CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION
 It allows man to better understand his
What is History?
 Happening or a series of happenings
 A record of the past made available for
the present
 A field study which traces man’s
development
 Everything that has been recorded or
occurred from the beginning of time to
the last instant
 As a record – documented story of man
and his society
 As a type of literature history – a
literary form that depict the unfolding
of fateful events and to portray the rise
of deterioration of character in a
manner that ranks it with great novels
and epic poetry (non-fiction)
*A mere record or collection of events is NOT a
history, but a CHRONOLOGY*
 It must be a documented record of
events that traces (shows patterns):
o Man’s
development/improvement
o rise and fall or rebirth of a
person or a community
o How man met his various
challenges through time and
coped up
 History – documented record of man
and his society (Gray 1956)
 A study of man and his achievements
from the beginning of written records
to the present
 Social history – defined history as
record of events showing the evolution
of man and his society from the age of
barbarism (earliest) to what he is today
Why do we study History?
present situation
 Only man is capable of writing history
and deriving deeper meanings from it
 Writing and learning from history is the
only skill practiced and reserved for
humans
Carthartic effect – creating a more mature,
more purified effect as a result of an experience
in the past
(Example: GomBurZa – Their deaths were used
as a rallying points by Filipino reformists like
Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio)
 Man uses history almost universally (in
hospitals, lawyers, engineers and
architects, relationships and even
personally)
Not all histories are pleasant. Unpleasant
experiences, failures, mistakes, especially tragic,
should be better remembered so they will not
be repeated.
“When experience is not retained, as among
savages; infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot
remember the past are condemned to repeat
it” – George Santayana
ERROR: To say that history repeats itself
In fact, history cannot be repeated but similar
instances can come back
“You can only step once on the same river” –
Heraclitus (Greek philosopher)
 Knowing history makes life more
bearable
 Worst enemy of man is forget history
 Terminology of Philippines Historiography:
historical sources are called batis.
“The worst possible enemy to society is the
man who… is cut loose in his standards of 
judgement from the past; and universities
which train men to use their minds carefully
establishing the connection of their thought
with that of the past, are instruments of social
destruction.” – President Woodrow Wilson

THE SOURCES OF HISTORY

STUDY OF HISTORY IS A RELENTLESS SEARCH

FOR THE TRUTH.

Sources

- are always important

- where the information come from

Document – a written material that says about

a historical event; can be:

 Narration
 Copy of speech
 Letter
 Receipt
 Report
 An eyewitness account
 Book

*Some of the sources are not written but can be

authoritative:

 Relics
 Memorabalia
 Pictures
 Drawings
 Sketches
 Fossils
 Remains
 *Can be living individuals called
eyewitnesses (In research: respondents
or informants)