Do you know the history of your town? And no, I am not referring to recent history that has occurred in recent decades. By history, I mean centuries ago, a time when important population movements took place, mainly due to armed conflicts that occurred everywhere. If you live in Europe, quite possibly hundreds of years ago, the place you are stepping on was part of the battlefield of some war. The conquering desire of Spain or France, among others, can be seen with an interactive map.
After an intense collection of data, it has been possible to position some of the war events, of which there is evidence, with different colour markers. It is an exercise that aims to understand what has brought us here, our customs, the way we relate to each other and, of course, our relationship with our neighbours. After all, violence, unfortunately, has always been part of most communities. An interactive map can help us better understand what happened in history.
Let's see, therefore, how the various civilizations have developed after conflicts, why these events caused important changes in many societies and, of course, to what extent there are spaces of land which still have never been part of a battlefield. Even so, it is possible that, in the latter case, there was no documentation that corroborated these facts.
The Map of the geography of violence allows filtering by localities and municipalities in order to understand if they have been the target of a battlefield or if, on the contrary, peace has always been mediated. It is about carrying out an exercise to understand how modern day society is what it is today based on what happened in the past. If you take a look at the first events that occurred, you come to the conclusion that the first serious conflicts took place in Europe.
This caused armies to continually improve their equipment, allowing them to formalise new lines of conquest. Could it be one of the causes of the expansion of the Spanish army in areas like America? The establishment of colonies by France or Great Britain also explains this type of proposal. Well, why is this interactive map worth it? Among its curiosities, the links to web pages of information to learn more about the events that occurred at a given time and place are surprising.
It is a very interesting way to understand how history has changed people around the world. In addition, it is worth noting how the vast majority of records are present in Europe, with the first wars appearing on other continents many years after these conflicts. It is a history exercise that, on the other hand, stopped being updated in 2016. For this reason, conflicts such as the one in Ukraine and Russia, corresponding to this 2022, do not appear in the interactive database yet.
Finally, it is important to take into account the range of colours present on the map. This refers to elapsed time. It is not the first time we see this kind of map. Did you know that there is one where you can find out who is the most famous person in a certain place? Not to mention the one that shows what the most characteristic stereotypes are of a specific area in a city.