Chapter 1, Lesson 1 What is History?

1. History is the study of people and event of the past. 2. People who study history are called historians. 3. Historians ask: A. What happened? B. Why did it happen? C. How did things change? D. How has it influenced today E. What would have happened if…?

4. Learning about the past helps us understand the present. 5. Historical instances of conflict and cooperation are examples we can learn from.

Measuring Time 1. One way to measure time is to label groups of years. 2. For example, a group of 10 years is called a decade. 3. A group of 100 years is know as a century. 4. Historians also divide the past into larger blocks of time know as eras. a. Prehistory is the first of these long periods. Prehistory is the time before people developed writing

5. Writing was invented about 5,500 years ago. 6. The period of Ancient History comes next. 7. This period ends 500 C., A.D. (C., or circa, means “about”). 8. the time period between about 500 A.D. and about 1400 A.D. is the Middle Ages, or the medieval period. 9. Modern history begins about 1400 A.D. to the present.

Calendars 1. Cultures have developed about 40 different calendars. 2. Julian Calendar: A. Developed by Julius Caesar B. Create by the founding of Rome. C. It has 365 ¼ days D. Every four years a day is added, this is called a leap year.

3. Gregorian Calendar A. By 1582 A.D., The Julian calendar was losing time. B. Pope Gregory XIII, decided to create a new calendar. C. He started with the birth of Jesus. D. It also has a leap year. E. We use the Gregorian calendar

4. The Jewish calendar begins about 3760 years before the Gregorian calendar. According to Jewish tradition, that is when the world was created. 5. Muslims date their calendar for the time that Muhammad, their first leader, left the city of Makkah (Mecca. To go to Madinah (Medina). This was the year 622 A.D. in the Gregorian calendar.

Dating Events 1. In the Gregorian calendar, the years before the birth of Jesus are known as “B.C.”. The years after are called “A.D.,” or anno Domini. This phrase comes from the Latin language and means “in the year of the Lord.” 2. There is no year “0”. 3. “A.D.” is written before the date and “B.C.” is written after the date.

4. To avoid a religious reference in dating, many historians prefer to use the initials B.C.E. (“before the common era”) and C.E. (“common era”). These initials do not change the numbering of the years. 5. Time lines are also used in order to track events. (see Picture)

Digging up the past 1. Since the invention of writing, people have recorded important events. These written records give historians a window to the past. Students of prehistory look into an even deeper past, one without writing. They must find a different kind of window. 2. These historians use science to study hisstory. As scientists, they study physical evidence to learn about our ancestors.

1. Archaeology: is the study of the past by looking at what people left behind. 2. Archaeologists dig in the earth for places where people once lived. 3. They often discover artifacts, or objects made by people. Artifacts such as tools, pottery, weapons, and jewelry.