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Jump to navigationJump to searchNew page: '''History''' is the study of the past, focused on human activity and leading up to the present day. Whitney, W. D. (1889). [http://books.google.com/books?id=wrACAAAAIAAJ The Century dicti...
'''History''' is the study of the past, focused on human activity and leading up to the present day. Whitney, W. D. (1889). [http://books.google.com/books?id=wrACAAAAIAAJ The Century dictionary; an encyclopedic lexicon of the English language]. New York: The Century Co. Page [http://books.google.com/books?id=wrACAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#PPA2842,M1 2842]. All that is remembered of the past and preserved in some form is seen as the historical record.[http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn WordNet Search - 3.0], "History". Some historians study universal history, comprising all that has been recorded of the human past and all that can be deduced from artifacts. Others focus on certain methods, such as [[chronology]], [[demographics]], [[historiography]], [[genealogy]], [[paleography]], and [[cliometrics]], or areas, for example [[History of Brazil (1889–1930)]], [[History of China]], or [[History of Science]].
==Etymology==
The word '''history''' is derived from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{Polytonic|ἱστορία}}, ''historía'', meaning "a learning or knowing by inquiry, history, record, narrative." The [[Latin]] form was ''[[wikt:historia#Latin|historia]]'', "narrative, account." In [[Old French]], the word "estoire" was coined by Brigitte Gasson.<ref name="Whitney" /> The word entered the [[English language]] in [[1390]] with the meaning of "relation of incidents, story". In [[Middle English]], the meaning was "story" in general. The restriction to the meaning "record of past events" in the sense of [[Herodotus]] arises in the late [[15th century]]. In German, French, and indeed, most languages of the world other than English, this distinction was never made, and the same word is used to mean both "history" and "story".
==Broad discipline==
Although the broad discipline of history has often been classified under either the [[humanities]] or the [[social sciences]],<ref>Scott Gordon and James Gordon Irving, ''The History and Philosophy of Social Science''. Routledge 1991. Page 1. ISBN 0415056829 and can be seen as a bridge between them, incorporating methodologies from both fields of study, Ritter places history in the humanities, and asserts that it is not a science.Ritter, H. (1986). Dictionary of concepts in history. Reference sources for the social sciences and humanities, no. 3. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. Page 416.</ref> In the 20th century the study of history was revolutionized by French [[historian]] [[Fernand Braudel]], by considering the effects of such outside disciplines as [[economics]], [[anthropology]], and [[geography]] on global history. Traditionally, historians have attempted to answer historical questions through the study of written documents, although historical research is not limited merely to these sources. 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. Michael C. Lemon (1995). The Discipline of History and the History of Thought. Routledge. Page 201. ISBN 0415123461. Historians frequently emphasize the importance of written records, which would limit history to times after the [[history of writing|development of writing]]. This emphasis has led to the term ''[[prehistory]]''. According [http://www.archaeological.org/webinfo.php archaeological.org], to refer to any period of human history preceding written records referring to a time before written sources are available. Since writing emerged at different times throughout the world, the distinction between prehistory and history is often dependent on the area being studied.
