History

Prepared by Kay
Catral
The Development of History
• The word history came from the Greek
word 'historia' which means ‘finding
out’, ‘inquiry’, and ‘narrative.’
• The American Historical Association
defines history as ‘the never-ending
process whereby people seek to
understand the past and its meaning.’
• The prehistoric period refers to the
time when a system of writing was
not yet invented to record history,
which at that time was passed
down from generation to
generation through Oral Tradition.
• However, the invention of writing allowed
people to record events by inscribing them
in stones, bones, tablets, and bronze.
• The earliest systems of writing were in the
forms of cuneiform in Mesopotamia,
hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt,
and logograms in ancient China.
Cuneiform in Mesopotamia
Hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt:
Logograms in ancient China:
• The early Egyptians chronicled ancient Egyptian history by
listing the names of kings and rules of Egypt.
• Ancient Mesopotamians also recorded history by providing a
list of kings and wrote narrations which weaved a coherent
historical account.
• Some were recounted in what is known as Sumerian stele
example, the Stele of the Vultures, which contained inscriptions
of wars with bordering regions and depictions of battle.
• In ancient China, History was used to propagate Chinese moral
philosophy, which was closely linked to their political and social
lives.
• Confucius (551-479 BCE) was the first to have studied and
compiled Chinese history in the books Chunqui (Spring and
Autumn Annals) and Shujing (Classic of History).
• Sima Quian (145-87 BCE) covered a 2 500-year period of Chinese
history in his book Shiji (Historical Records). Because of his
extensive work, he was regarded as the ‘Grand Historian.’
• The Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament is considered as an important
historical writing in the Western civilization.
• Through a detailed genealogy, the Old Testament provides a creation
story and a list of kings like the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians.
• It also incorporates moral interpretations to historical accounts, as it
narrates stories of prophets and provides a deep insight into the social
structure and political system of the Hebrews through laws or
commandments.
• It also recounts how the Hebrews struggled and endured to live in
their promise land.
• In ancient Greece, the logographers were
considered the first historians. They wrote stories
on the origins of peoples, places, and towns in
prose style. They added factual data to these
stories including geographic and cultural
information.
• Polybius (200-118 BCE), a Greek historian, was instrumental in igniting
Roman historiography as he wrote why Rome did not see fit to recount its
historic achievements.
• As one of the first ones to use comparative study to study the rise and fall
of Alexander the Great in comparison to Rome’s achievement in
conquering most of the known world without collapsing its political system
and institutions.
• He also wrote about the geopolitical state and foreign relations of his time
by describing how history must be focused on the continuity of events that
surpasses borders rather than writing what transpired within the borders.
• The early Christian concept of history was mired with
apocalyptic expectations for early Christians believed
the world is about to end with the second coming of
Jesus.
• Their concept of history was simply the incarnation,
death, resurrection, and second coming of Christ.
• The Islamic conception of history relies on the Qur’an as it
traces humanity’s history from Adam to Muhammad, the
prophet and founder of Islam.
• Islamic history also relied on the Hadith or the traditions and
sayings being traced back to Muhammad himself and gave it
consistency and legitimacy.
• This chain of authenticity from one authority to another is an
important part of Islamic theology and history.
• The Study of history during the Renaissance was
more than just a rekindling of the inquiry into the
past or a celebration of classical thought.
• It was in fact suspicious of the historical accounts,
academic pursuit, or reinvigoration of classical
Greek ideas.
• The study of history became more critical of how classical works
were translated, passed down, and written over time – thereby
questioning the authenticity of sources and the obscurity which
gradually accumulated over the original text.
• Philology became popular in order to augment these obscurities.
• Thus, the Renaissance was not simply a period reminiscing
classical Greek and Roman past but was a more inquisitive and
scientific revisiting of such past or the study of the original form
of texts
Important Personalities in History
• Herodotus (484-425 BCE), a Greek historian, is
known to be he Father of History. He compiled
and systematically arranged his collection of
works in The Histories (440 BCE).
Important Personalities in History
• Narrating the events which took place during the
Greco-Persian War, he presented his accounts by
providing geographic and ethnographic
information, which was in part provided to him
by people he had interviewed.
Important Personalities in History
• Thucydides [THo͞oˈsidədēz] (460-400 BCE) was a Greek
philosopher, historian, and general.
• He is known as he Father of Scientific History as his History of
the Peloponnesian War recounted events based on evidence
and analysis.
• His works narrated facts without becoming fictional by using
gods and deities as references.
Important Personalities in History
• Ban Gu (32-92 BCE) was a Chinese historian and poet. He
became famous for compiling the Book of Han which
contained the history of the Han dynasty.
• His approach in writing Chinese history by dynasty became
influential that historians later studied Chinese history also in
a dynastic framework.
Important Personalities in History
• Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886) was a German historian and
founder of the modern study of history.
• He was the first to have provided a historical seminar where
elaborated on the methods and techniques in studying
history.
• He emphasized a strict empirical approach and adherence to
primary resources in conducting historical research.
Important Personalities in History
• Karl Marx was German philosopher, economist, and
sociologist and is often referred to as the Father of
Communism.
• The principle idea of this theory is that the material
conditions or resources determine a group’s social structure
and social order – “it is not the consciousness of men that
determines their existence, but, on the contrary, their social
existence is determined by their consciousness.”
Important Personalities in History
• History is shaped by the development or stages in
production (as technologies advance and the
necessities for living change) and the effects of
this development has in society.
Important Personalities in History
• Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897) was a Swiss historian known as one of
the Fathers of cultural history.
• His work, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy depicted the
interconnectedness between art and its effects on society and social
institutions.
• He regarded the arts as an important aspect through which history
could be understood contrary to the prevailing model during his time –
that history was viewed only as an interplay between politics and
society.
Important Personalities in History
• Arnold J. Toynbee (1889-1975) was a British historian and
philosopher known for his monumental 12-volume work titled
A Study of History.
• He narrated the histories of 26 civilizations describing how
they overcame challenges within the guidance and leadership
of an elite group of leaders.
Important Personalities in History
• His approach to the study of history views civilizations as
cultural entities rather than bounded by nationalities.
• He presented an overarching theory on the rise and fall of
civilization – called challenge and response – by placing stages
in their histories where each stage is either a failure to
respond or a triumph against challenges.
Fields of History
1. Cultural History focuses on the study of belief systems, customs, social
forms, political systems, material traits, and economic activities of a
group or community usually with a purpose of comparison with
others.
-It looks into the process of cultural development as well as the
refinement of intellectual and artistic traits.
-It gives importance to language, beliefs, and assumptions, and to their
roles in social behavior.
Fields of History
2. Social History is concerned with the study of particular kinds
of phenomena such as family and marriage, adolescence and
mass media, human rights and inequality, industrialization and
development, and work and leisure through the use of
sociological theories and approaches.
-Processes and structures are stressed over events and actors.
Fields of History
3. Intellectual History looks into the history of ideas and
theories.
-Historiography is one of its subfields where the development
of schools and approaches are documented.
-Historiography uses content analysis to provide a critical
evaluation of historical sources.
Key Concepts in History
1.Significance
• Finding the significance is a process of determining which part
of a historical event has more value to be included in a
narrative.
• This process entails the critical thinking and selectivity of the
historian.
Key Concepts in History
One of the most notable models in identifying which
event is considered to be significant was proposed by
Lord Harrington who promoted a criteria:
a.The people thought that the event was important
during that time
b.The event affected a lot of people
Key Concepts in History

