History SmallReferencePools / RealLife

** African jungle animals will consist of gorillas, chimpanzees, lemurs, colobus monkeys, bongo antelopes, okapis, leopards, pythons, geckos, chameleons, hornbills, parrots and mosquitoes.

* South Asian and South East Asian jungles will only show Indian elephants, Indian rhinoceroses, wolves, macaques, gibbons, langurs, proboscis monkeys (famous for their noses), orangutans, tigers, leopards, civet cats, jackals, black bears, striped hyenas, mongoose, cranes, peafowl, salamanders, catfish, king cobras, pythons, Komodo dragons, tapirs, hornbills, babirusas, bearded pigs, gharials (crocodilians with thin snouts) and the kantjil (mousedeer or chevrotain).

** TheEighties: Fondly remembered for Creator/{{CNN}}, Creator/{{MTV}}, SynthPop, Music/MichaelJackson, Music/{{Madonna}}, Live-Aid, {{Hiphop}}, GothRock, HouseMusic, arcade video games, VideoGame/PacMan, Creator/{{Nintendo}}, the walkman, the marriage of Prince Charles and Diana, blockbuster action films starring Creator/SylvesterStallone and Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, Lech Walesa, UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev's reforms, the fall of the Iron Curtain and UsefulNotes/BerlinWall. All young people engage in breakdancing, skateboarding, and weary EightiesHair or are a ValleyGirl. People feel less nostalgic towards the AIDS epidemic, the crack cocaine craze, the assassination of Music/JohnLennon, Roberto Calvi and Olof Palme, the Falklands War, the Challenger explosion, the Irangate affair, the USA backing the overthrow of the socialist government in Nicaragua, the Iran-Iraq War, the USSR-Afghan war, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, economic recession and unemployment under [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Reaganomics]] and [[UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher Thatcherism]], big-money televangelism and subsequent scandals, the rise of the far-right in many Western countries, US and USSR tensions resulting in fear for nuclear missile escalation, Creator/SalmanRushdie being put under a fatwa, the Latin American debt crisis…

* When you visit Paris [[EiffelTowerEffect the Eiffel Tower HAS to be present]] somewhere in the background! And Arc de Triomphe. If your characters visit other landmarks it will be the Louvre and only to see the ''Art/MonaLisa''.

* UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance (late 1450s - 1650): Any reference to this time period will always be set in Italy, despite the tendency to have Renaissance fairs be set in England and be more close to Middle Ages imagery. The Renaissance will only consist of references made to the ''Art/MonaLisa'', the ''Art/TheLastSupper'', the Art/SistineChapel, the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, and Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti's ''Art/{{David}}''. Cameo appearances by Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti, Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli, Petrarch, Giacomo Savaranola, Creator/GiovanniBoccaccio, Creator/SandroBotticelli, Creator/RaphaelSanzio, Donatello, UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI,... are mandatory. In Britain, this is the Shakespearean age, so expect Creator/WilliamShakespeare, UsefulNotes/HenryVIII, UsefulNotes/ElizabethI and UsefulNotes/MaryTudor, UsefulNotes/MaryQueenOfScots, UsefulNotes/AnneBoleyn, UsefulNotes/SirFrancisDrake, Sir Walter Raleigh,... to be namedropped or have a cameo. Spain and Portugal engage in the age of WoodenShipsAndIronMen, but to most people, this is just UsefulNotes/HernanCortez and Francisco Pizzarro and other conquistadores massacring Aztecs and Incas in some {{Mayincatec}} empire. But the most important event is Martin Luther establishing Protestantism and the Reformation and the Contra-Reformation happening as a result. A close second is UsefulNotes/JohannesGutenberg inventing the printing device. In terms of War we have the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Year's War to reference. This is also the most prominent era to reference Charles V and Philippe II of Spain, Ivan the Terrible, Creator/PieterBruegelTheElder, Albrecht Dürer, Titian, William the Silent/William of Orange, UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}}, Creator/RembrandtVanRijn, Creator/JohannesVermeer, Creator/PeterPaulRubens, Caravaggio, Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek, Galileo Galilei, ... In terms of fashion: everybody wears a ruff [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruff_%28clothing%29]].

