What makes history so important?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if we didn’t keep a record of history?

In this video, we’re talking about what makes history important and how we can make use of it. History is not just about the epic events that had happened in the past. It is also about us!

Imagine that you wake up one day and realize that you have no memory of the past! You don’t know when you were born or where you came from. You don’t know anything about your family. You don’t remember a single thing that you use to like. 

History is not just about the epic events that happened in the past. 

Your birthday, your first day of school, the first time you rode a bike… It’s also a part of history: your history. 

Everything with a past has a history:

Life on earth… 

People…

Art…

Countries…

and even ice cream! 

History is the study of past events supported by evidence.

For a story to be considered as a historical event, we need to know when and where it occurred, as well as a record proving that it has occurred.

It feels like we don’t spend a single minute that is not recorded today. However, things weren’t always like that in the past. Photos, artifacts, engravings, and letters from the past are all records of history. 

Do you think this boy took this photo to celebrate the day he received his first big bike in 1921? How old do you think he was in this photo? Is it possible that he was as old as you today?

A good historian tracks down clues about past events like a detective. Then he tries to reveal what exactly has happened in the past by understanding the cause and effect relationship between the information and the records he collected. 

In other words, a good historian looks for the reasons WHY something happened and WHAT happened because of that.

History gives us information about who we are and where we come from. 

History also inspires us as to what kind of a person we want to be.

Human history might be full of injustices and wars, but it is also full of great examples of courage and virtue. 

History gives us a perspective on what is important in life. For example, when the world was in ruins after World War 2, the countries established the United Nations with the aim of resolving conflicts peacefully instead of going to war.

Being able to analyze historical events might also prevent us from making similar mistakes. Knowing about the past helps us analyze the events happening today. It also allows us to make assumptions about the future. 

For example, many of the precautions taken during the Covid-19 epidemic were based on the past lessons learned from other epidemics, including the great Spanish Flu in 1918.

Events in history cannot be studied by establishing the same conditions like designing an experiment in a lab. So, we need the support of other scientific disciplines or branches, in order to fully understand what has happened in the past.

There are many scientific disciplines that help us understand history. However, three of these are the most important as they help us differentiate historical events from tales right away:

We need a scientific discipline to help us understand WHEN the event has occurred. CHRONOLOGY is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. 

We need a scientific discipline to help us understand WHERE the event has occurred. GEOGRAPHY is the study of places and the relationship between people and their environments. 

We also need a scientific discipline to help us collect and examine the evidence. ARCHEOLOGY is the study of material remains (stuff people have left behind in history). 

With the help of these disciplines, we can understand the conditions under which the historical events took place, and learn what has happened in the past, even if we weren’t there to see it. 

• History is the study of past events supported by evidence. 
• For a story to be considered as a historical event, we need to know when and where it occurred, as well as a record proving that it has occurred.
• History gives us information about who we are, where we come from, and what kind of a person we would like to be in the future. 
• History gives us a perspective on what is important in life. 

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