History

Important Concepts

In the study of History, the following concepts are pertinent:

• Evaluating sources and evidence: History is not the past itself. It is the interpretation and explanation of information from various sources. Evidence is created when sources are used to answer questions about the past.

• Multiple perspectives: There are many ways of looking at the same thing. These perspectives may be the result of different points of view of people in the past according to their position in society, the different ways in which historians have written about them, and the different ways in which people today see the actions and behaviour of people of the past.

• Cause and effect: This is the reason for events and their results. They can influence future events and help explain human behaviour.

• Change and continuity: Over a period of time, it is possible to contrast what has changed and what has remained the same. Closely related contrasts that are used to teach History are ‘similarity and difference’, ‘related to then and now’, which help to make sense of the past and the present.

• Time and chronology: History is studied and written in time sequence. It is important to be able to place events in the order in which they happened. Timelines are often used to develop this concept.

For further information contact our Head of Department Ettiene Terblanche.