Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been

recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently

evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world history,
recorded history begins with the accounts of the ancient world around the 4th
millennium BC, and it coincides with the invention of writing.

For some geographic regions or cultures, written history is limited to a relatively

recent period in human history because of the limited use of written records.
Moreover, human cultures do not always record all of the information which is
considered relevant by later historians, such as the full impact of natural
disasters or the names of individuals. Recorded history for particular types of
information is therefore limited based on the types of records kept. Because of
this, recorded history in different contexts may refer to different periods of time
depending on the topic.

The interpretation of recorded history often relies on historical method, or the

set of techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other
evidence to research and then to write accounts of the past. The question of what
constitutes history, and whether there is an effective method for interpreting
recorded history, is raised in the philosophy of history as a question of
epistemology. The study of different historical methods is known as historiography,
which focuses on examining how different interpreters of recorded history create
different interpretations of historical evidence.

Prehistory
Further information: History of writing
Prehistory traditionally refers to the span of time before recorded history, ending
with the invention of writing systems.[1] Prehistory refers to the past in an area
where no written records exist, or where the writing of a culture is not
understood.

Protohistory refers to the transition period between prehistory and history, after
the advent of literacy in a society but before the writings of the first
historians. Protohistory may also refer to the period during which a culture or
civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have noted its
existence in their own writings.

More complete writing systems were preceded by proto-writing. Early examples are
the Jiahu symbols (c.?6600 BCE), Vin�a signs (c.?5300 BCE), early Indus script (c.?
3500 BCE) and Nsibidi script (c.?before 500 CE). There is disagreement concerning
exactly when prehistory becomes history, and when proto-writing became "true
writing".[2] However, invention of the first writing systems is roughly
contemporary with the beginning of the Bronze Age in the late Neolithic of the late
4th millennium BCE. The Sumerian archaic cuneiform script and the Egyptian
hieroglyphs are generally considered the earliest writing systems, both emerging
out of their ancestral proto-literate symbol systems from 3400 to 3200 BCE with
earliest coherent texts from about 2600 BCE.

Historical accounts
Main article: Historiography � The history of written history
The earliest chronologies date back to the earliest civilizations of Early Dynastic
Period of Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Sumerians,[3] which emerged independently of
each other from roughly 3500 BCE.[4] Earliest recorded history, which varies
greatly in quality and reliability, deals with Pharaohs and their reigns, as
preserved by ancient Egyptians.[5] Much of the earliest recorded history was re-
discovered relatively recently due to archaeological dig sites findings.[6] A
number of different traditions have developed in different parts of the world as to
how to interpret these ancient accounts.
Europe
Dionysius of Halicarnassus knew of seven predecessors of Herodotus, including
Hellanicus of Lesbos, Xanthus of Lydia and Hecataeus of Miletus. He described their
works as simple, unadorned accounts of their own and other cities and people, Greek
or foreign, including popular legends.

Herodotus (484 BCE � c. 425 BCE)[7] has generally been acclaimed as the "father of
history" composing his The Histories from the 450s to the 420s BCE. However, his
contemporary Thucydides (c. 460 BCE � c. 400 BCE) is credited[by whom?] with having
first approached history with a well-developed historical method in his work the
History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides, unlike Herodotus, regarded history as
being the product of the choices and actions of human beings, and looked at cause
and effect, rather than as the result of divine intervention.[7] History developed
as a popular form of literature in later Greek and Roman societies in the works of
Polybius, Tacitus and others.

Saint Augustine was influential in Christian and Western thought at the beginning
of the medieval period. Through the Medieval and Renaissance periods, history was
often studied through a sacred or religious perspective. Around 1800, German
philosopher and historian Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel brought philosophy and a
more secular approach into historical study.[8]

Sumerian inscription in monumental archaic style, c. 26th century BCE

According to John Tosh, "From the High Middle Ages (c.1000�1300) onwards, the
written word survives in greater abundance than any other source for Western
history."[9] Western historians developed methods comparable to modern
historiographic research in the 17th and 18th centuries, especially in France and
Germany, where they began investigating these source materials to write histories
of their past. Many of these histories had strong ideological and political ties to
their historical narratives. In the 20th century, academic historians began
focusing less on epic nationalistic narratives, which often tended to glorify the
nation or great men, to attempt more objective and complex analyses of social and
intellectual forces. A major trend of historical methodology in the 20th century
was a tendency to treat history more as a social science rather than as an art,
which traditionally had been the case. French historians associated with the
Annales School introduced quantitative history, using raw data to track the lives
of typical individuals, and were prominent in the establishment of cultural
history.

East Asia
The Zuo zhuan, attributed to Zuo Qiuming in the 5th century BCE covers the period
from 722 to 468 BCE in a narrative form. The Book of Documents is one of the Five
Classics of Chinese classic texts and one of the earliest narratives of China. The
Spring and Autumn Annals, the official chronicle of the State of Lu covering the
period from 722 to 481 BCE, is arranged on annalistic principles. It is
traditionally attributed to Confucius (551�479 BCE). Zhan Guo Ce was a renowned
ancient Chinese historical compilation of sporadic materials on the Warring States
period compiled between the 3rd and 1st centuries BCE.

