What is History?

Sources & Types of History

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Team 99Notes October 14, 2022

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What is History?
Types of History
Classification of the timeline in historical studies
Classification of the Historical Period:
Explore additional significant articles on Ancient Indian History listed in the table below:

What is History?
The word history is derived from the ancient Greek word ‘Historia’, which translates into
“an inquiry”. Thus the knowledge acquired by the investigation of the events of the past is
history. In simple terms, it is the enquiry of the ‘human past’.

Types of History
History is divided mainly into 6 types: Political History, Diplomatic History, Cultural History,
Social History, Economic History, and Intellectual History.

1. Political History: Focuses on governance, power, and political events.

2. Diplomatic History: Studies international relations, treaties, conflicts, and diplomacy.
3. Cultural History: Explores art, literature, music, religion, and traditions.
4. Economic History: Focuses on trade routes, economic policies, and industrialization.
5. Social History: Studies social interactions, class dynamics, and cultural practices.
6. Intellectual History: Explores the evolution of ideas, philosophical developments,
scientific advancements, cultural ideologies and intellectual movements.

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Classification of the timeline in historical studies

Historians have classified the study of history into the following divisions based on the tools
used in different ages, knowledge of writing and modes of communication: –

1. Pre-history – It consists of the events that occurred before theinvention of writing. It is

further classified as: –

Palaeolithic age or the Old Stone Age: The Greek word ‘lith’ refers to stone. It
was the time when people first started using stone tools. It extends from
2,500,000 Million years ago (MYA) to 11,700 years ago. In this age, the tools
used were unpolished and rough stones. This age features the evolution of proto-
humans to humans.

Mesolithic Period, or the Middle Stone Age – extends from 11,700 years ago to
6000 BCE. The time frame is different for different regions in the world. There is a
prevalence of microliths (miniature stone tools) in this age, and by its end, people
had started domesticating animals and cultivating plants.

Neolithic Period or the New Stone Age: The beginning of cultivation and the
end of the hunting and gathering phase is the distinguishing feature of this age. It
generally extends from 6000 BCE to 1000 BCE in most regions of the world.
People used microlithic blades, polished stones, and weapons made of bones.
People started living in rectangular or circular houses.

Chalcolithic Period or the Stone-Copper Age: The prefix ‘Chalco’ comes from
the Greek word khalkos, meaning ‘copper’. At around 3000 BCE, people started
using copper along with stone tools. This was the first time when metal was used.
This led to an improvement in cultivation techniques, and people began growing
cereals, pulses and cotton, apart from increased domestication of animals.

2. Proto-history – refers to the civilisation phase of history before the invention of writing.
Such civilisations find mention in the writings of other contemporary literate cultures. Even
those cultures that had some mode of written communication but did not develop into fully
functional languages are also classified as Proto-historical periods.

For example – the Indus valley civilisation (IVC) valley script remains deciphered, but it is
mentioned in the writings of the Mesopotamian civilisation. Therefore, it is classified as a
proto-historical civilisation.

3.

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3. History – It consists of events that occurred after the invention of writing. Therefore, it
enables us to reconstruct the actual events of the past on the basis of written records and
archaeological sources. For example – the Edicts of the Ashokan period are an essential
source for reconstructing the society, religion, polity and economy of the past.

Classification of the Historical Period:

The Historical period is further divided into loosely defined broad sub-periods, wiz. Ancient
History, Medieval History, Modern Age, and the contemporary age.

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 1.
1. Ancient History: It is generally classified as the history before the invention of
paper. In this age, we generally study inscriptions on metal plates, rocks and
monuments. It also includes written artefacts on leaves.
2. Medieval History: Generally, the period between 500AD and 1500AD is
considered medieval history. However, in India, Medieval history extends from the
11th Century to the middle of the 18th Century (1750). This period saw the
introduction and gradual adoption of paper. Therefore the text records increased
dramatically, which is the primary source of reconstruction of medieval history.
These include judicial records, a record of taxes and accounts, chronicles and
religious texts.
3. Modern History: In European History, the period after the end of the middle ages
(1500AD) is referred to as the Modern era. Similarly, in the study of Indian history,
the age after the decline of the Mughals till the Indian Independence is known as
Modern History. It roughly corresponds to the British rule in India.
4. Contemporary History: Indian History after the Indian Independence in 1947 is
generally known as post-Independence History or Contemporary History.
However, many world historians include the history of the world wars too in this
period.

Sources of Indian History

“Historical sources” are such objects and documents that contain some historically
significant information. The sources of history help us to reconstruct the societies of the past
and thus assist us in understanding ancient society better. These can be classified under
various heads.

Classification based on originality of sources: –

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1. Primary sources – All archaeological evidence and the written records which
were part of the history are primary sources. For example – Harappan seals,
Kushan coins, etc.
2. Secondary sources – The sources which are based on analysis of primary
sources or are the description of primary sources are secondary sources. For
example – the books written by historians and chronicles.

