With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Should British Politicians Apologize for Colonialism?

On Wednesday, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain appeared in Amritsar, in the Indian state of Punjab, where he laid a commemorative wreath at Jallianwala Bagh, the site of a 1919 massacre of Indian protesters by British forces that killed about 1,000, according to the Indian government....

Here’s what a few historians and political science experts had to say:...

Basudev Chatterji, professor of history at University of Delhi:

It is something he is doing as a representative of a country. It is a diplomatic and human gesture.

It is, of course, a shameful thing to fire at unarmed people.

I personally don’t believe in correcting historical wrongs, but it is a perfectly decent thing to do on the part of the British prime minister....

Read entire article at NYT