(outdent) "In this sense, we might as well link every noun and adjective, because they all have some tangential relationship to the subject." No, that's not an accurate comparison at all. Links to those would only reveal information about the English language.

Context: if you reach 1170 from Strongbow, you find out that while the Normans were invading Dublin, Madoc of Wales, just across the Irish Sea, was allegedly discovering America. That's local context. Expand to regional context and you get the Danes attacking Estonia. Expand to global context and you find Fes becoming the biggest city in the world. Other, more detailed year articles (1345, anyone?) will tell you about everything that was going on everywhere.

Events are islands. History is a sea. Let our readers sail freely.   [t/c]