I found the magnitude of the transatlantic slave trade to be overwhelming! It was odd that such a massive violation of human rights, affecting millions of people, could transpire for years without anyone raising their voice against it! I wondered, did people retaliate against this brutality? Who were they, and did they achieve anything? Or did the world watch in silence, reaping the twisted benefits that this brought to their lives? Were they afraid to have an opinion due to the power bases involved? Or perhaps they did speak up, but historians never included them in their stories.The concept of perspectives in history, portrayed in John’s Smith Map and the “new world” was very interesting. It made me think that history is not just a recollection of facts, but more an interpretation of the historians’ views. The word “history” depicts this – his story! It also made me wonder, how credible is history? It seems to me that history was a novelty for the rich and educated, to express their opinions by representing what they thought was important. In this manner the ‘historians’ could delete the actual history of the uneducated and the poor. By erasing, or overlooking, certain factors that the historians didn’t find important; they recreated ‘history.’ They took what they felt was important and showcased that, eliminating the experiences of others; and thereby, creating a new history for the readers! In a way, the historians told what they wanted to, so that they could shape the views of the readers and future generations.I think we see this in the depiction of Native Americans, who are portrayed in the pages of history as savages who scalped the settlers! Similarly the settlers have shown their acts as “conquests.” However, upon a closer look, what actually happened was an invasion, which is morally wrong. It is quite obvious that history had a view, and perhaps the real history can be found in the lines that were never written. I believe the internet will have a profound effect on history. The greatest aspect about the internet is that every story is recorded in a 1000 different perspectives! The power exercised by previous historians to pick and choose what they wanted to maintain as history is definitely gone. Today we don’t write history, we write our opinions as well.