There are a variety of ways in which the past can be divided, including chronologically, [[culture|culturally]], and topically. These three divisions are not mutually exclusive, and significant overlaps are often present, as in "The [[Argentine]] [[Labor Movement]] in an Age of Transition, 1930–1945." It is possible for historians to concern themselves with both the very specific and the very general, although the trend has been toward specialization. The area called [[Big History]] resists this specialization, and searches for universal patterns or trends. Traditionally, history has been studied with some practical or [[theory|theoretical]] aim, but now it is also studied simply out of intellectual curiosity.The Shape of the Past, Graham, Gordon, Oxford University
==History and prehistory==
The development, transmission, and transformation of cultural practices and events are the ''subject of history''. In the 20th century, the division between history and prehistory became problematic. Criticism arose because of history's implicit exclusion of certain civilizations, such as those of [[Sub-Saharan Africa]] and [[pre-Columbian America]]. Historians in the West have been criticized for focusing disproportionately on the [[Western world]]. [[Jack Goody]] (2007) ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=jo1UVi48KywC The Theft of History]'' Cambridge University Press ISBN 0521870690 "Sacred_bundle">[http://pzacad.pitzer.edu/%7Edsegal/Segal] [http://www.stanford.edu/dept/anthroCASA/people/faculty/yanagisako.html Sylvia J. Yanagisako] (eds.), James Clifford, Ian Hodder, Rena Lederman, Michael Silverstein, Unwrapping the Sacred Bundle: Reflections on the Disciplining of Anthropology, Duke University Press [http://www.dukeupress.edu/cgibin/forwardsql/search.cgi?template0=nomatch.htm&template2=books/book_detail_page.htm&user_id=11016434335&Bmain.Btitle_option=1&Bmain.Btitle=Unwrapping+the+Sacred+Bundle][http://pzacad.pitzer.edu/%7Edsegal/theory/yanasegal.pdf Introduction available online]. Reviewed by [http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/abs/10.1525/jlat.2006.11.1.235 Daniel Reichman] of [[Cornell University]]; [http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/abs/10.1525/an.2006.47.1.8.2?journalCode=an Eric Alden Smith] of the [[University of Washington]]; [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2006.00372_39.x Herbert S. Lewis] of the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]]; and [http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/anthropological_quarterly/v078/78.4song.pdf Hoon Song] of the [[University of Minnesota]].
Additionally, prehistorians such as [[Vere Gordon Childe]] and historical archaeologists such as [[James Deetz]] began using archaeology to explain important events in areas that were traditionally in the field of written history. Historians began looking beyond traditional political history narratives with new approaches such as economic, social and cultural history, all of which relied on various sources of evidence. In recent decades, strict barriers between history and prehistory may be decreasing.
There are differing views for the definition of when history begins. Some believe history began in the 34th century BC, with [[cuneiform]] [[writing]]. Cuneiform was written on clay tablets, on which symbols were drawn with a blunt reed called a stylus. The impressions left by the stylus were wedge-shaped, thus giving rise to the name cuneiform ("wedge-shaped"). The [[Sumerian]] script was adapted for the writing of the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], [[Elamite language|Elamite]], [[Hittite language|Hittite]], [[Luwian language|Luwian]], [[Hurrian language|Hurrian]], and [[Urartian language|Urartian]] [[language]]s, and it inspired the [[Old Persian]] and [[Ugaritic]] national alphabets. Even older pictographic scripts from the region are also known, including the pre-cuneiform [[Proto-Elamite]] and [[Indus script]]s (still undeciphered).
Sources that can give light on the past, such as [[oral tradition]], [[linguistics]], and [[genetics]], have become accepted by many mainstream historians. Nevertheless, archaeologists distinguish between history and [[prehistory]] based on the appearance of written documents within the region in question. This distinction remains critical for archaeologists because the availability of a written record generates very different interpretative problems and potentials.
==Historiography==
Historiography has a number of related meanings. It can refer to the history of historical study, its [[Historical method|methodology]] and practices ('''the history of history'''). It can also refer to a specific body of historical writing (for example, "medieval historiography during the 1960s" means "medieval history written during the 1960s"). Historiography can also be taken to mean '''historical theory''' or the study of historical writing and memory. As a [[meta-level]] analysis of descriptions of the past, this third conception can relate to the first two in that the analysis usually focuses on the [[narrative]]s, [[interpretation]]s, [[worldview]], use of [[evidence]], or method of presentation of other [[historian]]s.
==Scientific views==
In 1910, American historian [[Henry Brooks Adams|Henry Adams]] printed and distributed to university libraries and history professors the small volume ''A Letter to American Teachers of History'' proposing a "theory of history" based on the [[second law of thermodynamics]] and the principle of [[entropy]].<ref>Adams, Henry. (1986). History of the United States of America During the Administration of Thomas Jefferson (pg. 1299). Library of America.</ref><ref>Adams, Henry. (1910). A Letter to American Teachers of History.
