JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 1

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 2

Those who Those who cannot cannot

remember the remember the past are past are

condemned to condemned to repeat it.repeat it.George Santayana (1863-1952), an

American philosopher

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 3

AN AN INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION

TO HISTORYTO HISTORY

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 4

At A Glance

• What History is• Reasons for studying History• Primary & Secondary Sources• How History is recorded• Measurement of time• Problems historians face

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 5

WHAT IS HISTORY?

• History is a record of what took place in the past– About people who changed the

world– About discoveries and events

that have changed the world

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 6

WHY STUDY HISTORY?

• To understand the present more clearly

• To see how far we have come• To study the achievements of

our forefathers

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 7

WHY STUDY HISTORY?

• To learn from the mistakes of the past

• To know how people feel and think

• To help train the mind

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 8

• Historians use various forms of evidence– Oral– Pictorial– Written

FINDING OUT ABOUT HISTORY

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 9

ORAL EVIDENCE

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 10

PICTORIAL EVIDENCE

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 11

WRITTEN EVIDENCE

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 12

• Oral, pictorial and written evidence are referred to as SOURCESSOURCES

• 2 types of sources– Primary Sources– Secondary Sources

HOW IS HISTORY EXAMINED

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 13

• Provide first-hand information/original

• 2 types : Published and unpublished• Eg bones, stones, artefacts• Eg Man-made objects like pottery

and buildings• Eg Items left behind by people

living in a certain period – maps, writings, diaries, letters, documents, newspaper reports

PRIMARY SOURCES

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 14

• Provide second-hand information• What others have written• Produced after a certain event;

normally after studies of the event have been made

• Producers of these sources may not have been there when the event took place

• Eg Films, radio and TV programmes, books produced after a particular historical event took place

SECONDARY SOURCES

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 15

ARCHAEOLOGY

• “ANCIENT” and “STUDY”• Study of objects or items that

are very old• Historians find out about

prehistory through archaeology

• Archaeologists specialised in the study of archaeology

• Like detectives – try to find out about past activities, most of which are buried below the surface of the earth

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 16

ARCHAEOLOGY

• The places which they dig up (excavate) are called SITES

• Stone, bone, wood, metal• Bits of jewellery, pottery, tools or artefacts

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 17

MEASURING TIME

• A.D. : Anno Domini (Latin)

• The Year of the Lord (Birth of Christ)

• B.C. : Before Christ

• See page 12

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 18

PROBLEMS OF HISTORIANS

• Collecting information about the past

• Limited records – writing invented only about 5,000 years ago

• Not everything recorded was the truth– Incomplete– Biased

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 19

• INFORMATION– Fact vs opinion

•What is a fact?•What is an opinion?

PROBLEMS OF HISTORIANS

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 20

EVALUATING EVIDENCE

• The 3 C’s– Credibility– Consistency– Corroboration

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 21

NEW SOURCES, NEW INTERPRETATION

• There is always new evidence• This will provide new

explanations of the past

JOURNEYS (OXFORD) 22

• Compare and Contrast• Change and Continuity• Cause and Effect• Similarities and Differences• Empathy

HISTORICAL CONCEPTS