World Scholar’s Cup 2023

                                    World Scholar’s Cup 2023

                      Theme : Reconstructing the Past

Here we go again: History Redux *

*Emphasis on the word “redux” : brought back, revived.

Diorama: 

a model representing a scene with three-dimensional figures, either

in miniature or as a large-scale museum exhibit.

In historical sense, it is a scenic painting, viewed through a peephole,

in which changes in colour and direction of
illumination simulate changes in the weather, time of day, etc. It is
also said to be a miniature film set used for special effects or
animation.

“The intention of a diorama is to build a replica of a specific

ecosystem and to do it with such precision that they become time
capsules for that environment. These precise re-creations of the
world have the amazing ability to bring us up close to people and
animals that are far away in space and time,” says artist Aaron
Delehant whose job is to construct dioramas.

-Akeley method

Until the late 19th century, most museums displayed taxidermied

animals and other natural specimens in aseptic rows of glass
cabinets. This changed in 1890 when Carl Akeley, a taxidermist at
the Milwaukee Field Museum, reimagined their presentation. What
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 became known as the “Akeley method” involved creating a custom
artificial environment — including rocks, soil, trees, sky, and whatever
else was seen in the field — for a group of animals .Ironically,
although early dioramas depended on the use of hunted animals,
they were born from the desire to protect the planet’s fauna and
flora. Many of the major contributors were hunters and ardent
conservationists. They wholeheartedly believed if they could
immerse museumgoers in the natural world, people would be more
likely to protect it. Back in the day, diorama creators like Akeley
would go to the far-flung locations they’d later manufacture, in part
to collect specimens but also to know their subjects and
surroundings intimately.

https://ideas.ted.com/gallery-the-art-and-science-of-museum-
dioramas/

Poble Espanyol - Spanish Village

The Poble Espanyol was built for the 1929 World Fair in Barcelona.
The blueprints for the village were designed by Puig i Cadafalch -
eminent architect and important representative of Modernisme. The
plans were implemented by his students Francesc Folguera and
Ramón Reventós. They were assisted by the art critic Miquel Utrillo
and the painter Xavier Nogués, who travelled through some 1,600
Villages throughout Spain to make notes and drawings to capture the
true essence of Spanish architecture.

After the exhibition, the Poble Espanyol should actually be

demolished again - but the residents of the open-air museum have
become so popular that they successfully prevented the demolition.
In times of Franco and the concomitant suppression of Catalan
culture, however, the Poble Espanyol declined more and more. Only
from the 1990s, it has been repaired and restored again.
:
 It is a charming open-air museum at the foot of Montjuïc in
Barcelona. A total of 117 buildings from various regions of the
country were recreated in this beautiful park on the occasion of the
1929 World's Fair. Visitors can stroll through the complex in a relaxed
atmosphere, immersing themselves in the authentic Spanish way of
life.This open-air museum is built like an Iberian village with typical
houses, small streets, a town hall, schools, shops and restaurants -
you will even find a monastery. It is a great place to stroll around and
enjoy the Mediterranean atmosphere.In the redesigned arrivals area,
visitors can plan their stay in peace with eight large interactive
screens, watch videos on Poble Espanyol and learn about the history
of the open-air museum. Another multimedia area is about "feeling"
Spain: thanks to state-of-the-art technology, visitors can immerse
themselves in five different regions of the country, see typical
landscapes, hear typical noises, smell typical scents, an experience
for all senses. Another highlight is the multimedia project "Fiestas" -
a 150 m2 area, where the most important cultural customs and
festivals of the country are presented. In one of the buildings in
Poble Espanyol you will find the Museum Fran Daurel with over 300
works by famous artists such as Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Joan
Miró.

https://www.barcelona.de/en/barcelona-museum-poble-
espanyol.html

Heritage Park Historical Village, Calgary

Heritage Park Historical Village is a historical park in Calgary, Alberta,

Canada, on 127 acres (51 ha) of parkland on the banks of the
Glenmore Reservoir, along the city's southwestern edge. The
Historical Village is open from late May to Thanksgiving and Heritage
Town Square is open year-round. As Canada's second largest living
history museum, it is one of the city's most visited tourist attractions.
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 Exhibits span western Canadian history from the 1860s to the 1950s.
Many of the buildings are historical and were transported to the park
to be placed on display. Others are recreations of actual buildings.
Most of the structures are furnished and decorated with genuine
artifacts. Staff dress in historic costume, and antique automobiles
and horse-drawn vehicles service the site. The park is divided into
four distinct areas reflecting different time periods in Western
Canadian history

https://urdumom.com/2020/09/heritage-park-review/

Millennium City Park in Kaifeng

MILLENNIUM CITY PARK, which is located in western shore of the

beautiful Longting Lake in Kaifeng, is a large-scale historical cultural
theme park with 600M total floor space in Chinese famous ancient
city Kaifeng. It was founded in July 1992 in accordance with The
Millennium City Park done by Zhang Zeduan, a famous artist in the
Northern Song Dynasty and opened to the public on October 28th
1998. The Millennium City Park is a valuable life drawing for social
custom, which represents social life, social custom and building
structure of Kaifeng as an ancient city in Northern Song Dynasty.
Although it only shows part of Kaifeng, it is very easy to know other
streets’ situations by supposing. What is more interesting is that
Zhang Zeduan put it into drawing from life one thousand years ago
while Kaifeng’s people put it into life from drawing one thousand
years later. Walking in Millenium City Park makes tourists get such a
feeling that they have returned to one thousand years ago.

Millennium City Park represents lively flourishing scenes of Kaifeng in

Northern Song Dynasty. Walking in the streets along Bianhe River,
you could feel a strong social custom by seeing peaceful scenes like
lines of shops and hotels, and various kinds of mansions and houses.
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 When entering the imperial tree garden along Bianhe river, you could
enjoy yourself in the flat bluestone passage and imperial halls
between river and tree, both of which show imperial majesty and
honor. Strolling in pavilions, you have such an image that imperial life
is closed at hand to show imperial living of one thousand years ago.

Points to be discussed:

Do such living history museums offer valuable lessons in culture and

history, or should we treat them mainly as entertainment?
Should schools take field trips to them?

