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The modern 24-hour news cycle inundates us with a constant barrage of stories every single day. And in the heat of the moment, every one of them can feel a like momentous affair that will forever change the course of history. Yet, a rare amount actually are.

We all know from our history books that in 1776 the British colonies in North America declared independence from their mother country and created a new nation. We know the names of the Founding Fathers, the battles fought, and the words written in commitment to a new democratic-republic. Yet, we never hear the story of how the 5-foot 4-inch, red-headed, &quot;<a href="https://www.masshist.org/dorr/volume/4/sequence/965" target="_blank">and very poorly cloathed</a> [sic]&quot;&nbsp;soldier Isaac Sylvester deserted from the Continental Army. It made the paper on January 25, 1776, so it was important to someone. It would have been very important to people who knew Sylvester or anyone who strongly believed in the cause of Independence. Yet, it matters very little in the greater perspective of history.

It&#39;s the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-historical-events-to-have-seen-firsthand/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">large movements and monumental changes</a> that become important in our retellings of history, but it&#39;s actually quite difficult to tell what those will be when we&#39;re living through them. Furthermore, the impact of current events may even change as unforeseen future events play out. But will that stop people from speculating? No, of course not.

It&#39;s fun to think about how future historians will eventually come to understand our present. Will this be a golden age of civilization or another dark age? Will the COVID-19 Pandemic become epoch-making disease like the Black Death or will it be mostly forgotten until a similar pandemic rolls around, like the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918? Will Harry Styles still be considered the &quot;<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-11-18/harry-styles-forum-review" target="_blank">woke heartthrob for our times?</a>&quot; The future is currently unknown, but these are the post-2016 events that readers believe will remain important in history books published 50 years from now.

Recent Events That Will Most Likely Make It Into History Books 50 Years From Now

General

Recent Events That Will Be In History Books 50 Years From Now

Brenden Donnelly

Taking a closer look at the prim & priggish customs, beliefs, and practices unique to the Victorian era.

In the Time of Queen Victoria

Feminism

A Victorian-era competition likely would have been forgotten to history if not for the work of <a href="https://twitter.com/DigiVictorian/status/964842367508516864" target="_blank">Dr. Bob Nicholson</a>, who shared his find on Twitter. In 1889,&nbsp;Tit-Bits magazine offered a prize to the spinster who could provide&nbsp;the best answer to the question: Why are you still single?&nbsp;The results proved far too hilariously on point for the magazine to choose just a single winner. Instead, they published their favorites and gave each winner five&nbsp;shillings &ndash; the equivalent of about $26 today.

The Victorians are most commonly known for their <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/victorian-mourning-customs/lisa-waugh" target="_blank">morbid death and mourning customs</a>,&nbsp; but the quotes found here prove they were no stranger to comedy. Though Tit-bits never picked a winner, you can, by voting on your favorite <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/historical-clapbacks-that-sound-fake-but-are-true/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">responses</a> below.&nbsp;

A Victorian Magazine Asked Spinsters Why They Were Single, And The Answers Were Incredibly Savage

Garri Chaverst

Lists of fun facts, fascinating trivia, and wild, charming, and even heartbreaking stories about some of the most famous people you feel like you already know.

The Life of an Actor

Celebrities

Betty White was a national treasure. Her spunky personality and feisty comebacks have helped her remain a household name for eight decades - and her talents in Hollywood only scratch the surface of the wonder&nbsp;she was.

In her almost century of life, White accomplished some great feats in both her professional and personal life. And learning more about her only made us love her more.&nbsp;

Facts About Betty White We Just Learned That Made Us Love Her Even More

Mallory Weiler

Not all American tourists are bad. Repeat:&nbsp;not all American tourists are bad.

Many times, what&#39;s&nbsp;seen as insulting or questionable behavior is the result of culture shock or simple ignorance. <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-country-facts/pierce-nahigyan" target="_blank">Exploring new areas</a>, meeting new people, and taking in new experiences can be overwhelming, and Americans, like tourists from around the world, may react poorly.&nbsp;

Americans traveling abroad do have a bit of a reputation, however. <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ot15ym/non_americans_of_reddit_what_is_the_weirdest" target="_blank">Redditors offered up</a>&nbsp;examples of why that might be the case. Americans not only <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/things-americans-say-to-non-americans/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">say some weird things</a> to non-Americans, but they also behave in some questionable ways.

