INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT

​MEANING OF HISTORY

​The word history comes from the Ancient Greek (historía), meaning 'inquiry', 'knowledge from inquiry', or 'judge'.  - (S.K. Kochhar)

It is the study of all human experiences and record of events in relation to the environment.

Is a science concerned with past human actions.

Is a branch of knowledge which deals with the past events of human beings and their response to their environment over the years. ​

​This is the study of the man in known times and this relies on raw data from raw narrations or written works 

​History is for human self-knowledge. Knowing yourself means knowing, first, what it is to be a person; secondly, knowing what it is to be the kind of person you are; and thirdly, knowing what it is to be the person you are and nobody else is. Knowing yourself means knowing what you can do; and since nobody knows what they can do until they try, the only clue to what man can do is what man has done. The value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is.

The value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is.

It is a branch of knowledge dealing with the chronology of events- al-Kafiaji It is knowledge pertaining to a country, customs and manners of a people, remains of the people of yore, as well as an account of the actions of those alive- Classical Arabic Historiographers

History is a discipline widely cultivated among nations and races. It is eagerly sought after. The men in the street, the ordinary people, aspire to know it. Kings and leaders vie for it. Both the learned and the ignorant are able to understand it. For on the surface, history is not more than information about political events, dynasties, and occurrences of the remote past, elegantly presented and spices with proverbs. It serves to entertain large, crowded gatherings and brings to us an understanding of human affairs. It shows how changing conditions affected human affairs, how certain dynasties came to occupy an ever wider space in the world, and how they settled the earth until they heard the call and their time was up. The inner meaning of history, on the other hand, involves speculation and an attempt to get at the truth, subtle explanation of the causes and origins of existing things, and deep knowledge of the how and why of events. History, is, firmly rooted in philosophy. Ibn Khaldun

The inner meaning of history, on the other hand, involves speculation and an attempt to get at the truth, subtle explanation of the causes and origins of existing things, and deep knowledge of the how and why of events

History as the study of man. History is majorly concerned with man’s activities in time. History is concerned with man’s activities in space, vis his interaction with the physical and geographical environment, as well as the political and socio-economic spheres. History explains the present. History is a dialogue between the events of the past and progressively emerging future ends

History is a dialogue between the events of the past and progressively emerging future ends

​Two periods of history

1. PRE-HISTORY

This is the study of history of man in the distant past relies on excavated materials and fossils.

2. HISTORY

​This is the study of the man in known times. Relies on raw data from raw narrations or written works 

​Branches of history   

(i) Political history

​It is the study of government and leaders. It analyses of political thinkers and their styles of leadership

(ii) Economic history

​It is the study of the way of earning a living. It deals with economic activities in a different environment e.g. agriculture, industry, trade, transport and communication, hunting and gathering etc

(iii) Social history

It is the study of the way of the people lived together, their way of building, dressing, eating, religion, medicine and education 

​Meaning of government 

• It is the method of ruling or exercising power or authority over a country or a state or a city and its people.
• It can also mean the management of nation, country or state (i.e. those people who oversee the running of the nation, country or state)  

​Types of governments 

(a) Democratic government

It requires the rulers to regularly seek public mandate through popular vote. The elected officials represent the wishes of the people.

(b) Aristocratic government

​It is a form of government in which a group from the highest social class in the society rules over the others.​​

(c) Monarchial government

Power is passed from parent to children. King or queen is the head of state

(d) Dictatorial government

It’s system of government where the ruler has the total power over the subjects

(e) Anarchy

It is a state of lawlessness or absence of government. People do whatever they want 

Characteristics of government ​

1. ​Rules
   These are rules that govern members to ensure that life run smoothly for the benefit of all
2. Sovereignty
   This led us to the supreme authority of the government to exercise power within its boundaries
3. Legitimacy 
    A government should be acceptable to the people over whom it power
4. Jurisdiction
   This is the geographical area within which the government exercises power and enforces law and rules
5. Law enforcement
   The government is able to take action against those who broke the law 

