The concept of civilisation

• What is history?

  • Historia, meaning inquiry and knowledge acquired by investigation.
  • The study of the past
  • the study of eras, people, civilisation that have not been experienced, cannot truly be experienced by the scholar
• Historians: studying the past, interpreting the past, and explaining the past.

  By:

  • recovers the past
  • books
  • artifacts
  • oral accounts
• Why is a sense of history important to Caribbean people?

  • central to our understanding of identity
  • familiarity with the past
  • validate our actions and understandings
  • guidance
  • escape route
• Historical revisionism is re-examining history from a new perspective and re-interpreting traditional viewpoints.
• History is revised to:

  • to include the experiences of others
  • deeper, broader analysis into what really occurred
  • Rethink/question accepted ideas
• There are 2 types of history

  • Recorded history
  • Unrecorded History
• Recorded History

  • from introduction of human writing
  • the bulk of history is recorded history
• Pre-History or Pre-Literature

  • Pre-history is considered the UNRECORDED PAST - period before human writing
  • Depends on archaeological evidence to be able to reconstruct this past.
• Problems with the term Pre-history:

  • misnomer, a bit derogatory.
  • implication that is the history
  • more accurate to say Pre-Literate - revisionist perspective
• There are two basic sources of information: primary and secondary.
• Primary source

  • a source generated at the time of the focus of study - ex. written diary
• Secondary source

  • a source written/presented by the historian on the basis of the primary document.
  • an interpretation of primary source
  • subject to bias
• There are two types of sources: written and non written sources.
• Written: stone, parchment, papyrus, paper or computer readable files.
• Non-written

  1. human remains
  2. building, ruins, artifacts
  3. art, film, photos, textile
  4. oral traditions
  5. folklore, music
  6. folk traditions
• Oral history

  • history by word of mouth by one who witnesses the event.
  • Informant - information occurring during lifespan
• Oral Tradition

  • can be given by someone who was not a witness
  • history/traditions/cultural norms need not have occurred in the lifespan of the individual
  • assist with pre-literature civilisations
• Metholodology of Historians

  1. External Criticism
  2. Internal Criticism
• Paleolithic Era

  • Earliest humans
  • Nomadic
  • hunting, gathering, fishing
  • smaller social groups
• Neolithic Era

  • 2500 BCE
  • animal husbandry and domestication, plant cultivation (reliable food source)
  • less nomadic (creating permanent villages)
  • growth in population (creating social inequality)
  • source)
• Neolithic Revolution

  • Growth in population (irrigation=population)
  • Growth in towns and cities = infrastructure, industry, commerce
  • Specialized occupation and social division
  • Development of expressions of communal identity: religion, art, music
• Civilization


  complex societies developed around a community, a culture and way of life
• Culture


  practices, lifestyles, and views that vary between and among different groups of people around the world
• Culture: Unifying and Divisive Force

  • Unifying - those who share similar culture
  • Divisive - discrimination as some cultures are considered 'inferior'