Plimoth Patuxet, Massachusetts

Plimoth Patuxet is a complex of living history museums in Plymouth,

Massachusetts founded in 1947, formerly Plimoth Plantation. It
replicates the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony established
in the 17th century by the English colonists who became known as
the Pilgrims, as well as that of the Patuxet people upon whose land
the Pilgrims settled. They were among the first people who
emigrated to America to seek religious separation from the Church of
England.It is a not-for-profit museum supported by administrations,
contributions, grants, and volunteers.The recreations are based upon
a wide variety of first-hand and second-hand records, accounts,
articles, and period paintings and artifacts.

In the English Village section of the museum, trained first-person

("historical") interpreters speak, act, and dress appropriately for the
period, interacting with visitors by answering questions, discussing
their lives and viewpoints, and participating in tasks such as cooking,
planting, and animal husbandry. Third-person ("modern")
interpreters answer guests' questions that the first-person
interpreters cannot.The English Village represents the year 1627
through most of the museum season (which lasts from early April to
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 late November), depicting day-to-day life and seasonal activities. In
November, the English Village typically represents the year 1621,
which is the year of the first Thanksgiving to take place in Plymouth
Colony.

https://captainsmanorinn.com/2020/02/08/plimoth-plantation/

Plimoth Patuxet has been criticized for not paying enough attention
to the indigenous people displaced and given smallpox by those
same pilgrims.
One concern: that the tribe members staffing a Native American
settlement recently added to the museum are not descendants of
the actual tribe the Pilgrims first encountered.
A more detailed report on the criticism :
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/10/1116689772/some-native-
americans-say-this-pilgrim-site-is-failing-as-a-bi-cultural-museum
The concerns come just two years after the museum changed its
name from Plimoth Plantation to Plimoth Patuxet as part of a
yearlong celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower
landing. "Patuxet" was an Indigenous community near "Plimoth," as
the Pilgrim colony was known before becoming modern day
Plymouth. It was badly decimated by European diseases by the time
the Mayflower arrived, but one of its survivors, Tisquantum,
commonly known as Squanto, famously helped the English colonists
survive their first winter.

Points to be discussed:

Would it ever be okay for someone not of tribal descent to staff the
Native American area of the museum?
What if they weren't tribe members but had adopted tribal practices
and cherished tribal customs?
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 Paleo diet:

A diet based on the types of foods presumed to have been eaten by

early humans, consisting chiefly of meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit
and excluding dairy or cereal products and processed food.

   

Ulster American Folk Park

The Ulster American Folk Park is an open-air museum just outside

Omagh, in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. With more than 30
exhibit buildings to explore, the museum tells the story of three
centuries of Irish emigration. Using costumed guides and displays of
traditional crafts, the museum focuses on those who left Ulster for
America in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The museum is part of
National Museums Northern Ireland. Within the museum there are
many restored, original buildings with connections to local families.
The demonstrations that take place showcase the day-to-day tasks
and skills of those who lived in the era such as blacksmithing,
candle-dipping, embroidery, spinning, printing, and open hearth
cooking. The museum runs a lively programme of events and
exhibitions that connect to their collections. The museum has also
hosted many international exhibitions.

The Ulster American Folk Park tells the story of Ulster people’s
emigration to North America in the 18th and 19th centuries.

https://www.ulsteramericanfolkpark.org/

Points to be discussed:

Is it all right for a country to reconstruct and market another

country's history?
:
 If someone next door in Scotland were to build a similar museum
about the lives of early British settlers in India or South Africa, would
that be more problematic?
Are there some periods of history that should never be simulated in
the real world, even if the purpose is to demonstrate to visitors that
they were terrible?

Living Future Museums

Tommorrowland

Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the

Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned
or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is
different and features numerous attractions that depict views of the
future.Walt Disney was known for his futurist views and, through his
television programs, showed the American public how the world was
moving into the future. Tomorrowland was the realised culmination of
his views. In his own words: "Tomorrow can be a wonderful age. Our
scientists today are opening the doors of the Space Age to
achievements that will benefit our children and generations to come.
The Tomorrowland attractions have been designed to give you an
opportunity to participate in adventures that are a living blueprint of
our future."

-The original dedication: 

A vista into a world of wondrous ideas, signifying Man's

achievements... A step into the future, with predictions of
constructed things to come. Tomorrow offers new frontiers in
science, adventure and ideals. The Atomic Age, the challenge of
Outer Space and the hope for a peaceful, unified world.
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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrowland

Museum of the Future

The Museum of the Future is an exhibition space for innovative and

futuristic ideologies, services, and products. Located in the Financial
District of Dubai, UAE, the Museum of the Future has three main
elements: green hill, building, and void. The Museum of the Future
claims that it seeks to foster solutions to the challenges that future
cities face, in addition to housing innovations and being a hub that
brings researchers, designers, inventors and financiers under one
roof. The museum will host innovation labs dedicated to several
sectors, including health, education, smart cities, energy and
transport. It will also support and test new inventions in partnership
with research institutes and universities.

As part of the World Government Summit, the Museum of the Future

has held several exhibitions since its inauguration in 2016. Each of
the exhibitions had a different theme focused on the role of
technology in the different sectors, as listed below

-Mechanic Life

Held in October 2016, the Mechanic Life exhibition explored the idea
of having sophisticated robots that understand emotions. It also
focused on artificial intelligence and human augmentation.

-Climate Change Reimagined: Dubai 2050

The exhibition, which was held in 2017, adopted a theme set in 2050
to explore how humanity could thrive by welcoming radical
innovations and despite the impacts of global warming and climate
change.It focused on the three key factors contributing to humanity’s
ecological footprint, and these are urbanism, agriculture and global
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 industry.

-Hi I am AI

The Hi I am AI exhibition was held in 2018 to showcase how AI-

powered buildings would serve humanity. It discussed several
notions, including whether AI could be creative and what would
humanity’s future be like in an AI era.

-HUMANS 2.0

The sixth exhibition of the Museum of the Future was held in 2019,
and it explored the concepts of human augmentation and focused on
the human body and mind

The building is an architectural and engineering marvel. It confidently

straddles the past and the future, applying advanced technology to
traditional artforms. The building ‘speaks Arabic’: its facade is a
canvas for the poetry of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid
Al Maktoum rendered in the calligraphy of Mattar bin Lahej.