* Australian wildlife is probably more famous than its citizens: kangaroos and wallabies, koalas, kookaburras, Tasmanian devils, emus, echidnas, dingoes, platypuses, Red Back and Sydney-funnel-web spiders,...

** The dinosaur age will always be depicted as one general era, instead of a succession of different time periods. So expect all dinosaurs to be shown together despite the fact that some have never co-existed with one another. The 'Tyrannosaurus rex'' is the most important dinosaur everybody remembers and will recognize by name. It will be seen attacking a herbivore dinosaur at one point, for dramatic effect, preferably a Brontosaurus, Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, Parasaurolophus, and/or a Triceratops because those are the only ones the general public will be familiar with. Thanks to the success of ''Film/JurassicPark'' the [[RaptorAttack Velociraptors have also gained some infamy]]. The air will be inhabited with [[PteroSoarer Pterodactyls and Pteranodons]] and the seas and rivers with Plesiosaurs and Mosasaurs. The landscape is usually a large open field with a lot of volcanoes, so it's easier to see how huge these beasts are. The climate will always be warm and tropical, due to the endless population of reptiles. Also expect many people to assume that [[PrehistoricMonster all dinosaurs are huge carnivorous beasts]]. Ah, yes, and at one point a [[TheCretaceousIsAlwaysDoomed giant asteroid will destroy everything, so time travelers need to leave fast]].

* The 2 regions in Belgium are Flanders and Wallonia and someday they will be separated because the border between the 2 regions clearly separates them already. One can pity the fact that the small region of the German speaking population, consisting of Eupen etc. almost never gets mentioned ever and also that sometimes the population of Brussels is taken as a separate region as well. The line in between Flanders and Wallonia is also purely artificial. The French speaking fandom actually wanted a line that segregated the 2 cultures well and even demanded a segregation based on voting, but the Dutch speaking fandom wanted to create the line on pure artificial merits because thanks to the fact that Dutch speaking people [[LesCollaborateurs collaborated more with the Germans than with others]] during ''UsefulNotes/WorldWarII'' such a thing would give a very unfair view of Dutch culture. Eventually they settled to create a purely artificial border between the two.

* On that note, all irreligious people are full-blown atheists. There are no agnostics, deists, spiritual but not religious, or people who just don't really care.

** Desert animals will always be shown in North Africa or the Middle East. If they do you're bound to see camels, dromedaries, sidewinders, scorpions, meerkats, tarantulas, desert lizards, fennec foxes, and mongoose.

** During the Cold War, it was believed in the West that the only people living in Siberia were forced there for being political dissidents, because of course, nobody would actually ''[[PlaceWorseThanDeath want]]'' to live in Siberia. Likewise, all dissidents are total converts to liberal democracy and not, as Creator/AlexanderSolzhenitsyn turned out to be, neo-Slavophile anti-Westerners who are quite right-wing and only barely restrain their anti-semitism.

* UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}: UsefulNotes/RioDeJaneiro, bringing in view Christ the Redeemer Statue, the Carnival and Copacabana Beach. The favelas are another notorious location in Rio, but the government wants you to forget and ignore this problem. Rio is still more famous than the capital city, UsefulNotes/{{Brasilia}} or largest city Sao Paulo. Every other square meter of the country is either wild rainforest or newly-decimated landscape that ''used'' to be rainforest.

* UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} is UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}} and UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}}. UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}}, for those old enough to remember the 1976 Olympic Games. UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}} and UsefulNotes/{{Ontario}}, if you're lucky. UsefulNotes/{{Winnipeg}} because it sounds funny ([[Wrestling/ChrisJericho I'm from Winnipeg, you idiot!]])

* UsefulNotes/{{Congo}}: Known for two literary classics: ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'' and ''Recap/TintinTintinInTheCongo''.

* UsefulNotes/TheFalklands: Known for the Falkland War in 1982.

