Saturday, October 29, 2016

#Wikidata - Queen Kumaradevi

Queen Kumaradevi was married to Chandragupta I. According to Wikipedia she was of the Licchavi clan. The coin shows her with her husband on a coin minted by their son.

When you read Wikipedia, you will read about daughters of kings married off to nobility. They paint a picture of alliances, their marriages often meant some stability in an often brutal world.

When you are interested in such things, western nobility is well documented. Not so for nobility of India. I have added lately a series of maharajahs, kings and emperors and am every time amazed that nobody beat me to it. I often document who was related to who and often find missing links documented and add items for them. Regularly the missing links are implied but miss a generation.

I am sure of one thing; India has its fair share of people who know and care about such things. How do we get them interested, how do we get proper information about all this in Wikidata?
Thanks,
     GerardM

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Kigeli V, Mwami of Rwanda

Kigeli was the last ruling Mwami of Rwanda. He died October 16.

When a last ruler dies, it follows that there are previous rulers and, there is a lot that is of interest in the history of the mwamis. His father for instance was deposed because he refused to become catholic.

I have added the rule of several mwamis to Wikidata because such basic information is often lacking. Wikipedia articles are often stubs at best and sources are often absent.


Typically a monarch is part of a dynasty. With a new dynasty it represents often a new family but certainly a change that makes for it to be recognised as such. The article on the kingdom of Rwanda describes the role of the mothers of a king. They are yet unknown to us and consequently a lot of relevant information is missing.

When you see all those red links, it is obvious that significant red links exist in any language. When they are linked to Wikidata, information like the follow up as ruler and who is related to who becomes a task that can be done once and be done well. It is one way to emancipate information that has been of little concern to Wikipedias.
Thanks,
      GerardM


Saturday, October 22, 2016

#Wikidata - statements are doing fine

In September there are more Wikidata items with 10 or more statements than items with no statements. Wikidata is growing up.
Thanks,
     GerardM