Garrow's Law

For those mourning the loss of Downton Abbey, Garrow's Law is a great replacement. Set in 18th century London, it tells the tale of William Garrow, a pioneering barrister at the Old Bailey, and his defence of various unsavoury cases. Before the opening up of the Old Bailey's archives Garrow was little known even among the legal community. This series uses these archives to explore his character and the developments that were made in the legal profession by him at the end of the 18th century. Last night's episode dealt with the case of the Zong slave ship: 'When 133 African prisoners are thrown overboard from a slave ship in suspicious circumstances, Garrow challenges the brutal trade that regards slaves as cargo'. Although a real case, Garrow did not actually take this particular case on but he was a campaigner against the slave trade. How do writers of historical dramas reconcile fact with fiction? Tony Marchant, who wrote Garrow's Law, explains how he did it.

Western Dominance?

This BBC article asks why the West (ie Western Europe and North America) was able to dominate politics and economics for the past two centuries, but may well now be losing its advantage to the economies of Asia such as China (which David Cameron is visiting this week) and India. The answer, according to a theory by Ian Morris, of Stanford University, is geography, and in particular the Atlantic Ocean, which was "just the right size" for ships to cross and develop trade from the variety of regions around it. This increased trade created intense competition and imposed a scientific revolution, buoyed by Asian inventions such as gunpowder. Mechanisation and the Industrial Revolution followed, giving an immediate advantages to countries such as Great Britain which were able to use their naval power to build and maintain an empire. (You could also note that these were also the perfect conditions for encouraging the slave trade, which brought profits to England and America for almost 200 years.) Improvement in transport and communications has now reduced the impact of the Pacific Ocean's size, allowing the economies of the East to reassert themselves.

The combination of History and Geography has been considered before when considering long term causes, such as the "Guns, Germs and Steel" theories of Jared Diamond and makes some uncomfortable that historical outcomes are inevitable because of factors beyond our control. What do you think?

Obama in Africa

A perfect Nonsuch HP blog entry here, as it combines the history of the slave trade with Obama's reaction to it and his thoughts on the future for Africa. He believes that good governance is the way to reform many African countries and, although he accepted the negative history of slavery and colonialism, he made it clear that he did not think that Africa could any longer blame that history for its current troubles. A good quotation to end the BBC clip of his speech: "as bad as history can be, it's always possible to overcome".
A particularly poignant visit for Michelle Obama as she is directly descended from slaves.