* UsefulNotes/{{Polynesia}}: Some isles you might have heard from: Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, French Polynesia, Samoa, Tahiti, the Solomon Isles, the Cook Isles and the Easter Island. Apart from the Easter Island, best known for its huge Moai statues, most people wouldn't be able to name one specifically unique thing about these isles.

* UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}}: The only Swiss cities that exist in the public consciousness are Zürich and Geneva. The former is best known as a financial giant. The latter city is famous for being the birthplace of UsefulNotes/{{Calvinism}} and the center of the World Health Organization and World Council of Churches, among other institutions. The Geneva Conventions were also signed here, concerning the treatment of wartime non-combatants and prisoners of war. Usually one of these two cities is thought to be the capital, instead of Bern. All other Swiss locations exist purely as ski resorts.

*** UsefulNotes/{{Kansas}}: May bring up associations with the song ''Kansas City'', the black-and-white scenes in ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' and as the residence of [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]].

* Hackers? Since most of them work under pseudonyms and are only famous for about a week they are forgotten easily. The only ones that are widely known are Edward Snowden and Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning due to their participation in the WikiLeaks scandals in the early 2010s.

* Circus directors? Creator/BuffaloBill and Creator/PTBarnum.

* Illusionists and magicians? Creator/HarryHoudini and Creator/UriGeller. If you need a more recent one Creator/DavidCopperfield, Siegfried and Roy and Creator/PennAndTeller.

** BibleTimes: The rest of ancient Middle Eastern history will describe events from The Old Testament, usually with most of the focus on Moses and UsefulNotes/KingDavid, but often more [[Literature/BookOfExodus from a religious perspective]] rather than a historical one. The New Testament, of course, focuses mostly on the life of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, but typically ends after his crucifixion. Everybody wears long robes and is oppressed by Egyptians, Philistines or Romans. Also expect a lot of prophets walking around.

** UsefulNotes/AncientGreece: Once again a civilization that lasted for more than a thousand years and will often be represented in a condensed version, with people, art and institutions from different eras co-existing at the same time. The only time periods that are commonly referenced are UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar, the UsefulNotes/GrecoPersianWars, UsefulNotes/ThePeloponnesianWar and Classical Greece, home of the first philosophers. All action will take place in Athens, Sparta or Troy and more specifically in a Greek parliament, theatre, temple, the Acropolis, Parthenon, Oracle of Delphi, Epidaurus Theater and some of the Ancient Wonders of the World should be referenced too. Everybody is a politician, law-maker, [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warrior]], [[ThePhilosopher philosopher]] or an athlete at the UsefulNotes/OlympicGames, preferably a marathon runner, disc thrower, wrestler or chariot racer. The Trojan War will completely be based on ''Literature/TheIliad'' and ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' and thus mix facts with mythology. Sparta makes up for some ProudWarriorRaceGuy and TheSpartanWay. Expect cameos or references to people like UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat, Pericles, Creator/{{Socrates}}, Creator/{{Plato}}, Creator/{{Archimedes}}, Creator/{{Aristotle}}, Diogenes, Creator/{{Aeschylus}}, Creator/{{Aristophanes}}, Creator/{{Euripides}}, Creator/{{Sophocles}}, Creator/{{Homer}}, Creator/{{Thucydides}}, Creator/{{Sappho}}, Creator/{{Xenophon}}, ... who will conveniently all be depicted living in the same era.

