History (From: Greek Umbrella Term Historians Prehistory Narrative Nature of History

History (from Greek , historia, meaning "inquiry, knowledge acquired by
investigation")[2] is the study of the past, particularly how it relates to humans.[3][4] It is an

umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection,
organization, presentation, and interpretation of information about these events. Scholars
who write about history are called historians. Events occurring prior to written record are
considered prehistory.
History can also refer to the academic discipline which uses a narrative to examine and
analyse a sequence of past events, and objectively determine the patterns of cause and
effect that determine them.[5][6] Historians sometimes debate the nature of history and its
usefulness by discussing the study of the discipline as an end in itself and as a way of
providing "perspective" on the problems of the present.[5][7][8][9]
Stories common to a particular culture, but not supported by external sources (such as the
tales surrounding King Arthur) are usually classified as cultural heritage or legends,
because they do not support the "disinterested investigation" required of the discipline of
history.[10][11] Herodotus, a 5th-century BC Greek historian is considered within the
Western tradition to be the "father of history", and, along with his contemporary
Thucydides, helped form the foundations for the modern study of human history. Their
work continues to be read today and the divide between the culture-focused Herodotus
and the military-focused Thucydides remains a point of contention or approach in modern
historical writing. In the Eastern tradition, a state chronicle the Spring and Autumn
Annals was known to be compiled from as early as 722 BC although only 2nd century
BC texts survived.
Ancient influences have helped spawn variant interpretations of the nature of history
which have evolved over the centuries and continue to change today. The modern study
of history is wide-ranging, and includes the study of specific regions and the study of
certain topical or thematical elements of historical investigation. Often history is taught
as part of primary and secondary education, and the academic study of history is a major
discipline in University studies.
Contents
[hide]
1 Etymology
2 Description
3 History and prehistory
4 Historiography
5 Philosophy of history
6 Historical methods
7 Areas of study
o 7.1 Periods
o 7.2 Geographical locations
7.2.1 Regions
o
o
o
7.3 Military history

7.4 History of religion
7.5 Social history
7.5.1 Subfields
o 7.6 Cultural history
o 7.7 Diplomatic history
o 7.8 Economic history
o 7.9 Environmental history
o 7.10 World history
o 7.11 People's history
o 7.12 Historiometry
o 7.13 Gender history
o 7.14 Public history
8 Historians
9 The judgement of history
10 Pseudohistory
11 Teaching history
o 11.1 Scholarship vs teaching
o 11.2 Nationalism
o 11.3 Bias in school teaching
12 See also
13 References
14 Further reading
15 External links
Etymology
History by Frederick Dielman (1896)
Ancient Greek [12] (histora) means "inquiry","knowledge from inquiry", or

