking her secret. Four years later, the inventor received a patent for a “backless bra.” In the following decades, the bra configuration went through a number of transformations. By the way, recent archaeological finds have shown that women have been wearing something like bras since the 1400s.

9. Divorce

In Ancient Egypt, the institution of marriage had no meaning, a family was considered a man and a woman simply living under the same roof, so cases of divorce and remarriage were quite common. In Greece, the issue of divorce was brought before the court for objective consideration. In Japan, if the husband refused to grant a divorce, the wife could live in the temple for three years, after which the marriage was automatically annulled. In Viking culture, women were free to leave their husbands if they were unable to provide for their families.

In medieval England, divorce was a strictly ecclesiastical matter. Changes in the official attitude towards the divorce process were only possible thanks to the efforts of Caroline Sheridan, the wife of MP George Norton. Sheridan suffered abuse from her husband, finding solace only in her children and writing. Once in 1836, Norton forced his wife to behave “more friendly” with Lord Melbourne with the goal of subsequently suing her and accusing Sheridan of adultery, but lost the case. However, he continued to abuse his wife and children, which led Sheridan to advocate for the rights of married women in Britain. She lobbied for legislation, published pamphlets and even wrote to Queen Victoria herself. Sheridan's insightful words were influential in the passage of the Children's Bill of Rights of 1839 and the Marriage and Divorce Act of 1857.

Summary of a lesson on familiarization with the outside world for children in the preparatory group for school, topic “History of ordinary things”

Goals:

Expand children's understanding of familiar objects, the history of their origin, variety (toothbrush, soap, pen, pencil, scissors, needle).
Continue teaching children to solve riddles.
Develop thinking and curiosity.
Cultivate a caring attitude towards things.

Progress of the lesson:

Today we will talk about the things that surround us, that we encounter every day.

Riddle about the toothbrush

Bone back,
Tin bristles,
Goes well with mint paste,
Serves us diligently.
(Toothbrush)

It was a long time ago. One morning a man woke up in a cave with a bad taste in his mouth. He took the twig, chewed the end and began brushing his teeth. This was the very first toothbrush. Then the brushes were in the form of sticks made of soft wood. There was no toothpaste before, and people brushed their teeth with ash and coal from the fire, and then rinsed their mouths with water.

The toothbrush with which we now brush our teeth appeared quite recently. But people are coming up with more and more new toothbrushes.

Did you know that there is a musical toothbrush? It was invented specifically for children. Have you seen such a brush? This brush plays a melody when you brush your teeth correctly, and if you brush your teeth incorrectly, the music does not play. Tricky toothbrush! There is also an electric toothbrush.
What else do you think you can use to clean your teeth besides a toothbrush? It turns out that you can brush your teeth without a brush with an apple, just not a sweet one. When we chew an apple, our teeth are cleaned.

I'll tell you about one more thing, which is also in the bathroom.

Riddle about soap

Slipping away like something alive
But I won't let him go,
The point is quite clear:
Let him wash his hands for me.
(Soap)

Many, many years ago there lived a king. The king's morning began with dressing and washing. Dressing took a very long time, but washing did not. The king was brought a large bowl of water, he moistened his fingertips, lightly touched his eyelids with them, and that was all - the washing was over. Do any of you wash your face like this?
Previously, there was no soap, and people washed themselves with flour and clay. And then they began to make soap from goat, lamb and bovine fat and added ash. The soap was hard, soft and liquid.
Nowadays soap is made from substances such as fat, oil, and aromatic substances to make the soap smell delicious.
They say that there is an island in the ocean. His soil consists of a substance that helps the people of this island fight dirt. People take soil and wash clothes and bathe. And when it rains, the entire island is covered with soap foam.
Previously, soap was very expensive, so only rich people could buy it. Poor people washed and washed with lye. What is lye? They took wood ash, poured boiling water over it and put it in the stove. Then they took it out and washed, and washed their clothes in the same way.

Toilet soap is also called washing soap. There's just no soap now. There is white, yellow, green and blue soap. Soap can smell like strawberries or apples. You can find round soap, bars of various shapes.

And now I’ll tell you about one more thing that we meet every day.

