Portal:History
The History Portal
Herodotus (c. 484 BC – c. 425 BC) is often
considered the "father of history"
History is the systematic study of the past. As an academic discipline, it analyzes and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened, focusing primarily on the human past. Some theorists categorize history as a social science, while others see it as part of the humanities or consider it a hybrid discipline. Similar debates surround the purpose of history—for example, whether its main aim is theoretical, to uncover the truth, or practical, to learn lessons from the past. In a slightly different sense, the term history refers not to an academic field but to the past itself or to individual texts about the past.
Historical research relies on primary and secondary sources to reconstruct past events and validate interpretations. Source criticism is used to evaluate these sources, assessing their authenticity, content, and reliability. Historians integrate the perspectives of several individual sources to develop a coherent narrative. Different schools of thought, such as positivism, the Annales school, Marxism, and postmodernism, have distinct methodological approaches.
History is a broad discipline encompassing many branches. Some focus on specific time periods, such as ancient history, while others concentrate on particular geographic regions, such as the history of Africa. Thematic categorizations include political history, social history, and economic history. Branches associated with specific research methods include quantitative history, comparative history, and oral history.
History emerged as a field of inquiry in the ancient period to replace myth-infused narratives, with influential early traditions originating in Greece, China, and later also in the Islamic world. Historical writing evolved throughout the ages and became increasingly professional, particularly during the 19th century, when a rigorous methodology and various academic institutions were established. History is related to many fields, including historiography, philosophy, education, and politics. (Full article...)
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- ... that the Netflix-released film A House in Jerusalem is inspired by the history of the director's Palestinian family, who were expelled in 1948 from what had become Israel during the Nakba?
- ... that Michael Sugrue became an "internet phenomenon" during the COVID-19 pandemic for his lectures on YouTube, recorded in 1992, that covered "the last 3,000 years of Western intellectual history"?
- ... that history sniffing has been used to track Papa John's customers?
- ... that the U.S. National Firefighter Registry will match state cancer data with voluntarily collected work history data from firefighters?
- ... that Veto, inspired by the history of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, is considered to be the first Polish collectible card game?
- ... that in the history of fisheries in the Philippines, the once-dominant local municipal fisheries were supplanted first by commercial fisheries, and then by aquaculture?
Neferefre Isi (also known as Raneferef, Ranefer and in Greek as Χέρης, Cherês; c. 2480 BC - c. 2458 BC) was an ancient Egyptian king of the Fifth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He was most likely the eldest son of king Neferirkare Kakai and queen Khentkaus II. He was known as prince Ranefer before he ascended to the throne.
Neferefre started a pyramid for himself in the royal necropolis of Abusir called Netjeribau Raneferef, which means "The bas of Neferefre are divine". The pyramid was never finished, with a mason's inscription showing that works on the stone structure were abandoned during or shortly after the king's second year of reign. Together with the sparsity of attestations contemporaneous with his reign, this is taken by Egyptologists as evidence that Neferefre died unexpectedly after two to three years on the throne. Neferefre was nonetheless buried in his pyramid, hastily completed in the form of a mastaba by his second successor and presumably younger brother, pharaoh Nyuserre Ini. Fragments of his mummy were uncovered there, showing that he died in his early twenties. (Full article...)
On this day
March 16: Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires
- 934 – Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period: Chinese general Meng Zhixiang proclaimed himself emperor and established Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang.
- 1689 – The Royal Welch Fusiliers (cap badge pictured), one of the oldest line-infantry regiments of the British Army, was founded.
- 1819 – The Bank for Savings in the City of New-York, the first savings bank in New York City, was incorporated.
- 1984 – William Buckley, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, was kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists.
- 1988 – Michael Stone, an Ulster loyalist, attacked the funeral of three Provisional IRA members, killing three attendees and injuring at least sixty others.
- Alaric Alexander Watts (b. 1797)
- Don Blasingame (b. 1932)
- Douglas Ahlstedt (b. 1945)
- Virginia Randolph (d. 1958)
Selected quote
Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
— Benjamin Franklin, American statesman
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More Did you know...
- ... that the anti-religious campaign culminating in the Stalinist show trial of the Kraków Curia (pictured) led to the imprisonment of 123 Polish Roman Catholic priests in just one year?
- ... that Confederate brigadier general Alfred E. Jackson was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson because of his kindness toward Johnson's family during the Civil War?
- ... that after HMS Porcupine was nearly split in two by a torpedo, the halves were nicknamed HMS Pork and HMS Pine?
- ... that the Experiment was a boat powered by horses running on a treadmill and propelled by a then-novel type of screw propeller?
- ... that one of the highest-ranking generals in China was injured in battle nine times?
- ... that in Mesopotamian mythology, the Apkallu were sent by the god Enki, from Dilmun to teach human beings various aspects of civilization?
- ... that Karl Marx's theory of historical trajectory attempted to prove the long-term unsustainability of capitalism?
- ... that in November 1921, the schooner Cymric collided with a tram in Dublin?
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