Are these things problematic? Sometimes. Insensitive?&nbsp;Often. Offensive? Unfortunately.&nbsp;On the whole, the behaviors of Americans overseas may make you laugh, sigh, or want to cry. Vote up the ones that are shocking enough they might just force you to do all three.

30+ Questionable Things Americans Have Done While Visiting Other Countries

Melissa Sartore

True Crime

From Agatha Christie to Clue, everybody loves a good &quot;whodunit&quot; mystery&nbsp;with a surprise&nbsp;ending. But sometimes, <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/little-known-mysteries-with-answers/jason-f-collins" target="_blank">truth is even stranger than fiction</a>. Many of these true crime stories seemed like open-and-shut cases. Too often, though,&nbsp;the public can jump to conclusions, ignoring all other possibilities. When investigators do the same, they set themselves up for major plot twists and sometimes even wrongful convictions.&nbsp;

True crime junkies may have heard of some of these <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unexplained-mysteries-that-were-solved/setareh-janda" target="_blank">mind-boggling&nbsp;mysteries</a> in the many rabbit holes of the internet, but others have flown completely under the radar. From the disturbing cases, to the ones with happy endings, to the&nbsp;multiple cases&nbsp;involving bubble gum, all of these unbelievable true crime plot twists will leave your head spinning.&nbsp;

12 True Crime Cases With Unexpected Plot Twists

True Crime Cases With Unexpected Plot Twists

Chrissy Rose

&quot;What haunts me is that in all the faces of all the bears that Treadwell ever filmed I discover no kinship, no understanding, no mercy. I see only the overwhelming indifference of nature,&quot; Werner Herzog <a href="https://www.fieldandstream.com/pages/grizzly-death-i-review-documentary-film-grizzly-man/" target="_blank">shares</a> at the end of his 2005 documentary Grizzly Man.&nbsp;Herzog&#39;s film follows Grizzly Man Timothy Treadwell for the 13 summers he spent&nbsp;camping in Alaska&#39;s Katmai National Park, integrating himself into its bear populations using unorthodox and dangerous methods. Treadwell&nbsp;himself documented many of his wildlife interactions over the years through video, photography, and audio.

Treadwell dedicated his life to educating the public about grizzlies - which are a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nps.gov/katm/learn/photosmultimedia/brown-bear-frequently-asked-questions.htm#2" target="_blank">subspecies of brown bears</a> - and treated them more like friendly companions than wild animals. Those familiar with him were not shocked when they found out&nbsp;how Timothy Treadwell died alongside his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard. The couple was&nbsp;mauled by a 28-year-old Alaskan brown bear in October 2003, and what happened to the Grizzly Man is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wernerherzog.com/main/de/html/films/films_details/links/59/Synopsis.html" target="_blank">the first fatal bear encounter</a>&nbsp;in the park.&nbsp;

How did a man known to <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2004/05/timothy-treadwell200405" target="_blank">hobble and groan like a bear</a> while claiming &quot;I am grizzly... I am grizzly...&quot; end up in the stomach of a creature he considered to be his best friend? It turns out Timothy Treadwell made a few serious miscalculations and errors in the weeks and days leading up to his and&nbsp;Huguenard&#39;s&nbsp;tragic end.&nbsp;

Everything That Had To Go Wrong For 'Grizzly Man' Timothy Treadwell To Meet His Fate

What Happened To Grizzly Man Timothy Treadwell?

Megan Summers

Lists about the true stories that inspired books, films, TV, and other stories you think you know. 

What Really Happened

When The <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-julie-andrews-facts/chrissy-rose?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Sound of Music</a> debuted on Broadway in 1959, many critics considered it to be too clean and sweet, and the 1965 movie earned similar reviews. The real story behind The Sound of Music, however, is nowhere near as pleasant. Possibly because the movie was based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, which was based on a German film, which was inspired by a family biography written by Maria von Trapp, The Sound of Music true story underwent an odd version of the &quot;telephone&quot; game to become the beloved film.

Although the movie tweaked The Sound of Music real-life story by changing the number of von Trapp children from 10 to seven, and gave them all different names and ages, it left out&nbsp;more significant true plot elements. Some of these changes were made to give the film tension, drama, and conflict, but The Sound of Music real story has&nbsp;plenty of drama and conflict itself.

