Chapter 1. What Is History?

History is the study of the human past, based on evidence and interpretation. Historians ask what happened, why it happened and why it matters [1][2].

Sources

Primary sources are created at the time of the events: letters, laws, diaries, photographs, inscriptions, treaties and artifacts.

Secondary sources are later accounts that interpret primary sources, such as textbooks and scholarly books.

Historical thinking skills

Chronology: placing events in order and understanding change over time.

Cause and effect: distinguishing long-term causes, short-term triggers and consequences.

Continuity and change: what stayed the same, and what changed.

Perspective and bias: asking who created a source, why and for whom [3].

Context: understanding events within their time and place.

Dating. BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era) correspond to BC and AD. Years BCE count down toward year 1. Historians group time into periods, such as ancient, medieval and modern, but these labels are conveniences, and they fit some regions better than others [4][5].

Prehistory and history. Prehistory refers to the time before written records; written sources allow a more detailed account after that.

Review: Is a soldier’s letter written during a war a primary or a secondary source? (Answer: primary.)