** AncientRome: The only time when UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic will be depicted is near the end, when it evolved into UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire. The rise and murder of UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar is usually the focus. The story may continue until the defeat and death of Mark Anthony and UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII and UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}} taking power. The fashions and politics depicted will be from this period no matter what century it is.[[note]]Creator/RidleyScott's ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' is one of the best-known examples of this. The senators scheming to restore republican government are also anachronistic - it's about as realistic as portraying scheming 20th century British parliamentarians trying to restore the House of Stuart.[[/note]]. The only other historical events that are interesting are the Pompeïi volcano disaster, the Great Fire of Rome, the [[GladiatorRevolt slave revolt]] of Spartacus, Hannibal crossing the Alps and the eventual invasion of the city by barbarians. The empire is far more interesting for most people, because it allows scenes of grotesque decadent and immoral behaviour and the opportunity to show [[UsefulNotes/TheGloryThatWasRome Rome in all of its magnificent glory]]. Naturally all action is concentrated in Rome, except perhaps to show some people battling in Gaul or Carthage. Still, Roman life will only take place in or nearby aquaducts, temples, columns, amphitheaters, bath houses, the Senate, the Imperial Palace and [[BreadAndCircuses an arena]], preferably the Colosseum, where [[GladiatorGames gladiators and large animals will kill one another for blood thirsty spectators]]. Romans will all wear togas and be a [[ColorCodedPatrician patrician]], senator, [[TheCaligula emperor]], gladiator, legionary, centurion or [[MadeASlave a slave]]. Most people think every Roman spoke Latin, while upperclass people in Rome spoke Ancient Greek. Expect the following historical domain characters to make a cameo or be namedropped: UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar, Pompey, Marc Anthony, UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}, UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}}, UsefulNotes/{{Nero}}, Trajan, Hadrian, Caracalla, Elagabalus, Constantine, Marcus Aurelius, Hannibal, Spartacus, Creator/{{Cicero}}, Creator/{{Virgil}}, Messalina, Agrippina, Creator/{{Juvenal}}, Creator/{{Plautus}}, Sallust, Creator/{{Tacitus}} and Creator/{{Ovid}}.

** UsefulNotes/DichterAndDenker: Late 18th and early 19th century romantic German art, literature and poetry are often a combination of a lot of people walking around in forests, nearby lakes and contemplating suicide over love affairs or being an unappreciated genius. Typical authors associated with this time period are Novalis, Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe, Creator/ETAHoffmann and Creator/FriedrichSchiller. Musicians will be Music/LudwigVanBeethoven, Music/FranzSchubert, Music/JohannesBrahms, Music/FelixMendelssohn and Music/RobertSchumann. Painters are Caspar David Friedrich and Carl Spitzweg.

** The Industrial Revolution: The 19th century is the age when factories exploited workers for low wages and inhuman working circumstances, including child labor. This naturally leads to new political ideas, like UsefulNotes/{{Communism}}, UsefulNotes/{{Socialism}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Anarchism}}. Expect many Dickensian clichés to pop up, like orphanages and poor man's houses. Women in this era will be suffragettes who demand the right to vote.

** Stories about artists will preferably be set in Paris and revolve around impressionist, expressionist, or realist painters who are misunderstood by everybody: Creator/VincentVanGogh, Creator/HenriDeToulouseLautrec, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-August Renoir, Paul Signac, [[Art/ASundayAfternoonOnTheIslandOfLaGrandeJatte Georges Seurat]], [[Art/LeDejeunerSurLHerbe Édouard Manet]], Creator/GustaveCourbet, Auguste Rodin... They will drink absinthe and visit brothels, while prostitutes [[Music/TheCanCanSong dance the Can-Can]] in the Moulin Rouge. Naturally we also see the [[EiffelTowerEffect Eiffel Tower]]. Cameo appearances or references to Creator/VictorHugo, Creator/AlexandreDumas, Creator/HonoreDeBalzac, Creator/PaulVerlaine, Creator/ArthurRimbaud, Creator/EmileZola, Music/ErikSatie are not uncommon either.
** TheWildWest: Arguably one of the most popular eras for romanticizing is the era of the cowboys, with all TheWestern clichés you can imagine: BarBrawl, GoldFever, TheSheriff, ShowdownAtHighNoon, BountyHunter, TheGunslinger, TarAndFeathers, WantedPoster,... pioneers riding in stagecoaches under attack of outlaws or Native Americans,... Will typically be depicted as a mythical era with hardly any reference to historically true events, except perhaps the Goldrush of 1848, UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar and/or the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Expect some sugarcoating over the fact that slavery of black people was still in effect and that the wars against Native Americans for their country were going on until the 1890s. Important people to make cameo's or be namedropped are UsefulNotes/BillyTheKid, UsefulNotes/JesseJames, UsefulNotes/CalamityJane, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Creator/BuffaloBill, Creator/MarkTwain, the Hatfield and [=McCoy=] feud, Roy Bean, Wild Bill Hickok, Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Harriet Beecher Stowe, UsefulNotes/HarrietTubman, John Brown, UsefulNotes/FrederickDouglass, Belle Starr, UsefulNotes/DavyCrockett,...

