16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: receive a request to assemble a pedigree that describes a history of origin of a primary resource, wherein the pedigree of the primary resource represents the history as a set of statements that describe relationships between the primary resource and a plurality of other resources from which an asserted fact of the primary resource was derived; submit, to a set of one or more pedigree management servers, a first query for a first set of pedigree fragments that each include one or more statements that specify direct relationships between the primary resource and a first set of resources, wherein the direct relationships indicate that the asserted fact of the primary resource was derived from data of the first set of the resources; receive, in response to the first query, a first set of pedigree fragments, each of which includes one or more of the statements that specify the direct relationships between the primary resource and the first set of resources; submit, to the pedigree management servers, a second query for a second set of pedigree fragments that include one or more statements that specify direct relationships between the first set of resources and a second set of resources, wherein the direct relationships of the second set of pedigree fragments indicate that the data of the first set of resources was derived from data of the second set of the resources; receive, in response to the second query, the second set of pedigree fragments, each of which includes one or more of the statements that specify the direct relationships between the first set of resources and the second set of resources; and assemble the pedigree of the primary resource from the statements of the first set of pedigree fragments and the second set of pedigree fragments received from the pedigree management servers.
16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: receive a request to assemble a pedigree that describes a history of origin of a primary resource, wherein the pedigree of the primary resource represents the history as a set of statements that describe relationships between the primary resource and a plurality of other resources from which an asserted fact of the primary resource was derived; submit, to a set of one or more pedigree management servers, a first query for a first set of pedigree fragments that each include one or more statements that specify direct relationships between the primary resource and a first set of resources, wherein the direct relationships indicate that the asserted fact of the primary resource was derived from data of the first set of the resources; receive, in response to the first query, a first set of pedigree fragments, each of which includes one or more of the statements that specify the direct relationships between the primary resource and the first set of resources; submit, to the pedigree management servers, a second query for a second set of pedigree fragments that include one or more statements that specify direct relationships between the first set of resources and a second set of resources, wherein the direct relationships of the second set of pedigree fragments indicate that the data of the first set of resources was derived from data of the second set of the resources; receive, in response to the second query, the second set of pedigree fragments, each of which includes one or more of the statements that specify the direct relationships between the first set of resources and the second set of resources; and assemble the pedigree of the primary resource from the statements of the first set of pedigree fragments and the second set of pedigree fragments received from the pedigree management servers. 18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to submit the query in part by causing the one or more processors to submit a URI that includes a query string that instructs the servers to return pedigree fragments that include one or more statements that specify a direct relationship between the primary resource and other resources.