793 US counties do not have a single McDonald's.

The US Foreign Service Institute estimates English speakers need around 24 weeks of study to learn French or Spanish.

At just 19, Charles V was elected Holy Roman Emperor on top of ruling Spain and the Low Countries.

Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, was founded in 1607.

The first US census in 1790 found New York was the largest city, with 33,131 people.

Northern India was at 40°C while the Tibetan Plateau, just across the Himalayas, was far colder.

In 1354 the Ottomans took Gallipoli, their first stronghold in Europe.

Europe's soils rated from 0 to 100 on their potential for growing crops.

In the 1881 census, Smith was the most common surname across most of north-east Scotland.

On his 1858 trip through Russia, Alexandre Dumas travelled as far as Baku on the Caspian Sea.

This is Europe in 500 AD, a generation after the last Western Roman emperor was deposed.

In 1881, most of the interior of Africa was still unexplored by Europeans.

Since 1980, the centre of the US population has sat west of the Mississippi River.

Most US states let you turn left on a red light, as long as you're going from one one-way street onto another.

Just 71,968 people in Ireland speak Irish daily outside school, according to the 2022 census.

Indiana's official demonym only changed from Indianan to Hoosier in 2016.

In 1107 King Sigurd I of Norway set sail for the Holy Land with a fleet of about 60 ships.

The Frome Hoard, found in a Somerset field in 2010, held 52,503 Roman coins in a single pot.

About 90% of the old-growth forest that stood in the contiguous United States in the 1600s has been cleared.

The Shipping Forecast divides the waters around the British Isles into 31 named sea areas.

Amtrak carried 34.5 million passengers in fiscal year 2025, an all-time record for the railway.