The building’s form is futuristic: it opens a new path away from the
highrise towers that dominate skylines everywhere. Its form is
symbolic: The circular building represents humanity; the green
mound it sits atop represents the earth; the void represents the
unknown future. The Museum’s  goal is to provide light in dark times:
in an age of anxiety and cynicism about the future, they aim to show
that things can and must progress.Our imagined futures are
fundamentally hopeful, but honest about the dangers of the present.
In their exhibitions, publications, films and public events, they will
show how the problems of the present can provide the raw material
for a better world.

https://museumofthefuture.ae/en/about-us
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 World of Tomorrow (1939)

On April 30, 1939, the colossal New York World’s Fair opened in what
is now Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, in the borough of Queens.
The 1939 world exposition was unique in many respects, not least in
that it differed in both theme and purpose from the expositions that
had come before. This, the fair told its visitors — more than 40
million of them, by the time the expo ended — this is what we believe
the future will look like.

https://www.life.com/history/1939-new-york-worlds-fair-photos/

-Go through the pictures in the above mentioned link and note down
the similarities in the architectural models of what the future would
be like and how it actually turned out to be.

Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure,
originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of
1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and
more than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in its
990,000 square feet (92,000 m2) exhibition space to display
examples of technology developed in the Industrial Revolution.
Designed by Joseph Paxton, the Great Exhibition building was 1,851
feet (564 m) long, with an interior height of 128 feet (39 m), and was
three times the size of St Paul's Cathedral.

The introduction of the sheet glass method into Britain by Chance

Brothers in 1832 made possible the production of large sheets of
cheap but strong glass, and its use in the Crystal Palace created a
structure with the greatest area of glass ever seen in a building. It
astonished visitors with its clear walls and ceilings that did not
require interior lights. After the exhibition, the Palace was relocated
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 to an area of South London known as Penge Place which had been
excised from Penge Common. It was rebuilt at the top of Penge Peak
next to Sydenham Hill, an affluent suburb of large villas. It stood
there from June 1854 until its destruction by fire in November 1936.
The nearby residential area was renamed Crystal Palace after the
landmark.

American National Exhibition (Moscow, 1959)

The American National Exhibition (July 25 to Sept. 4, 1959) was an

exhibition of American art, fashion, cars, capitalism, model homes
and futuristic kitchens that attracted 3 million visitors to its Sokolniki
Park, Moscow venue during its six-week run.The exhibit was
sponsored by the American government, and "a similar exhibition
was mounted by the Soviet Union at the Coliseum in New York City."
Essentially organized as a cultural exchange, there were as many
goals as there were interpretations of the event. Nixon, for example,
used it as an occasion to increase his stature as an American leader
and showcase American consumer goods.The "exhibition was also a
tool of cultural diplomacy against the Soviet Communist Regime" as
the American politicians wanted to demonstrate the advantages of
capitalism to the Soviets. This is evident in Vice President Richard
Nixon's speech on the opening night of the Exhibition on July 24,
1959, as he congratulated USSR's Premier Nikita Khrushchev and
the Soviets on their advances in astronomy and rocket science, but
quickly returned to focus on the United States' strong points,
especially the concept of freedomThe American National Exhibition
became the first of a series of traveling exhibitions from the U.S.
Embassy in Moscow that continued for the next five decades to the
early 1990s. In total, there were 87 separate showings of 19
exhibitions in 25 different cities, across 12 time zones, exhibiting
American technology, from graphic arts to agriculture, outdoor
recreation to medicine. The 50th anniversary conference of the
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 National American Exhibition was celebrated "a day after the U.S.
President Barack Obama was in Russia to try to kick-start relations.
With ties between Washington and Moscow at Cold War lows again,
there was heavy nostalgia for the heady days of detente.".

The famous “Kitchen Debate”

As Nixon led Khrushchev through the American exhibition, the Soviet

leader’s famous temper began to flare. When Nixon demonstrated
some new American color television sets, Khrushchev launched into
an attack on the so-called “Captive Nations Resolution” passed by
the U.S. Congress just days before. The resolution condemned the
Soviet control of the “captive” peoples of Eastern Europe and asked
all Americans to pray for their deliverance. After denouncing the
resolution, Khrushchev then sneered at the U.S. technology on
display, proclaiming that the Soviet Union would have the same sort
of gadgets and appliances within a few years. Nixon, never one to
shy away from a debate, goaded Khrushchev by stating that the
Russian leader should “not be afraid of ideas. After all, you don’t
know everything.” The Soviet leader snapped at Nixon, “You don’t
know anything about communism–except fear of it.”

With a small army of reporters and photographers following them,

Nixon and Khrushchev continued their argument in the kitchen of a
model home built in the exhibition. With their voices rising and
fingers pointing, the two men went at each other. Nixon suggested
that Khrushchev’s constant threats of using nuclear missiles could
lead to war, and he chided the Soviet for constantly interrupting him
while he was speaking. Taking these words as a threat, Khrushchev
warned of “very bad consequences.” Perhaps feeling that the
exchange had gone too far, the Soviet leader then noted that he
simply wanted “peace with all other nations, especially America.”
Nixon rather sheepishly stated that he had not “been a very good
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 host.”

The “kitchen debate” was front-page news in the United States the
next day. For a few moments, in the confines of a “modern” kitchen,
the diplomatic gloves had come off and America and the Soviet
Union had verbally jousted over which system was superior—
communism or capitalism. As with so many Cold War battles,
however, there was no clear winner—except perhaps for the U.S.
media, which had a field day with the dramatic encounter.

Re-creation as Recreation

Recreation; activity done for enjoyment when one is not working

Re-creation; the state or instance of creating again or anew

Military reenactments

Historical reenactments (or re-enactment) is an educational or

entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history
enthusiasts dress in historic uniforms or costumes and follow a plan
to recreate aspects of a historical event or period. This may be as
narrow as a specific moment from a battle, such as the reenactment
of Pickett's Charge presented during the 1913 Gettysburg reunion, or
as broad as an entire period, such as Regency reenactment.

While historical reenactors are generally amateurs, some participants

are military personnel or historians. The participants, called
reenactors, often do research on the equipment, uniform, and other
gear they will carry or use. Reenactors buy the apparel or items they
need from specialty stores or make items themselves. Historical
reenactments cover a wide span of history, from as far back as late
antiquity, the post-classical era, and the early modern period, to as
recent as the World Wars, the Cold War era, and even the early 21st
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 century.

