History

We explain what history is, the branches in which it is divided and its complementary sciences. In addition, its characteristics, divisions and final.

What is the story?

History is a branch of social sciences that The purpose of study is the past of humanityboth the recent and the remote, and which is based on the analysis of different types of sources.

Historical studies are carried out following a scientific method (specifically, the “historical method”) agreed by specialists. However, historians cannot account for the past as it was; His studies are reconstructions that, when questioned from the present, can be interpreted in different ways.

Therefore, over the years, different schools or forms of interpretation have been developed, which differ from their methods of analysis, study objects, research fields and interpretation values.

THE WORD “HISTORY” It comes from ancient Greek, a language in which “research” meant or “information”, in turn derived from jistorwhich meant “wise man”, “witness” or “judge.”

See also: Geology

Meanings of the word “history”

The term “history” has numerous meanings, not all referring to the science that studies the past. For example, In ordinary language, “history” is used to refer to a real or imaginary narrativeor for a counting of specific events, as in the case of the “medical history” of medicine.

On the other hand, the word “History” alludes to social science that deals with the story of the events of the past. In this case, there is talk of history with an initial capital letter. Historians are the specialists who investigate, interpret and elaborate explanations about the past of the different societies.

The work of history

History specialists, also called historians, interpret the past from their own present. That is, they make it conditioned by their own knowledge and ideas. Therefore, the same historical events can be interpreted in different ways by different historians according to their scientific and ideological position.

The historians’s work consists of Make an interpretation of events from the different remains and records They have survived. As it is impossible to describe the past as happened, historians make a reconstruction from the different sources they have of that past.

The sources can be material (constructions and objects), written (documents, letters, books or written objects), oral (stories, songs and testimonies of protagonists) and audiovisual (photography, images, pictures, sound recordings, digital videos and files).

The scientific method of history

To carry out research in an academically, historians work following a scientific method, also known as “historical method.” This method has the following steps:

• Elaboration of the subject. The topic to be investigated and elementary questions are asked in relation to how, where and why certain events occurred.
• Hypothesis formulation. Assumptions are elaborated to answer the questions of the subject. These assumptions, called hypotheses, will be corroborated or discarded from the investigation.
• Information search. Information is sought for research. First, an analysis of the “state of the matter” is made, that is, what historians have said on the subject. In addition, the primary sources of the subject in question are chosen.
• Information analysis. The different sources of information used are related and compared and a study is developed in this regard. In this way it is determined if the hypothesis elaborated are valid.
• Preparation of conclusions. A written work is carried out in which the development of the research is described and the conclusions are explained.
• Investigation Dissemination. Historical work is announced through different media (congresses, magazines, cultural programs, documentaries, etc.).

Fundamental concepts of history

Historical studies use certain fundamental conceptions and tools:

• Tools to measure time. Among the tools most used by historians to measure and order time, are chronology and timeline. In addition, the use of the categories of Millennium (1000 years), century (100 years) and decade (10 years) to establish the temporary location of historical events is common. By how historical studies were developed, the birth of Christ is used as the main temporary computer criterion.
• Conceptions of change and permanence. Historians identify the changes, transformations, permanence and continuities experienced by the different societies of the past. From them, they name periods of history that share general characteristics, or establish concepts of analysis that allow to compare or distinguish different societies. For example, the classic periodization of Ancient age, Middle Ages, Modern Age and Contemporary age It implies the categorization of social structures and ways that shared different societies in those periods of time.
• Conceptions of social actors. For centuries, historians paid special attention to political events and important individuals to explain historical events. Since the twentieth century, social classes, political groups and different collective entities are included as fundamental factors to interpret historical events.

Branches of history

According to the specific period of interest, we can talk about various branches of history, for example:

• Prehistory. It is the study of the remote history of man, that is, that prior to the invention of writing itself and, therefore, to the invention of the historical record.
• Natural history. It is the study of the periods of training of the earth and the different plant and animal biological communities, prior to the appearance of man.
• Geohistory. It is the study of specific societies of the past and the geographical structures on which they were sustained and influenced by them.
• History of Ideas. It is the study of the different transitions of human thought, considered in a very broad sense, as well as the different areas in which they have occurred, and the possible interpretations of their origin and meaning.
• Universal History. It is the study of the past of human societies, from ancient times to the most recent events.
• Art History. It is the study of the different forms of artistic expression that the human being has developed throughout the times, and the relationships that may exist between them.
• History of religion. It is the study of the forms of religious and mystical manifestation that have occurred throughout the human past, put in relation and studying their influences and characteristics.

Complementary sciences of history

Historical studies are complemented by other disciplines To know better the past of human societiessuch as anthropology, archeology, architecture, literature, library, heraldry, linguistics, numismatics, politics and even philosophy.

The techniques, knowledge and looks of these disciplines allow to analyze and interpret in more detail and in an interdisciplinary way the sources from which historical studies are built.

You may be interested: paleontology

History analysis as a discipline

History as a science can be studied from:

• Historiography. This is the set of techniques and methods of review, analysis and production of content available for historians, often subject to formal requirements of the historical method and the social sciences method. Historiography studies the different currents and schools of thought and analysis of history.
• Historiology. Also called “theory of history”, it covers the set of explanations and comprehensive methods to deduce why and how certain historical phenomena occur. It is related to the philosophy of history and seeks to explain the conditions of historical reality.

Division of time in history

Periodization is a tool that historians use to order the historical time. There is no absolute periodization since it does not correspond to the past as it wasbut with the analysis and interpretation that historians make of the past.

Different periodizations are used for each society or historical event. There is a general periodization, commonly used in the dissemination and general understanding of humanity’s past. The past is usually divided into the following periods:

• Prehistory (prior to 3000 BC). It is the history prior to the invention of writing. It includes the stone age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic) and the age of metals (copper age, bronze age, iron age).
• Ancient age (3000 BC.- 476 AD). It includes the first stages of human civilization: classical antiquity and late.
• Middle Ages (476-1492 d. C). It is the history of the times in which the West replaced its inheritance of classical cultures by theocentric (Christian or Islamic) culture and that lasted until the advent of the Modern Age.
• Modern Age (1492-1789 AD). It is the history of the end of the Middle Ages and Darkness This period is characterized by the rebirth of Western European cultures and their expansion around the world.
• Contemporary age (from 1789 AD). It is the history of the most recent events of the last three centuries, in which man built a world society and embarked on the technological and industrial revolution.

Origin of History

History as such It does not have a defined originsince it is difficult to establish when man decided to register past events as something to tell future generations.

The truth is that it is said that The Greek Herodotus of Halicarnaso (484-425 BC) was the first historian and geographer proper.

Debate about history

There is a lot of debate about “official” history, that is, the one sustained by the educational and central organizations of political power, Often accused of sinning for her gaze of ethnocentrism (especially European) and to privilege the history of certain social sectors above others. It is often said that “the story is written by the victors.”

The “End of History”

The “end of history” is a theory of Japanese Francis Fukuyama, in which he proposes that history, understood as a long count of ideological struggles (that is, attempts to impose a model of humanity on another) It has ended the victory of capitalism over communism and the liberal democracy that followed the cold war of the twentieth century. It is a theory debated and controversial today.

Continue with: