History
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
History is often used as a generic term for information about the past, such as in "geologic history of the Earth". When used as a field of study, history refers to human history, which is the recorded past of human societies.
The term "history" comes from the Greek historia, "an account of one's inquiries," and shares that etymology with the English word story.
Historians use many types of sources, including written or printed records, interviews (oral history), and archaeology. Different approaches may be more common in some periods than others, and the study of history has its fads and fashions (see historiography, the history of history). The events that occurred prior to human records are known as prehistory.
There is a very large amount of historical information available in Wikipedia, and several different ways of classifying it are given below.
| History classified by location | History classified by date: |
| Table of contents |
Other classifications
(Not necessarily part of academic history studies)
- Philosophy of history
- History of art
- History painter
- History of individuals (biography)
- Cultural movements
- Diaspora studies
- Economic history
- History of economic thought
- History of extinct nations and states
- Film history
- Intellectual history
- Legal history
- Microhistory
- History of literature
- History of mathematics
- History of medicine
- Military history
- History of philosophy
- History of ideas
- Psychohistory
- History of present-day nations and states
- History of religions
- History of science and technology
- History of theater
- History of mental illness
- Historiography
A typical academic classification
- Prehistory
- Ancient history
- Pre-Columbian history of the Americas also see Mesoamerica
- Medieval European history
- History of Europe
- African history
- Latin American history
- History of Asia
- History of the Middle East
- History of Australasia (Australia, New Guinea, Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia)
- Islamic history
- History of Christianity
- Jewish history
Ideological classifications
History is often studied from a specific ideological perspective, perhaps one that the practitioners feel is usually ignored.
- Marxist history;
- Feminist history (also called herstory);
- etc.
A form of historical speculation known commonly as virtual history (also called "counterfactual history") been adopted by some historians as a means of assessing and exploring the possible outcomes if certain events had not occurred or had occurred in a different way to that which they did.
You may also want to see dubious historical resources and historical myths for a list of false beliefs and histories which were once or are now popular and widespread, but which are proven to be false or dubious.
Guidelines for history on Wikipedia can be found at Wikipedia:History.
See Also
- Archaeology
- Evolution of Homo sapiens
- Historian
- List of historians
- List of historians by area of study
- Pseudohistory for more about uncritical history.
External links
- An attempt at NPOV history with a "Chronology of Events in History, Mythology, and Folklore": http://www.b17.com/family/lwp/frameset/frameset.html
- "Timelines of History," A collection of timelines organized by time, location and subject matter: http://timelines.ws
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