Introduction to History

Geronimo R. Rosario
A people without the knowledge of their
past history, origin and culture is like a
tree without roots.

Marcus Garvey
History
 History- is the study of the past.
 History is the account of the past of a person

or a group of people through written

documents and historical evidences
 History is the record of what one age finds worthy

of note in another.
 History is a study of human achievements.
History
 History deals with the past and not the future.
 It is a re-creation of the past and not objective in

nature.
History
 History is the achievement of man not the
individual but the collective.


History
 History is the history of the people, particularly
from the lower class.
 It is a history from below which recognizes the role

of the lower social class in participating and

molding the Filipino history and culture.

 Reynaldo Ileto
History
 History is the dynamic process of dealing with the
past in which the stages or aspects of
development are interrelated brought upon by the
understanding of the present and future.

 Samuel K. Tan
History
 History is a narrative (which can be written,
visual, oral or a combination of all three) about
past events that has meaning to a certain group
of people in a given time and place.

 Ambeth Ocampo
History as Social Science or
Humanities?
History
 Derived from the Greek word, ἱστορία
“historia” which means “knowledge acquired
through inquiry or investigation”.
 History as a discipline existed around 2400

years ago (Mathematics and Philosophy)

 History became an important academic

discipline in the early parts of 20 th century

 Focusing on the life history of individuals like

monarchs, heroes, saints and nobilities.

History
 History as ang kasaysayan ay isang salaysay
tungkol sa nakalipas na may saysay sa isang
grupo ng tao.

 With this definition, the study of Philippine history is

redirected to what the people believe to be important to
them.
 This is the reason for the study of oral traditions, culture
and local history which are privileged in the discourse of
the pantayong pananaw.
History
 History also focused on writing about wars,
revolutions, and other important
breakthroughs.
 “No document, No history”
 It means that unless a written document can

prove a certain historical event, then it cannot

be considered as a historical fact.
Importance of History
 Studying history is important because it allows us to
identify ourselves in the larger past, and recognize
that we are shaped by historical processes.
 History also gives us invaluable lessons from the
past that can help us understand the present and
prepare for the future.
 History is an eye opener to understand our culture,
language and society.
 History may arouse patriotic, humanitarian nature in
people
Importance of History in Criminology
 Crime is inherent to human since time memorial.
The day Cain killed Abel was the first account of
crime committed by man.
 History provides an account of the past criminal

acts and how the society or the law responded to

these.
 Historiography may help Criminal investigation

procedures.
 History is based on legitimate sources so do

criminal investigation.
Branches of History
 History can be divided into different branches and
these are as follows:
 Political history
 Military history
 Diplomatic history
 Cultural history
 Social history
 Economic history
 Intellectual history
 Environmental History
Political History
 Political History is the narration of the evolution
of the political related matters of the past.
 This branch of history deals with the analysis of

political leaders, ideas, events, movements,

activities and so on, along with the making of
government policies (constitutions etc).
Military history
 Military history refers to warfare, strategies,
battles, weapons, and combat psychology.
 The "new military history“ since the 1970s has

been more concerned with soldiers than with

generals, with psychology rather than tactics and
with the wider impact of war on society and
culture.
Diplomatic History
 Diplomatic History is the branch of history that
focuses on the study of international relations
between nations (between states).
 This history tends to be more concerned with the

history of diplomacy and the ideas of diplomacy

and much more.
Cultural History
 Cultural History is the branch of history that
deals with the traditions and cultural interpretation
of the past. It is a study of various facets of human
and history.
 Simply, cultural history records and interprets

various past events involving human beings like

literature, sport, and entertainment and much
more
Social History
 Social History focuses on the study of various
societal norms like ways of living, standard,
customs, disciplines, status and so on of the
people, alongside the demography.
 Simply, it is a branch of history which looks at the

lived experience of the past. Today, social history

is otherwise called the New Social History
Economic History
 Economic History is the branch of history that
focuses on the study of economies as well as
economical phenomena of the past.
 Simply, the study of the pattern of the production,

consumption alongside industry, market and so on

concerning the past, economic history aims to
understand the historical events of the economical
processes
Intellectual History
 Intellectual History aims to understand the ideas
(ideology and philosophy) by understanding the
political, cultural, intellectual, and social context of
the past.
 Intellectual history is about the human (historians)

actions and how they developed history

Environmental history
 Environmental history is the study of human
interaction with the natural world over time.
 Environmental history tends to focus on particular

time scales, geographical regions or key issues.

