The adventures of Harshitha and tok

Maps with secret agendas When we think of maps, one of the first things that come into mind is the Mercator map- or as we know it "the world map".  According to National Geographic Society, maps are defined as "a map is a symbolic representation of selected characteristics of a place, usually drawn on a flat surface". Apart from this source, the definitions for map is very similar. One common trend that is visible is that none of them talk about how accurate a map should be. Bias is inevitable by a human. The aim and the longing for one self to be the best, the greed the humans possess, all of it causes us to be biased, intentionally or unintentionally. One such cases is the Mercator map. The Mercator map is a cylindrical map projection of earth by cartographer Gerardus Mercator. This map was revolutionary as it helped sailors and explorers with their journeys due to the map's ability to show directions accurately. But there is a huge disadvantage in the Mercato...

In TOK class, we have recently started discussing the area of knowledge "History". We first learnt that history is a branch of knowledge dealing with significant events of the past. The word "significant" holds importance here as all history is past but all past isn't history. That took us to a discussion about the differences between past and history. Simply put, the past is everything that has happened before but only certain significant/important events are considered to be a part of history. So how do we know what is considered to be history? Any event considered important by historians. Historians are humans too, which means they cannot be entirely objective to the knowledge they discover or procure. They are prone to be clouded by their opinions, judgements, bias, prejudice and beliefs. So what we study as history from these historians isn't entirely objective. However, in dire times history has been used as a way to manipulate people for someone to he...