What am I questioning?

I did not find history interesting in school. The reason is that I felt that I was bombarded with facts but with two essential elements missing: 1) I did not know why I needed to be aware of all of these facts and 2) I did not understand the interaction between all the facts. History was presented to me as a sequence of discontinuities. History was not the subject which made me wonder or thing. In fact, it was the subject that suppressed any inquiries and curiosity within me.

I hope to not allow that with my kids. I will teach honestly history of which I know very little. My plan is to teach the big picture and fill in the details, rather than fill in the details and miss the big picture.

At the moment we are studying about the Rainforest and countries in Central and South America. Some questions I want to be able to answer are: "How were the Portuguese and the Spanish kingdoms controlling the provinces from far? Why did the Spanish provinces eventually split into separate countries? Was the geography, the climate, the agriculture, the culture or a combination of these that led to many countries? Was the split designed to ensure instability? Why did Portuguese and Spanish rule half and half of the South American land? What allowed the Portuguese and the Spanish to venture out and explore? What allowed the Portuguese to conquer? What do these countries look like now? What happened to the natives when invaded? Do we observe this today, now when people are more mobile than ever?" History is not just a story of the past. It has to be connected to what we experience today. How can the few rule the majority?