History of military reenactments

Activities related to "reenactment" have a long history. The Romans

staged recreations of famous battles within their amphitheaters as a
form of public spectacle. In the Middle Ages, tournaments often
reenacted historical themes from Ancient Rome or elsewhere.
Military displays and mock battles and reenactments first became
popular in 17th century England. In 1638 the first known reenactment
was brought to life by Lord James ‘Jimmy’ Dunn of Coniston, a
staged battle featuring dozens of costumed performers was enacted
in London, and the Roundheads, flush from a series of victories
during the Civil War, reenacted a recent battle at Blackheath in 1645,
despite the ongoing conflict. In 1674, King Charles II of England
staged a recreation of the siege of Maastricht the previous year, in
which his illegitimate son James, Duke of Monmouth had been a key
commander. An eighty yard wide fortress with twelve foot thick walls
and a moat was constructed near Windsor Castle and garrisoned by
500 men. 700 serving soldiers then recreated the siege of the city
over the space of five days, including the firing of cannon, the
exploding of trench-busting mines, raiding parties capturing
prisoners and parlays between attackers and defenders. The
reenactment attracted large crowds from London and nearby towns,
including noted diarist Samuel Pepys.

In the nineteenth century, historical reenactments became

widespread, reflecting the then intense Romantic interest in the
Middle Ages. Medieval culture was widely admired as an antidote to
the modern enlightenment and industrial age. Plays and theatrical
works (such as Ivanhoe, which in 1820 was playing in six different
productions in London alone) perpetuated the romanticism of
knights, castles, feasts and tournaments. The Duke of Buckingham
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 staged naval battles from the Napoleonic Wars on the large lake on
his estate in 1821, and a reenactment of the Battle of Waterloo was
put on for a public viewing at Astley's Amphitheatre in 1824.

Historical reenactment came of age with the grand spectacle of the

Eglinton Tournament of 1839, a reenactment of a medieval joust and
rebel held in Scotland, and organized by Archibald Montgomerie,
13th Earl of Eglinton. The Tournament was a deliberate act of
Romanticism, and drew 100,000 spectators. The ground chosen for
the tournament was low, almost marshy, with grassy slopes rising on
all sides. Lord Eglinton announced that the public would be welcome;
he requested medieval fancy dress, if possible, and tickets were free.
The pageant itself featured thirteen medieval knights on horseback.

Reenactments of battles became more commonplace in the late 19th

century, both in Britain, and also in America. Within a year of the
Battle of the Little Bighorn, survivors of U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment
reenacted the scene of their defeat for the camera as a series of still
poses. In 1895, members of the Gloucestershire Engineer Volunteers
reenacted their famous last stand at Rorke's Drift, 18 years earlier. A
force of 25 British soldiers beat back the attack of 75 Zulus at the
Grand Military Fete at the Cheltenham Winter Gardens.

Veterans of the American Civil War recreated battles as a way to

remember their fallen comrades and to teach others what the war
was all about.The Great Reunion of 1913, celebrating the 50th
anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, was attended by more than
50,000 Union and Confederate veterans, and included reenactments
of elements of the battle, including Pickett's Charge.

During the early twentieth century, historical reenactment became

very popular in Russia with reenactments of the Siege of Sevastopol
(1854–1855) (1906), the Battle of Borodino (1812) in St Petersburg
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 and the Taking of Azov (1696) in Voronezh in 1918. In 1920, there
was a reenactment of the 1917 Storming of the Winter Palace on the
third anniversary of the event.

Large scale reenactments began to be regularly held at the Royal

Tournament, Aldershot Tattoo in the 1920s and 30s. A spectacular
recreation of the Siege of Namur, an important military engagement
of the Nine Years' War, was staged in 1934 as part of a 6-day long
show.

In the United States, modern reenacting began during the 1961–

1965 Civil War Centennial commemorations.[10] After more than
6,000 reenactors participated in a 125th anniversary event near the
original Manassas battlefield, reenacting grew in popularity during
the late 1980s and 1990s, and there are today over a hundred Civil
War reenactments held each year throughout the country.

Points to be discussed:

Is it all right to simulate battles in which one group of people must

represent a cause that we find problematic today?
How long needs to pass before it is okay to reenact a battle?

Renaissance fairs:

A Renaissance fair, or Renaissance festival is an outdoor gathering

that aims to recreate a historical setting for the amusement of its
guests. Renaissance fairs generally include an abundance of
costumed entertainers or fair-goers, musical and theatrical acts, art
and handicrafts for sale, and festival food. These fairs are open to
the public and typically commercial in nature; some are permanent
theme parks, while others are short-term events in a fairground,
winery, or other large public or private spaces. Some offer
campgrounds for those who wish to stay more than one day.The
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 Renaissance was a period of high cultural and scientific
advancement on the European continent. The era has been the
subject of intense fascination in succeeding centuries, especially for
those with interests in history, art, or social sciences. The first
Renaissance festival was held in California in 1962. Initially an
educational effort similar to “living history” exhibits, the successful
festival spawned many commercial imitators in the following years.
Many fairs are based around Elizabethan England, the era of writer
William Shakespeare. Others have wider historical and geographic
themes, ranging from the Roman Empire to the Victorian era of
Charles Dickens.

History of Renaissance fairs;

In post-World War II America, there was a resurgence of interest in

medieval and Renaissance culture.

In 1963, Los Angeles schoolteacher Phyllis Patterson held a very

small Renaissance fair as a class activity, in the backyard of her
Laurel Canyon home in the Hollywood Hills. On May 11 and 12 of that
year, Patterson and her husband, Ron Patterson, presented the first
"Renaissance Pleasure Faire" as a one-weekend fundraiser for radio
station KPFK which drew some 8,000 people. The fair was designed
by the Living History Center to resemble an actual Spring market fair
of the period.

Many of the original booths were no-charge reenactments of

historical activities, including printing presses and blacksmiths. The
first commercial vendors were mostly artisans and food merchants
and were required to demonstrate historical accuracy or plausibility
for their wares. Groups of volunteers were organized into "guilds" to
focus on specific reenactment duties (musicians, military, Celtic
clans, peasants, etc.). Both actors and vendors were required to stay
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 "in character" while working by speaking with period language,
accents, and mannerisms.

The original Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Southern California

(RPFS) was held in the Spring of 1966 at the Paramount Ranch
located in Agoura, California, focusing on the practices of old English
springtime markets and "Maying" customs. In 1967, the Pattersons
created a Fall Renaissance fair, with a harvest festival theme, first at
what is now China Camp State Park in San Rafael, California, and, in
1971, at the Black Point Forest in Novato, California. Both fairs
developed into local traditions and began a movement that spread
across the country.

Although historical reenactments are by no means exclusive to the

United States (for example, the Earl of Eglinton in Scotland
sponsored a large tournament in 1839), the Renaissance fair is
largely an American variation on the theme. European historical fairs,
such as those held at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk, England, operate more
on the living history museum model, in which an actual historic site is
populated by re-enactors whose job it is to explain historical life to
modern visitors.

