the study of history...the rosetta stone in 1799. since then, historians and non-historians alike...

The Study of HistoryWhat is history, and why should we study it?

Introduction

Europeans first discoveredthe Rosetta Stone in 1799.Since then, historians andnon-historians alike havebeen fascinated with thehistory it represents.

In the summer of 1799, French soldiers on a campaign in Egypt madean important discovery: the Rosetta Stone. Named after the town nearwhich it was found, the stone was all that remained of a larger stoneslab etched with an official statement. On its own, what was left of thestatement was not particularly noteworthy.What made the RosettaStone valuable were the three scripts in which it was written.

The first script, hieroglyphics, was a picture-based form of writing thatancient Egyptian priests and nobility often used. The second, Demotic,

T H E S T U D Y O F H I S T O R Y

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was used by everyday Egyptians who knew how to read and write. Thethird was ancient Greek. At the time the Rosetta Stone was written,Egypt was ruled by Greek descendants who used their own language asthe official language of their government.

When the Rosetta Stone was discovered, European scholars could notread the ancient Egyptian scripts because the hieroglyphs and Demoticwere unlike anything else they had seen before. Because the stonecontained the same statement written in three different writings, itallowed scholars to use their knowledge of ancient Greek to decipherthe hieroglyphics and Demotic.

Twenty-three years after the Rosetta Stone was discovered, a Frenchscholar and philosopher announced that he had deciphered thehieroglyphic alphabet, or at least part of it. This breakthrough pavedthe way for modern Egyptology, allowing people to read and analyzemore documents and gain a more thorough understanding of ancientEgypt.

Today, archaeologists and Egyptologists continue the work of studyingancient Egypt and deciphering texts and objects, from weapondevelopment to coffin decoration. From this study, historians havefound many ways that ancient Egyptians have influenced modern life.Through the study of history, we can all learn how the past hasinfluenced life today and, more importantly, how we can shape ourfuture.

1. Why Study the Past?For hundreds, if not thousands, of years, humans have been fascinatedby history. But the term history can mean several related things. Whileit can refer to events in the past, as in the history of a family, it can alsorefer to the stories we tell about the past. In this way, nearly anyonecan be a historian, or someone who reconstructs and retells narrativesof the past.


Level: A 2019 Teachers' Curriculum Institute

Voting, like these people are waiting in line to do in Mexico, may notseem like making history. However, each time people cast ballots,they are shaping the history their grandchildren will read about inschool. Studying history can develop the critical-thinking skills that willhelp you make good decisions when you vote.

Likewise, we can define world history simply as an account of the paston a world scale. World history, however, is anything but simple. Ourworld is vast. It is diversely populated. Human history goes backthousands of years. To make matters more complex, our understandingof human history has been shaped not only by events in the past, butalso by the ways in which we retell that history.

History is also an academic, or scholarly, discipline—like economics,physics, or mathematics—and is taught and studied in schools. It mayseem as if studying the past has limited use for modern humanity.However, studying and understanding history has important lessonsthat can help us today.

History Helps Us Develop Empathy Studying history can help usdevelop empathy for others. Empathy is the ability to imagine oneselfin another’s place and to understand that person’s feelings, desires,ideas, and actions. It involves more than just feeling sympathy for other



people because it also enables us to “walk in other people’s shoes”—to feel “with” them or “as one” with them.

History promotes awareness of problems, sorrows, joys, and hardshipsfaced by people in other times and places. As that awareness grows,we have a greater opportunity to understand our own experiences—both good and bad. Additionally, we become more skilled atempathizing with people whose lives are different from our own. As wemature, empathy becomes a useful guide in our relations with otherpeople. As Canadian-American author William H. McNeill observed,

…we can only know ourselves by knowing how weresemble and how we differ from others. Acquaintancewith the human past is the only way to such selfknowledge.

—William H. McNeill, “Why Study History?,” 1985

History Makes Us Better Thinkers “History is a Greek word,” wroteBritish historian Arnold Toynbee, “which means, literally, justinvestigation.” The process of investigating what happened long ago isa process that involves analyzing evidence, determining a source’scredibility, and evaluating different points of view about what isimportant and why.

These are all essential critical-thinking skills, not just for the historyclassroom, but also for life.You will need to exercise these skillswhenever you make an important decision about your own future.These skills will also help you make more informed decisions aboutpublic issues as a citizen and voter.