Importance of studying history

1. We learn about the economic, social and political organization of different people.
2. Help us to appreciate the value of others and their contribution to civilization.
3. Enables people to appreciate and understanding their past way of life.
4. History trains us to develop the capacity for critical analysis of historical data. 
5. It creates a sense of patriotism and national pride is developed.
6. It also fosters empathy –the ability to understand how people think and feel and their positions and roles in society
7. Is also a way of preparing the community or society for life.
8. Provides intellectual fulfillment and interest in further learning
9. It is also an integral study that accounts and records social and physical happenings in the time and space for the confirmation of man
10. Can also lead the learner to respected professionals such as law, business management, teaching, administration etc

​Importance of studying government  

1. It enables us to understand how laws are made and implemented.
2. It helps us to understand the structures of government and reasons why we need a government.
3. Help us to understand our rights and responsibilities as citizens.
4. Help us to understand duties of our leaders in government.
5. It enables us to compare our government of the world.
6. It helps the learner to appreciate the constitution and constitution making process.
7. By studying the system of the government of other countries, political leaders can choose the best system principles.
8. One understands how the three arms of government operate.

​Sources of information on history and government

1. Unwritten sources
2. Written sources
3. Electronic sources 

 1. Unwritten sources ​

Refers to historical information which is not recorded in writing
It includes:

• Oral traditions
• Linguistics 
• Anthropology
• Archeology
• Paleontology
• Genetics

​a. Oral traditions

Refers to the process of passing information by a word of mouth from one generation to the next
Forms of oral traditions:

• Fork tales                                    
• Proverbs
• Songs
• Myths
• Legends
• Poems

Advantages  

1. It is important in the study of pre-history.
2. They integrate the study of history with other social studies.
3. It is cheap as it doesn’t require experts or special equipment.
4. It complements other sources of history

Disadvantages

1. The stories may be exaggerated. It’s hard to tell what is real and what is imagined.
2. Some information may be forgotten or omitted since human memory is not precise.
3. The stories may be changed for various reasons.
4. It does not provide dates or sequence of events.
5. It is expensive as one has to pay for transport, lunch and accommodation of informant.
6. It is time consuming interviewing people, takes a lot of time.

b. Linguistics   ​

This is the scientific study of languages.
Advantages

• Gave information about the movement of people and their relationships
• Help us to understand communities, better as people with common language may have common origin.
• Helps those using oral tradition to gather information from various sources.
• Has enabled historical linguistics to discover links between different people which were previously unknown.
• It is useful in dating of the migration of people.

Limitations /disadvantages

• It may take a longer period to learn a particular language and therefore delay the acquisition of information
• When translating the language the historians may omit some words.
• Different languages may have similar words with different meanings.
• There has also been borrowing of words from other languages and this has interfered with or corrupted the parent language
• A linguist may find some of the words from different groups difficult to understand.
• Some languages have become archaic or extinct and are therefore difficult to translate.

c. ​Anthropology

It is the study of human beings, their origin development, customs, beliefs, and social relationships.
Concerns itself with present day social organizations in relation to customs, cultural values, institutions, forms of government, and systems of marriage, inheritance descent and religious practices.
It gives deeper understanding of a particular of a peopled culture.
 Advantages

• It can help to reveal similarities in the institution of different communities and possible interactions.
•  It complements other sources of information in gathering historical data.
• It gives a deeper understanding of a particular aspect of people’s culture.
• It can identify a particular community with a certain material culture e.g. name
• Information is easily obtained from the surrounding.

