Reminder that Argentina was once as rich as the US and Buenos Aires was "the Paris of South America".
So what happened?
Here's how it looked — and what it teaches us... (thread) 🧵
At the turn of the 20th century, Argentina was as rich as the U.S. per capita, GDP grew 6% annually, and its beach resorts looked like this.
4 million Europeans flocked there during its Belle Époque — dreaming of being "as rich as an Argentine".
It owed its wealth to its exports (beef and wheat mainly). These peaked at ~4% of all global trade in the 1920s, and Argentina was still as rich as much of Europe as late as 1950.
When Julius Caesar was assassinated, it wasn't by a lone attacker — it was a group of his rivals in the Senate.
Why? Because they feared his growing popularity with the common people.
Here's how it unfolded on March 15, 44 BC... (thread) 🧵
In 44 BC, Caesar was on a dramatic rise in popularity and power.
He had just put an end to the civil wars, defeated his rival Pompey, and showered Rome in military glory — expanding the Republic across Gaul and beyond (yellow areas).
He was also a beloved populist: he distributed land to the poor, forgave debt burdens, and expanded the Senate for greater participation.
But to his political rivals, it seemed he was on a trajectory to kingship...
In 1963, a man noticed his chickens disappearing through a hole in his basement.
He knocked through the wall, revealing what is hard to believe: a 20,000-person city, deep below ground.
It was built by Christians over 1,000 years ago... (thread) 🧵
He had stumbled across what was then the largest underground city ever found, near the town of Derinkuyu, in Turkey's Cappadocia region.
But what on earth was it for?
Christianity in Cappadocia is as ancient as it gets. Paul the Apostle himself established one of the first Christian communities here in the 1st century.
By the 4th century, Cappadocia's bishops played a major role in the Byzantine Empire.