What is History? “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there” –L.P. Hartley

"The function off the historian is neither to love the past nor to emancipate himself from the past, but to master and understand it as the key to the understanding of the present." -E. H. Carr "The historian does simply not come in to replenish the gaps of memory. He constantly challenges even those memories that have survived intact." -Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” -George Santayana "Each age tries to form its own conception of the past. Each age writes the history of the past anew with reference to the conditions uppermost in its own time." -Frederick Jackson Turner

What becomes History? Things that are observed. Things that are remembered. Things that are recorded. Things that are selected. Things that are found. #1-3 are Primary sources. (created by a person with first-hand knowledge of the events.) # 4 are Secondary sources. (books) #5 is Archeaology. (stuff people leave behind)

Subject to Interpretation What year is it? 1436 2015 4651 5676 Islamic Christian Chinese Jewish The past is malleable and flexible, changing as our recollection interprets and re-explains what has happened. -Peter Berger

Class Objectives Making Connections: Students will be able to make connections to understand why the world is the way it is today because of the past. How does one civilization affect another? Become literate in history: Students will be able to read and understand historical documents. Students will be able to synthesize, summarize, and analyze historical texts as well as produce their own. Develop critical thinking skills.