World History Express 1 Topic One

Revision Notes Introduction to history study

Topic One Introduction to history study

Learning Targets:
1. Understand what 'history' means.
2. Find out why we have to study history.
3. Learn how to study history.
4. Understand the life and major developmentsof the Stone Age people.

What is history?

 History tells us about the past. It is the story of human activities on earth.
 In daily usage, the term 'history' has three different meanings:

History as events

 History is a series of events that happened in the past.

 Events that have happened just now or happened long long time ago belonged to the
past. These past events are all history.

History as the record of events

 History is the record of past events.

 People in the past left behind many things, such as stone tools, pieces of writing and
photographs. These things are the records of people's lives. These things are history.

History as the study of the record of events

 History is the study of records of past events.

 In this sense, history is a subject for study.

Why do we study history?

 We understand why and how things happened in the past. This can help us understand the
world we are living in today.
 We can learn from other people's experience and avoid the same mistakes they have made.
 We can learn to judge what is right and what is wrong and follow good examples.

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World History Express 1 Topic One
Revision Notes Introduction to history study

 We know more about our own culture and learn to respect other people who are different
from us. In this way, we can make the world a better place to live in.

How do we study history?

 To study history, we must understand some basic concepts.

Time

 When we study history, we must be able to measure time. We tell the time of the day in
hours, and we usually measure the past in years.
 There are different ways to measure the past. Not all countries use the same method.
 Most countries today use the Christian calendar (基督教曆法).
 The Christian calendar begins with the birth of Jesus Christ (耶穌基督) in AD 1. The years
before the birth of Jesus are called BC (公元前) (short for 'Before Christ'). The years after the
birth of Jesus are called AD (公元) (short for 'Anno Domini'). It means 'in the year of the
Lord'.

 In the old days, the Chinese people used the reign titles of their emperors (帝王年號) to count
the years:

 Many countries in the Middle East use the Muslim calendar (回教曆法):

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World History Express 1 Topic One
Revision Notes Introduction to history study

 There are twelve months in a Christian year. Ten years make a decade (年代), and ten
decades make a century (世紀). A century is one hundred years. The year AD 2010 is the
2010th year of the Lord and the tenth year of the 21st century.
 When we know how to measure time, we can put all the past events in chronological order
(按年代排列的次序).

 How to count a decade

 How to count a century

Periods

 Historians ( 歷史學家) divide the past into two main periods:

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World History Express 1 Topic One
Revision Notes Introduction to history study

 Prehistoric times (史前時代)

 The time before people could write is called prehistoric times.
 Historic times (信史時期)
 Historic times began when people learnt to write in about 4000 BC (about 6000
years ago).
 The Western historians like to divide historic times into three periods: ancient times
(古代), medieval times (中古時代) and modern times (近代). Each of these three periods
lasts several centuries.

People and places

 An event happens at a certain time, in a certain place, and to a certain person.

 Thus, besides 'time', we must also pay attention to the names of certain 'places' and 'people'
when we study history.

Cause and effect

 There are always connections between events. One event can be the cause of another (the
effect).
 When we study history, we can learn to see this cause-and-effect relationship (因果關係)
between events.

Evidence

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World History Express 1 Topic One
Revision Notes Introduction to history study

 The work of historians is similar to that of detectives. They always look for evidence (證據).
In order to find out the truth about past events, historians collect as much evidence as
possible.
 They study the evidence carefully and choose the reliable pieces. These pieces of evidence
are 'sources of studying history' (史料).

 Different types of sources

 Primary sources (原始史料)
 Primary sources are first-hand evidence. They were made by people who were there
when the event happened. Examples include old buildings and objects, letters and
oral records left by contemporaries (當事人), government records, etc.
 Secondary sources (二手史料)
 Secondary sources are second-hand evidence. They were made later or by people
who were not there at the time of the event. Examples include legends (傳說), folk
songs, history textbooks, etc.
 Non-written sources (非文字史料)
 Non-written sources include objects dug up by archaeologists (考古學家) and other
remains of the past.
 Legends, folk songs, pictures and oral history (口述歷史) are all non-written sources.
 Written sources (文字史料)
 Ever since people learnt to write, they have written many records of important
events in their lives. These records are written sources. Examples of written sources
include letters, diaries, history books, etc.
 Choosing the reliable sources
 In general, primary sources are more reliable than secondary sources. This is
because they are directly related to the event that happened in the past.
 However, this does not mean that secondary sources have no value. When we use
them carefully, they can also help us find out the truth about the past.

Major developments in the Stone Age

Stone Age

 The Stone Age (石器時代) lasted from about 2000000 BC to 4000 BC. It was in prehistoric
times.
 At that time, people mostly used stone to make tools and weapons.
 Since they could not write, we can only learn about them from the findings of
archaeologists.

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World History Express 1 Topic One
Revision Notes Introduction to history study

 Historians divide the Stone Age into three periods:

People in the Stone Age

 At the beginning of the Stone Age, there were small apemen (猿人) who looked like apes.
Later, Homo erectus (直立人) appeared. They could walk on their feet. They were cleverer
than the apemen.
 About 100000 years ago, there were Homo sapiens (智人). Slowly, they became modern
people.

Life in the Stone Age

 Old Stone Age (about 2000000 BC - about 13000 BC)

 Making stone tools
 People used stones to make simple tools and weapons, such as stone axes, stone
knives and hammers. These tools helped them hunt.
 Using fire
 At first, people learnt to keep fire. Later, they learnt to start a fire by hitting two
stones or rubbing two sticks together. They used fire for lighting, heating, cooking
and frightening animals away.
 Life in the Old Stone Age was hard. People made and used simple stone tools. They
hunted and collected plants for food.
 They wore animal skin as clothes and lived on tree branches or in caves. Sometimes,
they drew pictures on cave walls.

 Middle Stone Age (about 13000 BC - about 8000 BC)

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World History Express 1 Topic One
Revision Notes Introduction to history study

 The Middle Stone Age was a period between the Old Stone Age and the New Stone
Age. During this short period, people began to polish their stone tools. They hunted
with bows and arrows.
 In addition, they made small boats from tree trunks and fished with hooks and nets.

 New Stone Age (about 8000 BC - about 4000 BC)

 When people learnt to keep animals and farm, the New Stone Age began. During this
short period of time, people made the following achievements:
 Making better stone tools
 People made polished stone tools and improved their weapons.
 Keeping animals
 People began to keep animals, such as goats, sheep, pigs and cattle. They killed
these animals when they needed food. Thus, they did not have to go hunting all the
time.
 Farming
 People learnt to grow crops by putting seeds in the soil. Slowly, they improved their
farming tools and methods. They began to have more food to eat. Life became more
comfortable.
 Weaving and making pottery
 People learnt to weave cloth from wool and make warm clothes. They also made
pottery to store water and food.

End of the Stone Age

 When people learnt to improve their weapons, keep animals and farm, they began to build
huts and live together in groups. A village was formed when more and more huts were
built.
 When people lived together, they could help one another during hunting, fishing and
farming. They began to exchange things. They traded with people from other villages. This
was how early society began.
 In about 4000 BC, people began to use metals, such as bronze and iron, to make tools and
weapons. The Stone Age ended.

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