Historian’s Toolkit Lesson 1

I. Why Study History?o We study history so we can understand what was important to people who

lived in the past, and to learn what happened to them.

A. Who Studies History?1. People who study the people and events of the past are called

historians.o They are like detectives of the past

o They study clues to find the causes/effect of events that have happened.

2. Studying history helps us understand how we fit into the human story.o Languages, technologies, pastimes

3. Studying history helps us develop into informed and responsible citizens.

B. Time and Place1. Historians look at people and events of history in the matrix, or setting, of

time and space.

2. Important to know where people were located.

3. Historians use number skills to research, organize, and write about history.

II. Measuring and Organizing Timeo To study the past, historians must have a way to identify and

describe when events happened.

A. Periods of History1. Historians divide history into blocks of time known as periods or eras.

◦ Decade = 10 years

◦ Century = 100 years

◦ Prehistory = About 5000 years ago (time before people developed writing.)

◦ Ancient History = Ending c. 500 C.E.

◦ Middle Ages (Medieval Period) = c. 501 C.E. to c. 1500 C.E

◦ Modern Era = After 1500s to Present Day.

B. Calendars1. Are a system from breaking time into units; measure how

much time has passed between events.

2. Chinese and Jewish calendars, for example, based their months on the appearance of the new moon.

3. Western calendar is the most commonly used. (originally Christian)

4. Jewish calendar begins 3760 years before the Western calendar.

◦ Traditions say the world was created at the time.

5. Muslims date their calendar from the time Muhammad left the city of Makkah for Madinah. (622 C.E. in Western calendar.

C. Dating Events1. Dates in our textbook are based on the Western calendar.

2. A year is 365 days.◦ B.C.E = years before birth of Jesus (dates move backwards)

◦ C.E. = years after birth of Jesus (dates move forwards)

III. Digging up the Pasto People have recorded important events since the invention

of writing.

o Written records give historians a window to the past.

A. History and Science1. Historians use science to study prehistory.

2. Scientists study physical evidence to learn about our ancestors.o Archaeology use artifacts (tools, pottery, weapons, and

jewelry)

o Archaeologists study human and animal bones, seeds, trees, mounds, pits, and canals.

o Paleontology look at prehistoric times, they use fossils.

o Anthropology is the study of human culture and how it develops over time.

o Anthropologists study artifacts and fossils for clues of the past.

B. Dating Artifacts1. Dating artifacts is one of the most difficult jobs for archaeologists.

2. Determining the age of an artifacto How deep was something buried

o Using rings of a tree

o Radiocarbon dating (created by Willard Frank Libby, 1946) goes back 5000

o Thermoluminescence dating goes back 200,000

3. New methods for analyzing remains such as blood, hair, and plant tissues left on rocks, tools, and weapons.

4. DNA has provided new data.

C. Using Timelines1. In studying the past, historians focus on chronology of when events

happened. ◦ Timelines are made to make sense of the flow of dates and events

◦ Events are placed on a time line at the date when the event occurred.

IV. History and Geography1. Geography is the study of Earth

and its people, places, and natural surroundings.

2. Geographers look at people look at people and the world in which they live in terms of space and place.

3. The course of events in world history can be shown through geography.

A. Five Themes of Geography1. Location

◦ Historians look at where a place is located.

◦ Every place has an absolute and relative location.

2. Place ◦ Describes all of the characteristics that give an area its own special quality. Physical characteristics (mountains, waterways, climate and plant/animal life)

Human characteristics (language, religion, and architecture.

3. Human/Environment Interaction◦ Relationship between people and their surroundings. Landforms, waterways, climate, and natural resources all have helped or hindered human activities.

4. Movement o Throughout history, people, ideas, goods, and information have moved from place to place.

o Transportation has allowed people to exchange ideas and cultures.

o Communication has allowed people to find out about other parts of the world.

5. Region o Historians view areas as regions, which is defined by common features (physical features/human features)

B. The Six Essential Elements1. Help historians understand how the world is connected.

V. Using Maps and Globes1. Once it was learned that the Earth wasn’t flat, geographers had to

find new ways to model the Earth.o Globe – a spherical model of the planet.

Shows the most accurate way to show sizes of continents and shapes of landmasses and bodies of water.

