Space Faring Species...

Tribalism: We're in a special time in human history I kind of talked about in Terms of Indifference. This is the basis of our historic and current woes; geopolitics has always balanced on a knife's edge, especially as many of us long for a nostalgic utopia (literally "nowhere place") that never was, fearing constantly what's ahead. Many are resorting to either political fiat or violence to realize their vision on their respective populations using authoritarian means that inevitably restrict the rights of certain groups. The past cannot change, nor is time travel (except in certain relativistic cases) possible, but the future - relentlessly coming - we can plan for. "Failure to plan is planning to fail."

is this referring to 1492 OR 2015?

Both! Nothing has changed Robert, nothing!