[http://books.google.com/books?id=gaLdOOzuiKAC&pg=PA1&dq=A+Letter+to+American+Teachers+of+History#PPA10,M1 Google Books], [http://ia311517.us.archive.org/0/items/alettertoamerica00adamuoft/alettertoamerica00adamuoft.pdf Scanned PDF]. Washington. This, essentially, is the use of the [[arrow of time]] in history.
==Historical methods==
----
The following questions are used by historians in modern work.
# When was the source, written or unwritten, produced ([[Calendar date|date]])?
# Where was it produced ([[Internationalization and localization|localization]])?
# By whom was it produced ([[authorship]])?
# From what pre-existing material was it produced ([[Synthesis|analysis]])?
# In what original form was it produced ([[integrity]])?
# What is the evidential value of its contents ([[credibility]])?
The first four are known as [[higher criticism]]; the fifth, [[lower criticism]]; and, together, external criticism. The sixth and final inquiry about a source is called internal criticism.
The '''historical method''' comprises the techniques and guidelines by which [[historian]]s use [[primary source]]s and other evidence to research and then to write [[historiography|history]].
The "father of history" has generally been acclaimed as [[Herodotus]] of [[Halicarnassus]] (484 BC – ca.425 BC).Ancient Civilizations: The Near East and Mesoamerica, Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. and Jeremy A. Sabloff, Benjamin-Cummings Publishing. However, it is his contemporary [[Thucydides]] (ca. 460 BC – ca. 400 BC) who is credited with having begun the scientific approach to history in his work the [[History of the Peloponnesian War]]. Thucydides, unlike Herodotus and other religious historians, regarded history as being the product of the choices and actions of human beings, and looked at cause and effect, rather than as the result of divine intervention. In his historical method, Thucydides emphasized chronology, a neutral point of view, and that the human world was the result of the actions of human beings. Greek historians also viewed history as [[cyclical]], with events regularly reoccurring. Ancient Civilizations: The Near East and Mesoamerica Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. and Jeremy A. Sabloff, Benjamin-Cummings Publishing
Outside of Europe, there were historical traditions and sophisticated use of historical method in ancient and medieval [[China]]. The groundwork for professional historiography in [[East Asia]] was established by the [[Han Dynasty]] court historian known as [[Sima Qian]] (145–90 BC), author of the ''[[Shiji]]'' ([[Records of the Grand Historian]]). For the quality of his timeless written work, Sima Qian is posthumously known as the Father of [[Chinese Historiography]]. Chinese historians of subsequent dynastic periods in China used his ''Shiji'' as the official format for historical texts, as well as for biographical literature.
[[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]] was influential in [[Western Christianity|Christian]] and [[Western thought]] at the beginning of the Medieval period. Through the Medieval and [[Renaissance]] periods, history was often studied through a [[sacred history|sacred]] or religious perspective. Around 1800, German philosopher and historian [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] brought [[philosophy]] and a more [[secular]] approach in historical study.
In the preface to his book the [[Muqaddimah]], historian and early sociologist [[Ibn Khaldun]] warned of seven mistakes that he thought that historians regularly committed. In this criticism, he approached the past as strange and in need of interpretation. The originality of Ibn Khaldun was to claim that the cultural difference of another age must govern the evaluation of relevant historical material, to distinguish the principles according to which it might be possible to attempt the evaluation, and lastly, to feel the need for experience, in addition to rational principles, in order to assess a culture of the past.
Other historians of note who have advanced the historical methods of study include [[Leopold von Ranke]], [[Lewis Bernstein Namier]], [[Geoffrey Rudolph Elton]], [[G.M. Trevelyan]] and [[A.J.P. Taylor]]. In the 20th century, historians focused less on epic nationalistic narratives, which often tended to glorify the nation or individuals, to more realistic chronologies. French historians introduced quantitative history, using broad data to track the lives of typical individuals, and were prominent in the establishment of [[cultural history]] (cf. [[histoire des mentalités]]). American historians, motivated by the civil rights era, focused on formerly overlooked ethnic, racial, and socio-economic groups. In recent years, [[postmodernism|postmodernists]] have challenged the validity and need for the study of history on the basis that all history is based on the personal interpretation of sources. In his book ''In Defence of History'', [[Richard J. Evans]], a professor of modern history at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]], defended the worth of history.
