We’ve come a long way in the last couple of centuries and our lives have improved significantly. But the path to get to where we are now was not always easy. It was a constant battle for survival, while trying to improve our living conditions – wars, famine, diseases, but also triumph of human ingenuity and compassion. Priorities in life changed too as we progressed, so many things from the past might look strange to us today. Here are some significant moments from our history that will completely change the way you look at the present!

The first selfie ever


Today’s life can hardly be imagined without people snapping selfies all the time. You might think it is a rather recent invention, but the first selfie was taken a long time ago, we are talking about the 1800s, believe it or not. This photo dates back to 1837 when Robert Cornelius probably took the first selfie ever. And no, it was not taken by a smartphone nor posted on any social media websites.

The bulletproof vest testing


The Protective Garment Corporation of New York must have had a lot of faith in not only their product, the bulletproof vest, but also in the abilities of this man shooting the gun. A live demonstration of their state-of-the-art lightweight police vest was held in 1923, where they shot at the salesman wearing one. We don’t know if they made a pair of bulletproof pants as well, but it wouldn’t be shocking if the assistant needed a new pair after each demonstration.

The seal on Tutankhamen’s Tomb


The tombs of ancient Egyptian pharaohs are amazing wonders that intrigue scientists even today. It is almost unbelievable how ancient civilizations managed to build them, as well as mummify the pharaohs with such limited technology. One of the most famous ones is surely the tomb of Tutankhamen, which was opened on February 17, 1923. Scientists estimate that the tomb had remained intact for 3,245 years before the seal on the door was broken and the archeologists entered the gravesite of the famous pharaoh.

A 106-year-old warrior



You witness the strangest things in war. People have to fight for their bare lives, so no wonder this 106-years-old Armenian granny was holding an assault rifle. Certainly not what she was hoping to do at that age nor your typical grandma watching the TV or cooking your favorite food. It’s hard to believe that she was actually capable of using it, but would you take that chance?

Funny scientist


Albert Einstein was surely one of the greatest scientists ever, but he obviously had a funny side, too. Arthur Sasse got to capture this legendary photo of the Nobel prize winner at his birthday party in 1951. It portrays Einstein’s response after he was told to smile for a photo. Also, he might have had one too many beers, as well, but no one is judging, it was his birthday, after all.

Dream of flying


Ever since the legend of Icarus and possibly even before that, man dreamed of flying. And it finally happened in 1903, when the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, flew their wooden plane, the Wright Flyer, in North Carolina. It was the first sustained flight of a heavier-than-air object using its own power. They also engineered and built the plane themselves so that makes the feat even more admirable.

Cow shoes

During prohibition, the moonshiners used to smuggle the liquor. In order to avoid the authorities, they used all the tricks they could think of. One of the most famous tricks they used to hide from the cops included wearing “cow shoes”. The moonshiners made metal strips with carved wooden blocks to resemble cow hooves, and they attached them under their shoes to cover up their footprints. Human ingenuity really knows no boundaries...


The first photo ever



You might not think that this blurry image is a photo, but it is considered to be the oldest surviving photograph in existence. It was made by famous French photography pioneer Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826. It might not be what we call a photograph today, since it’s what you get when you remove the areas of a non-hardened asphalt from a pewter plate exposed to sunlight for eight hours. No wonder he did not take selfies.

Helmet testing


Although it is widely thought that this is the photo of a football helmet testing, it is in fact a safety demonstration by a British inventor W.T. Warren of a Protective Flight Helmet he invented. At the time, head injuries were the leading cause of pilot deaths in flight accidents, so he patented a leather-covered, spring-equipped pilot safety helmet, padded well with horsehair to spread the shock over a large area. If only he had a different testing method…

Lumberjacks


This photo from the early 1900s shows lumberjacks cutting down humongous redwoods in the costal area of northern California. Considering they used only saws and axes, it was impressive how they managed to bring down those giant trees. Furthermore, it is even more impressive how they managed to transport them using just horses and oxen, as well as further process them. But, it was the peak time for logging and nothing could stop the progress in the expanding America.

