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The accidental release of methyl isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, immediately killed an estimated 3,000 people and ultimately resulted in the deaths of some 15,000 people. Another 500,000 survivors suffer from ailments related to the disaster. Recent documents, which came to light during a lawsuit against the company, reveal that Carbide had exported "untested, unproven technology" to India. What did a 2004 BBC investigation find at the disaster site?

In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro announced that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that, under his leadership, Cuba would become a Communist state. His announcement came nearly eight months after the disastrous, US-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion. Cuba's adoption of Communism, coupled with the country's proximity to the US, was a key element in the Cold War and continues to affect international relations. How many attempts have been made on Castro's life?

Called the "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement" by the US Congress, Rosa Parks was an African-American civil rights activist who became famous in 1955 for refusing to vacate her seat on a municipal bus for a white man. This act of civil disobedience sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which launched Martin Luther King, Jr. into prominence and became one of the largest and most successful movements against racial segregation. How many thousands of commuters took part in the boycott?

"Lucy," a 3.2 million-year-old female hominid of the species Australopithecus afarensis, was discovered by scientists in Ethiopia's Afar Depression. An unprecedented 40% intact, Lucy was the first fossil hominid to really capture public notice. Although she was 3 feet, 8 inches tall and looked somewhat like a chimpanzee, her bipedal knee structure indicates that she walked upright, like a human. What other human skeletal features did she possess?

The Imperial, or Meiji, Constitution was the fundamental law of the Empire of Japan from 1890 until 1947. Enacted after the Meiji Restoration, it provided for a form of constitutional monarchy based on the Prussian model. The constitution allowed the active Emperor to wield considerable political power, but the control was to be shared with an elected assembly. What did Ito Hirobumi, who was charged with drafting Japan's constitution, think of the different Western constitutions that he reviewed?

Nancy Witcher Astor, or Viscountess Astor, was the second woman elected to the British Parliament's House of Commons and the first to actually serve. She concentrated on women's issues, temperance, and child welfare, and was reelected many times, serving until 1945. Astor attracted a great deal of attention, much of it for her caustic and witty comments. She reportedly once said to Winston Churchill, "If you were my husband, I'd put arsenic in your coffee." What was his response?

The restoration of Colonial Williamsburg, one of the largest historic restorations ever undertaken, was championed by the Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who wanted to celebrate the early history of America. Today, Colonial Williamsburg is almost completely restored. It features shops, taverns, and open-air markets in the colonial style, and it has become a popular tourist destination. Of the approximately 500 buildings in the historic area, how many are original?

When Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon entered the tomb of the Egyptian King Tutankhamun, they were the first people to do so in approximately 3,000 years. The pharaoh's tomb was then the best preserved and most intact ever found in the Valley of the Kings. The discovery received worldwide press coverage and renewed public interest in ancient Egypt, for which Tutankhamun remains a popular icon. Whose death several months after the discovery gave popular credence to the "Curse of Tutankhamun"?

At the Battle of Montgisard, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, established by the First Crusade and led by Baldwin IV, defeated the renowned Kurdish military general Saladin. Learning of Saladin's plans to invade from Egypt, Baldwin's forces surprised his army en route and were triumphant despite inferior numbers. The kingdom enjoyed a year of peace before Saladin renewed his attacks, prompting another decade of warfare. What powerful Christian military order participated in the fighting?

Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to sight the island of Tasmania. He named it Anthoonij van Diemenslandt after the Governor of the Dutch East Indies. In 1803, Britain took possession of the island and established a penal colony there. The indigenous population numbered about 5,000 at the time of colonization but was subsequently decimated, leaving few survivors. In 2007, a task force was formed to eliminate what animal that was first brought to the island by European settlers?

This long-running science fiction program about a mysterious time-traveling adventurer known only as "the Doctor" has become a significant part of British popular culture. Despite its regular use of low-budget special effects, it was widely recognized for creative storytelling and innovative music. After 26 seasons and a TV movie, Doctor Who recently reappeared as a new series. What machine does the Doctor use to travel through time and space?

The assassination of John F. Kennedy while he was riding in a presidential motorcade in Dallas was a seminal event in American history. Although two official investigations have concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was the culprit, the assassination is still the subject of widespread speculation and has spawned a number of conspiracy theories. Who was the "Babushka Lady," and what was she doing at the time of the assassination?

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connects the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City. From the time of its completion until 1981, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world, with a center span of 4,260 feet (1,298 meters). The bridge furnishes a critical link in the local and regional highway system, and it is widely known today as the starting point for the New York City Marathon. The bridge was the last great public works project overseen by what famous "master builder"?

The Nuremberg Trials, which took place in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949, were a series of trials prosecuting Nazi officials for their participation in WWII and the Holocaust. The first and most famous of these trials, the Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, involved 24 of the most important leaders of Nazi Germany, 12 of whom were sentenced to death for crimes against humanity and other offenses. How were the death sentences carried out?

The Gettysburg Address, one of the most quoted speeches in US history, was delivered by President Lincoln at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and half months after the famous battle fought there. In approximately three minutes, Lincoln's address redefined the American Civil War as not merely a struggle for the Union, but as "a new birth of freedom" for the US and its people. Lincoln's address has drawn comparisons to what ancient speech?

Historians consider the Papal bull Unam sanctam—which proclaimed that there is no salvation outside of the Church—to be one of the most extreme statements of Papal spiritual supremacy ever made. It arose from the Pope's feud with Philip the Fair of France, in which each attempted to prevent the other from receiving money from taxes, and it highlights the conflict between temporal and spiritual authority in the Middle Ages. How did Philip respond to the bull?

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is a revolutionary group founded in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico. It views itself as the philosophical heir to the movement started by Emiliano Zapata in the early 20th century under the slogan "land and liberty." It represents indigenous people and is committed to opposing policies that hurt the working poor, especially farmers. The Zapatistas broke onto the international scene the same day that what agreement became operational?

The Sound of Music, with a score by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Mary Martin starred as Maria, and Theodore Bikel played the role of Captain Georg von Trapp. The Tony Award-winning production ran for 1,443 performances. Productions in London, Japan, and Australia followed, as did the phenomenally successful 1965 film, starring Julie Andrews. What are some of the differences between the stage and screen versions?

On this day, Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca deposed Emperor Pedro II, declared Brazil a republic, and began reorganizing the country's government. The republicans named Fonseca president, but his government was divided by the animosity between him and his vice president, Floriano Peixoto, and public opinion of the president soon soured. Instability and violence characterized the decade that followed. What export crop led to significant developments in Brazil's economy during this period?

Inspired by his whaling experiences on the South Seas, Herman Melville penned Moby-Dick, the now famed tale of a deranged whaling captain's obsessive voyage to find and destroy the great white whale to whom he lost his leg. The novel is at once an exciting sea story, a sociological critique of American prejudices, a repository of information about whaling, and a philosophical inquiry into the nature of good and evil. What may have inspired Melville to name his whale Moby-Dick?