Understanding History

Pre-Writing Period

• The period of events before the invention of writing systems is called Prehistory.

Historical Studies

• The term that encompasses past events, memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of events is Historiography.

Historians' Tools

• Historians use Written Records and Oral Traditions to seek knowledge of the past.

Defining History

• The academic discipline that uses a narrative to describe, examine, question, and analyze past events is History.
• History differs from Myth in that it is based on factual evidence and critical analysis.

Historical Figures

• Herodotus is often considered the 'father of history'.

Etymology

• The Ancient Greek word ἱστορία (historia) means "inquiry" or "knowledge obtained by investigation".
• The word historia was borrowed into Latin as historia.
• The word istorie developed into "Story" from Old French and Anglo-Norman.

Early Historical Records

• The Shujing, a Chinese text, is reputed to date from as early as 722 BC in East Asia.