** Important 19th century people to namedrop or have a cameo during this era are UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria, UsefulNotes/BenjaminDisraeli, UsefulNotes/OttoVonBismarck, UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin, Music/LudwigVanBeethoven, Creator/CharlesDickens, Creator/LordByron, Creator/AlfredLordTennyson, Music/RichardWagner, Creator/JulesVerne, Creator/VictorHugo, Creator/HonoreDeBalzac, Creator/LewisCarroll, Creator/JaneAusten, Creator/EdgarAllanPoe, Creator/GilbertAndSullivan, UsefulNotes/SimonBolivar, Creator/KarlMarx, David Livingstone, Henry Morton Stanley, Cecil Rhodes, Creator/SarahBernhardt, Alfred Nobel, UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison, UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla, Florence Nightingale, UsefulNotes/ShakaZulu,...

** GreatDetective novel: The late 19th century and early 20th century are the best place for detective stories, such as ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'', ''Literature/MissMarple'', ''Literature/HerculePoirot'', ''Literature/InspectorMaigret'',...

** TheRoaringTwenties and GenteelInterbellumSetting: A happy, carefree time where people sing and dance to {{Jazz}} while smoking and drinking in shady nightclubs. In the USA alcohol is banned during this time period, so when people do consume liquor it's usually illegal. All women are [[TheFlapper flappers]] with a TwentiesBobHaircut. Other pastimes are the cinema, Broadway theatre or radio plays. The only negative aspect about these years are [[DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster gangsters and mobsters rubbing people out]] in the USA and UsefulNotes/{{Fascism}} rising in Italy. Important people to have a cameo are UsefulNotes/AlCapone, Eliot Ness, Creator/AlJolson, Charles Lindbergh, Creator/BabeRuth, UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini, Kemal Atatürk, Music/LouisArmstrong, Music/CabCalloway, Music/BessieSmith, Music/DukeEllington, Music/GeorgeGershwin, Music/CountBasie, Music/BennyGoodman, UsefulNotes/ChiangKaiShek, UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi,...
** GayParee: The 1920s and 1930s are the most interesting hotspot for cultural and intellectual people: Creator/PabloPicasso, Music/IgorStravinsky, UsefulNotes/CocoChanel, Creator/JosephineBaker, Creator/JamesJoyce, Creator/GertrudeStein, Creator/JeanCocteau, Creator/SalvadorDali, Creator/FScottFitzgerald, Creator/MauriceChevalier, Le Corbusier, Margot Fonteyn, Music/DjangoReinhardt, Creator/ErnestHemingway, Creator/JeanPaulSartre and Creator/SimoneDeBeauvoir,... can all be spotted here.

** UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood: When referring to EarlyFilms the only silent movie stars to reference are Creator/FlorenceLawrence, aka "The Biograph Girl", Creator/DouglasFairbanks, Creator/MaryPickford, Creator/ErichVonStroheim, The Keystone Cops, Creator/MaryPickford, Creator/MaxLinder, Creator/ThedaBara, Creator/GretaGarbo, Creator/LouiseBrooks, Film/RinTinTin, Creator/RudolphValentino, Creator/ClaraBow, Creator/FattyArbuckle, Creator/BusterKeaton, Creator/HaroldLloyd and of course Creator/CharlieChaplin.
** TheGreatDepression: People worldwide look for jobs, but can't find any. In Germany this is particular bad because it will lead many to vote for UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. In the USA this time period is particularly associated with poor people in TheDeepSouth, bank robbers and gangsters like Bonnie & Clyde, Ma Barker, John Dillinger, Babyface Nelson and Pretty Boyd Floyd and the F.B.I. led by UsefulNotes/EdgarJHoover trying to track them down. Still the era is subject to some romanticism, as many great {{Jazz}}, {{Blues}}, {{Bluegrass}}, CountryMusic, FolkMusic tunes were recorded during this era. Expect references be made to artists like Music/RobertJohnson, Music/GeneKrupa, Music/WoodyGuthrie, Music/GlennMiller and Music/BillieHoliday, for instance.

