History and the Internet
...pose of a dissertation and presumably was intended to be marked by specialists. The website does not however state the political or theoretical perspective of the author. The scope of the piece is very narrow, focusing on fleets of Spanish ships as opposed to the wider historical context. In terms of reliability, there are unfortunately a few minor spelling mistakes, although a minor point such as this is eclipsed by the virtue of the author being a specialist in her field. Another problem is that there is no bibliography, although (and this relates to accuracy) almost every source is referenced. As stated in the website, this essay was written in 1998, making it a fairly current source. The website on which it is hosted (www.cops.uwf.edu/copsweb) is easy to navigate and is presented legibly. Unfortunately though there is no search tool, neither are there any audio or video files. Overall though, this site is useful and reliable. The second website is entitled “The Columbus Landfall Homepage” and is a collection of theories relating to Columbus’ discoveries. It is not hosted by an academic site, but a commercial one. The author of this site, though not a specialist, has produced several scholarly papers. It seems that this site was produced for interest rather than for academic necessity. The scope is limited to Columbus’ voyages, and its reliability is uncertain. The site is however easy to navigate, though could do with a search tool. The third website is also an essay, though this time by Shannon N. White. It is entitled “Spaniards v. Incas and the fall of the Incan E...