==See also==
*[[Historian]]: A person studies and who writes history.
*[[Pseudohistory]]: term for information about the past that falls outside the domain of mainstream history (sometimes it is an equivalent of [[pseudoscience]]).
===Methods and tools===
*[[Contemporaneous corroboration]]: A method historians use to establish facts beyond their limited lifespan.
*[[Prosopography]]: A methodological tool for the collection of all known information about individuals within a given period.
*[[Historical revisionism]]: Traditionally been used in a completely neutral sense to describe the work or ideas of a historian who has revised a previously accepted view of a particular topic.
===Other===
*[[Human evolution]]: process of change and development, or evolution, by which human beings emerged as distinct species.
*[[Social change]]: changes in the nature, the social institutions, the social behavior, or the social relations of a society or community of people.
*[[Historical drama film]]: The portrayal of history on film.
===Particular studies and fields===
These are approaches to history; not listed are histories of other fields, such as [[history of science]], [[history of mathematics]] and [[history of philosophy]].
*[[Art History]]: the study of changes in and social context of art.
*[[Big History]]: study of history on a large scale across long time frames and [[epoch]]s through a multi-disciplinary approach.
*[[Chronology]]: science of localizing historical events in time.
*[[Cultural history]]: the study of culture in the past.
*[[Economic History]]: the study of economies in the past.
*[[Futurology]]: study of the future: researches the medium to long-term future of societies and of the physical world.
*[[History painter]]: painters of historical motifs and particularly the great events.
*[[Intellectual history]]: the study of ideas in the context of the cultures that produced them and their development over time.
*[[Maritime history]]: the study of maritime transport and all the connected subjects.
*[[Military History]]: the study of warfare and wars in history and what is sometimes considered to be a sub-branch of military history, [[Naval History]].
*[[Paleography]]: study of ancient texts.
*[[People's history]]: historical work from the perspective of common people.
*[[Political history]]: the study of politics in the past.
*[[Psychohistory]]: study of the psychological motivations of historical events.
*[[Historiography of science]]: study of the structure and development of science.
*[[Social History]]: the study of the process of social change throughout history.
*[[World History]]: the study of history from a global perspective.
*[[Natural history]]: the study of the development of the [[Timeline of the Big Bang|cosmos]], the [[History of Earth|Earth]], [[Timeline of evolution|biology]] and interactions thereof.
{{Col-end}}
===Related disciplines===
* [[Archaeology]]: study of prehistoric and historic human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data.
* [[Archontology]]: study of historical offices and important positions in state, international, political, religious and other organizations and societies.
==Further reading==
* {{gutenberg author| id=Arnold+Joseph+Toynbee | name=Arnold J. Toynbee}}
* Asimov, Isaac; ''Asimov's Chronology of the World''; Harper Collins, 1991, ISBN 0062700367.
* Durant, Will & Ariel; ''The Lessons of History''; MJF Books, 1997, ISBN 1-56731-024-9.
* Durant, Will & Ariel; ''The Story of Civilization''; 11 vols., Simon & Schuster.
* Evans, Richard J.; ''In Defence of History''; W. W. Norton (2000), ISBN 0-393-31959-8
* Gonick, Larry; ''The Cartoon History of the Universe''; Doubleday, vol. 1 (1990) ISBN 0-385-26520-4, vol. II (1994) ISBN 0-385-42093-5, W. W. Norton, vol. III (2002) ISBN 0-393-05184-6.
* Wells, H. G.; ''An Outline of History''; Reprint Services Corporation (1920), ISBN 0-7812-0661-8.
* ''The World Almanac and Book of Facts'' (annual); World Almanac Education Group; 2005 ISBN 0886879450
== External links==
;Further reading
*Williams, H. S. (1907). [http://books.google.com/books?id=g5sFAAAAIAAJ The historians' history of the world]. (ed., This is Book 1 of 25 Volumes; [http://books.google.com/books/pdf/The_Historians__History_of_the_World.pdf?id=g5sFAAAAIAAJ&output=pdf&sig=fg_jzCIwiXQiuqVE7Q_ciy4ulok PDF version is available])
* Wells, H. G. (1921). [http://books.google.com/books?id=1O4BAAAAMAAJ The outline of history, being a plain history of life and mankind]. (ed., This is Book 1 of multi-volume set.)