Just because The Sound of Music&nbsp;is based on a real story, don&#39;t believe everything you see on screen. Although the von Trapp family did form a famous singing group, flee from occupied Austria, and travel to America (where they still run a Vermont ski lodge), the filmmakers invented many things depicted in the movie. Having earned praise for West Side Story, director Robert Wise used Julie Andrews&#39;s&nbsp;Mary Poppins stardom and sweet likability to create a sentimental version of the family&#39;s life, even if it wasn&#39;t completely true. Although the movie won numerous Oscars, Wise hurt many members of the von Trapp family, as well as any viewers expecting to see the family&#39;s real story on screen. How close is The Sound of Music to the real story? Not very.

The Real Story Behind ‘The Sound of Music’ Is Far More Depressing Than The Film

‘The Sound Of Music’: The True Story Is Far More Depressing Than The Movie 

Erin McCann

Music History

Stevie Nicks became a household name alongside Fleetwood Mac bandmates Lindsey Buckingham, Christine and John McVie, and&nbsp;Mick Fleetwood&nbsp;shortly after the 1977 release of Rumours. Though the notoriously fluid <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/fleetwood-mac-lineup-drama-history/sean-kelly" target="_blank">Fleetwood Mac</a>&nbsp;had released&nbsp;several albums prior to&nbsp;Rumours, the soft rock record&nbsp;is responsible for placing the band in the mainstream consciousness. However, it is also responsible for multiple affairs between <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/true-stories-behind-fleetwood-mac-rumours-album/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">Fleetwood Mac members</a>, tumultuous separations, and heartbreak.&nbsp;

Stories from <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/stevie-nicks-loves-and-hookups/celebrityhookups" target="_blank">Stevie Nicks&#39;s love life</a> are threaded throughout Rumours -&nbsp;&quot;Dreams&quot; is about her longtime partner Lindsey Buckingham - but her love affairs of the late &#39;70s were just the beginning of a series of romantic escapades. Aside from her&nbsp;laudable career, Nicks has endured incredible grief and heartache, as well as fairytale-level passion.

Nearly everyone&nbsp;who has dated Stevie Nicks speaks fondly of her,&nbsp;including the Eagles&#39; Don Henley and Joe Walsh - the latter of whom Nicks maintains was the love of her life. Even <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4L9F_dtB7OYC&amp;printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&amp;q=nicks&amp;f=false" target="_blank">Mick Fleetwood</a>, who thinks of Nicks as a sort of platonic soulmate, considers her and Buckingham to be&nbsp;eternally connected.&nbsp;

For her part, Nicks told&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/stevie-nicks-a-rock-goddess-looks-back-179984/" target="_blank">Rolling Stone</a>&nbsp;that she would be happy never marrying, as she&#39;s already &quot;had a lot of great relationships&quot; and her &quot;life today is great&quot; because of her friends and music.&nbsp;

Fascinating Stories From Stevie Nicks’s Love Life

Bailey Brown

Whether living in another country or merely taking a vacation, the differences in day-to-day life abroad can often cause homesickness and culture shock. Maybe it&#39;s how you order a coffee, or something as simple as the layout of a grocery store, but each country and culture tends to do things in their own unique way. In a larger country like the US, there may even be major cultural differences between <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/insult-statements-us-states/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">individual states</a>.

For those visiting from countries near and far, these <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/strange-american-customs/elle-tharp" target="_blank">distinctly American characteristics</a> came as quite the shock, whether positive or negative. Vote up the uniquely American ways of life that you won&#39;t find in the rest of the world.

Non-Americans Describe Their Biggest Culture Shocks In The US

Elle Tharp

Ancient History

Every so often, researchers dig up treasure troves of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-archaeological-facts/pierce-nahigyan" target="_blank">cool archaeological finds</a>. While some of those <a href="/list/mysterious-ancient-scientific-discoveries-and-inventions/kellen-perry" target="_blank">ancient discoveries are a mystery</a> to us, others are easily explainable. We know what the people of yesteryear used anchors, keys, and helmets for, but the fact that those artifacts survived hundreds - sometimes thousands - of years is pretty amazing.

The objects - and even entire villages, homes, or palaces&nbsp;- listed here may seem mundane at first glance, but once you realize just how long ago they were created, the only thing left to say is, &quot;Whoa.&quot;

25+ Archaeological Finds That Made Us Say ‘Whoa’

Exploring the real people, historical events, and behind the scenes of Netflix's series that follows the life of Queen Elizabeth II and her family.

