A History of the world in 100 objects

Hello! Today I bring you a very interesting article published in the British newspaper The Guardian. It’s about a project announced in 2009 by The British Museum and BBC to help to create a history of the world using pieces of the museum.

The project is called “A History of the World in 100 objects”, and the idea is to connect the human history by examining specific objects. These pieces come from all the regions of the world and covers about 2 million years of human history. For example there is a 1.4 million years old hand axe found in Tanzania, but the museum’s collection also includes more recent objects, like a business card or a bionic hand. Besides the selection of the 100 objects, there will be a radio program to explain to the public the relevance of each object in the humankind history.

The museum’s director, Neil MacGregor, said that this is “The biggest thing we’ve ever done”, and he expects this project will get more people in the museums. One of the ways to make sure of this purpose is that people will have the chance to select their own objects and explain why they are important.

I believe that this is a very ambitious project and can be very useful to get close history to the people, but it can be a little dangerous trying to make a humankind history made only by British people and based just in objects shown in their own museums. More than a human history, it’s about the invention of a human history made by the British. Things like this show us that the colonialism is stronger than ever...


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Bye!