Sima Qian (around 100 BCE) was the first in China to lay the groundwork for
professional historical writing. His written work was the Records of the Grand
Historian, a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. Its scope extends as
far back as the 16th century BCE, and it includes many treatises on specific
subjects and individual biographies of prominent people, and also explores the
lives and deeds of commoners, both contemporary and those of previous eras. His
work influenced every subsequent author of history in China, including the
prestigious Ban family of the Eastern Han dynasty era.
South Asia
In Sri Lanka, the oldest historical text is the Mahavamsa (c. 5th century CE).
Buddhist monks of the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya maintained chronicles of Sri
Lankan history starting from the 3rd century BCE. These annals were combined and
compiled into a single document in the 5th century by the Mahanama of Anuradhapura
while Dhatusena of Anuradhapura was ruling the Anuradhapura Kingdom. It was written
based on prior ancient compilations known as the Atthakatha, which were
commentaries written in Sinhala.[10][page needed] An earlier document known as the
Dipavamsa (4th century CE) "Island Chronicles" is much simpler and contains less
information than the Mahavamsa and was probably compiled using the Atthakatha on
the Mahavamsa as well.

A companion volume, the Culavamsa "Lesser Chronicle", compiled by Sinhala monks,

covers the period from the 4th century to the British takeover of Sri Lanka in
1815. The Culavamsa was compiled by a number of authors of different time periods.

The combined work, sometimes referred to collectively as the Mahavamsa, provides a

continuous historical record of over two millennia, and is considered one of the
world's longest unbroken historical accounts.[11] It is one of the few documents
containing material relating to the Naga and Yakkha peoples, indigenous inhabitants
of Lanka prior to the legendary arrival of Prince Vijaya from Singha Pura of
Kalinga.

The Sangam literature offers a window into some aspects of the ancient South Indian
culture, secular and religious beliefs, and the people. For example, in the Sangam
era Ainkurunuru poem 202 is one of the earliest mentions of "pigtail of Brahmin
boys".[12] These poems also allude to historical incidents, ancient Tamil kings,
the effect of war on loved ones and households.[13] The Pattinappalai poem in the
Ten Idylls group, for example, paints a description of the Chola capital, the king
Karikala, the life in a harbor city with ships and merchandise for seafaring trade,
the dance troupes, the bards and artists, the worship of the Hindu god Murugan and
the monasteries of Buddhism and Jainism.

Indica is an account of Mauryan India by the Greek writer Megasthenes. The original
book is now lost, but its fragments have survived in later Greek and Latin works.
The earliest of these works are those by Diodorus Siculus, Strabo (Geographica),
Pliny, and Arrian (Indica).[14][15]

West Asia
In the preface to his book, the Muqaddimah (1377), the Arab historian and early
sociologist, Ibn Khaldun, warned of seven mistakes that he thought that historians
regularly committed. In this criticism, he approached the past as strange and in
need of interpretation. Ibn Khaldun often criticized "idle superstition and
uncritical acceptance of historical data." As a result, he introduced a scientific
method to the study of history, and he often referred to it as his "new science".
[16] His historical method also laid the groundwork for the observation of the role
of state, communication, propaganda and systematic bias in history,[17] and he is
thus considered to be the "father of historiography"[18][19] or the "father of the
philosophy of history".[20]

Methods of recording history

While recorded history begins with the invention of writing, over time new ways of
recording history have come along with the advancement of technology. History can
now be recorded through photography, audio recordings, and video recordings. More
recently, Internet archives have been saving copies of webpages, documenting the
history of the Internet. Other methods of collecting historical information have
also accompanied the change in technologies; for example, since at least the 20th
century, attempts have been made to preserve oral history by recording it. Until
the 2000s this was done using analogue recording methods such as cassettes and
reel-to-reel tapes. With the onset of new technologies, there are now digital
recordings, which may be recorded to compact disks.[21] Nevertheless, historical
record and interpretation often relies heavily on written records, partially
because it dominates the extant historical materials, and partially because
historians are used to communicating and researching in that medium.[22]

Historical method
The historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians
use primary sources and other evidence to research and then to write history.
Primary sources are first-hand evidence of history (usually written, but sometimes
captured in other mediums) made at the time of an event by a present person.
Historians think of those sources as the closest to the origin of the information
or idea under study.[23][24] These types of sources can provide researchers with,
as Dalton and Charnigo put it, "direct, unmediated information about the object of
study."[25]

Historians use other types of sources to understand history as well. Secondary

sources are written accounts of history based upon the evidence from primary
sources. These are sources which, usually, are accounts, works, or research that
analyse, assimilate, evaluate, interpret, and/or synthesize primary sources.
Tertiary sources are compilations based upon primary and secondary sources and
often tell a more generalized account built on the more specific research found in
the first two types of sources.[23][26][27]