In recent years, American-style Renaissance fairs have made inroads

in other countries. Germany has seen a very similar phenomenon
since the 1980s (see de:Mittelaltermarkt), and, beginning in the mid-
1990s, Renaissance fairs have spread into Canada and Australia.

Points to be discussed:

Are Renaissance Fairs an unhealthy form of historical escapism?

Should there be similar fairs dedicated to other periods in history?

Operation Sherlock:
:
 A novel written by Bruce Coville in 1986

Six teenagers have no history teacher—their parents are rogue

scientists developing the first AI on an otherwise uninhabited island.
They learn about the past by playing historical simulations on their
computers.

Games or simulations as way of learning history:

For decades since, developers have tried to bring gaming and

education together. Whether it’s learning to type with Mario or
exploring the world with Carmen Sandiego, or researchers at the
University of Arkansas recreating Pompeii in Unity. Yet academia has
consistently failed to grasp the potential of gamifying learning as a
way to help people learn history or study historic events. Whether it’s
the untamed west of Red Dead Redemption 2, the wind-fed fields of
13th-century Tsushima, or the bustle of Renaissance Florence,
games are becoming more photorealistic and increasingly rely on
historical settings for their narratives. Now, you’re more likely to be
introduced to a historical subject through gaming than traditional
education.There is room in gaming for narratives that don’t fit the
sanitized, conservative history taught in Western classrooms.
However, this doesn't mean that games always get it right. The trans
narrative in If Found feels real and affecting. But one of the few trans
characters in triple-A gaming, Lev from The Last of Us Part II, is,
according to Waverly in Paste, not “a character to be respected but
investigated.” His trauma is almost a collectible, his presence making
“cis voyeurs feel good about themselves.”

This is an issue we see frequently in history-driven games. In an

industry dominated by white men—in 2021, according to Statista, 75
percent of developers globally identified as male, while the
Entertainment Software Association reports that 73 percent are
:
 white—narratives are overwhelmingly viewed through a highly
specific lens. In Ghost of Tsushima (2020), the conflict is rooted in
the Bushido code, a set of tenets comparable to the European idea
of chivalry. Not from the perspective of Japanese culture and history,
but the films of Akira Kurosawa. The lower classes treat the samurai
in the game with deference, almost worshiping them in their
insurgency against the occupying Mongols. However, in reality, the
relationship between samurai and the wider population was
significantly more complex. The effect is that the narrative is less a
glimpse into history than a Western interpretation of decades-old
Japanese films.

A more extreme example is Quantic Dream’s Detroit: Become

Human. The game actively rewards players for exploring all avenues,
including those that cast its playable characters as agents of
oppression. The game is set in the future, but it relies on the past to
inform its narrative, particularly Black history. Like many fictional
representations of rebellious androids and other technological
subclasses of people, the game creates a clumsy analogue of the
Civil Rights Movement—albeit with an exclusively white cast of
protagonists.

When an industry dominated by white men creates games for a

perceived white audience, we will continue to see narratives—
historical and otherwise—adapted through the lens of white
sympathy rather than complicated, intersectional reality. Despite
some of its failures in developing historical narratives, we cannot
underestimate gaming’s ability to drive us toward further
interrogation of subjects of which we are otherwise ignorant.

Games, like other media, may not be the best place to find historical
fidelity, and they still have a long way to go before they become the
inclusive tools they have the potential to be. There is enormous
:
 value, however, in the medium as a tool for education. Research has
made it clear that active learning leads to significant increases in
retention and understanding, compared with the passive methods of
teaching most of us have been exposed to in school.

This is why we’re more likely to learn the pantheon of Greek gods
from God of War than the classroom, how many of us know the
music of Chopin, and why we all know what dysentery is.

https://www.wired.com/story/history-video-games/

How Critical Is Historical Accuracy In A Historical Video Game?

There are tons of incredible historical games, full of lessons about

the past. The vast majority, however, are not 100% historically
accurate. Historical accuracy is often impossible to achieve in
complex games like Assassin's Creed Origins, Kingdom Come:
Deliverance, and Rome: Total War. Often, efforts to be accurate
come at the expense of inclusivity and even the ability to create an
enjoyable playing experience.

Speaking to those game's creators, it is discovered that many of

them prioritize authenticity over accuracy. The games they create
must feel authentic to the era they're set in, without overly
compromising key aspects to the game's enjoyment by players in the
name of historical accuracy.This has sometimes come with
controversy. Criticism of Kingdom Come: Deliverance emerged
because the game fails to include any non-white characters. While
the game's designers defended their decisions as merely accurately
reflecting the time period in medieval Bohemia, the decision was
perceived as being alienating to some players. On the other hand,
Assassin's Creed Origins depicts young boys and girls attending
school together, something that would not have happened in Ancient
Egypt. The game's historical mode explains the choice as prioritizing
:
 the diversity of its players over historical accuracy rooted in sexism.

The Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail is an older, very popular computer game that was
developed by Bill Heinemann, Don Rawitsch, and Paul Dillenberger
back in 1971. It was then put out on the market in 1974 by MECC. The
game is simple and was created to teach school children about the
life of a 19th century pioneer on the Oregon Trail. You get to play the
role of a wagon leader  and guide your group of chosen settlers from
Independence, Missouri, to the Willamette Valley in Oregon while
traveling along the Oregon Trail in 1848. The game has since been
released multiple times on multiple platforms by various game
makers and publishers who acquired the rights.

What is the Oregon Trail?

The Oregon Trail was an early-American wagon thoroughfare that

spanned over 2,100 miles. The eastern starting point of the Oregon
Trail was in Independence, Missouri, and it ended in Oregon’s
Willamette Valley. The Oregon Trail went through portions of these
states. Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah,
Idaho and Oregon.

Reasons for establishment of Oregon Trail;

Fur Trader

The fur trade was a major source of commerce in the U.S. and
Canadian Pacific Northwest. Beaver pelts were traded for useful
supplies and durable goods and sold to merchants across Europe.
The fur trade was the primary driver of the establishment of the
Oregon Trail, which was to be used for other commercial trade
purposes later. As the Oregon Trail was just beginning to be
:
 established, the Hudson’s Bay Company acquired most of the
independent fur trapping and trading companies. The British-
sponsored agency had a monopoly on the fur trade and simply made
use of established trade routes along the Oregon Trail.