Riddle about the pen

Guess what this thing is -
A sharp beak, not a bird,
With this beak she
Sows and sows seeds.
Not in the field, not in the garden -
On sheets of paper in your notebook.
(Pen)

A long time ago, people wrote with real quills. They took feathers from geese, ravens, and peacocks. The tip of the feather was first cleaned, then cut at an angle and sharpened so that it was very thin. When the feather became dull, it was again cut at an angle and sharpened again. And then they wrote.
One man who had to write a lot came up with a pen made of steel.
And everyone began to write with steel pens, they even made them from silver and gold. They were expensive.
Then they came up with a fountain pen - it did not need to be dipped into an inkwell.
They took a tube with a pointed end. A straw was inserted inside the tube and liquid was poured. The liquid gradually flowed down to the pointed end, and then the tube was drawn along the paper.
And even later they invented a ballpoint pen with thick paste, which we now write with.
A lot of pens have been invented. There is a calendar, an electronic clock and even a calculator.

Now let's talk about the pen's friend.

Riddle about a pencil

Black Ivashka –
Wooden shirt,
Where he leads his nose,
He puts a note there.
If you sharpen it,
Draw whatever you want:
Sun, sea, mountains, beach...
What is this?...
(Pencil)

Fizminutka

What did people draw before, when they didn’t have a simple pencil? They drew with charcoal. They took a burnt twig from the fire and drew.

What does a pencil consist of? From a wooden shirt and stylus. The lead is the heart of the pencil. What is this heart made of? They take a black graphite stone and crush it finely until it becomes like flour. Then clay is added. Everything is mixed and placed in a special form and dried. The pencil heart is ready. And then a shirt is made from wood for him.

Pencils are hard and soft. Hard ones write palely, soft ones write brightly. There are just so many pencils. There are pencils: round, hexagonal, octagonal, flat, and triangular. There are pencils with brushes and pencils with erasers. There is a pencil with a magnifying glass at the end, pencils with bells. The bell rings, and writing becomes more interesting. There are pencils with calendars, with the alphabet, with road signs. They also produce scented pencils that smell delicious when you write with them.

Pencils have served people faithfully and reliably for many years. Scuba divers take them with them. Astronauts also use a pencil to take notes. In the North, where there is always severe frost, the paste in the pens can freeze, but the pencil does not.

Riddle about scissors

Look, we have opened our mouths,
You can put paper in it
Paper in our mouth
Will split into parts.
(Scissors)

About 1000 years ago, one person came up with the idea to connect two knives with a nail, and bend their handles into rings - and that’s what scissors turned out to be.
Scissors were made of iron and silver and beautifully decorated. Scissors developed their own specialties - some were intended for hairdressers, others for doctors, etc. Today there are scissors that are used to trim bushes on lawns, butcher poultry, cut fabrics, cut buttonholes, and cut cakes.
Scissors often become dull. To sharpen them again, they take left hand a needle, and to the right - scissors and begin to “cut” the needle. This must be done at least 10-20 times. And the scissors will become sharp again. You can also cut the new sandpaper several times.

And now about one more thing that we cannot do without.

The riddle about the igloo

Covers everyone in the world,
Whatever he sews, he doesn’t put on.
(Needle)

What is a needle - it is a pointed rod for sewing with an eye at the end. Previously, the needle was a fish bone with a hole made at the blunt end. Some time after the invention of the bone needle, people began to invent a new needle because the bone needle was very fragile and broke quickly. Today the needle is made of metal, but it also resembles a fish bone. A lot of time has passed and appearance the needles haven't changed at all.

Making a regular needle is not at all easy. First, take a special needle wire, cut off as much as needed (for a large needle a lot, for a small needle - less). Then they sharpen - sharpen the end of the needle. A special machine pierces the ear. So we have a needle, but it is still soft and will not last long. It is heated strongly and immediately cooled sharply, hardened to give it strength. Then it is carefully sanded and polished with sawdust from deciduous trees. This is a very long and painstaking work. And only 7 countries in the world produce needles. That's why they are highly valued. Several kilograms of needles cost more than the best passenger car.

How to store needles? Place a magnet at the bottom of the box where the needles are, and they will never fall apart. And to prevent the needles from rusting, they can be stored stuck in dry soap.

Lesson summary:

What interesting things did we learn today?
What did you like?
What do you remember?

About everything in the world:

In 1930, the film “The Rogue Song,” about the kidnapping of a girl in the Caucasus Mountains, was released in America. Actors Stan Laurel, Lawrence Tibbett and Oliver Hardy played local crooks in this film. Surprisingly, these actors are very similar to the characters...

Section materials

Lessons for the younger group:

Classes for the middle group.