;General Information
*[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ Internet History Sourcebooks Project] See also [[Internet History Sourcebooks Project]]. Collections of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly (without advertising or excessive layout) for educational use.
*[http://vlib.iue.it/history/index.html WWW-VL: History Central Catalogue] first history on the WWW, located at European University Institute
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history BBC History Site]
==Etymology==
The word '''history''' is derived from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{Polytonic|ἱστορία}}, ''historía'', meaning "a learning or knowing by inquiry, history, record, narrative." The [[Latin]] form was ''[[wikt:historia#Latin|historia]]'', "narrative, account." In [[Old French]], the word "estoire" was coined by Brigitte Gasson.<ref name="Whitney" /> The word entered the [[English language]] in [[1390]] with the meaning of "relation of incidents, story". In [[Middle English]], the meaning was "story" in general. The restriction to the meaning "record of past events" in the sense of [[Herodotus]] arises in the late [[15th century]]. In German, French, and indeed, most languages of the world other than English, this distinction was never made, and the same word is used to mean both "history" and "story".
==Broad discipline==
Although the broad discipline of history has often been classified under either the [[humanities]] or the [[social sciences]],<ref>Scott Gordon and James Gordon Irving, ''The History and Philosophy of Social Science''. Routledge 1991. Page 1. ISBN 0415056829 and can be seen as a bridge between them, incorporating methodologies from both fields of study, Ritter places history in the humanities, and asserts that it is not a science.Ritter, H. (1986). Dictionary of concepts in history. Reference sources for the social sciences and humanities, no. 3. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. Page 416.</ref> In the 20th century the study of history was revolutionized by French [[historian]] [[Fernand Braudel]], by considering the effects of such outside disciplines as [[economics]], [[anthropology]], and [[geography]] on global history. Traditionally, historians have attempted to answer historical questions through the study of written documents, although historical research is not limited merely to these sources. 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. Michael C. Lemon (1995). The Discipline of History and the History of Thought. Routledge. Page 201. ISBN 0415123461. Historians frequently emphasize the importance of written records, which would limit history to times after the [[history of writing|development of writing]]. This emphasis has led to the term ''[[prehistory]]''. According [http://www.archaeological.org/webinfo.php archaeological.org], to refer to any period of human history preceding written records referring to a time before written sources are available. Since writing emerged at different times throughout the world, the distinction between prehistory and history is often dependent on the area being studied.
There are a variety of ways in which the past can be divided, including chronologically, [[culture|culturally]], and topically. These three divisions are not mutually exclusive, and significant overlaps are often present, as in "The [[Argentine]] [[Labor Movement]] in an Age of Transition, 1930–1945." It is possible for historians to concern themselves with both the very specific and the very general, although the trend has been toward specialization. The area called [[Big History]] resists this specialization, and searches for universal patterns or trends. Traditionally, history has been studied with some practical or [[theory|theoretical]] aim, but now it is also studied simply out of intellectual curiosity.The Shape of the Past, Graham, Gordon, Oxford University
==History and prehistory==
The development, transmission, and transformation of cultural practices and events are the ''subject of history''. In the 20th century, the division between history and prehistory became problematic. Criticism arose because of history's implicit exclusion of certain civilizations, such as those of [[Sub-Saharan Africa]] and [[pre-Columbian America]]. Historians in the West have been criticized for focusing disproportionately on the [[Western world]]. [[Jack Goody]] (2007) ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=jo1UVi48KywC The Theft of History]'' Cambridge University Press ISBN 0521870690 "Sacred_bundle">[http://pzacad.pitzer.edu/%7Edsegal/Segal] [http://www.stanford.edu/dept/anthroCASA/people/faculty/yanagisako.html Sylvia J. Yanagisako] (eds.), James Clifford, Ian Hodder, Rena Lederman, Michael Silverstein, Unwrapping the Sacred Bundle: Reflections on the Disciplining of Anthropology, Duke University Press [http://www.dukeupress.edu/cgibin/forwardsql/search.cgi?template0=nomatch.htm&template2=books/book_detail_page.htm&user_id=11016434335&Bmain.Btitle_option=1&Bmain.Btitle=Unwrapping+the+Sacred+Bundle][http://pzacad.pitzer.edu/%7Edsegal/theory/yanasegal.pdf Introduction available online]. Reviewed by [http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/abs/10.1525/jlat.2006.11.1.235 Daniel Reichman] of [[Cornell University]]; [http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/abs/10.1525/an.2006.47.1.8.2?journalCode=an Eric Alden Smith] of the [[University of Washington]]; [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2006.00372_39.x Herbert S. Lewis] of the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]]; and [http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/anthropological_quarterly/v078/78.4song.pdf Hoon Song] of the [[University of Minnesota]].
