It must be noted that the word "history" has an origin that is both clear and certified; it comes from the Greek word "historein," which means "to inquire, to ask." The first one to use this word, deriving from it its actual meaning, was Herodotus— who in the 5th century B.C. undertook a voyage throughout Greece and the Mediterranean, asking the locals about their traditions and their oral histories regarding the Greco-Persian Wars. Herodotus was born and lived his life in Ancient Greece, and he spent his life collecting and retelling stories of famous events such as battles, wars, and reigns. These collections later became what is known as "The Histories"— one of the first books that dealt with history in a more modern context.
Throughout the centuries, the original meaning of the word began to vanish, and the word "history" took on a sense of citizenry: Hellenic, first, and universal, later. For many of us, the study of history is a relatively tedious task—especially in the context of a classroom. However, we must keep in mind that the study of history is the best way to become closer to our past. It is not an easy subject, and its study holds a strong promise of critical thought and permanent questioning. Perhaps you had difficulties with history in your high school days. Perhaps you even had to take private lessons in order to pass your classes. However, even the least historically minded among us will recognize the importance of the subject in our daily life. How could we live, without knowing our past? Above all else, we must learn from mistakes of the past in order to build a better future for ourselves.
Contrary to popular belief, history is not a dead discipline. The past is constantly being revised under the light of new theories and perspectives. To study history is to reconstruct what has happened, to interpret events, and to connect one fact to another. Moreover, we must take into consideration that history is much more than a group of linked events; it is, mainly, a conglomerate of social, political, economic, and cultural processes.
As individuals, we cannot hope to know who we are today without knowing who we were in the past, how we have grown, in what environment we have been nurtured, etc. The same thing happens with societies: we cannot know where we are or where we are going without understanding where we are coming from and the road we have taken to get to where we are. Our past, therefore, holds the key to who we are and why we are. The study of history gives us a frame of reference in which we can situate the present-day problems of our society and explain their most recent and their most distant causes.
On the other hand, the study of history facilitates for students the learning of investigative methodology, teaching them to search for sources of information, to contrast these, and formulate a working hypothesis.
History also gifts its students with a sense of national and regional idiosyncrasy, putting them in touch with the origins of their culture. It is important, at the same time, in the discovery of other cultures and far-away nations, and in understanding their role in the world— both past and present.
While it may seem boring, the study of history gives us more than we could ever imagine. Knowing our past gives us the possibility of understanding who we are and the societies in which we exist, as well as what could happen in the near future, based on past events and their consequences.
