Torre de Hercules Hercules’ Tower (Torre de Hecules) is the oldest Roman lighthouse that is still in use today. Located in the city of A Coruna in Spain’s Galicia region, the lighthouse was built in the 2nd century (CE). This image was created in the morning of a cloudless summer’... www.desparoz.me

@desparoz Ohhh, very nice! I love those blue skies. I also love Spain and didn't know about or visit this when we were there 4 years ago. Thanks for the photo.

@desparoz I like the use of the statue in front as a part of the compostion and I agree with you the lack of clouds makes the lighthouse stand out.

@Miraz Thank you. Someone once said that

In Europe, 200km is a lot of distance. In Australia 200 years is a lot of history.

When I travel to parts of Europe, and parts of Asia, I am often amazed at how many really old things are still in functional use today.

@desparoz Oh yes, those Aussies. I guess the 50,000 years of history is more than they can cope with.

@Miraz touche!

@desparoz That saying also gets deployed in relation to the US ;-) (which of course conveniently erases the history of our indigenous peoples and their civilizations, but…for Western-constructed things that remain, it does nevertheless apply). // @Miraz

@smokey I guess that’s the reality of living in the new world. @Miraz subtley reminded me of that in her comment - Australia has c. 200 years of history of European settlement, built on some 50,000 years of Aboriginal Australia custody of these lands.

@desparoz Or of living in one of the remaining settler colonies (well, I guess aside from Algeria, all of the world’s settler colonies have remained so, just are settler countries as opposed to colonies now). One of the questions on my MA comprehensive exams involved differences between settler and non-settler colonies, but I never thought to extend that analysis outside the Middle East until meeting folks here from other former British colonies which are more attuned to their countries’ settler-colonial past than we are in the US. // @Miraz cc: @vasta

@vasta I suppose it’s possible there are similar things in localized areas with large indigenous populations here in the US, but I also have the distinct impression that Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are far, far ahead of us in everything relating to relations with our indigenous peoples. It feels like, in many ways, we are just starting to come to grips with the legacies of slavery, a centrury and a half after it was abolished and a half-century after provisions of that emancipation were finally legally enforced, and our disposession and mistreatment of the Native Americans predates that…. // @Miraz @desparoz

@smokey @vasta @desparoz That looks like a great programme. I'm not sure we have exactly such things in NZ but our track is a little different too. Back in 1840 the British Crown made a written Treaty with Māori guaranteeing everyone certain things, such as sovereignty and possession of all their 'treasures’. Unfortunately there were 3 versions which differed. Also, the Treaty was immediately broken. Since about 1990 though NZ has been working on righting and recompensing the wrongs, often with money. Also, government stuff, such as health care, MUST incorporate Māori ‘stuff’. NZ is a billion miles from perfect but there’s a high level of awareness and activity.