5 Fascinating Facts About America and American History You Are Dead Wrong About

We all took American history at some point in our lives. Whether it was in elementary school, high school or both and then some more, we've read books and listened to lectures regarding the history of America. As Americans, this information should be important to all of us, but it is largely ignored. Sure, we all know the basics... Christopher Columbus thought the Earth was round and then a few hundred years later we invented baseball. That's all of it right? Well things didn't go quite like that...

Consider this the course that you need to take to prepare yourself for that surefire spot on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Call it fifth grade social studies or perhaps a revisionist history of popular American myths, legends and lore. We should all know our fair share of American history, after all, there's only a couple of hundreds of years to look over.

In this article I'll look at the 5 most fascinating things I found out about America, American folklore and American history.

1. Bison Bill - By Bison Bill, I'm referring to Buffalo Bill, famed American cowboy and entertainer. The problem with the name "Buffalo" Bill is that there are no buffalo in the United States, or anywhere in North America. There are however bison, just much fewer than there used to be. Buffalo Bill did not love his misnamed-sake animals. On the contrary, he killed over 4,000 of them in a period of just 18 months while working for a railroad company in the 1860s.

2. The Name "America" - Just like Buffalo Bill has a different namesake than would seem, so does America. Most cite Italian cartographer Amerigo Vespucci as the one America is named for. But more evidence points to America being named after Richard Ameryk, the primary backer of John Cabot's expeditions to what would become Canada. These expeditions happened before Vespucci's trips to what would be South America. What do we Americans know about American history if we can't even get the name straight?

3. George Washington's Teeth - Despite the popular American folklore, George Washington's teeth were most certainly not made from wood. In fact, none of the many sets of false teeth he owned and used were made from wood. The teeth he wore while president were primarily made from hippopotamus ivory, elephant ivory and gold. The most common false teeth of the day were made from real human teeth, taken from dead but healthy individuals. Therefore the most common place to find yourself a new pair of chompers was a battlefield. False teeth were known as "Waterloo teeth" for years after 50,000 men died in that battle, bestowing their bounties of teeth upon the rest of society.

4. Where Was Baseball Invented? - Sorry to break the news to you blokes, but baseball was not invented in America. Just stab me in the back and take away another piece of American history from me why don't ya! It was invented in England and the earliest written record of the game appears in a book in 1744. This is just a bit before the 1839 date fraudulently provided as the time when Abner Doubleday "invented" baseball in Cooperstown, New York. The one American who the modern game can most be attributed back to Alexander Cartwright, a volunteer firefighter in New York who first diagramed the classic diamond-shaped field. At least we don't have to stand up and drink tea during the 7th inning stretch; I'll stick with a hot dog, thanks.

5. A Pear Shaped World - Well, American history has taught us one thing correctly. No, George Washington's teeth weren't wooden, we think we're named for the wrong person and our national pastime isn't technically national; but we do know Christopher Columbus set sail to prove the world was round! (I won't touch the Christopher Columbus "discovered" America bit with a 10 foot pole). Sigh, not quite. Christopher Columbus was convinced that the planet was pear-shaped and was about a quarter of the size it turned out to be. Pear-shaped? Really Chris? At least it gives us something delicious to eat on the next Columbus Day!

Sources: John Lloyd and John Mitchinson, The Book of General Ignorance. Harmony Books, 2006.