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Economics

A large, earthen mound covered in grass set against a blue sky. The mound has stairs with people using them.
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Poverty Point in Louisiana, United States

Poverty Point is a prehistoric earthenwork site featuring mounds, ridges, and a ceremonial plaza located in northeastern Louisiana, United States.

A large, earthen mound covered in grass set against a blue sky. The mound has stairs with people using them.
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The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is an archaeological site of a pre-Columbian Native American city located in southwestern Illinois, near St. Louis, Missouri.

Islands under the sphere of Tongan influence in Oceania. The islands are green and the background is blue to represent the water. The screenshot is cropped to focus on the islands in the northwest of the empire.
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Tu'i Tonga Empire Map

The Tu’i Tonga Empire was an Oceanic maritime chiefdom centered on the island of Tongatapu, the main island of Tonga, and flourished between 1200-1500 CE.

The edge of a counter with a man's shoulder and lettering in detail.
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Early Modern Counter

An early modern counter of the "Reichenmaster" style, with one side showing a picture of a man using a counting board and the other side showing the alphabet. These counters were used in classrooms to teach students both to read and perform basic arithmetic.

A sandstone featuring Meroitic hieroglyphs in three columns.
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Meroitic Script

The Meroitic Script was used in the Kingdom of Kush beginning in the 3rd Century BCE, or the Meroitic Period, and had two forms, Meroitic Cursive and Meroitic hieroglyphs.

A green background with counters on a counting board and pen and paper math.
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Division with an Early Modern Counting Board

Before the rise of literacy rates, counting boards such as the one featured in the video were the most common way to perform arithmetic. After pen-and-paper arithmetic replaced counting boards, Arabic numerals also became dominant throughout Europe. 

A green background with counters on a counter board.
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Multiplication with an Early Modern Counting Board

Before the rise of literacy rates, counting boards such as the one featured in the video were the most common way to perform arithmetic. After pen-and-paper arithmetic replaced counting boards, Arabic numerals also became dominant throughout Europe. 

A man sits in front of a counting board with a pile of counters in front of him and a counter in one hand.
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Engraving of a Rechentisch (Counting Board)

This image of an engraving depicts a man using a rechentisch, or counting board, the earliest known counting device and a precursor the abacus. The earliest known counting board is the Salamis Tablet, dating from 300 BCE, but may have been used more for gaming than for calculating.

A world map with orange markers placed at the site of protests from social media.
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Map with Many of the Protests in Puerto Rico and the World 2019

An event in Puerto Rico that captured world attention and motivated the interest of many Puerto Ricans in the diaspora to participate was the Summer of 2019 movement.

A green background with counters on a counting board.
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History of Pre-Modern Math

Before the widespread adoption of Arabic numerals, medieval and early modern Europeans added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided using a type of abacus known as a counting board and only afterwards recorded the results of their ca