In What Ways Does the Past Affect the Present?
The past affects the present because you can't undo what happened in the past. Also, because of primary documents and artifacts from the past, we can learn about what life was like back then. For example, if the Spaniards had not conquered the Aztec, the Aztec might rule the world right now. If the Aztec hadn't left documents and artifacts behind, we might think that nobody had inhabited the Americas before the Spanish and other Eurasian civilizations came over.