Portal:History
The History Portal
History (derived from Ancient Greek ἱστορία (historía) 'inquiry; knowledge acquired by investigation') is the systematic study and documentation of the human past. History is an academic discipline which uses a narrative to describe, examine, question, and analyze past events, and investigate their patterns of cause and effect. Historians debate which narrative best explains an event, as well as the significance of different causes and effects. Historians debate the nature of history as an end in itself, and its usefulness in giving perspective on the problems of the present.
The period of events before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of these events. Historians seek knowledge of the past using historical sources such as written documents, oral accounts or traditional oral histories, art and material artifacts, and ecological markers.
Stories common to a particular culture, but not supported by external sources (such as the tales surrounding King Arthur), are usually classified as cultural heritage or legends. History differs from myth in that it is supported by verifiable evidence. However, ancient cultural influences have helped create variant interpretations of the nature of history, which have evolved over the centuries and continue to change today. The modern study of history is wide-ranging, and includes the study of specific regions and certain topical or thematic elements of historical investigation. History is taught as a part of primary and secondary education, and the academic study of history is a major discipline in universities.
Herodotus, a 5th-century BCE Greek historian, is often considered the "father of history", as one of the first historians in the Western tradition, though he has been criticized as the "father of lies". Along with his contemporary Thucydides, he helped form the foundations for the modern study of past events and societies. Their works continue to be read today, and the gap between the culture-focused Herodotus and the military-focused Thucydides remains a point of contention or approach in modern historical writing. In East Asia a state chronicle, the Spring and Autumn Annals, was reputed to date from as early as 722 BCE, though only 2nd-century BCE texts have survived. The title "father of history" has also been attributed, in their respective societies, to Sima Qian, Ibn Khaldun, and Kenneth Dike. (Full article...)
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- ... that Massachusetts gave the United States its first openly LGBT state legislator to be elected, as well as the first out congressperson and state attorney general?
- ... that the Suwałki Gap is often described as the modern version of the Cold War–era Fulda Gap, a NATO vulnerability of historical importance?
- ... that Reconstructing Womanhood by Hazel Carby, about the history of American black women writers, was said to be a "landmark study" and "groundbreaking"?
- ... that the developers of The Pale Beyond were inspired by stories from historical Antarctic and Arctic expeditions?
- ... that the course of the Panzer Dragoon series has been said to parallel the history of the Sega Saturn?
- ... that the Netflix-released film A House in Jerusalem is inspired by the history of the director's Palestinian family, who were expelled in 1948 from what had become Israel during the Nakba?
Wail Mohammed al-Shehri (Arabic: وائل الشهري, romanized: Wāīl ash-Shehrī; or Alshehri; July 31, 1973 – September 11, 2001) was a Saudi school teacher and terrorist hijacker. He was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, which was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks.
Wail al-Shehri was an elementary school teacher from Khamis Mushait in the Asir region of Saudi Arabia. In early 2000, he traveled to Medina to seek treatment for mental problems. He and his younger brother Waleed traveled to Afghanistan in March 2000 and joined an Al-Qaeda training camp. The brothers were chosen, along with others from the same region of Saudi Arabia, to participate in the September 11 attacks. Once selected, al-Shehri returned to Saudi Arabia in October 2000 to obtain a clean passport, then returned to Afghanistan. In March 2001, he recorded his last will and testament on video. (Full article...)
On this day
November 6: Gustavus Adolphus Day in Estonia, Finland and Sweden
- 1217 – King Henry III of England issued the Charter of the Forest, re-establishing the rights of access of free men to royal forests.
- 1794 – French Revolutionary Wars: Two British ships were intercepted by a French squadron, leading to the French seizure of HMS Alexander.
- 1868 – Red Cloud (pictured), a Native American leader of the Oglala Lakota tribe, signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie, ending Red Cloud's War and establishing the Great Sioux Reservation.
- 1917 – First World War: Canadian forces captured Passendale, Belgium, after three months of fighting against the Germans at the Battle of Passchendaele.
- 1988 – Two earthquakes occurring 12 minutes apart struck Yunnan near the China–Myanmar border, killing more than 730 people.
- Nasta Rojc (b. 1883)
- Jerry Yang (b. 1968)
- Emma Stone (b. 1988)
- Anthony Sawoniuk (d. 2005)
Selected quote
I hate this fast growing tendency to chain men to machines in big factories and deprive them of all joy in their efforts — the plan will lead to cheap men and cheap products.
— Richard Wagner, 19th century German composer
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- ... that causes of the deaths at the Berlin Wall included shooting, drowning, suffocation, suicide, and falling from a balloon?
- ... that the 19th-century swindler Bertha Heyman, known as "The Confidence Queen," conned men by pretending to be a wealthy woman who was unable to access her fortune?
- ... that only four great uncial codices have survived until the present day?
- ... that after World War II, Polish resistance organizer and Warsaw Uprising fighter Jan Mazurkiewicz was brutally tortured by the authorities in communist Poland?
- ... that tiny Paederus beetles may have caused some of the ten Plagues of Egypt?
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- ... that Dacian bracelets were used as currency and votive offerings?
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