French historian J.B.P. More has called upon historians to view the atrocities committed by Portuguese explorers Vasco da Gama and Columbus on the people of the places they colonized as crimes against humanity.
Delivering the keynote address at the fourth International Kerala History Congress at Calicut University on Friday, Dr. More said so much of cruelty had been unleashed by the conquerors of Portugal and Spain on colonies with the intention of invading the lands and their people culturally and religiously.
Role of killing
“Force and violence, war and killing had played a fundamental role in the expansion of Christianity from the period of Constantine. This is a historical fact. Since then, Christianity and its ideas, beliefs and values which are not facts like the law of gravity, became part and parcel of western civilization,” he said.
According to Dr. More, the present ‘globalisation offensive,’ launched mainly by capitalist interests of the west, is a sequel to the colonialist offensive of yesteryear.
Presiding over the meeting, historian M.G.S. Narayanan said organizations and institutions of history should free themselves of parochial party politics. Calicut University Vice Chancellor K. Mohammed Basheer inaugurated the History Congress. Registrar T.A. Abdul Majeed, Syndicate member Fatimat Zuhara, and historian V. Kunhali spoke.
K. Gopalankutty, former Head of Department of History, welcomed the gathering. P. Sivadasan, Head of Department of History, proposed a vote of thanks.
Mr. Narayanan and another veteran historian M.R. Raghava Varier presented papers in a special series on Kerala historians.
