What is
history? It sounds such a simple question doesn't it? But it can cause
a lot of disagreement. Napoleon called it 'a myth' and Henry Ford called
it 'bunk'! Other people think it is much more important, believing,
like the American historian David McCullough, that "History is
who we are and why we are the way we are."
Whatever
they think about the usefulness of history most people will, however,
agree that history is the study of the past. In fact, historians are
a bit like detectives - using evidence to find out what happened and
why. This is not an easy job. You must be able to recognise evidence,
decide how useful it is and come to conclusions based on what you have
found out.
We're going
to find out how to do all this by using some real historical sources.
Each section will teach you a new skill so that by the end you will
be a history detective! You can work through the sections in order or
use the navigation tools at the top or left-hand side of the page to
go to the section you are interested in. Have fun!