Additionally, prehistorians such as [[Vere Gordon Childe]] and historical archaeologists such as [[James Deetz]] began using archaeology to explain important events in areas that were traditionally in the field of written history. Historians began looking beyond traditional political history narratives with new approaches such as economic, social and cultural history, all of which relied on various sources of evidence. In recent decades, strict barriers between history and prehistory may be decreasing.
There are differing views for the definition of when history begins. Some believe history began in the 34th century BC, with [[cuneiform]] [[writing]]. Cuneiform was written on clay tablets, on which symbols were drawn with a blunt reed called a stylus. The impressions left by the stylus were wedge-shaped, thus giving rise to the name cuneiform ("wedge-shaped"). The [[Sumerian]] script was adapted for the writing of the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], [[Elamite language|Elamite]], [[Hittite language|Hittite]], [[Luwian language|Luwian]], [[Hurrian language|Hurrian]], and [[Urartian language|Urartian]] [[language]]s, and it inspired the [[Old Persian]] and [[Ugaritic]] national alphabets. Even older pictographic scripts from the region are also known, including the pre-cuneiform [[Proto-Elamite]] and [[Indus script]]s (still undeciphered).
Sources that can give light on the past, such as [[oral tradition]], [[linguistics]], and [[genetics]], have become accepted by many mainstream historians. Nevertheless, archaeologists distinguish between history and [[prehistory]] based on the appearance of written documents within the region in question. This distinction remains critical for archaeologists because the availability of a written record generates very different interpretative problems and potentials.
==Historiography==
Historiography has a number of related meanings. It can refer to the history of historical study, its [[Historical method|methodology]] and practices ('''the history of history'''). It can also refer to a specific body of historical writing (for example, "medieval historiography during the 1960s" means "medieval history written during the 1960s"). Historiography can also be taken to mean '''historical theory''' or the study of historical writing and memory. As a [[meta-level]] analysis of descriptions of the past, this third conception can relate to the first two in that the analysis usually focuses on the [[narrative]]s, [[interpretation]]s, [[worldview]], use of [[evidence]], or method of presentation of other [[historian]]s.
==Scientific views==
In 1910, American historian [[Henry Brooks Adams|Henry Adams]] printed and distributed to university libraries and history professors the small volume ''A Letter to American Teachers of History'' proposing a "theory of history" based on the [[second law of thermodynamics]] and the principle of [[entropy]].<ref>Adams, Henry. (1986). History of the United States of America During the Administration of Thomas Jefferson (pg. 1299). Library of America.</ref><ref>Adams, Henry. (1910). A Letter to American Teachers of History.
[http://books.google.com/books?id=gaLdOOzuiKAC&pg=PA1&dq=A+Letter+to+American+Teachers+of+History#PPA10,M1 Google Books], [http://ia311517.us.archive.org/0/items/alettertoamerica00adamuoft/alettertoamerica00adamuoft.pdf Scanned PDF]. Washington. This, essentially, is the use of the [[arrow of time]] in history.
==Historical methods==
----
The following questions are used by historians in modern work.
