2003 Top Ten of Polemic for People

Giovanni da Verrazzano

Giovanni da Verrazzano was an Italian (Florentine) explorer of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France

Tollund Man

The Tollund Man is a naturally mummified corpse of a man who lived during the 5th century BC, during the period characterised in Scandinavia as the Pre-Roman Iron Age. He was found in 1950, preserved as a bog body, near Silkeborg on the Jutland peninsula in Denmark. The man's physical features were so well preserved that he was mistaken for a recent murder victim. Twelve years before his discovery, another bog body, Elling Woman, was found in the same bog

Sallust

Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust, was a Roman historian and politician from an Italian plebeian family. Sallust was born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines and later a partisan of Julius Caesar. He is the earliest known Latin-language Roman historian with surviving works to his name, of which Conspiracy of Catiline, The Jugurthine War, and the Histories are still extant. Sallust was primarily influenced by the Greek historian Thucydides and amassed great wealth from his

Walter de Merton

Walter de Merton was Lord Chancellor of England, Archdeacon of Bath, founder of Merton College, Oxford, and Bishop of Rochester. For the first two years of the reign of Edward I he was - in all but name - Regent of England during the King's absence abroad. He died in 1277 after falling from his horse, and is buried in Rochester Cathedral

Leif Zeilon

Leif Zeilon, also known as Leif Ericsson, is a former Swedish politician, and is one of the founders of the Sweden Democrats and Bevara Sverige Svenskt

Shoghi Effendi

Shoghí Effendi (; 1 March 1897 – 4 November 1957) was the grandson and successor of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, appointed to the role of Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957. Shoghi Effendi created a series of teaching plans that oversaw the expansion of the faith to many new countries. He also translated and provided authoritative interpretation of many of the writings of the Baháʼí central figures. He was succeeded by an interim arrangement of the Hands of the Cause until the

Woman

A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl. The plural women is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardless of age

Rani of Jhansi

Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi, was an Indian queen, the Maharani consort of the Maratha princely state of Jhansi from 1843 to 1853 as the wife of Maharaja Gangadhar Rao. She was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and became a symbol of resistance to the British Raj for Indian nationalists

Chomsky (surname)

Chomsky is a surname of Slavic origin. Notable people with the surname include:Alejandro Chomski, Argentine film director and screenwriter Aviva Chomsky, American historian Carol (Schatz) Chomsky (1930–2008), American linguist and wife of Noam Chomsky Judith Chomsky, American human rights lawyer and co-founder of the Juvenile Law Center Marvin J. Chomsky (1929–2022), American television and film director Noam Chomsky, American linguist and political activist, professor emeritus at MIT Stanisław

Francisco de Orellana

Francisco de Orellana Bejarano Pizarro y Torres de Altamirano was a Spanish explorer and conquistador. He completed the first known navigation of the entire length of the Amazon River, initially named "Rio de Orellana" until reports of skirmishes that included the women warriors of the Tapuyas tribe brought about the name change. He also founded the city of Guayaquil in what is now Ecuador