** There's a very short list of events and people which make the cut. The invasions of Poland and France, Battle of Britain, (as of very recently) Battle of Stalingrad, Pearl Harbor, D-Day, UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust, Hitler's suicide and UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki. Key people in this event are UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler, Erich von Manstein, UsefulNotes/ErwinRommel, UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini, UsefulNotes/{{Hirohito}}, UsefulNotes/HidekiTojo, Isoroku Yamamoto, UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill, UsefulNotes/JosefStalin, Zhukov (maybe), UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt, UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle, Henri Pétain (maybe), UsefulNotes/GeorgeSPatton, UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower, UsefulNotes/BernardLawMontgomery, Chester Nimitz and UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur. Some war victims and resistance heroes like Anne Frank, Sophie Scholl, Raoul Wallenberg, Janusz Korczak... may get a mention too, but mostly in their countries of origin. Expect the French, Polish and other continental resistance movements not to get a mention elsewhere.

** "England" has only had four sovereigns: UsefulNotes/HenryVIII, UsefulNotes/ElizabethI, UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria, and UsefulNotes/ElizabethII. The English themselves also know of three others -- UsefulNotes/WilliamTheConqueror, Henry II, and UsefulNotes/AlfredTheGreat. Americans know King George III. For obvious reasons. Scots probably know of [[UsefulNotes/EdwardTheSecond Edward Longshanks]] as well. Cultivated people will also know UsefulNotes/RichardIII from Shakespeare's play ''Theatre/RichardIII''. King James is best known for his Bible, otherwise he's only known in Scotland.

* Asked to name a periodical for scientists, the average American will name ''National Geographic'' (which isn't one) or maybe ''ScientificAmerican'' (which is, if you're feeling generous). Asked to name a scientific ''journal'', they '''might''' come up with the ''AMA Journal'' or, if they were science geeks in school, ''Nature''.

* UsefulNotes/NikolausCopernicus, who died before he was actually persecuted by the church. He was a German living in Prussia, today Poland, because we've already covered that there's nothing of note in Central Europe.

* Ottoman Sultans? Suleiman the Magnificent.

* The Stone Age (OneMillionBC to 4,000 BC)

* When you visit Paris [[EiffelTowerEffect the Eiffel Tower HAS to be present]] somewhere in the background! And Arc de Triomphe. If your characters visit other landmarks it will be the Louvre and only to see the Mona Lisa.

* British readers, [[WeAllLiveInAmerica on the other hand]] may be limited to

* Furthermore, all irreligious people are full-blown atheists. There are no agnostics, deists, spiritual but not religious, or people who just don't really care.

* Furthermore, all irreligious people are [[HollywoodAtheist full-blown hard atheists]]. There are no agnostics, deists, spiritual but not religious, or people who just don't really care.

* Furthermore, all irreligious people are [[Hollywood Atheist full-blown hard atheists]]. There are no agnostics, deists, spiritual but not religious, or people who just don't really care.

* Furthermore, all irreligious people are full-blown hard atheists. There are no agnostics, deists, spiritual but not religious, or people who just don't really care.

* Furthermore, all irreligious people are full-blown atheists. There are no agnostics, deists, spiritual but not religious, or people who just don't really care.

* All Scandinavians/Nordic people are tall, blonde and have blue eyes, as well as left-wing sexually liberal atheists (because irreligion automatically equals atheism).

* All Scandinavians/Nordic people are tall, blonde and have blue eyes, as well as left-wing sexually liberal atheists.

* All Scandinavians are tall, blonde and have blue eyes. And sexually liberal atheists.

