What factors most affect how we understand the past?

There are many factors that affect how we understand the past, for example, factors such as
Eurocentrism, culture bias, media bias, and museum acquisition, change the way history and our
understanding of the world are presented to students through the educational system and
museums and what they choose to include and what they leave out in history. Causing us to lack
knowledge or view topics in another way.

An example of cultural bias, the phenomenon of interpreting and judging phenomena by

standards inherent to one's own culture, would be V.G. Childe's 1951 trait list of urban features
based on his universal idea of what a place of settlement should have called a city. This trait list
states that all citizens must have practised exact and predictive science example Maths and
astronomy. The problem with this statement is that ancient civilizations such as Great Zimbabwe
wouldn't have understood the concepts of science and maths, the trait list would be useless when
applied to an ancient settlement because it applied modern-day standards to an ancient
civilization that hasn't reached that standard of knowledge and advancement, this an example of
cultural bias because the trait list is comparing an ancient culture like Great Zimbabwe to
modern-day expectations. Some argue that ancient civilizations could have used a more
advanced way of writing or doing math or science that we have yet to understand, for example,
symbols or objects. However, the city of Athens passed all the requirements to be called a city
according to the trait list while Great Zimbabwe didn't. The cause may be because the trait list is
biased towards ancient settlements, developed settlements like Athens were able to be classified
as a city because of certain factors that were not accessible to other ancient civilisations such as
Great Zimbabwe, factors such as Maths and Science. The trait list makes ancient settlements like
Great Zimbabwe seem underdeveloped as other ancient settlements but Great Zimbabwe may
have been a developed settlement at the time large population, trading across the region and
although having no mathematics or engineering, the city was arranged in an advanced way. This
trait list is a reason that changes how we see history because it compares ancient settlements to
modern-day standards, this method is unfair because cultures like Great Zimbabwe have not
reached the expected level of development to be classified as a city making us believe that this
culture is underdeveloped.

An example of Eurocentrism that affects our understanding of the past is museum exhibits and
artefacts. Inside the British Museum, there is a wide variety of artefacts from ancient Greece to
Roman and even to Egypt, however, compared to other European country's backgrounds,
exhibits such as India, America, and even the continent of Africa have far fewer artefacts than
the European countries and marks the question of whether the British Museum is being affected
by eurocentrism, which is the idea that everything is centred around Europe and everything great
we know, today came from Europe. If we take a look at the exhibits that hold artefacts from the
Roman era we could see that there is an impressive collection of 248,620 artefacts, Ancient
Greece exhibit
contains 240,615 artefacts however, countries such as India, which has 65,020 artefacts, and the
whole continent of Africa, which only has 108,408 artefacts, have far fewer historical artefacts
than the other European countries inside the Museum. Why may this be the case?

After the opening of the British Museum in the 18th century

The purpose of museums seems to be which country can show off its jewels and treasures from
across its empire. An example of this is in Italy. Archaeologists and museum specialists studied
Italy plundering the country for its treasures to fill national museums and position themselves as
the cultural ancestors of the Roman Empire. ''They wanted to maintain the Roman heritage for
European Countries and to ensure that the history of such a massive empire was chiefly
associated with the most powerful nations in Europe example, the Empires of Britain and
France.'' -K. Nagre, 2021. Another example of this is the ''Discovery'' of Mesopotamia, just like
the archaeological digs in Italy, ''the British and French governments were keen to display them,
pride-of-place, in our new national museums, to position them as an element in our cultural
story,''- K. Nagre, 2020. The effect of this makes us believe that history is used as a form of
status and superiority by a nation, making us believe our country holds this historical status that
should be praised within museums to ensure that other powers would fear them. The fact that
there are more artefacts from Europe than from other countries such as India and the continent of
Africa suggests what Britain thought of its other colonies. For example, India only has 65,020
artefacts which is small compared to the number of artefacts from Romans and Ancient Greece,
this may be because of Eurocentrism, the idea

that everything comes from Europe. Back in the 18th century, Britain viewed India as a way for
trading, building factories, and tea, but India was so advanced and had a complex political
system like Britain that, we do not see its historical background in museums as much as the
Greeks or the Romans. Britain only saw India make cotton factories, silk, and spices. As for
Africa, many people did not see Africa as developed as European countries. However, Franz
Weidenreich came up with the theory that humans first came from Africa, archaeologists and
museums then started to plunder the continent for its treasures.