The Crown

Entertainment

<a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a29849010/princess-alice-battenberg-the-crown-real-life/" target="_blank">Alice of Battenberg</a>, mother to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and mother-in-law to Queen Elizabeth II, was very much like <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/real-life-images-that-inspired-the-crown/rachel-souerbry" target="_blank">the figure depicted</a> in Season 3 of The Crown. She was born in Windsor Castle, spent much of her life living in Greece, and was generally regarded as a kind soul.

Alice of Battenberg lived many lives during her 84 years - she was wife to Prince Andrew of Greece, an exiled princess in Paris, a rescue worker during WWII, and a nun. She was born deaf and spent time in an asylum, just as the show indicates, but there are many more details about her fascinating life and her family&nbsp;that veer&nbsp;away from - and enhance - what The Crown would have you believe.

Princess Alice of Battenberg's Real Life Was Even More Dramatic Than What You Saw On 'The Crown'

Who Was Alice Of Battenberg?

Behind The Scenes

By the mid-1990s, Saturday Night Live&nbsp;was a mainstay of popular culture, one&nbsp;entering its third decade of programming. Despite some ups and downs over time, SNL&nbsp;introduced viewers to famous characters like Jake and Elwood Blues, Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar, and a host of others. The show&#39;s &quot;Weekend Update&quot; segment offered comedic takes on the news, infusing some laughs into current events.

Some of the show&#39;s funniest and most <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-snl-cast-members-of-the-90s/lisa-waugh" target="_blank">beloved performers</a> were part of&nbsp;SNL&#39;s Season 20 cast, including Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, and Kevin Nealon. The&nbsp;SNL&nbsp;cast, however, drastically changed from the last episode of Season 20&nbsp;to the debut episode of Season 21.

What happened during&nbsp;SNL Season 20 could have broken the show entirely.&nbsp;While viewers watched and (sometimes) laughed, critics <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/worst-season-of-saturday-night-live/best-of-snl" target="_blank">panned&nbsp;SNL</a>&nbsp;Season 20, calling it anything but funny and relevant. Off-screen, the writers, crew, and performers struggled to work together, much less produce content that wowed weekly audiences. When all is said and done, the ins and outs of the drama that took place during the 1994-1995 season&nbsp;might make you go back and see some of your favorite sketches in a whole new light.

The '94-'95 Season Of 'SNL' Is Now Considered A Classic, But It Almost Sabotaged The Show

Now A Classic, The '94-'95 Season Of SNL Almost Ended The Show

"Revenge is the act of passion; vengeance of justice." -Samuel Johnson

A Dish Best Served Cold

Revenge is a dish best served cold. Characters from Don Corleone in The Godfather to&nbsp;Mr. Spock in&nbsp;Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan have echoed this sentiment. It has been taken to mean that it&#39;s best to allow a cooling period and let the recipient of one&#39;s vengeance grow complacent so that one may strike when they least expect it. The phrase could also be interpreted as requiring the one delivering vengeance to be cold-blooded in order to enact the most terrible of revenge. Whatever the case, the temperature of vengeance is clear.

The inciting incident in all these cases changes, as do the players, as do the times. But what remains constant is the need to seek justice, right a wrong, and the unquenchable thirst to get the world to make more sense than it does at the moment. These&nbsp;historic&nbsp;acts of vengeance were ice-cold.

Historic Acts Of Revenge So Ice-Cold That They Gave Us Chills

Will Morgan

Comedy TV

Television in the 1950s brings to mind clean-cut characters living uncomplicated lives, maybe learning a lesson or two. Though real-life couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz brought one of that era&#39;s most beloved shows to television screens, the&nbsp;real story behind <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/behind-the-scenes-of-i-love-lucy/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">I Love Lucy</a> proved messy and convoluted. Married for 20 years and on-screen as&nbsp;the Ricardos for six, Lucy and Desi&#39;s&nbsp;relationship remains one of Hollywood&#39;s most fascinating love stories, filled with as much pain as&nbsp;passion.

A&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/young-lucille-ball/cari-fortier" target="_blank">young Ball worked her way up</a> from childhood without a father and&nbsp;adolescence spent mostly with her grandparents.&nbsp;In contrast, Arnaz grew up in a wealthy family in Cuba and fled with them to Miami after the Cuban Revolution. Despite their differences, Ball and Arnaz fell in love soon after meeting in Hollywood. Along with the ups and downs most couples experience, their marriage ultimately disintegrated due to hectic work schedules, infidelity, and alcohol. Despite this, the couple always maintained their love for one another, even years after their divorce. They left behind one of the most watched television shows in history, which has remained in the public consciousness, thanks to reruns.

Though the on-screen married couple on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-i-love-lucy-episodes/reference" target="_blank">I Love Lucy</a>&nbsp;was a version of the real-life couple, the true&nbsp;Arnaz and Ball stories&nbsp;prove their&nbsp;relationship was much more complicated.&nbsp;

The Complicated And Dark History Of Lucille Ball And Desi Arnaz's Marriage

Lucy And Desi: Dark Facts About Their Marriage

The original versions and real stories behind the fairy tales we've been whispering to sleepy children.

Once Upon a Time

You&#39;re probably more likely to know&nbsp;Charles Lutwidge Dodgson as British author Lewis Carroll. He wrote Alice&#39;s Adventures in Wonderland&nbsp;and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass.&nbsp;But what you may not know is how close a relationship he forged with a young girl named Alice Liddell, the real Alice in Wonderland, and the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-juana-maria/setareh-janda" target="_blank">inspiration behind his novels</a>. This relationship has&nbsp;been heavily studied and scrutinized, with many believing it had <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/true-story-that-inspired-nabokovs-lolita/nicky-benson" target="_blank">Lolita-esque aspirations.</a>

Dodgson wrote under a pseudonym, and the first in the series, often shortened to Alice in Wonderland,&nbsp;centers on the titular character falling into a rabbit hole and meeting a serious of fantastical creatures. The book is one of a few that&nbsp;has maintained its popularity despite being published over 150 years ago, like <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-the-real-laura-ingalls-wilder/amandasedlakhevener" target="_blank">Laura Ingalls Wilder&#39;s</a> Little House On The Prairie series.

Dodgson&nbsp;wasn&#39;t simply a writer. He studied mathematics at Oxford University and was a skilled photographer. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson photos are interesting due to their subject matter:&nbsp;over half of his surviving photographs depict prepubescent girls. Lewis Carroll and children go hand and hand - he&nbsp;loved children, and they loved him. But over the years, many have questioned his relationships with young girls, although there&#39;s no conclusive evidence that he acted on any&nbsp;inappropriate&nbsp;impulses.

The Real Alice In Wonderland Was An 11-Year-Old Girl Lewis Carroll Had An Unusual Relationship With

Turns Out The Real Alice In Wonderland Was An 11-Year-Old Girl Who Lewis Carroll Had A Demented Crush On

Noelle Talmon

Ranker Remembers

Often called &quot;The First Lady of Television,&quot; Betty White was a beloved and treasured presence on America&#39;s screens for much of the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/21-inventions-that-betty-white-is-older-than/chris-abraham" target="_blank">near-century she lived</a>. In addition to her well-known roles as a comedic actress, White was one of the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/things-you-didnt-know-about-betty-white/rebecca-shortall" target="_blank">first female television producers</a>,&nbsp;a competitive word-game maven, a devoted&nbsp;animal activist, and a WWII volunteer. Over the course of her long career, she <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-betty-white-facts/mallory-weiler" target="_blank">stood up for those around her</a> and paved a new path for older women in Hollywood. And she did it all with her famously snappy sense of humor.

White touched the lives of many people - her loved ones, her colleagues, and her many, many fans.&nbsp;From the people who were lucky enough to cross paths with the TV legend, there is&nbsp;no shortage of wonderful stories and tributes to her legacy. These are just a few of the moving memories that capture the essence of Betty, both on- and off-screen.

Firsthand Stories About Betty White From Those Who Knew Her

Firsthand Stories About Betty White

Weird History lists at Ranker - the ultimate source for lists and rankings in all categories

Weird History lists on Ranker

Weird History lists at Ranker - the ultimate source for hundreds of Weird History lists and rankings.

Weird, spooky, and tragic stories of people who passed in odd ways or on strange days.

Unusual Demises

Death

There were some strange deaths that have occurred during the 20th century and these are the most bizarre ways that people passed in the 1900s. The following list includes some the most unusual ways of passing imaginable. There are plenty of strange ways to perish, but these might be the strangest&nbsp;of all&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;unique and extremely rare circumstances that you can think of.