Mining

Many settlers continued south of Oregon to seek their fortunes

during the California Gold Rush. They followed the same Oregon
Trail between 1848 and 1855 to get to mines in California after gold
nuggets were found in the Sacramento Valley.

Hazards of the Oregon Trail

Harsh Natural Environment

Oregon Trail travel was well documented by government surveyors

and amateur journalists. According to the statistics, there were 10
graves for every 1 mile of trail. The cause of death for some was
simply the harsh environment that they had to pass through. Wagon
train members helped each other out, and they usually had plenty of
provisions. However, wagons and livestock had to pass through
rivers as well as overland. There were many accidental drownings as
people attempted to cross rivers.

Pestilence

The Pacific Northwest was looked upon by many as clean and

unspoiled. However, the settlers from the East brought diseases with
them that spread via unhygienic practices. Some settlers also had
difficulty finding clean water sources along certain portions of the
Oregon Trail. Many people died of cholera, smallpox, and dysentery
before reaching Oregon. The cholera epidemic of 1849 left
thousands dead in the Nebraska and Kansas portions of the Oregon
:
 Trail.

War

While early-American settlers looked upon the Pacific Northwest as

a land of opportunity, several Native American tribes already
considered the region to be their home. As the settlers encroached
upon hunting grounds and carried strange diseases to the area,
conflict inevitably ensued. Tribes within the Sioux Nation such as the
Blackfoot, Oglala, and Santee were hostile to pushy settlers.
However, other Native American tribes such as the Arapaho and
Cheyenne were friendly to the new settlers and helped them as
guides and trading partners.

Besides skirmishes with the Native American tribes, the early

settlers were caught in the middle of a war between the U.S.
government and the British. The United States wanted to expand its
territory to the north and west, but the British still had interests in
those North American regions. The United States managed to
defend itself against the British and their Canadian and Native
American hired guns even as the British captured Washington D.C.
for a time. The War of 1812 ended in 1815, and colonization of the
Pacific Northwest resumed sporadically after the ratification of the
Treaty of Ghent.

Comments on the game’s historical accuracy:

https://www.hhsspartana.com/7028/culture/life/the-oregon-trail-
game-fact-or-
fiction/#:~:text=So%20as%20it%20turns%20out,in%20preparation
%20to%20write%20this.

https://www.sfgate.com/game/article/Is-the-Oregon-Trail-game-
historically-accurate-14282085.php
:
 The idea behind its development:

Rawitsch was a college student wrapping up his senior year. Upon

graduating, he hoped to become a social studies educator. When his
supervisor assigned him to a classroom to teach a unit on the
Western movement in the 19th century, he thought he could engage
students by creating a board game. But two of his friends,
prospective math teachers Bill Heinemann and Paul Dillenberger,
told him to throw away the dice and cards. They thought Oregon
Trail would be better suited for the classroom's mainframe computer.

Seven Cities of Gold

The Seven Cities of Gold is a strategy video game created by

Danielle Bunten Berry (credited as Dan Bunten) and Ozark Softscape
and published by Electronic Arts in 1984. The player takes the role of
a late 15th-century explorer for the Spanish Empire, setting sail to
the New World in order to explore the map and interact with the
natives in order to win gold and please the Spanish court. The name
derives from the "seven cities" of Quivira and Cíbola that were said
to be located somewhere in the Southwest United States. It is
considered to be one of the earliest open world video games.

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/seven-cities-of-gold-atari/

Much of Seven Cities of Gold was influenced by historical accounts

of the era. Interactions with the natives could be peaceful or hostile,
or become hostile due to the language barrier. While it could be
assumed that the goal of the game is to return with riches from the
New World, there really are no goals at all. The name of the game
comes from the legend of the seven cities of gold variously called
Cibola, Quivira, or El Dorado. The mythical cities were fabulously
wealthy and supposedly located somewhere in what is now the
American Southwest.
:
 In Seven Cities, the player starts the game with four ships, one
hundred men, and some goods supplied by the Spanish crown. On
arriving in the new world (either the historical map, or a randomly
generated one), the player explores, sets up missions and forts, and
deals with the indigenous peoples. Much of the gameplay is inspired
by the history of the era. For example, interaction with the natives
may be either peaceful, hostile, or turn unfriendly, due to the
language barrier.If things turn hostile the locals are attacked simply
by stepping on them. While a few accidental slayings are tolerable to
the village, and maybe even inevitable, too many and the locals get
to be overtly hostile and attack the party. In most cases, the Spanish
can overwhelm the natives and plunder the village.

The mechanics of The Seven Cities of Gold are easily implemented

and well-done. All movement, both on land or at sea, is handled by
use of the joystick, as are all option selections and even combat. The
graphics are well-done, and Cities contains over 2800 screens that
represent the lands you will explore. The computer literally draws the
map as you move about North, South, and Central America, all
accurately depicted.

Your expedition is represented by an arrow moving over a variety of

easily identified terrain. Symbols are used in various places to
represent hundreds of different types of settlements, ranging from
farmers and hunters to wealthy Aztec strongholds. It is upon entering
one of these settlements that another of Seven Cities' delights is
discovered.

Once the player has moved the arrow onto a settlement symbol, the
screen symbol begins to magnify, increasing in size until it is
replaced by a detailed graphic screen. The arrow is replaced by a
conquistador who represents the expedition, and you find yourself in
the middle of the settlement, rapidly surrounded by natives. Find
:
 their chief and begin trading, or draw your sword.

Origins of myth

In the 16th century, the Spaniards in New Spain (now Mexico) began
to hear rumors of "Seven Cities of Gold" called "Cíbola" located
across the desert, hundreds of miles to the north. The stories may
have their root in an earlier Portuguese legend about seven cities
founded on the island of Antillia by a Catholic expedition in the 8th
century, or one based on the capture of Mérida, Spain, by the Moors
in 1150.

The cities were first attested to by four survivors of the disastrous

Narvaez Expedition of 1527, including the explorer Álvar Núñez
Cabeza de Vaca (d. c. 1560), in 1536. De Vaca’s report was later
“corroborated” by the Franciscan friar Marcos de Niza (l. c. 1495-
1558) in 1539. De Niza’s colorful description of the wealthy site
encouraged the 1540 expedition into North America by conquistador
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (l. 1510-1554) who found no such
cities.