History Teaches Us to Avoid Errors of the Past Over onehundred years ago, Spanish philosopher George Santayana proposedanother reason for studying history: “Those who cannot remember thepast are condemned to repeat it.” History is full of examples of failedpeoples and nations, and studying it can reveal what they did—or didnot do—that contributed to their doom. With regard to the failures ofthe past, novelist and poet Maya Angelou wrote, “History, despite itswrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need notbe lived again.”

The more we discover today about the mistakes of the past, the morelikely we are to avoid them in the future. Viewed in this way, observedwriter Norman Cousins, “history is a vast early warning system.”



History Is Interesting “At the heart of good history,” wrotescreenwriter and journalist Stephen Schiff, “is a naughty little secret:good storytelling”—and he should know. For decades, screenwritersand filmmakers have looked to history for compelling stories to bring tolife on screen. Even movies that do not seem particularly historical areoften somewhat based on historical events or settings. Understandingthe history behind these stories can increase your enjoyment of suchfilms.

At a deeper level, discovering the what and why of historical events isvery similar to solving a puzzle or a mystery. While determining whathappened can be challenging enough, deciding what is important andwhy is an even more daunting undertaking. Regardless, anyone can dothis detective work. The more of the mystery of history you solve, themore alive the past will become for you.

The Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City attracts thousands of visitorsevery year who are interested in learning more about Mexican artistFrida Kahlo and her art. At the museum, visitors see interestingobjects, or artifacts, from Kahlo’s personal life.

2. How to Study the Past



The job of a historian is to create continuous, accurate, and meaningfulnarratives of past events. This task can present great challenges,especially when the history they recount lies in the distant past. Tocarry out their work, historians follow certain methods to help themevaluate and interpret information. French poet and author JacquesYonnet compared the work of a historian to that of a detective:

An historian is a kind detective in search of the fact—remote or otherwise—that brings to a set of eventsapparently unconnected with each other, the link thatunites them, their justification, their logic.

—Jacques Yonnet, Paris Noir: The Secret History of a City,1954

History Begins with a Question or Problem Historians typicallybegin their work by finding a question they hope to answer or aproblem they wish to solve. These questions often focus on how or whyan event happened, rather than simply asking what occurred.



The Longmen Grottoes near Luoyang, China, contain thousands ofstatues of the Buddha. These statues are not just works of art, but arealso historical artifacts that allow us to get a glimpse into the lives ofChinese Buddhists.

It may seem like coming up with a question is a simple task for ahistorian; however, it can often be a process in its own right. Historiansfirst have to make an observation about the real world. A historianstudying ancient China might, for instance, observe that many religionsspread across Asia during the period of the ancient Silk Road.



Photographs are visual primary sources that show what life was like inthe past.

Historians then use their observations to form their questions. Oneexample question might be, How did the ancient Silk Road trade routeshelp spread religious ideas across Asia? With this question in mind, ahistorian will come up with a possible explanation that they believeanswers this question. This explanation is called a hypothesis.

Historians Select and Weigh Evidence Next, they collect factsand information related to the question. This material becomes theevidence, or information that can be used to prove a statement orsupport a conclusion, that the historian uses to reconstruct the past.

Historical evidence comes in multiple forms. It might be an old letter, amanuscript, or an artifact—a human-made object—such as a tool, aweapon, or part of a building. Evidence can also be found inphotographs, music, and movies. Additionally, it can be found in books,newspapers, and in interviews with experts or historical figures.

Historians refer to these various forms of information as sources. Thereare two basic types of sources typically relied on when writing history.



A primary source is a document or other record of past eventscreated by people who were present during those events or during thatperiod. The journal of a Silk Road traveler would be a primary source.

Jared Diamond won a PulitzerPrize for his book, Guns,Germs, and Steel, in 1998. Inthe book, Diamond usedhistorical evidence to explainhis theory of why Europeanswere able to conquer manyother civilizations.

A secondary source, in contrast, is a document created later in time,often by scholars or other experts. Examples include a book orcommentary from someone who was not present at the events inquestion or perhaps not even alive during that period. Many secondarysources are created decades or even centuries after the events inquestion. A modern history book that includes information about theSilk Road would be a secondary source.

