Understanding History

History has always been difficult to understand and keep up with. History does not stop, In fact we are history in the making. Almost all of what is happening right now in the world will be history the new generation. There are many things happening today that we don't even imagine will be in text book in the future. This is exactly how our ancestors felt, they did not know that one day we would even exist or much less be reading about them and how we came to be from them. We try to understand our ancestors as much as we can from what we know from them. As Fernandez-Armesto points out in his introduction to The World, history does not make perfect sense, we must keep asking the right questions even if we do not get the right answer. The study of history is not intended to tell us how people really lived in the past, but to give us an idea of what it felt like to live in it. In the episode Fort Raleigh of Time Team America archaeologist are sent out to investigate the first Americans that settled in North Carolina and the way they lived and how they adapted to their new environment. Eventually they abandoned the camp, to this day what really happened to them remains a mystery because they left no traces of where they were going or why they left their homes. In another investigation the History Detectives investigate the Woolworth signs that were in the stores when the historical human rights sit ins happened. Many people take small parts of history for granted, but there are people who want a piece of history to keep to remember where we come from and how it is that we are all now in some sense equal. We want to honor those who were brave enough to make history and give us the freedom that we have today. History is unexpected and surprising. As we will learn further on in the readings ahead.

To try to understand history questions must be asked, they may not always be answered because as I said before history is uncertain. Time Team America went on a quest to find where the first Americans settled and to try to understand how they lived and how they survived their new surroundings. Archaeologist dug many trenches to find where their houses were and what they looked like, they had drawings from John White who was the artist at the time they settled in North Carolina and who recorded the way the houses were made and what the environment looked like. This drawings made it much more easier for the team artist to come up with a sketch of what the settlement might have been like, of course the environment changes with time so there really is no certain drawing that tells us how exactly the first Americans lived, we can only assume. The first Americans had to adapt to their new environment since they came from a city like life style to a rural life style that did not have all the luxuries that they were used to. Trying to find out how this first Americans lived takes a long time of hard work and although they might find many characteristics of their live no certain answer will be found because there are many changes that have occurred through out time that make it hard for archaeologist and artist to have a real sense of these peoples lives.

The arrival of new people to America gave way to a change in the geographical make up of the land. This new people had to make way for their survival changing the way the land had been before. First they had to build their new houses and make enough ground space to live together as a community. The changes to them might have been small, but this changes affect the environment and the living creatures that inhabit that environment. To survive the first Americans depended on agriculture because they did not have any other sources of food. Agriculture changes everything because the land is being exploited and planted at the same time. We must keep in mind that geography changes with time as the environment changes.

Demography was obviously affected by the arrival of new people to America. New people means an increase in population and maybe even intermixing of different peoples to become one. People who settled became a self sustaining community. A new community that brought about more diversity. These people had a way of live before they came to America and tried to make life here similar to the one they had before. These people migrated from one place to another as suggested by the evidence, they abandoned their settlement, some of them probably separated from the rest as it usually happens with migrating groups, this means that the same people could have populated other areas of the country at the same time making them a bigger group, because obviously reproduction was going on even though migration was happening too. Reproduction is one of the most important parts of demographic change, every day there is new people being born into this world, making and shaping our demography.

As population grew, so did economy. People needed things that they did not have. How than did they obtain the things they wanted, but had no access to?  Trading. Trading is the most convincing theory since I assume their currency was not worth very much when they arrived to their new home. Trading has been the path to a great economy. People get what they want giving other people what they need, this is a win- win situation for everyone. Economy plays a major role in our lives. Without economy we would not have developed into the first world country that we are today. Economy is what makes a country thrive. Back when our ancestors were roaming the world trying to find a better living, they had to deal with economy as well. They needed to get from one place to another, they also needed food to survive, this world does not move without economy, we must pay for what we need, with whatever it is that we have within our reach, it does not matter if its currency, animals, or other types of goods. 

A good economy brings stability to people, a good economy makes a stronger nation. A nation that will not collapse rapidly. We all depend on economy. Even the most isolated people around the world depend on their own type of economy. As long as economy is fair to everyone there will not be an up-rise from the poorer to try to destabilize the ones with a better economy prospective. We can see now with what is happening with the One Percent trying to overthrow the 99% in Wall Street. In a good economy there needs to be a balance between the poor and the rich, so no one can feel like they are being left behind. If the people with a better economic status get too greedy the people with less monetary resources will rise and disturb the peace that there once was between the two groups. We do not need to refer to text books to see this. This is happening right now, this will be part of our history.

Any civilization to be successful needs a ruler. Politics are fundamental for any nation, civilization, or tribe to be successful. Without a ruler everyone would do what ever they wanted. A ruler sets rules to his or her group, although historically almost all rulers have been men, we can not discard the idea that some past civilizations also had female rules. Politics goes hand in hand with economics, politicians set rules for economic prosperity, good politicians want to better their community with having a good economic status. Good politicians want a fair treatment of their people it does not matter if they are poor or rich.  The fist Americans who settled down in this new country had a ruler or someone whom they followed. Some one who made plans and kept them together as a group. Once they moved they moved because their ruler believed that they had better chances of survival out of the place where they had first settled. In modern day a country could not function without a ruler, maybe not the entire nation agrees with what the ruler decides to do with the country, but without a ruler the nation would be lost and collapse. 

Politics are often misunderstood by normal people like us, because we are promised many thins by the politicians who try to gain our trust so we can choose them as our rulers, but once they are in the ruling chair they forget about all the promises they made and take a different on what they call politics. This happened in ancient times as well, that is why many nations came to an end or separated. Many nations came to be by the fall of other nations. 

Cultural diffusion happens everyday in modern day world. But back in the time of our ancestors cultural diffusion took too long to happen because for many years people were isolated. Even though our ancestors migrated most of their lives cultural diffusion was hard because most of the world was not populated and making contact with other people was difficult. Most cultural diffusion started to happen when trading began. People everywhere were trading not only goods, but culture as well. When the English settled in North Carolina they had to have contact with Native Americans and their culture, same for Native Americans who had contact with the new people settling in their land. The new Americans had to share land with people who had a very different cultural background, they had to learn from them to survive and adapt to the new environment. It is believed that when they abandoned their camp ground they could have united with the Native Americans to become one group and settle together as one. We will never know because they left no traces of where they were going when they left. But living with the Natives could have given way to a whole new culture that includes both Native American and New American roots. 

All in all, we have learned that history is hard to fully understand and that it is ever changing and on going. We are making history today, that will be read in text books in the future. Culture, Politics, Demography, Geography, and Economics are all part of our history. They are the most fundamental part of who we are today and they are what shape out future, weather its a good thing or a bad thing. We depend on all these things because with out them we would not be able to exist. We all strive towards a better tomorrow and without this fundamentals we would not be able to have a developing world. 

Bibliography

Armesto-Fernandez, Felipe. The World. 2007

Time Team America. Fort Raleigh, North Carolina. PBS.COM. 2009

http://video.pbs.org/program/time-team-america/

History Detectives. Titanic Picture Frame, Woolworth Signs, Nazi Spy Toys. 

http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives