LESSON 1

INTRODUCTION
TO
HISTORY
Table of Contents
01 Meaning and Relevance of History

02 Distinction of Primary and Secondary Sources

03 External and Internal Criticism

 EXPLAIN THE QUOTATION:

“Ang kasaysayan ay SALAYSAY na

may saysay sa SINASALAYSAYANG
SALINGLAHI.”

-Dr. Zeus Salazar

01 Meaning and Relevance of
History
 HISTORY

It is derived from the Greek word “historia” which

means knowledge acquired through inquiry or
investigation.

Also known as the study of the past.

It is the account of the past of a person or a group of

people through written documents and historical
evidences.
 HISTORY

It also focused on writing about wars, revolutions, and

other important breakthroughs.

It is a social science that deals with the study of

geography, politics, economics, society, religion and
the civilization of the past.
 HISTORY as a “SOCIAL SCIENCE”
SCIENCE

NATURAL SCIENCE SOCIAL SCIENCE

PHYSICAL BIOLOGICAL • ECONOMICS

• HISTORY
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
PHYSICS ZOOLOGY • SOCIOLOGY
• ANTHROPOLOGY
CHEMISTRY BOTANY • PHILOSOPHY
• GEOGRAPHY
• PSYCHOLOGY
 HERODOTUS

▪ He is known for having written the

histories.
▪ He wrote a detailed account of the
Greco-Persian Wars.
▪ He was the first writer to perform
systematic investigation of historical
events.
▪ He has been described as the “Father
of History,” a title conferred to him by
the ancient Orator – Cicero.
 Recognized Historians

▪ Gregorio Zaide ▪ Teodoro M. Kalaw

▪ Renato Constantino ▪ Nicholas Zafra
▪ Teodoro Agoncillo ▪ F. Landa Jocano
▪ Epifanio Delos Santos
▪ Cesar Adib Majul ▪ Carmen Guerrero Nakpil
▪ Fr. Horacio Dela Costa, SJ ▪ Encarnacion Alzona
▪ Samuel K. Tan ▪ Ambeth Ocampo
▪ Luis Dery ▪ Maria Serena Diokno
▪ Bernardita Churchill ▪ Xiao Chua
 Qualifications of a Historians

▪ A historian understands how individual societies measured time and recorded

history requires mastering chronological thinking.
▪ Historians are using historical interpretation and analysis to compare historical
accounts of a single event.
▪ Acquires the art of historical comprehension requires a historian to ascertain
why historical events occurred.
▪ Historians task is to discover and proclaim the truth in our nation’s past.
▪ Historians are expected to anchor his narrative of the past on documentary
material which has studied and verified to be genuine.
 The Importance of History

▪ History helps us develop a better understanding of the world.

▪ History help us understand ourselves.
▪ History help us learn to understand other people.
▪ History teaches a working understanding of change.
▪ History gives us the tools we need to be decent citizens.
▪ History makes us better decision-makers.
▪ History helps us develop a new level of appreciation for just about everything.
 Relevance of History

▪ According to Peter Stearns (1998), history is relevant in people's lives for the
following reasons :
1. History contributes to moral understanding.
2. History helps us understand people and societies.
3. History provides identity.
4. History is essential for Good Citizenship.
 HISTORY and HISTORIANS

Facts cannot speak for themselves. It is the

historian’s job not just to seek historical
evidences and facts but also to interpret them. It
is their job to give meaning to these facts and
organize them into timeline, establish causes,
and write history.
 DIVISIONS OF HISTORY

Pre History History

Paleolithic Mesolithic Neolithic Ancient Modern

Medieval
 DIVISIONS OF HISTORY

PRE-HISTORY HISTORY
• Period where no written • Period when man started to
records exist or when the write and record events
writings of people were not using a system of writing.
preserved or writing was
not yet discovered.
 NO DOCUMENT. NO HISTORY?

It means that unless a written document

can prove a certain historical event, then
it cannot be considered as a historical
fact.
SOME VALID HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS

•Government Records
•Chronicle’s Account
•Personal Letters
•Family Tree
•Biography
•Receipts
 HISTORIOGRAPHY

It is the history of history.

It covers how historians have studied and developed history including

its sources, techniques, and theoretical approaches.

It should not be confused with History because history is the study of

the past, the events that happened in the past.

It focuses on how a certain historical text was written, who wrote it,
what was the context of its publication, what historical method was
employed, what sources were used.
 HISTORIOGRAPHY

“Writing of History” (Historical Writing)

It is based on critical examination of sources, selection of particular

details from authentic materials in those sources and the synthesis of
those details into a narrative.

It is done through “Historical Research” with the aid of “Historical

Methodology.”
HISTORICAL METHODOLOGY

It comprises certain techniques and rules

that historians follow in order to properly
utilize sources and historical evidences in
writing history.
 HISTORIOGRAPHY IN VARIOUS CIVILIZATIONS

1. Ancient History
2. Historiography in Greece
3. Historiography in Rome
4. Historiography of the Middle Ages
5. Historiography in Islam
02 Distinction of Primary and Secondary Sources
 HISTORICAL SOURCES

SOURCES/BATIS/SANGGUNIAN

-refers to the basis of claims or analysis of the

historian. It serves as the evidences utilized in
the study of history.
 HISTORICAL SOURCES

PRIMARY SOURCES SECONDARY SOURCES

• First hand testimony or • Produced by authors who
accounts. used and interpreted
primary sources.
 PRIMARY SOURCES

• Produced at the same time as the being

studied (Contemporary Accounts).
• Include documents or artifacts created/used
by a witness or participant of the event.
• Eyewitness of the accounts.
• Original materials or first hand accounts
used/created by people who experienced the
event.
EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES

ARTIFACTS pottery, coins, tools, clothing, weaponry

PUBLIC Documents of organizations, minutes, reports, birth

certificate, marriage license, trial transcripts,
DOCUMENTS newspaper clippings, original manuscripts

PRIVATE photographs, poems, letter, recorded interviews,

DOCUMENTS video/film recordings, magazine articles, school records,

diary
 SECONDARY SOURCES

• Produced by authors who used and interpreted

primary sources.
• Analyzed scholarly question and often used primary
source as evidence.
• Includes books, theses, dissertations, journal,
magazines, knowledge of historians.
• Written few years after the exact time of the event.
• Oftentimes, they are interpretations of primary
sources.
EXAMPLES OF SECONDARY SOURCES

WRITTEN editorial, commentaries, criticism, journal, novels, books

VISUAL caricature, paintings

AUDIO music recording

AUDIOVISUAL historical events

 Repositories of Historical Sources
1. The National Library of the Philippines – it housed rare collections of historical
data papers and Philippine Revolutionary Records which can be found in
Filipiniana and Microfilm sections.
 Repositories of Historical Sources
2. The University of Santo Tomas (UST) Archives – it contains the documents and
collections since the establishment of the university during the Spanish period.
 Repositories of Historical Sources
3. National Archives of the Philippines – they hold the Spanish era collections such
as birth certificates, baptismal records, and marriage records that took place in
the Catholic Church and early civil government in the country.
 Repositories of Historical Sources
4. Archdiocesan Archives of Manila – this archdiocesan possess the infamous
retraction letter of Jose Rizal.
 Repositories of Historical Sources
4. Manila Observatory Archives – holds the early data regarding weather
disturbances and conditions of the country specially during Spanish period.
03 External and Internal Criticism
 HISTORICAL CRITICISM

When examining a source, the historian must

conduct:

(a). External Criticism or test of authenticity

(b). Internal Criticism or test of credibility
 EXTERNAL CRITICISM

• Verification of authenticity by examining physical

characteristics; consistency with the historical
characteristics of the time when it was produced,
and materials used.
 EXTERNAL CRITICISM

• We can ask the following questions:

---- when it was written?
---- where it was written?
---- who was the author?
---- why did it survive?
---- what were the materials used?
---- where the words used were being used during
those times?
 INTERNAL CRITICISM

• Looks at the truthfulness and factuality of the

evidence by looking at the author of the source, its
context, the agenda behind its creation.
• It looks at the content of the source and examines
the circumstance of its production.
 INTERNAL CRITICISM

• We can ask the following questions:

---- was it written by the eyewitness or not?
---- why was it written?
---- is there consistency?
---- what are the connotations?
---- what is the literal meaning?
---- what is the meaning of the context?
 Let’s try!
Directions: Identify whether the following example is a
PRIMARY or SECONDARY source.
1. Reported by someone who witness the event.
2. Bolo of Andres Bonifacio
3. News report
4. Heneral Antonio Luna Movie
5. Jose Rizal’s novels
6. Jose P Laurel’s autobiography
7. Laguna Copperplate Inscription
8. Spoliarium
9. Apolinario Mabini’s bones
10. Ming Dynasty porcelain wares
 Comparative Analysis
On a ½ crosswise yellow paper, write a Comparative
Analysis of selected reading materials:

A. Robert B. Fox. The Tabon Caves: Archeological

Explorations and Excavations on Palawan Island
Philippines (Manila, 1970) p. 40

B. William Henry Scott. Source Materials for the Study of

Philippine History (Revised Edition)
 Opinion Matters

Answer the questions in your own words:

Do you think the study of history can help us change

ourselves and society? Why? Why not?
Thank You!