2. Maps – are flat and shows much more details.o Political borders, population densities, or even voting results.

o They cannot show true size, shapes, distance and direction at the same time.

3. Both Maps and Globes are marked with imaginary lines to locate places on Earth.o The lines divide the Earth into halves call hemispheres.

A. Hemispheres1. Location of places on Earth use a system of

imaginary lines the crisscross the globe.◦ Equator – circles the Earth like a belt in

the middle.

Divides the Earth into the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere

◦ Prime Meridian – runs from north to south

Divides the Earth into the Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere

B. Finding Places on the Earth1. The Equator and Prime Meridian are two of the lines on maps and

globes that help you find places on the Earth.

2. Line of latitude circle the Earth parallel to the Equator.o Measure distances north and south of the Equator in degrees.

Equator = 0° latitude

North Pole = 90° N South Pole = 90° S

3. Line of longitude circle the Earth from Pole to Pole.o Measure distances east and west of the Prime Meridian.

Prime Meridian = 0° longitude

4. Using this system allows us to find the absolute location of a place. o An absolute location is written in special symbols called degrees (°)

C. From Globes to Maps1. When curves of a globe become straight lines on a map, the size, shape,

distance, or area can change.

2. Mapmakers use mathematics to create different types of map projections or ways of showing the Earth on a flat sheet.

D. Flattening Out the Planet1. Taking a flat image of the Earth leaves gaps.o To fill gaps mapmakers stretch parts of the Earth sometimes making it

look the correct size or the correct shape.

o Impossible to show both size and shape on a flat map.

E. Map Projections1. Goode’s Interrupted Equal-Area projection

o Continents look close to their true shapes and sizes.

o Helpful for comparing land areas among continents.

2. Mercator projection

o Shows true direction and land shapes fairly accurately.

o Does not show correct size or distance.

o Areas located far from the Equator are distorted.

3. Robinson Projection

o Areas less distorted on the western and eastern side

o Areas near the North/South poles are distorted the most

4. The Winkel Tripel projection

o Good overall view of the continents’ shapes and sizes

VI. Types of Maps1. General purpose maps show a wide range of information

often collected into one book called an Atlas. o Most used general purpose maps are political and physical

maps.

2. Physical Mapso Show land and water features

o Show brown/green for land and blue for waters

o Can show elevation which is the height above sea level

3. Political Mapso Show names and boundaries of countries.

o Show location of cities and other human-made features of a place.

A. Special-Purpose Maps1. Show themes or patterns such as climate, natural resources, or

population.o Road maps, migration maps, historical maps that show routes or

territorial changes.

Reading Maps1. Important step in reading maps is to study the map key.

o Keys explain the lines and colors used.

o Explains symbols or signs and pictures

2. A map scale measures the line that tells you the distances represented on the map.

3. Maps have a symbol called the compass rose that tells you the position of the cardinal directions – north, south, east, west.

4. Some maps have a locator map, a small inset map

o Shows where the region on the large map is located.

o Ex: A closer view of the Hawaiian Islands or Caribbean Islands

VII. History and Economics1. Charts graphs, and diagrams are important tools for historians who

investigate economies, or the ways societies produce, sell, and buy goods.

2. Statistics, or mathematical data, are scare for economies of long ago.

3. Statistics for modern economies are abundant and provide historians with much information.

4. Economic indicators are statistics that tell how well an economy is doing and how well the economy is going to do in the future. They include:

o Number of jobless.

o Rate at which prices rise over a period of time

o Amount of goods and services that are made and sold.

5. Historians analyze the costs and benefits of economic and political issues.

VIII. Using Charts, Graphs, and Diagrams1. Charts, graphs, and diagrams are tools for showing

information.

2. Charts show facts and numbers in an organized way.

3. Graphs summarize and present information visually.

o Bar graphs, line graphs,

o Climate graph (climograph) combines a line graph and a bar graph to show long-term weather patterns in a place.

4. Circle graphs show how the whole of something is divided into parts.

o Each “slice” show a part or percentage of the whole circle.

5. Diagrams are special drawings.

o Show steps in a process, point out the parts of an object, or explain how something works.

6. Elevation profile is a diagram that show a piece of land as if it were sliced open to show height changes.