Understanding History Notes
WHY STUDY HISTORY?
-It has often been said that
those who do not learn from history of doomed to repeat it!
-We study history to avoid
the mistakes of the past.
-You can even learn from
mistakes in your own life so that you do not make the same mistake twice.
-We also study history to
obtain a certain amount of general knowledge.
Imagine how embarrassing it would be not to be able to answer this
question: “Who was the first president of the
-We also study history to
help develop other skills such as research, reading, and writing. These skills can help you in all aspects of
life.
MEASURING TIME:
-There are many ways to
measure time. Usually I History we
measure time in “Years”
-In western society most of
us use the Gregorian Calendar which is based around the birth of Christ. (B.C.=
Before the birth of Christ / A.D.= After the birth of Christ)
HOW DO WE STUDY HISTORY:
-Archeologists are people
who search for artifacts or items from the past.
-Many items can be discovered
through digging and excavating.
-Historians also try to
identify when an event occurred in relationship to other events. They use timelines to put events in
chronological order.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY
SOURCES:
-These are both way to study
history.
-Here you are not digging up
an old relic, but instead focusing on information.
-Most historical knowledge
is gathered from Primary Sources or first hand information from a historical
event. Primary sources include diaries,
documents, etc.
-Most people use Secondary
Sources to study history. A Secondary
Source is a collection of primary sources.
Information is gathered from several sources and put together. A good example of a Secondary Source is your
textbook.
EVALUATING EVIDENCE:
-When evaluating evidence, a
historian must determine its authenticity.
They must find out if the item they have is real to that time period.
-Historians much also avoid
bias or placing this own opinions in their evaluations. Historians must be objective when examining
evidence.
-Finally historians must put
all their research together (without bias) to interpret what they have
discovered about the past