The Mughal emperor Jahangir hung a "chain of justice" with 60 bells outside his palace.
Any subject could pull it to bring a complaint to the emperor in person.
More amazing facts
- 1603 · 1629 Kabuki, where men play every role, was invented by a woman.
- 1603 · 1721 Edo, the future Tokyo, had over a million people by the 1720s, one of the largest cities in the world.
- 1604 · 1609 The last supernova seen in our galaxy blazed five years before Galileo turned a telescope to the sky. Kepler's star appeared in 1604, and no Milky Way supernova has been reliably seen since.
- 1605 · 1616 Cervantes and Shakespeare died in April 1616 on nearly the same calendar date — but Spain used the Gregorian calendar and England did not, so over a week really separates them.
- 1605 · 1606 Europeans first landed in Australia after Don Quixote was published.
- 1606 · 1770 The Dutch landed in Australia 164 years before Cook.