Although often their meanings are closely similar, the past is not analogous to history as the past is involved with everything that happened since the beginning of time and therefore, they are confused by many. History is, by contrast, an explanation of the process of interpreting records of the past as it is the primarily recorded happenings of the past. It therefore, involves construing the evidences in an informed and a thoughtful system. History represents a narrative that provides an explanatory force, giving sense and meaning to both the present and the past. 1 Many people tend to resist the idea that historical events are not normally perceived but read in books and media as it is difficult for them to understand history as a process of critical enquiry. It is therefore very important to spend some worth time on the importance of evidence from the past. Being recorded in written documents does not mean that history is only limited to that and that it must consider evidence.
Comprehensive History
With the fact that history brings some ideas such as change and human intervention, it plays a fundamental role in the thoughts of a human. The nature of the historical knowledge and how the knowledge is extracted has been examined by many philosophers coming up with the idea that history is only one but it undergoes expansion and modification. 2 Philosophy tells it that history voices plurality and this poses a challenge to many researchers whose aim is to provide a single field definition of the many applicable tactics. History is one similar concept which depends on human progression from one generation to another justifying the essence of continuity. History deals with many aspects of human life and not confined to one period as it progresses and provides records of the happenings. The scope of history is considered to be vast as it entails man’s story in relation to his totality, meaning it has a wide breadth, it entails variety, and it is very comprehensive. This makes history to become all-embracing and comprehensive with limitless extent.
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Existence and creation of History
History is older than other forms of social studies as its existence are traced back before any academic association were formed. Bringing us to the perspective of ancient times, history is considered as a repository of experiences of great people. Modern people read history to learn from the mistakes and achievements of the old times great people and for their future to be guided by the past. The goals of the historians are to gather facts on the past and turn insights into realities and ideas shaped by the lives of the past. 3 Many professional historians spend their lives while pursuing the meaning of both the present and the past and this justifies that history exists and it is not created but rather modified by historians to meet the requirements of the time period. History does not just incorporate what happened in the past but rather a complex intersection of truths.
Sources of History
History finds its primary sources from all the artifacts created by historians who participate in different events to gather firsthand information and to act as witnesses of evidence created during the studying time period. Primary sources represent history that is recorded in diaries, governmental documents, novels, and poems. 4 Primary sources basically originate in the time of the study when evidence is being collected. They are characterized by content regardless of their availability in the original or published format. Secondary sources, on the other hand, reflects on the earlier time and they vary from books and other journalistic accounts. They depend on the primary sources as evidence.
Importance of Historical Evidence
Historical evidence is created from the collections of the past knowledge and the primary data which is collected by historians in the field of study. Proper interpretation of historical sources makes them to graduate to historical evidence as they can make sense about the past. Historical evidences answer questions that are frequently asked by historians concerning the past and the present. These questions depend with the topic of interest of the historian. Historians need to understand what makes up a historical evidence in order for an event to make sense. 5 Embarking historical evidence with contemporaries forms a quest of objective knowledge. Evidence develop a commitment to the reality of the past and the truth as correspondence to reality.
Bibliography
Carr, Edward Hallett. What is history? Penguin UK, 2018.
Chakravartty, Anjan. "Case studies, selective realism, and historical evidence." In EPSA15 Selected Papers , pp. 13-23. Springer, Cham, 2017.
Little, Barbara J. Historical archaeology: why the past matters . Routledge, 2016.
Stanley, Matthew. "Why study history." Physics Today 69, no. 7 (2016): 38-44.
Zimlichman, Reuven, Stevo Julius, and Giuseppe Mancia. "History of Prehypertension: Past and Present, a Saga of." Prehypertension and Cardiometabolic Syndrome (2018): 17.
1 . Carr, Edward Hallett. What is history? Penguin UK, 2018.
2 . Stanley, Matthew. "Why study history." Physics Today 69, no. 7 (2016): 38-44.
3 . Zimlichman, Reuven, Stevo Julius, and Giuseppe Mancia. "History of Prehypertension: Past and Present, a Saga of." Prehypertension and Cardiometabolic Syndrome (2018): 17.
4 . Chakravartty, Anjan. "Case studies, selective realism, and historical evidence." In EPSA15 Selected Papers , pp. 13-23. Springer, Cham, 2017.
5 . Little, Barbara J. Historical archaeology: why the past matters . Routledge, 2016.
