In your response there seems to be an absence of women!
Surely we talk of human beings or men and women these days.
Martin

--- On Wed, 24/6/09, Cliff Pereira <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Cliff Pereira <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: New Exhibit at Smithsonian
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Wednesday, 24 June, 2009, 1:18 PM
> 
> 
> 
> #yiv1536184217 .hmmessage P
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> 
> 
>  
> Hi Ross,
> 
>  
> 
> I have had a good look at the site and these are some of my
> overall opinions/criticisms:
> 
>  
> 
> 1) I think with regards to the Smithsonian - I would have
> expected a more worldly introduction viewpoint so I
> would have mentioned;
> 
>  
> 
> * Mans emergence from Africa and his migration across the
> globe that HAD TO involve at some point travel over bodies
> of water.
> 
>  
> 
> * The arrival of man into North America could have been by
> a coastal route (during the Ice Ages) as well as a land
> route (The Bering Crossing).
> 
>  
> 
> * There is no mention of the
> Malayo-Polynesian mariners who covered the
> earth from Madagascar to Hawaii and New Zealand. (guess
> Hawaii is not part of the US)  
> 
>  
> 
> * There is no mention of the Caribs
> who voyaged up from South America through
> the Antilles. (guess Puerto Rico is not part of the
> US Commonwealth and the US Virgin islands don't
> exist)  
> 
>  
> 
> 2) I think it is odd that the time-line starts at
> 1450.
> 
>  
> 
> * There is no mention of the maritime traditions of the
> Inuit/Eskimo/Aleutian peoples (guess Alaska
> is not part of the US)
> 
>  
> 
> * There is no mention here of the Viking, Basque
> and Galician arrivals at Newfoundland and Labrador,
> and the "Cod Banks"
> 
>  
> 
> * There is a big jump from the Santa Maria (1492) to the
> Susan Constant (1607). (I guess the Spanish
> were not in Florida and the French
> had not setteled Fort Tadoussac in Quebec)
> 
> 
> 3) Sailors of the Atlantic World.
> 
>  
> 
> * I also find the absence of any reference to the
> Kru of West Africa astonishing - The
> Portuguese and British (and probably the Danes and Dutch
> too) used them. They were probably among the first of the
> free Africans in US port cities
> 
>  
> 
> * what I also find strange is that sailors fo the Atlantic
> World makes no mention of the Indian, Malay and
> Chinese Lascars who were clearly on board
> Portuguese, British, Dutch and French east India Company
> vessels. 
> 
>  
> 
> 4) 1800-1850 Defending Independence.
> 
>  
> 
> * No mention of the free and enslaved
> Africans that served on both sides and built and
> repaired ships at the naval yards for both sides. 
> 
>  
> 
> * No mention that the "The Defence" - better
> known as the "Star Sprangled Banner" was written
> on board the HMS Minden at Chesapeake Bay in 1812. the
> Minden was a British Royal Navy vessel built by the
> Wadia's at Bombay!
> 
>  
> 
> * No mention of the Sultan of Zanzibar's ship - the
> Sultannah that was the first "Arab" vessle to
> arrive in North Atlantic waters. She came to London and went
> on to New York and Canton.
> 
>  
> 
> 5) 1850-1920 Fishing for a Living
> 
>  
> 
> * Though the Azores and Cape Verde islands are mentioned
> there is no refernece to the whaling industry as the origin
> of the Cape Verdean diaspora in Boston.
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 6) Inland Waterways 1820-1940
> 
> * This really puzzles me - did the First Nations not
> originally use the great rivers? Also no mention of the
> First Nations, the Metis and the French in
> the mapping and development of the major waterways of North
> America. 
> 
>  
> 
> Overall I think the site is well designed. But it considers
> the Atlantic as an isolated body of water - which it
> isn't from any perspective. It also fails to cover the
> maritime contribution of First Nations, Inuit,
> Aleutians and Pacific Islanders. Additionally it is
> extremely Eurocentric - if not Anglocentric in terms of its
> timeline and content. It also gives the impression that the
> African contribution was minimal and in some areas
> non-existant. The focus on the Atlantic has resulted in the
> exclusion of the Pacific and the Spanish narrative in the
> Southwest. I am no specialist on American history - but I
> can back all of the socio-historical points I make.
> 
>  
> 
> Cliff 
> 
> BASA Chair 
> 
> 
> Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:11:35 -0700
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: New Exhibit at Smithsonian
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would appreciate your input on this exhibit that is
> at the Smithsonian National Museum of American
> History.
> http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/
>  
> Thanks,
> H.E. Ross
> 
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