# When was the source, written or unwritten, produced ([[Calendar date|date]])?
# Where was it produced ([[Internationalization and localization|localization]])?
# By whom was it produced ([[authorship]])?
# From what pre-existing material was it produced ([[Synthesis|analysis]])?
# In what original form was it produced ([[integrity]])?
# What is the evidential value of its contents ([[credibility]])?
The first four are known as [[higher criticism]]; the fifth, [[lower criticism]]; and, together, external criticism. The sixth and final inquiry about a source is called internal criticism.
The '''historical method''' comprises the techniques and guidelines by which [[historian]]s use [[primary source]]s and other evidence to research and then to write [[historiography|history]].
The "father of history" has generally been acclaimed as [[Herodotus]] of [[Halicarnassus]] (484 BC – ca.425 BC).Ancient Civilizations: The Near East and Mesoamerica, Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. and Jeremy A. Sabloff, Benjamin-Cummings Publishing. However, it is his contemporary [[Thucydides]] (ca. 460 BC – ca. 400 BC) who is credited with having begun the scientific approach to history in his work the [[History of the Peloponnesian War]]. Thucydides, unlike Herodotus and other religious historians, regarded history as being the product of the choices and actions of human beings, and looked at cause and effect, rather than as the result of divine intervention. In his historical method, Thucydides emphasized chronology, a neutral point of view, and that the human world was the result of the actions of human beings. Greek historians also viewed history as [[cyclical]], with events regularly reoccurring. Ancient Civilizations: The Near East and Mesoamerica Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. and Jeremy A. Sabloff, Benjamin-Cummings Publishing
Outside of Europe, there were historical traditions and sophisticated use of historical method in ancient and medieval [[China]]. The groundwork for professional historiography in [[East Asia]] was established by the [[Han Dynasty]] court historian known as [[Sima Qian]] (145–90 BC), author of the ''[[Shiji]]'' ([[Records of the Grand Historian]]). For the quality of his timeless written work, Sima Qian is posthumously known as the Father of [[Chinese Historiography]]. Chinese historians of subsequent dynastic periods in China used his ''Shiji'' as the official format for historical texts, as well as for biographical literature.
[[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]] was influential in [[Western Christianity|Christian]] and [[Western thought]] at the beginning of the Medieval period. Through the Medieval and [[Renaissance]] periods, history was often studied through a [[sacred history|sacred]] or religious perspective. Around 1800, German philosopher and historian [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] brought [[philosophy]] and a more [[secular]] approach in historical study.
In the preface to his book the [[Muqaddimah]], historian and early sociologist [[Ibn Khaldun]] warned of seven mistakes that he thought that historians regularly committed. In this criticism, he approached the past as strange and in need of interpretation. The originality of Ibn Khaldun was to claim that the cultural difference of another age must govern the evaluation of relevant historical material, to distinguish the principles according to which it might be possible to attempt the evaluation, and lastly, to feel the need for experience, in addition to rational principles, in order to assess a culture of the past.
Other historians of note who have advanced the historical methods of study include [[Leopold von Ranke]], [[Lewis Bernstein Namier]], [[Geoffrey Rudolph Elton]], [[G.M. Trevelyan]] and [[A.J.P. Taylor]]. In the 20th century, historians focused less on epic nationalistic narratives, which often tended to glorify the nation or individuals, to more realistic chronologies. French historians introduced quantitative history, using broad data to track the lives of typical individuals, and were prominent in the establishment of [[cultural history]] (cf. [[histoire des mentalités]]). American historians, motivated by the civil rights era, focused on formerly overlooked ethnic, racial, and socio-economic groups. In recent years, [[postmodernism|postmodernists]] have challenged the validity and need for the study of history on the basis that all history is based on the personal interpretation of sources. In his book ''In Defence of History'', [[Richard J. Evans]], a professor of modern history at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]], defended the worth of history.
==See also==
*[[Historian]]: A person studies and who writes history.
*[[Pseudohistory]]: term for information about the past that falls outside the domain of mainstream history (sometimes it is an equivalent of [[pseudoscience]]).
===Methods and tools===
*[[Contemporaneous corroboration]]: A method historians use to establish facts beyond their limited lifespan.
*[[Prosopography]]: A methodological tool for the collection of all known information about individuals within a given period.
*[[Historical revisionism]]: Traditionally been used in a completely neutral sense to describe the work or ideas of a historian who has revised a previously accepted view of a particular topic.
