🇬🇧 🇺🇸 **On This Day In History**
On this day in 1776 the British Army led by General William Howe fought the forces of George Washington's Continental Army in the Battle of Long Island.
#History #UK #UnitedKingdom #USA #US #UnitedStates
#Image attribution: Henry Bryan Hall, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gen._Sir_William_Howe.jpg.
🌍 **Common world map shows 'distorted view' of Africa. Advocates are trying to change that**
"_Cartographers say the Mercator map has been used for purposes it was not intended to serve_"
🔗 https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/end-of-mercator-map-1.7615773.
#Image attribution: Gerardus Mercator, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mercator_1569.png.
**Etymology: cotton-picking / cotton-picker**
🔗 https://wordorigins-org.ghost.io/cotton-picking-cotton-picker/.
#Etymology #Linguistics #English #Language #Words @linguistics
#Image attribution: unknown source, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cotton_pickers_and_overseer_around_1850.jpg.
**Gold is losing its lustre as a safe investment, research finds**
"_Professor David McMillan, Professor of Finance and Head of Accounting and Finance at Stirling Business School, said: “Our analysis found that gold started to lose its position as a safe haven during volatile periods. Platinum is the only precious metal to show a statistically significant safe haven role during extreme market shocks in the stable and volatile periods."_"
🔗 https://www.stir.ac.uk/news/2025/08/gold-is-losing-its-lustre-as-a-safe-investment-research-finds/.
#Image attribution: istara, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gold-295936.jpg.
🇩🇪 **1866 Johnson Map of Prussia, Germany**
"_This is Johnson and Ward’s 1866 map of Prussia, Germany. Prussia attained its greatest importance in the 18th and 19th centuries when it dominated northern Germany politically, economically, and in population._"
#Image attribution: Alvin Jewett Johnson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1866_Johnson_Map_of_Prussia,_Germany_-_Geographicus_-_Prussia-johnson-1866.jpg.
#History #Histodons #Prussia #Germany #C19th #Maps #Cartography #PublicDomain @histodons
🇪🇸 🇵🇹 **1862 Johnson Map of Spain and Portugal**
#Image attribution: Johnson, A. J., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1862_Johnson_Map_of_Spain_and_Portugal_-_Geographicus_-_SpainPortugal-j-62.jpg.
🇦🇺 **1855 Colton Map Of Australia**
#Image attribution: J. H. Colton, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1855_Colton_Map_of_Australia_-_Geographicus_-_Australia-colton-1855.jpg.
🇬🇧 🇫🇷 **Mitchell Map - A map of the British and French dominions in North America,...; 1757**
#Image attribution: John Mitchell, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mitchell_Map-06full2.jpg,
#History #UK #UnitedKingdom #France #America #Maps #Cartography
**Map: Semitic Languages**
#Image attribution: Rafy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Semitic_languages.svg.
📚 *Has BookTok Ruined Reading Culture?
🔗 https://mancunion.com/2024/11/15/has-booktok-ruined-reading-culture/.
#BookTok #Reading #Culture #Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon
#Image attribution: MarkBuckawicki, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Books_at_the_bookstore.jpg.
**Printing Illustrations**
"_Artists began adding woodcut illustrations to books within years of Western innovations in printing technology and moveable type. The Library has within its collections of incunabula (books printed before 1501) many books that combine text and images, often printed together on the same page._"
🔗 https://blogs.loc.gov/bibliomania/2025/08/07/printing-illustrations/.
**Gold is flying higher — a report of gold-bar tariffs is doing the trick**
"_Triggering that jump was a Financial Times report that cited a July 31 letter from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, stating that 1-kilo and 100-ounce gold bars should be classified under a customs code that subjects them to tariffs._"
#Image attribution: Stevebidmead, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gold_bullion_bars.jpg.
Morning all.
#Image attribution: Wilfredor, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sunrise_on_Vereda_del_Lago.jpg.
**Gold**
The price of gold carries on upwards: https://www.gold.co.uk/gold-price/5year/ounces/USD/.
**Map: Anatolia, 1097**
#Image attribution: MapMaster, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anatolia_1097.svg.
#History #Histodons #AsiaMinor #Anatolia #Medieval #MiddleAges
🇺🇸 📸 **Elk and Star Dune**
#Image attribution: Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elk_and_Star_Dune_(49097789642).jpg.
#Photo #Photography #Nature #USA #US #UnitedStates #Colorado #Elk
**European Overseas Colonies By Colonizer**
_Bastian Becker (2023); Gapminder - Population v7 (2022) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Number of colonies” [dataset]. Bastian Becker, “Colonial Dates Dataset (COLDAT) 3.0”; Gapminder, “Population v7” [original data]._
🔗 https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/european-overseas-colonies-by-colonizer.
#Data #DataViz #History #Histodons #Europe #Colonialism #Imperialism @histodons
**Security Verification Link**
Looks like these chaps are back, the second such toot I have received in two days with the same link to click. They do not take no for an answer.
**Morning all.**
#Image attribution: BigWhitePelican, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_spectacular_morning_sky_in_Helsinki,_Finland,_2023_September.jpg.
Not a bot just a chap in his fifties who occasionally reads things.
Toots are humanities, science, non-fiction, books, maps, charts and graphs related. Some toots containing videos may also find their way into the timeline.
Toots or follows or boosts or mentions ≠ endorsements of any particular notion or notions.
Finis