Tools of the Historian
I. What is history?
A. Branch of knowledge that records and analyzes past events
B. Chronological record of significant events often including an explanation of
their causes
II. What other disciplines help us understand world history?
A. Archaeology
B. Anthropology
C. Geography – Five Themes
1. Location – “Where is it?”
a. Absolute
b. Relative
2. Place – “What is it like?”
a. Human
b. Physical
3. Region – “What common features bring geographical areas together?”
4. Human-Environment Interaction – “What is the relationship between
people and their surroundings?”
5. Movement – “How do people in one area relate to people in other areas?”
D. Government
E. Economics
III. How do historians measure and organize time?
A. Calendars, or dating systems
1. Western calendar begins on the year in which Jesus was thought to have
been born
a. Dates before the birth of Jesus are known as B.C., or “before Christ”
b. Dates after the birth of Jesus are known as A.D., or anno domini,
“in the year of the Lord”
2. Jewish calendar begins on the year in which the world was thought to be
created, about 3,761 years before the Christian calendar
3. Muslim calendar begins from the time their first leader, Muhammad, left
the city of Makkah for Medina, A.D. 622
B. Eras, or periods
1. Prehistory - the time before written records
2. History – the time of written records
a. Ancient history – c. 4000 B.C. – c.. A.D. 500
b. Medieval history – c. A.D. 500 – c.. A.D. 1500
c. Modern history – c.. A.D. 1500 – Present
C. Time lines – diagrams used to place historical events in chronological order
1. Dates
2. Events
D. Blocks of years
1. Ten years equals a decade
2. 100 years equals a century
3. 1,000 years equals a millennium
IV. What sources do historians use?
A. Primary sources – firsthand pieces of evidence from people who saw or
experienced an event
1. Letters
2. Diaries
3. Oral histories/interviews
B. Secondary sources – secondhand accounts based on information from a source
who did not witness or take part in the event
1. Biographies
2. Encyclopedias
3. History textbooks
V. What key questions do historians ask?
A. Who?
B. What?
C. When?
D. Where?
E. Why?
F. How?
VI. Why do historians ask the 5Ws-How questions?
A. To seek credibility, or truth
B. To eliminate bias, or unreasoned, emotional judgments
VII. How do historians study the links between historical events?
A. Cause - what makes an event happen
B. Effect – event that happens as a result of the cause
VIII. What other sources are used to gain information about areas of the world at different
periods in time?
A. Historical atlases – collections of maps showing parts of the world at different
periods in history
B. Historical maps - maps that show political events such as invasions, battles, and
boundary changes
"History." Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. 2003.
Spielvogel, Jackson. Journey Across Time: The Early Ages. New York:
Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2008.