In terms of power, there is the primary division of those that have and them that do not. The racial type is especially useful here for identification purposes. History, such as we know it, is the special device for maintaining the current divisions, and thus helps to produce the determination of relevance. It is especially useful as examples to be cited in the present for the purposes of upholding this or that body of law. But that is not all it is.
History is also always partial, always incomplete.
FEthose parts where people got away. History is directly linked to law. FEis absent or simply never was. That does not mean there is no activity. But for us flatlanders trained in obedience and conformity to the rule of law, those traces are more problematic than explanato- ry.