 Disadvantages 

• It is expensive as it involves a lot of travelling
• It is time consuming living for long in the community under study
• Anthropologists risks losing their culture and adopting a foreign culture
• The anthropologist may it difficult to adapt fully to the new community.

d. Archaelogy  ​

​Is the study of material remains from the past human life and culture

Examples include:

• Stone tools
•  metal objects
• Pottery
• Graves
• Wooden implements
• Remains of plants and animals
• Carbonized seeds
• Baskets
• Remains of charcoals
• The beads

Dating fossils in archaeology  
Methods used to locate an archaeological site

• Radio carbon 14 dating
• Potassium argon dating
• Stratigraphy
• Geological dating
• Lexicon-statistics
• Statistical

Chemical dating

• Radio-carbon dating
  It is a measure of the amount of carbon remaining in a fossil or artifact.
• Potassium argon
  It is a measure of potassium remaining in a fossil or artifact due to volcanic eruption.
• Stratigraphy
  It studies the layers of successive deposits of rocks
• Fission track dating
  Studies the age of artifact from the amount of uranium remaining in the track of rock
• Statistical dating
  ​The age of objects is determined through association of events with names

Advantages of archaeology

• Gives detailed information on material culture.
• It complements other sources of information.
• It gives a sense of time as artifacts can be dated.
• It is useful in providing information about man in the pre-historical times
• It makes history real through seeing and touching objects
• It earns the country money as people come to view remains and historical sites.

Disadvantages 

• It’s expensive to hire laborers to excavate and analyze the artifacts
• It’s sometimes difficult to locate a site
• Its time consuming to excavate and analyze the data
• Some remains are fragile and can disintegrate during excavation
• The information may not be accurate as it is based conclusions and reconstruction
• The dates may not be accurate as they exact as they are   only estimates
• It’s difficult to differentiate between the bones of an animals and human beings
• Climate may affect the remains and some may decay
• There are very few archaeological experts and facilities for interpreting archaeological remains in Kenya.
• It’s hard to identify exactly who the people were and the language they spoke.
• Where there is large-scale excavation it may environmental destruction.

e. ​Written sources  

Writing means making letters or any other symbols on a surface for the purpose of the communication.
Includes:

• Archives
• Constitutions
• Journals
• magazines
• biography
• newspapers
• documentaries
• arrival reports
• periodicals
• paintings

Advantages

• Are more accurate than oral sources
• Methods of analysis used with written records are cheaper as is the case with oral information.
• Can be easily translated to many convectional languages
• Information may be stored for future reference.
• They are reliable as they can be easily changed

Disadvantages

• It relies on oral traditions and archaeology to construct history to construct history for the period when writing had not delivered.
• Authors may omit essential information for one reason or another rendering if unreliable.
• It may be understood or misinterpreted by leaders either to disc red it the authors or suits one’s seed
• They are only limited to literate
• Authors write from their particular point of view and may be biased
• The cost of newspapers and books are high
• Reading written records is time consuming
• Written information may become obsolete because life is dynamic and many changes occur over the years
• Some written sources are inaccessible as government and other organization restrict it access.

f. ​Genetics

​This is the scientific study of the ways in which characteristics are passed from parents to their offspring.
Refers to the scientific study of passing on of characteristics from parent to offspring
Advantages

• Information is accurate as real materials and remains are analyzed.
• Information can be obtained for millions of years ago
• Enables historians to trace the origin of domestication and spread of crops and animals
• Compliments other sources of history

Disadvantages 

• It is expensive as it involves laboratory analysis of specimens
• It is time consuming to obtain results
• It can only be used by experts 

2. Printed sources ​

• books
• journals
• novels
• plays
• newspapers
• magazines
• newsletters
• photographs

3. ​Electronic sources

• ​microfilms
• pictures
• films
• radio
• television
• computers
• data banks and data bases

Advantages

• They capture information as it happened.
• Films and videos give better understanding of some aspects of social history of a given people.
• They make past come alive today.
• Documentaries give facts about events
• Electronic data bases which are stored in a computer facilitate easy and fast retrieval of information

Disadvantages 

• Most records contains foreign materials which carries the bias
• They may be in accurate
• Electronic gadgets are expensive
• Some films are unrealistic and therefore contain exaggerated information
• Some are addictive and may make those are watching passive and lazy 

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