ADDURU, CLAIRE B.

GEN 115: Reading in Philippine History

BSA-3B Professor: Christina Javier Bolintiam

Activity no. 1

What is History?

• The word “history” and the English word “story” both originate from the
Latin historia, meaning a narrative or account of past events. History is itself a
collection of thousands of stories about the past, told by many different people.
History is the study of the past specifically the people, societies, events and
problems of the past as well as our attempts to understand them. It is a pursuit
common to all human societies.

Branches of History.

• Political History: The history of political systems

This specialised branch encompasses a blend of political science with the study
of history. It is one of the commonly opted branches of history and focuses on the
analysis of political processes, leaders, movements, events etc. It is concerned
with the rise and fall of different political systems as well as political leaders
throughout varied incremental phases of history.

• Social History: The history of people and societies

Historical events also significantly shape the apparatus and working of the
society and that’s why this specialisation emerged amongst multifarious
branches of history. Social history is concerned with the lived experiences of the
past. It is the history of people, their customs, traditions, experiences etc. in
relation to the major events of the past.

• Economic History: The history of the economies and economic processes

One of the lesser-known branches of history, this specialisation amalgamates

economics with the study of historical events and how they impacted different
economies around the world. Economic history aims to understand the different
economic processes of the past. It is the study of markets, industries, means of
production, consumption, working classes etc.

• Diplomatic History: The history of international relations

This branch of history deals with diplomats, diplomatic acts and processes, and
relations between two or more nations. The topics of war, peace, treaties,
international alliances and organisations fall under this branch.
• Art History: The history of various forms of art

Art history is one of the branches of history which deals with the study and
analysis of the different visual art forms such as sculptures, paintings,
architecture, drawings etc. in the context of their time of creation. It is concerned
with unravelling the processes, evolution and meaning behind the art forms.

• Food History: The history of food cuisines

This branch of history deals with culinary science in terms of different cultures
and its evolution, origins, development, methods and techniques of cooking and
its importance. As one of the unique branches of history, it also studies and
analyzes the sociological, cultural, economic and environmental impacts of food.

• History of Science and Medicine: The history of medical science

The history of science and medicine studies the influence of scientific and
medical developments of the past on society. Many significant scientific
inventions and inventors have been there in the past and this branch of history
sets out to discover the renowned as well as forgotten discoveries in science and
medicine.

• Cultural History: The history of world cultures

Culture is another aspect which is significantly explored in history as an

academic discipline. It is the study of various aspects of culture including beliefs,
ideas, traditions, rituals, language etc. This branch of history analyzes the
contributions of these aspects in the creation of cultural identities.

• Women’s History: The history of feminism

One of the prominent branches of History, Women’s History studies the role of
women throughout the major and transformative events in the world history. It
focuses on the history of feminism as well as renowned women in different fields
of study from science, arts, literature to politics.

• Intellectual History: The evolution of ideas and famous thinkers

This branch of history deals with the development and evolution of ideas. It is the
study of the thoughts and ideas of different thinkers and how these played a role
in the shaping of history.
 • Environmental History: The history of our natural environment and its
diverse components

This is a relatively new branch of history which is concerned with the

environment and its different components. It studies the effects and influences of
human activity and interaction on the shaping of the environment and vice versa.

Kinds of History.

• Ancient History

The History of humanity starts when the first civilisation emerged and historians
defined everything that came before as Pre-History. Commonly, Ancient history is
accepted to begin around 3000BCE with the apparition of early writing system
in Mesopotamia. It extends up until the 6th century CE when the Western Roman
Empire collapsed following a succession of invasion and the death of the last Roman
Emperor, Romulus Augustulus.

Archaeology has been at the centre of any research regarding Ancient History. It has
played a huge part in our knowledge of early civilizations, from the excavation of
the Terracotta Army of the First Qin Emperor in ancient China to the exploration of
the Mayan Pyramids in South America.

• Medieval History

Whereas Ancient History stop in 500CE, Modern History only starts around 1500,
depending on the geographic region you are studying. So what happened during
those roughly 1000 years?

Those ten centuries of history is what Historians refer to as the Middles Ages or
Medieval times. In Western and Central Europe this era started when the Roman
Empire collapsed but it is not exactly the same for all parts of the world.

• Modern History

The Middles Ages slowly faded in Europe as Renaissance was making its way to a
full-blown social, religious and economic change. Even though the Renaissance
movement started in Italy around the 13th century, with the rediscovery of Antic
philosopher and the contact with the scientific knowledge of the Middle East,
Medieval History only ended around the year 1500 following a few major events:

a) The invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in 1439

b) The discovery of the Americas by Christopher Colombus in 1492.
c) The globalisation of the world and the acceleration of the exchange of ideas,
goods and money through Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
 • Art History

One of the sub-categories of History is the History of Art. While the main focus of
Historians has mostly been to study and analyse historical, religious, social and
political events through different periods, Art History has been focused on something
different.

Art Historians have been studying the visual, aural and oral expression of humanity.
Scholars scrutinising Art History have been trying to interpret visual art, music and
fictional writings through a thorough investigation using different approaches and
methodologies.

Sources of History.

• Primary sources are contemporaneous to the subject being studied. They

could be objects, letters, journal or newspapers. They must originate from the
time being studied to be accepted as a primary source, this can include copied
images of an original document, or reprinted editions of a book. If a historian
was studying Abraham Lincoln, diaries and letters written by Lincoln would be
primary sources.

• Secondary sources are nearly always textual: books or journals. A secondary

source would be an article written about a primary source. To continue the
example above, an essay or book written about Abraham Lincoln based on his
diaries and letters would be a secondary source.

• Tertiary sources are sources that rely on secondary sources for their
information. This would include most school textbooks, essays written at school
that cite textbooks and secondary sources. Books and essays that are
historiographical in nature, so discuss the way in which history is presented, are
tertiary sources.

Why do we need to study history?

• History is important to study not just because it is part of the course curriculum,
but also because it provides awareness and insight into how prior societies,
systems, ideologies, governments, cultures, and technology were constructed,
operated, and changed for the better over time. Aside from the knowledge that
we can gain, history can also serve as an inspiration to people, particularly those
brilliant individuals who performed heroic acts to save the nation in their own
unique way, and this will serve as motivation for a student like me to do great and
good things that will benefit and help others. Furthermore, we have history to
 learn because many individuals back then worked so hard to discover something
that would be useful in today's world, where learning from failures is emphasized
as a lesson. You will never learn if you do not attempt to do something, and there
is no such thing as a perfect person; we as people living on this planet make
mistakes, and we must learn from them in order to progress as individuals.

What is your contribution as individual in history?

• My contribution to history as an individual is learning history and sharing what

I've learned with my family and friends during bonding moments so that they can
learn as well. I'm a very curious person and if there's something or a question
that I want to be answered, especially in regards to history, I'll ask for it and when
I find the answer through searching over the internet or even asking other people
if they know anything about it, I get excited. Aside from studying about history
and sharing it with my family, I'll be the one to pay the most respect and be proud
of our own and other countries' histories.