Left or right?


On 3. September 1967, Sweden changed from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right-hand side. Needless to say, it did not go smoothly, as can be seen in this photo. It even became known as the right-hand traffic diversion day, since quite a few people were late to work that day. It might seem simple enough, but habits are hard to change. Wonder how long did it take them?

Terrorist on vacation


You surely cannot recognize him in this photo at young age and without the beard, but it is Osama Bin Laden, once world’s most wanted terrorist. The photo was taken during the family vacation in Sweden in 1970. Can’t say for sure what was going on in his head then, but don’t think it was terrorist attacks. Just don’t understand how do you get from smiling in front of a pink limousine on a vacation to killing innocent people?

Michael Jackson 2000


In 1985, Ebony Magazine published the article “Portraits of the stars – What they may look like in the year 2000’, featuring many celebrities popular at the time. For Michael Jackson, they predicted that he’d age gracefully and increase his fan base tenfold. It is hard to judge the number of fans, but it did keep increasing over time. As for the looks, whether it was due to a skin condition or plastic surgery, it is safe to say they were wrong. Though, you can’t really blame them.

I have a dream

The Vintage News
One of the most famous speeches ever held was by Martin Luther King, the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, in front of more than 250,000 civil rights supporters during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on 28. August 1963. The main subject of the speech, which was considered to be the greatest call to end racism in America, were the freedom rights of the black people. He continued the fight for the rights of black people until his assassination in 1968.

RMS Titanic

Encyclopedia Britannica
Titanic was one of the most famous ships in history, although she sank on her maiden voyage. Being one of the most luxurious liners of the time, she tried to set the benchmark for other ships. In an effort to break the speed record for crossing the Atlantic ocean, she hit the iceberg on a foggy night of 14. April 1912 and sank several hours later, taking around 1,500 lives. We have to thank her for having way better regulations when it comes to passenger safety today.

Moon landing

Encyclopedia Britannica
Russia may have been the first in space (Yuri Gagarin on 12 April 1961) and on the moon (unmanned Luna 2 on 13 September 1959), but the US Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the moon on 20 July 1969. Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon, saying the famous words: “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind”. Quite the achievement, since it hasn’t been repeated since.

Nikola Tesla

Smithsonian
Most likely one of the most under-appreciated inventors of all time, Nikola Tesla was responsible for many inventions that we could not imagine our lives without today. He was way ahead of his time and often misunderstood, devoting his whole life to science and invention. He didn’t even mind when others used his patents for their inventions, all in favor of science and progress. Often mistreated by his patrons, he died a poor man in New York hotel room, leaving all his inventions to humanity.

These Unexplored Historical Photos Are Remarkable

Green Symbol In The Making, 1970


The recycling logo that you encounter every day has a history associated with it too. It happened when the Container Corporation of America organized a design competition in 1970 to mark Earth Day on April 22.

Gary Anderson, an engineering student went ahead to participate in it without any experience in graphic designing and came up with this symbol.

Anderson later revealed, “It didn’t take me long to come up with my design: a day or two. I almost hate to admit that now." But I’d already done a presentation on recycling waste water and I’d come up with a graphic that described the flow of water: from reservoirs through to consumption, so I already had arrows and arcs and angles in my mind.”

We all know the popularity that his design gained over the years.

Women In Medicine, 1885



This photo stands as a symbol of women’s power and strength.

We might want to look back at this shot taken on October 10, 1885, of three genius women at the Woman’s Medical College of Philadelphia and remember that they are capable of achieving great heights.

Another aspect of this photo is the diversity it depicts. These women belong to three different countries - India, Japan, and Syria and are dressed up in their traditional outfits.

All of them came to study medicine and become doctors despite the boundaries set for them. It wasn’t easy for women to step out of the four walls of their house but these women broke the stereotypes and landed in a new country to gain knowledge and earn respect!


5 MB Storage, 1956


This huge box is not any big machine or computer that is being transported from one place to another with the strength of over 4 people involved.

