IKEA began as a teenager's mail-order business and its name is built from his farm and village

money & economicsWikipedia1943 · Älmhult, Sweden

IKEA began as a teenager's mail-order business and its name is built from his farm and village

the gist

Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA in 1943, when he was 17, as a mail-order business, and began reselling furniture five years later. The name is an acronym of his own name, Elmtaryd (the farm where he was born) and Agunnaryd (the nearby village where he grew up). The first showroom opened in Älmhult, Sweden, in 1958 under the name Möbel-IKÉA. Its flat-pack model came from cutting costs on shipping and assembly, so customers carried the furniture home themselves and the prices stayed low.

so what

IKEA became one of the world's largest furniture retailers by making design cheap enough for ordinary households, and its store layout and flat-pack approach changed how furniture is sold and shipped. Its expansion continued through the 1970s and 1980s into dozens of countries, and it now runs collaborations with designers, musicians and game brands.

fun fact

IKEA's largest store in the world opened in 2021 at the Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City, Metro Manila.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

historyWikipediaclassic1336–1565 · Karnataka, India

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