History (derived from Ancient Greek ἱστορία (historía) 'inquiry; knowledge acquired by investigation') is the
systematic study and documentation of the human past
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, art and material artifacts, and ecological markers. History is incomplete and still has
debatable mysteries.
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.
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 wideranging, 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 BC Greek historian, is often considered the "father of history", as one of the first historians
in the Western tradition,[13] though he has been criticized as the "father of lies".[14][15] 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 BC, though only 2nd-century BC texts have
survived.
Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources in History
Primary Sources – The "raw materials" / foundation of historical research and writing, the echoes, fragments,
shards, etc. from the past that historians collect and then cobble together in their works of historiography (see
below for more information on "historiography," as well as elsewhere in the course web site). Primary sources are
usually found in archives such as Berkeley's Bancroft Library, but also in some cases in microfilm reels, digitized
collections on the internet, or library stacks (such as in the case of old books, newspapers, journals, etc.). Primary
sources are materials that come from roughly the same time period of the topic / event that the historian has
chosen to examine. Examples of primary sources include: personal journals/diaries/memoirs, letters, court
proceedings, legislative debates, newspaper and magazine articles, movies, music, art, etc. Secondary Sources (i.e.,
historiography) – Books and articles produced by historians. Your final paper is a secondary source that you, working
as an historian, produce. It is a piece of historical writing (i.e., historiography) that is anchored in primary sources
and informed by secondary sources. Works of historiography are not simply chronologies of historical evidence (i.e.,
names, dates, places, events, etc. from the past). Rather they are arguments/interpretations about the past that
emerge from an immersion in and are built upon a foundation of historical evidence (i.e., primary sources).
Historians draw on secondary sources – either by quoting or paraphrasing – in order to support certain claims that
they're making and / or to challenge or supplement prevailing interpretations (or theses) that other historians have
made in their works of historiography. Tertiary Sources – Books and articles based exclusively on secondary sources
– i.e., on the research of others. Tertiary sources are usually synthetic in nature – i.e., they pull together a number of
separate but related accounts of a particular event, issue, body of scholarship, etc. Tertiary sources are good starting
points for research projects, as they help distill large amounts of information. Often tertiary sources contain
footnotes that point researchers in promising directions with respect to the secondary sources.
BAYBAYIN – ANCIENT WRITING SCRIPT OF THE PHILIPPINES
Baybayin – The pre-colonial beautiful ancient writing script of the Islands of the Philippines. Incorrectly known as
“Alibata”, baybayin has been a core part of our culture and heritage for centuries. It has been the soul
interconnectivity of our ancestors through writing. To spell; rooted from the word Baybay, our ancestors used our
very own writing script to sign documents, write poetries, communicate, and write letters to one another. It was a
form of communication that we once utilized in our every day lives and was very well respected by the explorers
who came to our islands. One account of a Fr. Pedro Chirino, S.J. in 1604, from his book called the Relacion de las
Islas Filipinas stated:
“All these islands are much given to reading and writing and there is hardly a man, and much less woman, who does
not read or write in the letters used in the island of Manila – which entirely different from those of China, Japan, and
India. This will be seen from its alphabets.” – “Our outer beauty is our inner beauty made visible” – Paulo Coehlo
Baybayin (Tagalog pronunciation: [bajˈbajɪn]; also formerly known as alibata) is a Philippine script. The script is
an abugida belonging to the family of the Brahmic scripts. Geographically, it was widely used in Luzon and other
parts of the Philippines prior to and during the 16th and 17th centuries before being replaced by the Latin
alphabet during the period of Spanish colonization. It was used in the Tagalog language and, to a lesser
extent, Kapampangan-speaking areas; its use spread to the Ilocanos in the early 17th century. In the 19th and 20th
centuries, baybayin survived and evolved into multiple forms—the Tagbanwa script of Palawan, and
the Hanuno'o and Buhid scripts of Mindoro—and was used to create the constructed modern Kulitan script of
the Kapampangan and the Ibalnan script of the Palawan people. Under the Unicode Standard and ISO 15924, the
script is encoded as the Tagalog block.
The Archives of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, one of the largest archives in the Philippines, currently
possesses the world's biggest collection of ancient writings in baybayin. The chambers which house the writings are
part of a tentative nomination to UNESCO World Heritage List that is still being deliberated on, along with the entire
campus of the University of Santo Tomas.