What are the most bizarre ways famous people have died in the last century? Do you know someone who swallowed a toothpick at a party and then perished because of peritonitis? Did you know about an actress who passed when she fell down a chimney, thinking it was a balcony? If not, read this list of all the unusual deaths of 20th century people who died in strange ways.

Unusual Deaths: Bizarre Deaths Of The 20th Century

Person

Bizarre Deaths | List of Unusual Ways To Die

Notable Famous Deaths

Before tickets even went on sale, every major motion picture employed dozens of people and cost thousands, if not millions, of dollars. Here is how some of them screwed it all up.

Famous Film Fails

Real accidents happen on the sets of big budget movies, but most of them don&#39;t cost the cast or crew their lives. Film productions follow a number of regulations to keep performers and crew members safe, but while shooting scenes of manufactured peril, performers sometimes put themselves in situations where the slightest miscalculation can quickly become deadly. Some occurred on <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/the-most-nausea-inducing-great-films/randolph" target="_blank">nausea-inducing sets</a>; others happened in seemingly commonplace situations.

What are some examples of people dying on movie sets? People have lost their lives on films as early as 1928&#39;s Noah&#39;s Ark. Here are some of the worst cases where mistakes and misfortune have collided to produce fatal consequences.

12 Film Sets On Which People Were Actually Killed

Film

Deaths on Movie Sets | List of Fatal Accidents During Film Productions

Matt Blackwood

Looking closer at the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe, a period during which artists, architects, politicians, scientists, and writers embraced humanism, bringing their society from the Middle Ages to the modern era.

The Renaissance

Weird

List of odd deaths that happened during the Renaissance, including some of the rumors and legends behind them. This list includes stories of people dying from laughter, a ruler who died due to shyness about using the restroom, and a man who was beaten to death with his own artificial limb. "The Renaissance" is a term used to refer to a broad cultural movement that swept across Europe from the 14th through the 17th century, as well as the period in European History that divides the Late Middle Ages from the beginnings of the modern era. Through the term is most typically used to refer to the Renaissance in Italy - which includes a number of the most famous writers, thinkers, and artists of the period - the Renaissance itself spread to a number of European nations, including Scandinavia, The Netherlands, England, France, Hungary, and Russia.Need more? Check out the most unusual murders of other eras such as the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/unusual-deaths-bizarre-deaths-during-the-middle-ages/notable-famous-deaths">odd deaths during the Middle Ages</a> and the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/unusual-deaths-bizarre-deaths-of-the-21st-century/notable-famous-deaths">bizarre deaths from the 21st century.</a>

The 9 Strangest Deaths of the Renaissance And Early Modern Eras

Renaissance Deaths | List of Strange Renaissance Era Killings

A look at major events that happened a long time ago and the people who played the biggest roles in shaping the world as we know it.

Historical Facts & Figures

Historical Figures

Some of the most prolific&nbsp;figures in history got off in ways that would have been considered untoward in their time.&nbsp;

Nowadays, many&nbsp;of the&nbsp;behaviors described here are seen as normal, or at least, somewhat so. But back in the day, some of these writers, revolutionaries, philosophers, and the like kept their sexuality&nbsp;and kinks a secret, only to be discovered decades after their passing by scholars and curious readers.

Perhaps if these legends were alive now, they would wave their flags proudly and let the world know what turns them on. Or not, and that&#39;s fine too; after all, it&#39;s nobody&#39;s business what you&#39;re into.

10 Historically Important Figures With Extra Colorful Personal Lives

The Most Historically Important Perverts Of All Time

Beau Iverson

Weird History

Ronald Reagan

Steve Jobs

Bill Gates

poll

A list of the Americans who have had the most central influence on, or importance to, the modern era. This would include Americans who have most significantly altered the course of events from roughly the 1980s onward. So while someone like Ronald Reagan or Steve Jobs might very well apply, figures like Franklin D. Roosevelt or even Martin Luther King Jr. would probably not be considered contemporary enough to qualify.Americans from every walk of life and every industry have managed to profoundly influence the country. This can include efforts to alter the culture or perspective of Americans, technological or scientific innovations that forever <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/ways-internet-changes-how-we-think/hannah-collins?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">changed the way</a> we live, business achievements which altered the course of one or multiple industries, or political decisions that permanently shifted later events in America and the world.Vote for the important Americans below you think had the greatest impact on the way we live today. Or if you don't see your selection, add it by making your own list.