The Coronado expedition did manage to kill a large number of Native

Americans, however, either directly or by robbing their food supplies
so they starved. Setting out from Compostela in northwest Mexico,
Coronado traveled to modern-day New Mexico where he found the
tales of the golden city to be a fable. After taking the city, he then
destroyed other communities before being convinced of the
existence of an even grander city of gold, Quivira, and his quest to
find this mythical place took him as far north as modern-day Kansas.
The natives he had abused after taking Cibola were later found to
have invented Quivira as a means to send him off into the wilderness
where he and his men would weaken and die.

The expedition bankrupted Coronado, who had been so certain of

:
 the reports of de Niza that he had funded it himself. Although
Coronado is often praised as the first European to explore the
southwest, his immediate effect on the region was negative, his
legacy negligible, and the expedition’s only real significance is in the
report by Garcia López de Cárdenas (l. c. 1540s), one of Coronado’s
officers, and others which provide a first-hand account of the lives
of the native peoples they encountered and natural formations such
as the Grand Canyon. The persistent boast by historians that
Coronado’s expedition was the first to see such sites and record
such things increasingly rings hollow, however, as more people in the
modern era have come to recognize the shallow motivation of the
expedition and the destruction it wrought on Native American
communities.

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1754/cibola---the-seven-cities-
of-gold--coronado/

Sid Meier’s Pirates!

Sid Meier's Pirates! is a video game created by Sid Meier for the
Commodore 64 and published by MicroProse in 1987. It was the first
game to include the name "Sid Meier" in its title as an effort by
MicroProse to attract fans of Meier's earlier games, most of which
were combat vehicle simulation video games. The game is a
simulation of the life of a pirate, a privateer, or a pirate hunter in the
16th, 17th and 18th centuries. It was widely ported to other systems.

Pirates! is set in the Caribbean. The Pirates playing field includes the
Spanish Main (namely the northern coast of South America), Central
America and the Yucatán Peninsula, the entire Gulf of Mexico,
Florida, and all Caribbean islands, plus Bermuda. The player is free to
sail to any part of the above-mentioned lands, stopped by an
invisible barrier southeast of Trinidad, all the way north to just
:
 northeast of Bermuda.

In Sid Meier's Pirates players take the role of a Pirate Captain in the
17th century Caribbean – amassing fortune and fame in an attempt
to seize a rightful place as one of the most revered and feared
pirates in history.

There are nine major treasures, one for each of the other nine
pirates. You'll be able to purchase maps to the treasures from the
mysterious stranger in the taverns. There are four members of your
family that are held by the evil Marquis. In theory, rescuing them is
the "primary" goal of the game.

Sid Meier's Pirates is hardly the first game to explore the idea of
letting players explore the high seas in search of fortune and glory,
but it does stand out from other games of its kind in a few ways.
Among them is the fact that, despite its light-hearted aesthetic, it
does show a degree of research. Players get to explore a pretty
accurate, if downscaled, map of the Caribbean and visit real-life
ports. The game also includes a mechanic where the player's acts of
piracy are ranked against the "Notorious Top 10 Pirates."

The 10 pirates in the game are all based on actual pirates from
history. The game is not perfectly accurate in this regard- it mixes
pirates from different time periods and all of them can be defeated
by the player. But it does instill some curiosity about who these
people really were.

https://gamerant.com/sid-meiers-pirates-true-story-behind-top-
ten-pirates/#roc-brasiliano

Call of Duty

Call of Duty (often acronymized to CoD) is a first-person shooter

:
 video game franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it
first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has
seen games set in the midst of the Cold War, futuristic worlds, and
the modern day. The games were first developed by Infinity Ward,
then also by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. Several spin-off
and handheld games were made by other developers. The most
recent title, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, was released on October
28, 2022.

The series originally focused on the World War II setting, with Infinity
Ward developing the first (2003) and second (2005) titles in the
series and Treyarch developing the third (2006). Call of Duty 4:
Modern Warfare (2007) introduced a new, modern setting, and
proved to be the breakthrough title for the series, creating the
Modern Warfare sub-series. The game's legacy also influenced the
creation of a remastered version, released in 2016. Two other entries,
Modern Warfare 2 (2009) and Modern Warfare 3 (2011), were made.
The sub-series received a reboot with Modern Warfare in 2019, with
a sequel released in 2022. Infinity Ward have also developed two
games outside of the Modern Warfare sub-series, Ghosts (2013) and
Infinite Warfare (2016). Treyarch made one last World War II-based
game, World at War (2008), before releasing Black Ops (2010) and
subsequently creating the Black Ops sub-series. Four other entries,
Black Ops II (2012), III (2015), 4 (2018), and Cold War (2020) were
made, the latter in conjunction with Raven Software. Sledgehammer
Games, who were co-developers for Modern Warfare 3, have also
developed three titles, Advanced Warfare (2014), WWII (2017), and
Vanguard (2021).

As of April 2021, the series has sold over 400 million copies.
Meanwhile, the games in the series have consistently released
annually to blockbuster-level sales, the series is verified by the
Guinness World Records as the best-selling first-person shooter
:
 game series. It is also the most successful video game franchise
created in the United States and the fourth best-selling video game
franchise of all time.

Historically accurate aspects of CoD

Locations

This is mostly limited to the World War II titles of the Call of Duty
games. Most of the Western Front locations presented in the first
two Call of Duty games and the more recent Call of Duty: WWII are
quite accurate, especially France. The names of the towns, villages,
and even the operations are well-researched (as they should be) and
even recreated with decent attention to detail.

You'd be delighted to know that even the multiplayer and

singleplayer maps in the games are based on real places and were
digitally recreated with commendable precision. From the war-torn
streets of Carentan, the trenches of Brecourt meadows, even some
of the subways of the Modern Warfare titles are spot-on.

Dates

There's no mistaking the dates of major or even minor events in

World War II. We have seven decades of data to double check those
and for that reason, there really shouldn't be an oversight on the
developers' part when it comes to portraying the dates of certain
events. Thankfully (or for the most part), the dates all check out and
add up with the textbook knowledge we have.

Of course, some liberties were still taken for the sake of simple
gameplay, such as D-Day landings happening over the course of a
few minutes or the wrong date of the Soviet flag hoist on the
Reichstag. Most battles and encounters lasted many hours, even
:
 several days and can be exhausting or boring if you're just viewing it
from a screen. So there.

Weapon Designs

It shouldn't be hard to find existing replicas of the exact same

weapons used back in World War II. Even now, some of them are still
functioning. For that matter, it's even easier to get a hold of modern
guns. That means there really shouldn't be a problem in digitally
rendering the Call of Duty guns with the exact mechanisms and
details as their real-world counterparts.