It’s a hard drive with a storage of 5 megabytes. That amount of storage and such enormous size of the hard drive! This storage was leased for $3,000 a month by the company that is equivalent to $30,000 today.

In contrast to this, we can carry more than 32 gigabytes on our phones daily. While 5 MB of IBM storage could only hold around 6 photos, that would not be quite helpful in the present generation of unlimited selfies at one time.

A Private Jazz Concert, 1961


This photo is iconic in every way as the people and the place in the picture carry significance!

Louis Armstrong is pictured with his wife, Lucille in 1961 at the Great Sphinx of Giza. She is fortunate to see her husband perform for her at one of the most amazing places in the world.

Armstrong made a big name for himself during the 1920s and became one of the greatest jazz musicians. He continued to be a star till the 1960s and “Satchmo” is still alive in our hearts.

That picture from the exclusive concert for his wife is just bringing back his tunes!

Ali vs Liston

Time 100 Photos
Mohamad Ali often repeated “I am the greatest!” and many will agree that he

was the greatest boxer who ever lived. He was known for many legendary fights against famous opponents – Joe Frazier, George Foreman to name the few, but the second fight against Sony Liston on 25. May 1965 produced this iconic photo. Neil Leifer, who took the photo, said it was all about being in the right spot at the right time and not missing the shot. Just like in life…

The Posture Queens, 1956


Presently, beauty pageants are focused on finding beauty with brains and that is fair enough. The participants are put through some tough tasks and tests and history is no different in this field except for one test that was conducted and had a separate title.
This title was associated with Chiropractic as it had just begun to be a profession during the 1950s and 1960s. This picture is straight out of a chiropractic convention held in Chicago in May of 1956.
These three ladies had the best standing posture as reflected through their X-rays. The task involved standing on a pair of scales with one foot on each. Clearly, these trophy holders balanced themselves perfectly.

Birthday In Iran, 1973


This picture is significant as it tells a different story about Iran and the women living there. This kind of set-up and outfit is not what we expect from the country presently.

Let’s travel back to 1973 Iran and this is one example of what it looked like back then. A woman is celebrating her birthday in Tehran by cutting a cake wearing a beautiful dress.

If we consider the current rules, women are instructed to wear the hijab. The outfit worn here can lead to punishment as its illegal considering the current rules. Iran has witnessed a drastic change since then.

SOURCE: https://www.illumeably.com/ic-article/unexplored-historical-pics/89/

What's Your Favorite Picture. And Why?

Life

Great pictures. I wish we could have such documentary pictures to tell the evolution of the Nigeria State from say 1870.
Showing whatever is available

Foreign pictures where is naija version?.

Still still our advance level of civilization is still less than 0.2.

Energy, energy, we are not making use of it at all to our advantage

In Category 6 Civilization, human race should be able to create their own planets themselves.. Like traveling from Earth to Jupiter to eat your favourite chocolate and return back within an hour.

Africa does not appreciate her peoples’ historical revolutions

Fantastic

Lifestone:
Great pictures. I wish we could have such documentary pictures to tell the evolution of the Nigeria State from say 1870.
Showing whatever is available

There was no Nigeria as at 1870. What we had then were numerous tribal kingdoms/empires independent of one another.

Kirigidi:
There was no Nigeria as at 1870. What we had then were numerous tribal kingdoms/empires independent of one another.

That's my point. The evolution of the Nigeria State.

Great

Cool.

These got me shook:

The bulletproof vest testing!

Osama Bin Laden on Vacation In Sweden!?

...Time & Change is a constant occurrence in Life

#Life

This must be explorer second handle

Bookmarked

Osama bin laden eyan lifeless bigot

Did you say 5 MB?








Guys wey no get girlfriend get peace of mind

I love this thread

Impressive

TheKingsmann:
I love this thread

me too.

Randerl:
Una no dey talk about historical Naija picx...

seriously Iran ladies been dey dress like that?? waytin come happen nau?

..... interesting