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WHAT IS HISTORY?"History . . . is indeed little more than the

register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind." Edward Gibbon

According to Webster’s Dictionary:

• a chronological record of significant events (as affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes 

• a branch of knowledge that records and explains past events <medieval history>

• a : events that form the subject matter of a history b : events of the past

WHY DO WE STUDY HISTORY?

WHY DO WE STUDY HISTORY?

• To learn from past mistakes, and not to repeat them.

• To know where we come from

• To learn the origin of our everyday life

• To be wiser

WHY DO WE STUDY HISTORY?

Traditionally, historians have recorded events of the past, either in writing or by passing on an oral tradition, and have attempted to answer historical questions through the study of written documents and oral accounts. For the beginning, historians have also used such sources as monuments, inscriptions, and pictures. In general, the sources of historical knowledge can be separated into three categories: what is written, what is said, and what is physically preserved, and historians often consult all three. But writing is the marker that separates history from what comes before.

SO WE CAN UNDERSTAND

OURSELVESOTHERS

THE WORLD

WHO WRITES HISTORY?

WHO WRITES HISTORY?

There are many people who participate in the process. We could call them historians, but there are also other scientists and branches involved:

Archaeologists Anthropologists Chemists Linguists Etc…

WHO WRITES HISTORY?

ARCHAELOGISTS: The purpose of archaeology is to learn more about past societies and the development of the human race. Over 99% of the history of humanity has occurred within prehistoric cultures, who did not make use of writing, thereby not leaving written records about themselves that we can study today. Without such written sources, the only way to learn about prehistoric societies is to use archaeology.

WHO WRITES HISTORY?

ANTHROPOLOGISTS: They are the academics who study humankind. They deal with all that is characteristic of the human experience, from physiology and the evolutionary origins to the social and cultural organization of human societies as well as individual and collective forms of human experience

WHERE DO WE GET THE INFORMATION FROM?Sources: A source is also someone or

something from which you obtain information

• Chronicle: a record of events in the order in which they happened

• Archaeological:• Fossils, excavation sites, ornaments,

buildings, tombs, etc.

• Oral:• Stories, fables, myths, witnesses, etc.

• Written:• Records, inventories, books, poems,

etc.

• Multimedia:• Photographs, videos, radio, etc.

WHERE DO WE GET THE INFORMATION FROM?

Cast of bodies from the site of Pompeii, near Naples.

HOW CAN WE APPLY IT TO OUR EVERYDAY LIFE?