Another factor that affects how we view history is media bias, the idea that certain cultures or
ideologies are given more importance in media than other ideas. Media bias often affects our
understanding of topics, misleading us. An example of this would be games and films based on
history because of the ways they present people of that time and the empire they lived in. For
example, The 1999 film Mummy is based on a mummy being awoken in 1925 by treasure-
seeking explorers in Egypt. The two main problems with this film are the cast and the plot. In
ancient Egypt, the most common race was black Africa, however the cast, the majority of which
were white, gave the reader an impression of a white Egypt, and to be honest, this trick has
worked on me. Also, the plot of the movie tells the audience Egypt was a place filled with
mystical beings and beliefs however, Egypt was just like every civilization at the time. The
movie portrays othering, the phenomenon in which some individuals or groups are labelled as
abnormal, which is present through the magical beliefs of ancient Egypt. Another example of
othering in the media is the film 300, a fictional film about the Greco-Persian Wars in 480 BC.
The film insulted Iran's ancient culture and proked animosity towards them through the abnormal
way the Persians spoke and looked, portraying them as confusing and mysterious, like how the
film Mummy presented ancient Egypt. This phenomenon is also present in the news in our
society, an example is when the media mentions Afghanistan, they talk about poverty, lack of
women's rights, and war, and the same goes for Vietnam, often in articles, the Vietnam war is
mentioned a lot although this event took place 45 years ago. But we look at countries such as
Britain and America and think very highly of them. The method of media bias and propaganda
has been used to increase superiority, arouse hatred of the foe, maintain morale, win political
votes and to make spread lies. For example, during the Napoleonic wars, Britain put up
propaganda posters to tell the British and French population that Napoleon was a short man to
weaken the French morale. The effect of propaganda and media bias affects the way in which we
view cultures and people of the past and present through what they present history through the
media and everyday things such as films and games.

Another factor that affects how we view history is the education system throughout British
history. Since the 1950s when education became more accessible to the public, history lessons
consisted mainly of the great tradition of British political and constitutional history, concerning
the kings and queens of England from 1066 until the 1970s when education started to shift to
another point of history outside of Britain. However, in the 1990s, government ministers began
to interfere with the curriculum, to ensure that it celebrated Britain's glorious past by teaching the
great tradition and ancient Greece until 2013 when un-European topics introduced the
curriculum. During the 1990's the government began to interfere with the curriculum, after
schools taught about history outside of Britain, by introducing: Tudors, Stuarts and Ancient
Greece into the curriculum, but why suddenly change the curriculum after the introduction of
history outside the UK? A reason is that Britain's dark past, for example, slavery and
concentration camps in South Africa would give the population a different perspective and
opinion on Britain. A population grown up revealed to Britain's dark past would cause concerns
to parties and the government. For example, in the 1950s and 1990s, when British history was
taught, the conservative party would have won. During the 1970s and 80s, when other points of
history were taught, the Labour Party would have won. This is because the two parties differ in
the ideology that they believe in to run the country. The Labour Party celebrates diversity and
cultural differences, while conservatives promote British values and assimilation, becoming like
the British rather than appreciating cultural differences. To ensure that the population would love
Britain more governments would have to shield the public from its dark past by removing it from
the curriculum and 'a uneducated population is easier to control' -Thomas Jefferson. Another
reason why political parties may do this is to gain political control over votes and the population.
A population that stays loyal to you is easier to control and stable within the nation.

In conclusion, there are many ways that affect our understanding of the past, for example, media
bias. These factors give a nation a good reputation and maintain stability through the media
museums and education. These factors are controlled by superpowers, they can change the way
we view a nation or people through the way information is presented to us. For example,
Britain's narrow education system on history in the 1950s and the lack of artefacts from other
nations in museums narrow our opinions on topics such as ancient China due to lack of
knowledge. Questioning our views and lack of knowledge on diversity and cultures. An example
of a nation hiding its truth would be Britain's construction and how it has affected our world
today by its conquest of 25% of the world's land. Through kings and queens, rich infrastructure
and world war 1 and 2, Britain has become the most recognizable country through its mark on
the world but, many of us know the dark truth of slavery and the torturing of the British Empire.
In 1990, Britain tried to hide that by changing how history is present and what is taught in the
curriculum to maintain stability by hiding its history. Another reason would be for political
power and wins, a population that stays loyal to you is much easier to control and affects the
outcome of political arguments and votes. This argument is strong because it has many sources
of evidence such as the 1950 and 2013 curriculum and political wins timeline which show a
correlation. Because of these factors, our knowledge on topics tends to shift due to corrupt
governments trying to hide the past or trying to exploit the past from power and status among
nations.