History and Story
HISTORY STORY

countable
uncountable
It really anecdotes imaginary
happened
biographies
Rarely
factual truthful
documentaries
academic fiction
Historical movies
Non-fiction
History and Story
Lapulapu
killed
Magellan

Rizal executed in
Bagumbayan

Ninoy Aquino Killed

in Tarmac
History and Story
History and Story
Valid Historical Sources
 Government records
 Chronicle’s accounts
 Personal letters
 Receipts
Discrimination on the Validity of
Historical Sources
 Basing on written documents have essentially
invalidates the history of other civilizations that do
not have written records.
 Some passed their accounts through word of

mouth.
 Others were burned or destroyed during wars or

colonization
 Restricting historical evidence as exclusively

written is a discrimination against other

social classes who were not recorded in
paper.
Some Historical Sources
 Recognized these loopholes by the historians and
began searching from other sources like the
following:
◦ Epics and songs
◦ Artifacts
◦ Architecture
◦ Memory
 Collaborated with Archaeologists and
Anthropologists
Some Historical Sources
 Epic, long narrative
poem recounting
heroic deeds.

 Artifact is an object
made by a human
being, typically an
item of cultural or
historical interest.
Archaeologist and Anthropologist
 Archaeology and Anthropology are both
disciplines of Social science and study of human
societies.
 Archaeology is the study of past civilizations

while Anthropology is the study of both

contemporary cultures and their historical origins
Questions and Issues in History
 History evolved as a complex and dynamic
discipline.
 What is history?
 Why study history?
 For whom is history?
 How was the historical text written?
 How objective is the historical accounts?
 Who wrote the history?
 What was the context of publication?
 What particular historical method was used?
Historiography
 Historiography is the history of history.
 It covers how historians have studied and

developed history including its sources,

techniques, and theoretical approaches
History and Historiography
 History is the study of the past, the events
that happened in the past while
Historiography focuses on how a certain
historical text was written, who wrote it,
what was the context of its publication,
what historical method was employed, what
sources were used.
Positivism
 Positivism is the school of thought that
emerged between the 18 t h and 19 th century.
 This thought requires empirical and

observable evidence before one can claim

that a particular knowledge is true.
 Positivist historians are expected to be objective

and impartial
 The mantra, “ No document, No history” stemmed

from this thought.

Intentions of History
 History is written and taught for certain group of
audience.
 When the IIustrados, like Jose Rizal, Isabelo delos
Reyes and Pedro Paterno wrote history, they
intended it for the Spaniards so that they would
realize that Filipinos are people of their own intellect
and culture.
 When American historians depicted the Filipinos as
uncivilized, they intended it for the Americans to
justify their colonization and to civilize the Filipinos.
Postcolonialism
 Postcolonialism is the school of thought that
emerged in the early 20 t h century when
formerly colonized nations grappled with the
idea of creating their identities and
understanding their societies against the
shadows of their colonial past.
Postcolonialism
 Postcolonial history looks at two things:

 1. Tell the history of their nation that will

highlight their identity free from that colonial
discourse and knowledge;
 2. To criticize the methods, effects, and idea

of colonialism

Postcolonial history is therefore a reaction and an

alternative to the colonial history that colonial
powers created and taught to their subjects.
New Historicism
 New Historicism seeks the interpretation of facts
from all perspectives, including those that do not
concern history before.
 For so many years, Filipino historians became

followers of a very rigid tradition in writing history –

a tradition based on positivism.
 Because of the weaknesses of this tradition, a

new historical approach emerged

Some biases in History
 History is written by victors, the powerful and
dominant players.

 Example:
 World War II in the Philippines
 Where the Americans are depicted as heroes

while the Imperial Japanese as the oppressors.

