Скачать или смотреть High school history notes - The meaning of history

History is an account of events that took place in the past. History may also be defined as a branch of knowledge which deals with past events of human beings and their response to their environment over the years. R.G Collingwood, in his book The Idea of History (OUP 1994) defined history as a “science concerned with the human actions in the past, pursued by interpretation of evidence for the sake of Human self knowledge.”

History is a science because it involves finding out things about the past Humankind. For example, the origin of Man, why he was a toolmaker, why he domesticated animals and plants. These are questions that provoke scientific curiosity.

The three definitions of History from the above are:
1. History is the past of anything; of earth, man, disease or animals
2. History is a branch of knowledge dealing with past events.
3. History is a science concerned with past Human actions.

Since History at secondary level is specifically concerned with the past as it relates to humankind and his response to his environment over the years, the working definition of history is therefore;

History is the endless story of mankind’s actions and events affecting him in the past.

Closely related to the term history is the term PREHISTORY. Prehistory refers to the unrecorded history- those activities that humans engaged in before writing and drawing were invented as ways of storing information.
Such information is gained from songs, myths, stories, artifacts, fossils and the language of a people. A historical event needs to have recorded evidence in order to be referred to as a historical fact.

Characteristics of historical events:
1. They must have evidence.
2. Historical information must be written or unwritten.
3. Historical events only concern man.
4. Historical events dwell mainly on past happenings.
5. Historical events must contain elements of truth.

The study of humankind’s past can be classified systematically into three:
1. Social history- dealing with the traditions, values and cultural practices of a people
2. Economic history; dealing with the means of livelihood of a people, such as hunting, gathering, agriculture and trade.
3. Political history; dealing with the control system in a society, for example maintenance of law and order, leadership and security.

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