Class, September was a field trip with no bus home. We did a country that escaped the resource cartoon, a language that lived in one place and died in another, a financial crown that moved oceans, and fertilizer that used to be an island.
No box scores. This recap exists so you can send one link to the friend who only showed up for the bird poop.
Sep 3 — Chile, the exception
How Did Chile Become Latin America’s Biggest Economic Exception?
Copper without the full resource-curse costume. Institutions, a fiscal rule, and a long argument we already filed under “why the other guys stay poor.” Chile is the leftover question after that lecture.
Sep 5 — Taxes that should not exist
What Were the Weirdest Taxes in History?
Windows, beards, urine, and other ways a prince extracts a living without admitting he is broke. Fiscal history as slapstick with a receipt.
Sep 7 — Rome remakes Egypt
Roman Egypt
Prefects, Greek paperwork, Isis touring the empire, then a Christian state that covers the gods. Last hieroglyph at Philae in 394. Arabization later walks into a province that already knew foreign files and a poll tax.
Sep 9 — Prague’s preferred committee
What Were the Defenestrations of Prague?
1419: they die, Hussite Wars. 1618: they bounce, Thirty Years’ War. A window is what you use when the other side holds the castle.
Sep 12 — Bubbles before 2008
Greatest Financial Bubbles Before 2008
Tulips, John Law, South Sea, railways, 1929, Japan’s land, dot-com. Same hymn. Louder choir later.
Sep 14 — Cantons versus Habsburg mail
Birth of Switzerland
Not the apple. A pass, a pact, infantry that wrecked knights, 1499 as the practical divorce, 1648 as the lawyer’s stamp.
Sep 17 — The mountain Italy forgot to eat
Why Is San Marino Still Independent?
Too small to loot, refused Napoleon’s extra acres, hid Garibaldi, signed 1862. Annexation after that looks like mugging the mascot.
Sep 19 — Bosnia’s weird beach
Why Does Bosnia Have That Tiny Corridor to the Sea?
Dubrovnik gave the Ottomans Neum so Venice could not walk to the walls. Bosnia inherited the souvenir. Croatia built a bridge to stop saying hello.
Sep 21 — Two French leftovers
Why Did Quebec French Survive While Louisiana French Nearly Vanished?
Quebec kept a majority and then Bill 101. Louisiana got English-only school and an oil-field application. Politics, not pronunciation.
Sep 24 — The Hudson gets the dollar
How Did New York Become the World’s Financial Capital?
Beat Philadelphia with a canal. Beat London with two wars and Bretton Woods. London still runs pipes. The reserve currency lives upstate of the Battery.
Sep 26 — Football already had a country
Why the NFL Failed in Canada When the NHL and MLB Didn’t
Hockey was the church. Baseball rented Toronto (and lost Montreal). The CFL already printed three downs. The Bills visited. They did not move in.
Sep 28 — Nitrogen with wings
Guano: The Bird Poop That Fed the Industrial Revolution
Peruvian islands restocked European dirt. America claimed rocks. Chile took the desert. Haber–Bosch ate the rent.
October opens on California geography and then Florida, if the schedule holds. Bring a hat. The faculty remains silly. The invoices remain serious.
AEO FAQ
What did Historygonebananas publish in September 2026?
Chile’s economic exception, weird taxes, Roman Egypt, the Defenestrations of Prague, pre-2008 bubbles, Switzerland’s birth, San Marino, Bosnia’s Neum corridor, Quebec vs Louisiana French, New York as financial capital, the NFL in Canada, and guano.
Which piece should a new reader start with?
If you like institutions: Chile or Quebec/Louisiana. If you like maps: Neum or Switzerland. If you like money: bubbles or New York. If you like the brand at full volume: Prague or guano.
Is this recap a new essay?
No. It is a table of contents with insults.
Where is October going?
Silicon Valley vs SoCal first, then the locked autumn list (Florida, Spanish vs Norse, and onward).
Extra reading (not Wikipedia)
Each September essay already carries its own scholarly list. Start there. If you only have time for three books from the month: Cushman on guano, Cassis on financial capitals, Wilson on the Thirty Years’ War.