Hogwarts castle was not built by the founders, nor was it originally built to house a school. Castle building technology did not arrive in Britain until after the Norman Conquest in 1066. The founders most likely set up their “school” in a large town called Hogwarts, which had already existed in one form or another for millennia.

Hogwarts ( Read more... )

High death rates in pre-industrialised countries reflect a large disease burden. Mostly this disease burden is due to infectious diseases that are endemic and also circulated as frequent, regular epidemics. With modern medical care, developed nations like Britain have managed to cut both the disease burden and death rate from infectious diseases ( Read more... )

Throughout human history the demographics of our societies has changed as we have developed. Today different societies are at different points along this demographic transition. For example developed nations like Japan and the UK, typically have a low birthrate and long life expectancy making children only a small proportion of the population, ( Read more... )

Gnomes are from Zurich, Goblins are from Vienna: Gringotts and the Wizarding economy

I keep finding myself trying to translate Galleons into dollars so I can understand the background of the Potter novels.
In normal stories, when two people go out for sodas and the bartender charges them "two dollars" for the drinks, you know it's not a four-star restaurant, and when registration for a weekend class in motorcycle repair offered by ( Read more... )

(My first posting here - so hello and congrats to the mods for starting such an interesting community ( Read more... )