** Stories about artists will preferably be set in Paris and revolve around impressionist, expressionist, or realist painters who are misunderstood by everybody: Creator/VincentVanGogh, Creator/HenriDeToulouseLautrec, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-August Renoir, Paul Signac, Georges Seurat, [[Art/LeDejeunerSurLHerbe Édouard Manet]], Creator/GustaveCourbet, Auguste Rodin... They will drink absinthe and visit brothels, while prostitutes [[Music/TheCanCanSong dance the Can-Can]] in the Moulin Rouge. Naturally we also see the [[EiffelTowerEffect Eiffel Tower]]. Cameo appearances or references to Creator/VictorHugo, Creator/AlexandreDumas, Creator/HonoreDeBalzac, Creator/PaulVerlaine, Creator/ArthurRimbaud, Creator/EmileZola, Music/ErikSatie are not uncommon either.

** African jungle animals will consist of gorillas, chimpanzees, lemurs, colobus monkeys, makis, bongo antelopes, okapis, leopards, geckos, chameleons, hornbills, parrots and mosquitoes.

* In the Latin American mountains people will only be able to name llamas, alpacas, vicunjas and condors.

** Queen Nefertiti, whom most people wouldn't recognize by name, but would recognize from [[http://www.edu.pe.ca/rural/class_webs/art/images/Nefertiti.jpg a certain statue of her]]. Incidentally, Nefertiti just happens to be King Tut's stepmother. And his mother-in-law.

** The Industrial Revolution: The 19th century is the age when factories exploited workers for low wages and inhuman working circumstances, including child labor. This naturally leads to new political ideas, like UsefulNotes/{{Communism}}, UsefulNotes/{{Socialism}} and UsefulNotes/{{Anarchism}}. Expect many Dickensian clichés to pop up, like orphanages and poor man's houses. Women in this era will be suffragettes who demand the right to vote.

** Stories about artists will preferably be set in Paris and revolve around impressionist, expressionist or realist painters who are misunderstood by everybody: Creator/VincentVanGogh, Creator/HenriDeToulouseLautrec, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-August Renoir, Paul Signac, Georges Seurat, Édouard Manet, Gustave Courbet, Auguste Rodin, ... They will drink absinthe and visit brothels, while prostitutes [[Music/TheCanCanSong dance the Can-Can]] in the Moulin Rouge. Naturally we also see the [[EiffelTowerEffect Eiffel Tower]]. Cameo appearances or references to Creator/VictorHugo, Creator/AlexandreDumas, Creator/HonoreDeBalzac, Creator/PaulVerlaine, Creator/ArthurRimbaud, Creator/EmileZola, Music/ErikSatie are not uncommon either.

* Spain was ruled in succession by the [[UsefulNotes/MoorishSpain Moors]], the [[UsefulNotes/TheSpanishInquisition Inquisition]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheFrancoRegime Franco]]. (UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco died way back in 1975, before most of today's generation were ''born'', so it's high time we came up with something after him.) There was also a [[UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar civil war]] at some point that must have lasted a hundred years or so, given that it is the only event of note in Spain's 20th century - though oddly, only the small town of Guernica received any bombs from the air in that war, and the only people involved were Franco himself, Creator/GeorgeOrwell and maybe Creator/ErnestHemingway (was it just a long bar brawl?).

* UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance (late 1450s - 1650): Any reference to this time period will always be set in Italy, despite the tendency to have Renaissance fairs be set in England and be more close to Middle Ages imagery. The Renaissance will only consist of references made to the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, the Sistine Chapel, the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence and Michelangelo's ''David''. Cameo appearances by Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti, Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli, Petrarch, Giacomo Savaranola, Creator/GiovanniBoccaccio, Creator/SandroBotticelli, Creator/RaphaelSanzio, Donatello, UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI,... are mandatory. In Britain, this is the Shakespearean age, so expect Creator/WilliamShakespeare, UsefulNotes/HenryVIII, UsefulNotes/ElizabethI and UsefulNotes/MaryTudor, UsefulNotes/MaryQueenOfScots, UsefulNotes/AnneBoleyn, UsefulNotes/SirFrancisDrake, Sir Walter Raleigh,... to be namedropped or have a cameo. Spain and Portugal engage in the age of WoodenShipsAndIronMen, but to most people, this is just UsefulNotes/HernanCortez and Francisco Pizzarro and other conquistadores massacring Aztecs and Incas in some {{Mayincatec}} empire. But the most important event is Martin Luther establishing Protestantism and the Reformation and the Contra-Reformation happening as a result. A close second is UsefulNotes/JohannesGutenberg inventing the printing device. In terms of War we have the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Year's War to reference. This is also the most prominent era to reference Charles V and Philippe II of Spain, Ivan the Terrible, Creator/PieterBruegelTheElder, Albrecht Dürer, Titian, William the Silent/William of Orange, UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}}, Creator/RembrandtVanRijn, Creator/JohannesVermeer, Creator/PeterPaulRubens, Caravaggio, Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek, Galileo Galilei, ... In terms of fashion: everybody wears a ruff [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruff_%28clothing%29]].

* UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance (late 1450s - 1650): Any reference to this time period will always be set in Italy, despite the tendency to have Renaissance fairs be set in England and be more close to Middle Ages imagery. The Renaissance will only consist of references made to the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, the Sistine Chapel, the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence and Michelangelo's ''David''. Cameo appearances by Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti, Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli, Petrarch, Giacomo Savaranola, Creator/GiovanniBoccaccio, Sandro Botticelli, [[Creator/RaphaelSanzio Raphael]], Donatello, UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI,... are mandatory. In Britain this is the Shakespearean age, so expect Creator/WilliamShakespeare, UsefulNotes/HenryVIII, UsefulNotes/ElizabethI and UsefulNotes/MaryTudor, UsefulNotes/MaryQueenOfScots, UsefulNotes/AnneBoleyn, UsefulNotes/SirFrancisDrake, Sir Walter Raleigh,... to be namedropped or have a cameo. Spain and Portugal engage in the age of WoodenShipsAndIronMen, but to most people this is just UsefulNotes/HernanCortez and Francisco Pizzarro and other conquistadores massacring Aztecs and Incas in some {{Mayincatec}} empire. But the most important event is Martin Luther establishing Protestantism and the Reformation and the Contra-Reformation happening as a result. A close second is UsefulNotes/JohannesGutenberg inventing the printing device. In terms of War we have the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Year's War to reference. This is also the most prominent era to reference Charles V and Philippe II of Spain, Ivan the Terrible, Creator/PieterBruegelTheElder, Albrecht Dürer, Titian, William the Silent/William of Orange, UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}}, Creator/RembrandtVanRijn, Creator/JohannesVermeer, Creator/PeterPaulRubens, Caravaggio, Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek, Galileo Galilei, ... In terms of fashion: everybody wears a ruff [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruff_%28clothing%29]].

* A Latin American jungle will provide cameos by these animals only: jaguars, pumas, ocelots, anacondas, boa constrictors, emerald tree boas, vipers, coral snakes, caimans, crocodiles, basiliks, iguanas, geckos, vampire bats, butterflies, mosquitoes, leaf-cutting ants, army ants, katydids, tarantulas, piranhas, pacu, electric eels, stingrays, arapaimas, arowanas, tapirs, Amazon river dolphins, anteaters, chinchillas, capybaras, armadillos, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, capuchin monkeys, squirrel monkeys, marmosets, poison dart frogs, red-eyed tree frogs, sloths, coatimundis, kinkajous, hummingbirds, parrots, toucans, harpy eagles, king vultures, hoatzins and ibises.

* A Latin American jungle will provide cameos by these animals only: jaguars, pumas, ocelots, anacondas, boa constrictors, emerald tree boas, vipers, coral snakes, caimans, basiliks, iguanas, geckos, vampire bats, butterflies, mosquitoes, leaf-cutting ants, army ants, katydids, tarantulas, piranhas, pacu, electric eels, stingrays, arapaimas, arowanas, tapirs, Amazon river dolphins, anteaters, chinchillas, capybaras, armadillos, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, capuchin monkeys, squirrel monkeys, marmosets, poison dart frogs, red-eyed tree frogs, sloths, coatimundis, kinkajous, hummingbirds, parrots, toucans, harpy eagles, king vultures, hoatzins and ibises.