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Americans and Western Europeans focus on the history of America and Western Europe. I'm not surprised at all.
by powera 11y ago
Americans and Western Europeans focus on the history of America and Western Europe. I'm not surprised at all.
- veddox 11y agoThe point is not the focus on their local history, but the exclusion of other peoples' history that enabled their own history in the first place. Generally, the view taught in schools in the West is that "civilization" as we know it developed pretty much linearly on the axis Greece - Rome - Medieval Europe - Modern Europe/North America. Sure, there were some other civilizations in some obscure places like South America or China, we are given to understand, but they don't really count, they didn't have any lasting impact. What is all too often neglected is that history doesn't work as simply as that. Greek culture developed in interaction with ancient Persia. Rome was also influenced by places like Carthage in North Africa. The Middle Ages in Europe weren't known as the "Dark Ages" for nothing - compared to contemporary Arabia, it looked pretty barbarous. (Arabian influences on medieval Europe are many and varied, ranging from architecture to food and weapons.) In 1793, the envoys of the first British diplomatic mission to imperial China were still viewed as "barbarians" [1]. Of course it is entirely justified to focus mainly on your own history. However, the danger of focussing too much on yourself is that you forget the achievement and importance of others, leading to unwarranted nationalistic pride. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macartney_Embassy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macartney_Embassy