History Differentiated

1. History vs. Past

The past is not the same as history. The past involves everything that ever happened
since the dawn of time - every thought and action of man or woman on earth, every leaf
that fell in the tree, and every chemical change in this universe and others.

History, by contrast, is a process of interpreting evidence or records from the past in a

thoughtful and informed way. History is the narrative that gives meaning, sense, and
explanation to the past in the present.

2. History vs. Prehistory

History and prehistory show differences between them in their nature and substance.
The main difference between history and prehistory is the existence of records. History
is the record of significant events that happened in the past whereas prehistory is the
period of human activity prior to the invention of writing systems.

3. History vs. The Other Disciplines

No discipline is an island. In the past hundred years or so, the ways that we study, write,
and teach history have changed dramatically, often because of influence from other
disciplines. Where does history stand today in its relationship with its close relatives in
the social science and humanities? Do other disciplines use historical methodology?
Does this alone make them historians?

4. History, Historicity, and Historiography

In a nutshell, history is a narrative account used to examine and analyze past

events.
Historicity is the authentication of characters in history, as opposed to legend or
myth.
 Historiography is the writing of history, and the understanding of how the
interpretations of historians change over time. But what is the difference among
history, historicity, and historiography? Are they compatible enterprises? And if
compatible, how dependent are they among each other?

5. History vs. Herstory

The word "history" (from Greek iotopia, historia, meaning "inquiry,
knowledge acquired by investigation") is etymologically unrelated to the possessive
pronoun his. Traditionally, history has been defined as "the study of the past as it is
described in written documents." Feminists argued that it has been men (“his,"
"story") who usually have been the ones to record the written past.

Herstory, by contrast, is history written from a feminist perspective,

emphasizing the role of women, or told from a woman's point of view. It is a
neologism coined as a pun with the word "history," as part of a feminist critique of
conventional historiography which in their opinion is traditionally written as "his
story," i.e., from the masculine point of view. What about women? Should an event
in the past that was written down be called "herstory?" ("History," 2018; "Herstory,"
2018)