 Filipinos who collaborated with Japanese are also

branded as traitors.
History and the Historian
 The dilemma of an Historian is to be fair and
objective with his accounts.
 Historian cannot go to the past and rely on the

remains or evidences of the past to analyze and

interpret it.
 “Facts cannot speak for themselves”. It is

the historian’s job not just to seek historical

evidences and facts but also to interpret
them. It is their job to give meaning to these
facts and organize them into timeline,
establish causes, and write history
Factors that may Influence the
Historian
 1. Self context
 2. Environment
 3. Ideology
 4. Education
Historical Methodology
 It comprises certain techniques and rules
that historians follow in order to properly
utilize sources and historical evidences in
writing history.
 Apply certain rules to treat conflicting

accounts from different sources and come up

with a more objective meaningful history.
Annales School of History
 The Annales school is a group of historians
associated with a style of historiography
developed by French historians in the 20th
century to stress long-term social history .

Annales scholars like Lucie

Febvre, March Bloch and others
studied the history of peasantry,
history of medicine , history of
environment etc.
Historical Sources
 Historical sources can be:
 1. written
 2. verbal
 3. material objects

 Generally classified into:

 1. Primary Sources
 2. Secondary Sources
 3. Tertiary Sources
Historical Sources
 Written sources can be subdivided onto literary
and official.
 Literary Source is the interpretation of the writer

which involves his subjectivity

 Official Source is a record produced when

transacting business.
Historical Sources
 Material objects such as money, guns, church
bells and other materials which served as part of
the events are undeniably important sources of
history.
Historical Sources
 Traditional sources such as folklore, oral
tradition, epic and indigenous materials are also
used as sources of history.
 Although history, as part of social science, follows

the scientific way of viewing things.

 Historians continued to use traditions as one of

the sources of history.

Primary Sources
 Primary Sources are those sources produced at the
same time as the event, period, or subject being
studied.

 Primary sources may include diaries, letters, interviews,

oral histories, photographs, newspaper articles,
government documents, poems, novels, plays, and music.

Example: If a Historian wants to study the Commonwealth Constitution

Convention of 1935, his primary sources can include;
Minutes, Newspaper clippings, Records
Photographs, Eyewitness(es)
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
 Secondary Sources are those sources produced by
an author who used primary sources to produce the
material.

 Secondary sources include books and articles about a

topic.  They may include lists of sources, i.e.
bibliographies, that may lead you to other primary or
secondary sources.

 Example: Teodoro Agoncillo’s Revolt of the Masses; The

Story of Bonifacio and Katipunan published in 1956. The
revolt happened in 1896.
Secondary Sources
Tertiary Sources
 Tertiary sources of information are based on a
collection of primary and secondary sources.

 Examples of tertiary sources include:

 textbooks (sometimes considered as secondary

sources)
 dictionaries and encyclopedias
 manuals, guidebooks, directories, almanacs
 indexes and bibliographies
Tertiary Sources
External and Internal Criticisms
 Historian must conduct an external and internal
criticisms to avoid deception and come up with
historical truth.

 External criticism is the practice of verifying

the authenticity of evidence by examining the
physical characteristics; consistency with the
historical characteristic of the time when it
was produced, and the materials used for the
evidence.
External and Internal Criticisms
 Internal criticism is the examination of the
truthfulness and factuality of the evidence.
 It looks at the content of the source and

examines the circumstance of its production.

 It could be done by looking at the author, its

context, agenda, the purpose behind its

creation.
External and Internal Criticisms

Authenticity Credibility
Deception Cases in Philippine History
 Code of Kalantiaw
 Ferdinand Marcos as decorated WW II soldier
Code of Kalantiaw
 The code was a set of rules contained in an
epic Maragtas which was allegedly written by
Datu Kalantiaw. The document was sold to
National Library and was regarded as an
important precolonial document
 In 1968, an American historian William Henry

Scott debunked the authenticity of the code

due to lack of evidence to prove that the code
existed in precolonial Philippine society.
Code of Kalantiaw
Ferdinand E. Marcos as WW II Soldier
 This was widely believed by students of
history and Marcos had war medals to show.
This claim was disproven when historian
counterchecked Marcos’s claims with the war
records of the United States.