In one of the previous editions Things You Should Know series, I had mentioned that some editions of this series will feature five such facts. Here is one such edition.
- Muhammad Ali Jinnah (pictured right) is seen as the major force behind the partition of India. But do you know that he was once called by Sarojini Naidu as the ‘Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity’. Jinnah died on September 11, 1948, from tuberculosis. On Jinnah's death, Nehru said this: "How shall we judge him? I have been very angry with him often during the past years. But now there is no bitterness in my thought of him, only a great sadness for all that has been ... he succeeded in his quest and gained his objective, but at what a cost and with what a difference from what he had imagined."
- Cuba is the largest island in the
Caribbean. In 1492, Christopher Columbus colonised it for Spain; the
island remained a Spanish colony till 1898. Spain had to cede the island to the United States after losing the 1898 Spanish-American War. Though a developing
country, it has high life expectancy, with average life expectancy at
birth at 78 years while literacy rate is 99.8%, with free education at all
levels.
- Silicon Alley is a nickname for an area with a concentration of Internet and new media companies in Manhattan, New York City. The name derives from Silicon Valley in California. The name is ironic; New York City contains no alleys since the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, which removed all remaining serviceable alleys.
- Mozambique was named Moçambique by the Portuguese after the Island of Mozambique, derived from Musa Al Big or Mossa Al Bique or Mussa Ben Mbiki, an Arab trader who first visited the island and later lived there.
- The first Apple logo featured Isaac Newton sitting under the famous Apple tree (see right). It was designed by Ron Wayne, a co-founder of Apple; Steve Jobs requested another logo design because he considered the Newton logo as too intellectual.
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