All historical evidence, whether primary or secondary, must be criticallyevaluated. Historians carefully examine each source for the creator’spoint of view , perspective, or outlook on events. This outlook may beinfluenced by multiple factors, such as the person’s age, gender,religion, occupation, or political views. For example, a historian wouldexpect that a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim traveling along the Silk Roadswould have had a point of view different from that of a Europeanmerchant.

Sometimes a source contains information or conclusions that reflect adistinct point of view. Although this is not necessarily bad, historiansare watchful for signs of bias when analyzing evidence. Generally, biasis any factor that might distort or color a person’s observations. Bias



takes many forms, ranging from a simple friendship or preference forsomeone to an unfair dislike of a person or group. Regardless of itsform, bias can make a source less than trustworthy.

After evaluating their evidence, a historian takes another look at theirhypothesis. They may refine it to focus on one specific detail or expandit. They might even reject their hypothesis entirely if the evidence doesnot support it.

Historians Interpret Their Findings Once their evidence isselected and evaluated, historians begin to reconstruct what happened.They often begin by establishing a chronology, or sequence of eventsin time. Once historians are certain of the correct order of events, theyare better able to make connections among those events, likeidentifying causes and effects. Additionally, they can begin to assesslong-range changes and trends that may have developed over manyyears or even decades. For example, in considering how the Silk Roadimpacted religion in Asia, a historian would examine different locationsalong the trade routes and look for clues as to how religion spread.

When writing history, historians do not focus solely on facts orchronologies. If they did, history books would be little more than achronicle, or a simple listing, of what happened year by year. Themore challenging part of a historian’s task is to interpret the past—toweave together the evidence and produce a narrative that helpsreaders understand and draw meaning from history.

The process of finding the meaning or significance of historical events iscalled historical interpretation. By interpreting history, historianscombine their analysis of events with the facts they have validated inorder to create a general theory about what happened in the past. Thistheory often includes what happened, how and why it happened, whateffect it had on the people involved, and how it may have shaped theworld today. Each historian brings a particular point of view to this task;however, historians try to ensure that their interpretations are faithfulto the facts of history and are supported by the evidence.



The people who study ancient Egypt didn’t have context for much ofwhat they were studying. Most of what we have learned about ancientEgypt is the result of historians examining artifacts they have foundand making interpretations based on them.

History Is Never Finished Since history is not science, it cannot berigorously tested and proved, so much of history is still open tointerpretation. Because historians have their own distinct backgroundsand points of view, their historical interpretations will often differ. Theypublish their work with the understanding that it will be reviewed, andoften criticized, by other historians.



New discoveries may changehistorical interpretations ofthe past as new artifacts orsites are discovered, such asnewly-found objects or tombsfrom ancient Egypt.

In this way, history continues to be debated and revised. In fact, somepeople describe history as an ongoing argument regarding the past.Differences of opinion or theory about how to interpret the past makethe academic study of history interesting and vital. This public debatealso makes it possible for mistakes made by one historian to becorrected by later historians.

New generations of historians develop new arguments. As historianFrederick Jackson Turner once wrote, “Each age tries to form its ownconception of the past. Every age writes the history of the past anewwith reference to the conditions uppermost in its own time.” Therefore,our understanding of the past is constantly being influenced by whatwe, in the present day, contribute to it. In that sense, history is neverfinished.

SummaryHistory can refer to the past. It can be a reconstruction of the past aswell as an academic subject. Historians use various tools andtechniques to reconstruct history. They try to make their accountsfaithful to historical facts and events, as they understand them, whilealso interpreting those events.

Evidence Historians gather facts and information about people andevents in history. A selection of this information becomes the evidenceon which they base their historical accounts.



Primary sources Historians use primary sources, including writtendocuments, photographs, films, and other records created by peoplewho took part in historical events.

Historical interpretation Historians consider the points of view andthe biases of the people who created their sources.

Point of view While recounting the facts of history, historians alsointerpret the evidence. They assign meaning or significance to historicalevents. Historians often differ in their interpretations of history, whichcan lead to lively debates over historical issues.

Why study history? The study of history can help people developgreater empathy for others, become better thinkers, and avoidrepeating the mistakes of the past.



the study of history...the rosetta stone in 1799. since then, historians and non-historians alike...

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