c. It led to other important events

d. It still affects attitudes and beliefs today
e. It affected people for a long time
f. It affected people deeply.
Key Concepts in History
2. Continuity and Change
• Through he chronological method, historians trace the
changes that transpire in societies and in a larger extent, the
world.
• Historians aspire to understand the elements in human life
and in the environment that persisted or are continuing
through time.
Key Concepts in History
3. Cause and effect
• Through this paradigm, historians inquire on the
factors that led to the events in the history.
• They also analyze how these events shaped the lives
of people and their communities.
• Such analyses allow historians to draw themes that
may be applicable to current events.
Key Concepts in History
4. Perspective
• As history is primarily based on written records
or oral traditions made by people, the
reconstruction of the events requires historians
to adapt analytical lenses or perspectives.
Research Methods in History
1.Oral Tradition
• Traditions a re passed on through stories in the form of
legends or myths and are handed down by from one
generation to the next.
• It can be used by historians in multiple ways to
reconstruct the past and to provide context to the
present.
Research Methods in History
2. External Criticism
• This is where the historian checks the validity and originality
of the evidence used for the reconstruction of a historical
event or figure.
• This may include the chemical testing of ink, the employment
of dating techniques like carbon dating, and the examination
for consistency.
Research Methods in History
• (Carbon Dating -the determination of the age or date of organic matter from the
relative proportions of the carbon isotopes carbon-12 and carbon-14 that it
contains.)
Research Methods in History

• As history is often subject to forgeries and other

misinterpretations, this method is highly critical in
selecting reliable sources and evidence where
interpretations are being used.
Research Methods in History
3. Internal Criticism
• This is where the historian checks the validity of the content of a
historical document or artifact by comparing it with existing historical
evidence related to the same event or figure.
• Some ancient texts, though legitimately written during that period,
remain questionable due to the conflicting details of the historical
event that they are narrating.
• Thus, historical evidence might be valid by external criticism, but could
be invalid internally.
Current Applications of History
1.Museum Studies (Museology) studies how museums
developed through time and their current role in the
society as depository of evidence of world of history.
-Part of museum studies is the analysis of the
motivations for the creation of themes in museum
displays.
Current Applications of History
2. Historic Preservation
-The preservation of artifacts and fossils for the use of future
generations is one of the concerns of applied historians who utilize
historical knowledge and methodologies in providing contexts to social
issues for their resolution.
-This is done through cultural and heritage conservation studies which
are often related to the field of historic preservation.
-Through this discipline, artifacts, fossils, and places are conserved using
methods such as reconstruction, preservation, and maintenance.
Reflection:
1.How do ancient religious texts provide us with
historical accounts?
2.Why is ancient Greece the point of comparison for
early Roman historians?
3.How was history passed on during the prehistoric
period?
• History is one discipline whose methods and approaches are
highly used y practitioners in other disciplines in the social
sciences, natural sciences, and humanities.
• In early times, the value of history was centered in the system
of writing organizing data relating to significant events.
• Today the value of history lies in its ability to provide context
in the trajectory of events and shifts in personalities.