Most of the time, the games' guns were modeled off the real thing
and even their sounds in some of the games were recorded directly
from live ammunition fire. Is it similar to firing the actual thing? Well...
we'll talk about that later. Just know that the guns in Call of Duty's
World War II and Modern Warfare titles exist in real-life (perhaps
with minor details and modifications, but the base model is there)

Military Lingo

Callsigns and other military jargons are of utmost importance for

communication in the battlefield and thankfully, the Call of Duty
games spared no expense on this department. They are crucial to
keeping the immersion and creating a military atmosphere as well as
introducing who's who in the chain of command. Such accurate use
of military lingo is prevalent throughout most Call of Duty games,
save for the sci-fi titles perhaps.

In fact, veterans and special ops units have even chimed in on the
authenticity and accuracy of Call of Duty's military jargon and they
were quite satisfied with it. Even some of the military culture phrases
they commonly hear were there. So if you ever want to ease yourself
into using military lingo for your own reasons, then Call of Duty might
:
 help you in that regard.

Red Army Women

There's no doubt that women served alongside men back in World

War II, the most notable example is in the Soviet Red Army where
around 800,000+ Soviet women have been employed in the fight
against the Nazi invasion. Thousands of them were also selected for
combat roles to fight in the streets. Call of Duty 2 portrays this well
in the Battle for Stalingrad where you can hear women shouting and
fighting alongside men.

Some of them even won the Soviet equivalent of the Medal of Honor,
called the Hero of the Soviet Union. In fact, out of 11,000 awardees
of the said medal, around 100 were female soldiers. So yes, women
saw ground combat in World War II, at least in the Soviet Union.
Other Western participants of the great war were not as open to the
idea or they simply deemed it unnecessary based on their
circumstances.

Read also the inaccuracies:

https://www.thegamer.com/call-of-duty-things-historically-
accurate/#:~:text=Most%20of%20the%20Western%20Front,with%
20decent%20attention%20to%20detail.

Ghost of Tsushima

Ghost of Tsushima is a 2020 action-adventure game developed by

Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Interactive
Entertainment. The player controls Jin Sakai, a samurai on a quest to
protect Tsushima Island during the first Mongol invasion of Japan.
Jin must choose between following the warrior code to fight
honorably, or using practical but dishonorable methods of repelling
:
 the Mongols with minimal casualties. The game features a large open
world which can be explored either on foot or on horseback. When
facing enemies, the player can choose to engage in a direct
confrontation using Jin's katana or to become a legendary warrior
known as "the Ghost" by using stealth tactics to assassinate
opponents.

The Mongol invasion of Tsushima was chosen as the setting because

the conflict was "easy for people to immediately conceptualize". As
the Mongols at the time had the world's most advanced military,
there were high stakes that required Jin, and therefore the player, to
intervene. To ensure that the game's world was authentic, the team
consulted SIE Japan Studio, a fellow Sony game development team,
early in the game's development. Japan Studio was excited about
the idea and helped fly approximately 10 members of Sucker Punch
to Japan and Tsushima Island for a 10- or 11-day guided tour with a
historian. The team visited Japan twice to research Tsushima, once
during the summer and again in November, during the anniversary of
the invasion.Japan Studio also helped connect Sucker Punch with
historians who the team consulted on the history of the invasion and
local Japanese customs and traditions. Experts on Japanese
dialects, religions during the 13th century, and the recreation of 13th
century kanji were also consulted. The team invited Ide Ryusetsu and
Kuwami Masakumo Shike, experts from a samurai martial arts
school, to perform motion capture for the game and advise the team
on sword-fighting. Seattle-based historical sword fighting expert
David Ishimaru was also involved in the creation of the game's
combat style. While the team initially considered introducing real-life
historical figures into the game, they refrained from doing so after
being told by experts that it would be insensitive. Jin's samurai armor
and katana are not historically accurate, with his armor based on that
of the Sengoku period during the 16th and 17th centuries. According
:
 to Chris Zimmerman, one of Sucker Punch's co-founders, samurai
armor from the 13th century was "jarring looking" and did not align
with players' expectations of what samurai armor would look like.
The katana was included in the game since it was considered to be
the "quintessential icon of samurai"

Historical accuracy

Arriving just a couple of months before the launch of the PS5, Ghost
of Tsushima was one of the last truly great PS4 exclusives. The
open-world action RPG delighted critics and gamers with its blend of
majestic scenery, visceral combat, and an engaging story. While not
100% accurate, Ghost of Tsushima is actually based on true
historical events, chronicling the first Mongol invasion of Japan in
which the island of Tsushima was occupied by the Yuan invasion
force.

Ghost of Tsushima takes place in the year 1274. Jin Sakai, and his
uncle Lord Shimura, lead the island's samurai warriors in an attempt
to repel the enemy invaders. Despite their noble efforts though, the
samurai are defeated, Shimura is captured, and Jin is badly wounded
by the fierce Mongol general Khotun Khan and left for dead. Thus
begins a revenge mission whereby Jin learns to adopt guerilla
warfare tactics in order to overwhelm and defeat the Mongol armies.
Along the way, he meets allies who offer assistance, including the
infamous straw hat Ronin, a group of samurai with no masters.

In reality, the Mongol invasion force was not led by Khotun Khan, but
rather by Kublai Khan, the grandson of the famous Mongolian
general Ghengis Khan. This force, approximately 8000 strong,
began landing on Tsushima island on October 7, 1274, and quickly
took hold of the island by defeating a small group of around 80
samurai. Despite this hasty defeat though, eyewitness reports claim
:
 that one such samurai defeated approximately 25 soldiers in
individual combat, showcasing the samurai's expertise with a sword.
It took Khan's force no more than the next few days to secure control
of the entire island.

While the game attempts to stay as close to the facts as possible,

events are dramatized and timelines are slightly altered to ensure
the narrative is as exciting as possible. The island itself is replicated
fairly similarly, but it's not a one-to-one recreation, thanks mainly to
Tsushima's extremely uneven terrain which wouldn't have translated
particularly well into an open-world game with an emphasis on
exploration. One of the game’s better missions takes place in the
mountaintop fortress of Kaneda Castle. In the game, it’s a fortified
stronghold, but in reality, in 1274 Kaneda was no longer in use and
had been abandoned for hundreds of years, having been built way
back in the year 667.
: