North America?

Originally posted by The Canadian Guy Also American history is butchered. When I went to the White House they said an electical fire burnt it down, but there was no electric power back then and it was Canada that brunt it down, also in 1812 America did not in the war, it became a stalemate. When I went to Holland, they rewrote the history that the bloody Yanks liberated the country, in fact it was Canada, so King John, your country's histroy isa rewrote to make you look stronger, thus the ppl think they are stronger, but every person is equal. �You peoples patriotic ideal just make the world shun�America.�

This is off topic, Canadian Guy, but what makes people shun America is not out love for out country (patriotism) but rather our arrogance and ignorance about foreign cultures. If somebody at the White House told you all that bull then you should have said actually...(correction goes here). I can't speak for the entirety of America but when it came to the 1812 War I was taught that the British won and the only real battle that we won was fought two weeks after the war had ended. Re: the white house fire I learned in school that it was the British who burned it down in 1814. Consequently there was a second fire during the Presidency of Herbert Hoover this fire was only in the West Wing though.

"When I went to Holland, they rewrote the history that the bloody Yanks liberated the country, in fact it was Canada." When you say "they" here who are you talking about? According to the sentence structure it appears you mean the Dutch changed who liberated their country. If the Dutch did this then why do you blame America? According to Canadian Encyclopedia the Americans were the one who began the liberation of Holland on 13 September 1944, there were also British troops involved in this. Canada, however, finished the job a year later. So you are not entirely wrong, but you are also not entirely correct.

But this reply and your original post are digressions away from the topic at hand.

Edited by King John - 28-Dec-2007 at 17:12

Some tour guides are idiots, an electrical fire you have got to be kidding me, Did you say anything to him/her about how wrong he/she was? Personally I find it patronizing when people try to appease an tourist. If I go to a foreign land and go to one of their historical cites I don't want the nice version I want the real version. If many people liberated Holland then they should say as much.

Americans do rewrite history to suit their own purposes. I went to middle school in Ohio and was told the Americans won the war of 1812. But it's not as though they're the only ones doing this. Canada does it too- we claim to have won the war of 1812, but if you had actually asked anyone in 1812, even a Canadian would have told you the British won. Canada was only a colony in the British Empire.

Anyways, back on topic. I wish I could say there were any examples of great ancient architecture in my corner of the continent, but there are not. There are and have been many impressive structures built by Native people in British Columbia, but they were invariably made of wood. There are plenty of ancient stone artifacts, but not stone buildings. Cedar was just too good and plentiful a building material to pass up in favour of stone, when stoneworking techniques were so incredibly labour-intensive. Besides, who would want to build something like this out of stone?

source


Edited by jdalton - 30-Dec-2007 at 21:44

And these are from BC