Valentines Day stuff! Also, BRAND NEW EXPERIMENTAL HISTORY MEME!

[beboots]

 Good evening, everyone! Happy Valentines day, for those of you who celebrate it!

First, a brief link recommendation. If you've never heard of Postsecrets, you should definitely check them out: essentially, people send in anonymous postcards with their secrets on them. Some are sad, some are quirky, some are touching, and all are absolutely awesome

Comments

[beboots]

"Most people would have trouble even naming the continent Argentina is in. XD" For serious? I was ashamed of what little I knew! D:

Ah, yes, some of this is ringing a bell... especially Potosi. I remember seeing a photograph of a European museum exhibit which aimed to try to tell some of that history. The case was filled with beautiful, large silver dishes and vases... and in the very center of it all sat a battered pair of iron manacles from South America. Very depressing, but makes the observer more aware of the implications of all of that European silver.

This was my reaction to reading your paragraph about the Campaña del Desierto: D: D: D: . Damn. D:

"at the time, most people in the now-Argentina were illiterate, but that was not so different from just about everywhere else in the world." Oh yes, I didn't mean to imply that Argentinians were unusually illiterate. I'm pretty sure that the literacy rates in the British Isles, aside from the large cities, was just as bad in that era.

"once our Constitution was finally drawn up, there was an article stating that education was to be free and compulsory for EVERYBODY... which meant that, very quickly afterwards, Argentina rose to be one of the countries with the highest levels of literacy in the world." BADASS. Yes, educational provisions can be badass.

I am also totally jealous of free university education. Awesome.

Now I know like three times as much about Argentina as I did before I read your post! :D