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Classification of sources

Based on the type of evidence of history, the sources of history can be of five following types:
–

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1. Literary Sources – These sources are written forms of information such as books, letters,
etc. For example – ‘Rajatarangini’ of Kalhana, written in Sanskrit, gives a historical
chronology of north-western Indian rulers. Literary sources can be further divided into: –

Indigenous sources – These sources are based in India. For example – books
are written by Indian writers – Astadhyayi by Panini. Based on content,
indigenous sources can further be divided into two: –
Secular theme-based sources – Some literary sources are non-religious in
nature.
Biographical works – contain details on some eminent persons of history, for
Example –Akbarnama by Abu’l-Fazl.
Scholarly Books – Such as – Arthashashtra by Kautilya, contains details about
Mauryan Political economy.
Poetry and dramas – contain details about Indian society in the form of drama or
poetry. For example, Silapaddikaram tells us about Tamil society.
Government and Judicial records – These documents record the working of
the government of the age.
Non-secular theme-based sources – These sources are based on religion. For
example – Brahmanical texts, Buddhist Tipitaka etc. These are often more biased
than the secular sources of history.

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 Foreign Sources – Foreign writers often record critical information in their books.
Such sources can be written by: –
Foreign travellers – These contain an account of those travellers who visited
India. For example – The account of the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang tells us
about the reign of Harshvardhan in 629AD.
Foreign invaders, politicians and diplomats– Such sources show the political
view of India. For example, Megasthanese was a 4th Century BCE Greek
diplomat who wrote extensively on Indian polity and society.
Other foreigners – These are the foreigners who did not come to India but wrote
about Indian society. For Example – Ptolemy’s book Geography(150AD) has
details on ancient Indian society.

2. Archaeological Sources – These sources are material evidence from the

past, such as monuments, sculptures, coins, etc. For example – Ashokan pillar
inscriptions tell us about society during the Mauryan rule. Archaeological sources
can be further divided into: –

Indigenous sources – The material evidence found in India are

indigenous sources of history. These can be further divided into three
categories: –
Pottery – For example, Painted Grey Ware (PGW) is an indication of
the Later Vedic age.
Inscriptions – such as on Ashokan pillars.
Coins and Seals – Kushan coins show that they were Krishna
devotees.
Monuments – For example, the Nalanda ruins illuminate ancient
India’s education system.

Foreign Sources – such material evidence are found in foreign

countries. For example – The boghaz-Koi inscription found in Turkey
tells us about the Vedic culture.

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3. Palaeontological sources – Palaeontologists study fossils and the interactions between
organisms and the environment. For example – Arun Sonakia’s discovery of the skull of the
Narmada man threw light on the evolution of humans in South Asia.

1. Linguistic theories – These theories try to explain past societies by studying the
classifications and origin of language. For example, linguistic theories help us understand
humans’ historical migration patterns. Such studies show us that there are four families of
Indian languages: –

Indo-European languages: Assamese, Gujarati, Hindi, Kashmiri, and Sindhi in

India, and English, French, German, Greek, Italian, and Spanish in other
countries.

Tibeto-Burman family: Himalayan and North Eastern languages – Garo,

Lepcha, Chamba, etc.

Dravidian family: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam.

Austro-Asiatic Family: Parts of Jharkhand and Central India.

2. Biological studies – These sources are genetic studies that try to understand history by
studying DNA and race. Such studies help us understand humans’ historical migration.
These studies revealed the following migration pattern of different in India: –

Negrito – The Negritos from Africa were the earliest people to inhabit India.
They came to India around 65,000 years ago. They survived in their original
habitat in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Onge, Jarawa and Sentinelese
tribes)

Pro-Australoid or Austric group came around 9000 to 5000 years ago. They are
suspected as the main builders of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Examples of the
group are Santhal, Bhil, Gond, Munda, and Oraon tribes.

Mediterranids – They came to India from the eastern Mediterranean region or

South West Asia. They inhabited the Harappan civilisation with the Proto-
Australoids. Presently they are in south India and north India.

Brachycephals (meaning broad-headed) – They entered India from the west.

Examples – The Parsis and Kodavas, Banias of Gujarat, and Kayastha caste of
West Bengal.

Nordics (Aryans) – originated from the steppes and entered India through
Central Asia around 2000 and 1500 BC. Presently they are scattered in different
parts of Northern India, especially Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

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 Mongoloids – came from China in several waves and entered India through the
passes in the northern and eastern mountains. Presently they are in Ladakh,
Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and other parts of East India, such as tribes of Garo,
Khasi, Jaintia, Lepchas, Chakmas, and Naga.

Explore additional significant articles on Ancient Indian History

listed in the table below:

Stone Age Copper Age

Harappan Civilisation Vedic Culture

The Mahajanapadas Persian and Greek Invasions

Mauryan Empire Gupta Empire

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