"judge". It was in that sense that Aristotle used the word in his [13]
(Per T Za istorai "Inquiries about Animals"). The ancestor word is attested
early on in Homeric Hymns, Heraclitus, the Athenian ephebes' oath, and in Boiotic
inscriptions (in a legal sense, either "judge" or "witness", or similar).
The word entered the English language in 1390 with the meaning of "relation of
incidents, story". In Middle English, the meaning was "story" in general. The restriction
to the meaning "record of past events" arose in the late 15th century. It was still in the
Greek sense that Francis Bacon used the term in the late 16th century, when he wrote
about "Natural History". For him, historia was "the knowledge of objects determined by
space and time", that sort of knowledge provided by memory (while science was
provided by reason, and poetry was provided by fantasy).
In an expression of the linguistic synthetic vs. analytic/isolating dichotomy, English like
Chinese ( vs. ) now designates separate words for human history and storytelling in
general. In modern German, French, and most Germanic and Romance languages, which
are solidly synthetic and highly inflected, the same word is still used to mean both
"history" and "story".
The adjective historical is attested from 1661, and historic from 1669.[14]
Historian in the sense of a "researcher of history" is attested from 1531. In all European
languages, the substantive "history" is still used to mean both "what happened with men",
and "the scholarly study of the happened", the latter sense sometimes distinguished with a
capital letter, "History", or the word historiography.[13]
Description
The title page to The Historians' History of the World
Historians write in the context of their own time, and with due regard to the current
dominant ideas of how to interpret the past, and sometimes write to provide lessons for
their own society. In the words of Benedetto Croce, "All history is contemporary
history". History is facilitated by the formation of a 'true discourse of past' through the
production of narrative and analysis of past events relating to the human race.[14] The
modern discipline of history is dedicated to the institutional production of this discourse.
All events that are remembered and preserved in some authentic form constitute the
historical record.[15] The task of historical discourse is to identify the sources which can
most usefully contribute to the production of accurate accounts of past. Therefore, the
constitution of the historian's archive is a result of circumscribing a more general archive
by invalidating the usage of certain texts and documents (by falsifying their claims to
represent the 'true past').
The study of history has sometimes been classified as part of the humanities and at other
times as part of the social sciences.[16] It can also be seen as a bridge between those two
broad areas, incorporating methodologies from both. Some individual historians strongly
support one or the other classification.[17] In the 20th century, French historian Fernand
Braudel revolutionized the study of history, by using such outside disciplines as
economics, anthropology, and geography in the study of global history.
Traditionally, historians have recorded events of the past, either in writing or by passing
on an oral tradition, and have attempted to answer historical questions through the study
of written documents and oral accounts. From the beginning, historians have also used
such sources as monuments, inscriptions, and pictures. In general, the sources of
historical knowledge can be separated into three categories: what is written, what is said,
and what is physically preserved, and historians often consult all three.[18] But writing is
the marker that separates history from what comes before.
Archaeology is a discipline that is especially helpful in dealing with buried sites and
objects, which, once unearthed, contribute to the study of history. But archaeology rarely
stands alone. It uses narrative sources to complement its discoveries. However,
archaeology is constituted by a range of methodologies and approaches which are
independent from history; that is to say, archaeology does not "fill the gaps" within
textual sources. Indeed, "historical archaeology" is a specific branch of archaeology,
often contrasting its conclusions against those of contemporary textual sources. For
example, Mark Leone, the excavator and interpreter of historical Annapolis, Maryland,
USA; has sought to understand the contradiction between textual documents and the
material record, demonstrating the possession of slaves and the inequalities of wealth
apparent via the study of the total historical environment, despite the ideology of "liberty"
inherent in written documents at this time.
There are varieties of ways in which history can be organized, including chronologically,
culturally, territorially, and thematically. These divisions are not mutually exclusive, and
significant overlaps are often present, as in "The International Women's Movement in an
Age of Transition, 18301975." It is possible for historians to concern themselves with
both the very specific and the very general, although the modern trend has been toward
specialization. The area called Big History resists this specialization, and searches for
universal patterns or trends. History has often been studied with some practical or
theoretical aim, but also may be studied out of simple intellectual curiosity.[19]
History and prehistory
Human history
and prehistory
before Homo
(Pliocene epoch)
Prehistory
(three-age system)
Stone Age
Lower Paleolithic
Homo
Homo erectus
Middle Paleolithic
Early Homo sapiens
Upper Paleolithic
Behavioral modernity
Neolithic
Cradle of civilization
Bronze Age
China
Europe
India
Near East
Iron Age
Bronze Age collapse
China
Europe
India
Japan
Korea
Near East
Nigeria
Recorded history
Ancient history
Earliest records
Postclassical era
Modern history
Early
Later
Contemporary
See also
text-align:center;
Modernity
Futurology
Future
v
t
e
Further information: Protohistory
The history of the world is the memory of the past experience of Homo sapiens sapiens
around the world, as that experience has been preserved, largely in written records. By
"prehistory", historians mean the recovery of knowledge of the past in an area where no
written records exist, or where the writing of a culture is not understood. By studying
painting, drawings, carvings, and other artifacts, some information can be recovered even
in the absence of a written record. Since the 20th century, the study of prehistory is
considered essential to avoid history's implicit exclusion of certain civilizations, such as
those of Sub-Saharan Africa and pre-Columbian America. Historians in the West have
been criticized for focusing disproportionately on the Western world.[20] In 1961, British
historian E. H. Carr wrote:
The line of demarcation between prehistoric and historical times is crossed when people
cease to live only in the present, and become consciously interested both in their past and
in their future. History begins with the handing down of tradition; and tradition means the
carrying of the habits and lessons of the past into the future. Records of the past begin to
be kept for the benefit of future generations.[21]
This definition includes within the scope of history the strong interests of peoples, such
as Australian Aboriginals and New Zealand Mori in the past, and the oral records
maintained and transmitted to succeeding generations, even before their contact with
European civilization.
Historiography

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History (from Greek , historia, meaning "inquiry, knowledge acquired by

investigation")[2] is the study of the past, particularly how it relates to humans.[3][4] It is an

7.3 Military history

History by Frederick Dielman (1896)

Ancient Greek [12] (histora) means "inquiry","knowledge from inquiry", or

The title page to The Historians' History of the World

History and prehistory

Further information: Protohistory

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