Open main menu

Search

History
 Read in another language

 Watch this page
 Edit
This article is about the academic discipline. For a general history of human beings, see History of the world.
For other uses, see History (disambiguation).

Herodotus (c. 484 BC – c. 425 BC), often considered the "father of history"

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.[1]

—George Santayana

History (from Greek ἱστορία, historia, meaning 'inquiry; knowledge acquired by

investigation')[2] is the past as it is described in written documents, and the study
thereof.[3][4] Events occurring before written records are considered prehistory.
"History" is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the memory,
discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of information
about these events. Scholars who write about history are called historians.
History also includes the academic disciplinewhich uses a narrative to examine and
analyse a sequence of past events, and objectively determine the patterns of cause and
effect that determine them.[5][6] Historians sometimes debate the nature of history and
its usefulness by discussing the study of the discipline as an end in itself and as a way
of providing "perspective" on the problems of the present.[5][7][8][9]
Stories common to a particular culture, but not supported by external sources (such as
the tales surrounding King Arthur), are usually classified as cultural
heritage or legends, because they do not show the "disinterested investigation"
required of the discipline of history.[10][11] Herodotus, a 5th-century BC Greek
historian is often considered within the Western tradition to be the "father of history",
or by some the "father of lies", and, along with his contemporary Thucydides, helped
form the foundations for the modern study of human history. Their works continue to
be read today, and the gap between the culture-focused Herodotus and the military-
focused Thucydides remains a point of contention or approach in modern historical
writing. In East Asia, a state chronicle, the Spring and Autumn Annals, was known to
be compiled from as early as 722 BC although only 2nd-century BC texts have
survived.
Ancient influences have helped spawn variant interpretations of the nature of history
which have evolved over the centuries and continue to change today. The modern
study of history is wide-ranging, and includes the study of specific regions and the
study of certain topical or thematical elements of historical investigation. Often history
is taught as part of primary and secondary education, and the academic study of
history is a major discipline in university studies.
Etymology
Description
History and prehistory
Historiography
Philosophy of history
Historical methods
Marxian theory of history
Areas of study
Historians
The judgement of history
Pseudohistory
Teaching history
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Last edited 19 days ago by Jack90s15

Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted.

 Terms of Use
 Privacy
 Desktop