===Other===
*[[Human evolution]]: process of change and development, or evolution, by which human beings emerged as distinct species.
*[[Social change]]: changes in the nature, the social institutions, the social behavior, or the social relations of a society or community of people.
*[[Historical drama film]]: The portrayal of history on film.
===Particular studies and fields===
These are approaches to history; not listed are histories of other fields, such as [[history of science]], [[history of mathematics]] and [[history of philosophy]].
*[[Art History]]: the study of changes in and social context of art.
*[[Big History]]: study of history on a large scale across long time frames and [[epoch]]s through a multi-disciplinary approach.
*[[Chronology]]: science of localizing historical events in time.
*[[Cultural history]]: the study of culture in the past.
*[[Economic History]]: the study of economies in the past.
*[[Futurology]]: study of the future: researches the medium to long-term future of societies and of the physical world.
*[[History painter]]: painters of historical motifs and particularly the great events.
*[[Intellectual history]]: the study of ideas in the context of the cultures that produced them and their development over time.
*[[Maritime history]]: the study of maritime transport and all the connected subjects.
*[[Military History]]: the study of warfare and wars in history and what is sometimes considered to be a sub-branch of military history, [[Naval History]].
*[[Paleography]]: study of ancient texts.
*[[People's history]]: historical work from the perspective of common people.
*[[Political history]]: the study of politics in the past.
*[[Psychohistory]]: study of the psychological motivations of historical events.
*[[Historiography of science]]: study of the structure and development of science.
*[[Social History]]: the study of the process of social change throughout history.
*[[World History]]: the study of history from a global perspective.
*[[Natural history]]: the study of the development of the [[Timeline of the Big Bang|cosmos]], the [[History of Earth|Earth]], [[Timeline of evolution|biology]] and interactions thereof.
{{Col-end}}
===Related disciplines===
* [[Archaeology]]: study of prehistoric and historic human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data.
* [[Archontology]]: study of historical offices and important positions in state, international, political, religious and other organizations and societies.
==Further reading==
* {{gutenberg author| id=Arnold+Joseph+Toynbee | name=Arnold J. Toynbee}}
* Asimov, Isaac; ''Asimov's Chronology of the World''; Harper Collins, 1991, ISBN 0062700367.
* Durant, Will & Ariel; ''The Lessons of History''; MJF Books, 1997, ISBN 1-56731-024-9.
* Durant, Will & Ariel; ''The Story of Civilization''; 11 vols., Simon & Schuster.
* Evans, Richard J.; ''In Defence of History''; W. W. Norton (2000), ISBN 0-393-31959-8
* Gonick, Larry; ''The Cartoon History of the Universe''; Doubleday, vol. 1 (1990) ISBN 0-385-26520-4, vol. II (1994) ISBN 0-385-42093-5, W. W. Norton, vol. III (2002) ISBN 0-393-05184-6.
* Wells, H. G.; ''An Outline of History''; Reprint Services Corporation (1920), ISBN 0-7812-0661-8.
* ''The World Almanac and Book of Facts'' (annual); World Almanac Education Group; 2005 ISBN 0886879450
== External links==
;Further reading
*Williams, H. S. (1907). [http://books.google.com/books?id=g5sFAAAAIAAJ The historians' history of the world]. (ed., This is Book 1 of 25 Volumes; [http://books.google.com/books/pdf/The_Historians__History_of_the_World.pdf?id=g5sFAAAAIAAJ&output=pdf&sig=fg_jzCIwiXQiuqVE7Q_ciy4ulok PDF version is available])
* Wells, H. G. (1921). [http://books.google.com/books?id=1O4BAAAAMAAJ The outline of history, being a plain history of life and mankind]. (ed., This is Book 1 of multi-volume set.)
;General Information
*[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ Internet History Sourcebooks Project] See also [[Internet History Sourcebooks Project]]. Collections of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly (without advertising or excessive layout) for educational use.
*[http://vlib.iue.it/history/index.html WWW-VL: History Central Catalogue] first history on the WWW, located at European University Institute
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history BBC History Site]
