Download File - Mrs. Abascal`s 6th Grade World History Class

Unit 1: History
6th Grade World History
What is History?
ò History is the study of the people
and events of the past.
ò History explores both the way things
change and the way things stay the
same.
ò History tells the story of the ways
that cultures change over time.
What is a historian?
ò  People who study history are called historians.
ò  A historian’s job is to examine the causes, or reasons,
that something happened in the past.
ò  Ex. To study the cause and effect of the 9/11 terrorist
attacks
ò  They ask questions like, “What happened?”, “Why did it
happen?”, and “How did things change?”.
Why do we study history?
ò  So that we can LEARN from the experience of others
WITHOUT PAYING THE PRICE it cost them.
ò  In order to IMPROVE OURSELVES by following the
examples of great men and women of the past.
ò  To LEARN the constant and UNIVERSAL
PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN NATURE by seeing men
reacting in different kinds of situations and
circumstances. (Example: Humans still love, hate,
hope, and need friends.)
Why do we study history?
ò  In order to UNDERSTAND, LIVE, and EXIST in our
present world.
ò  In order to LEARN the TRUTHS of the past WHICH
STILL APPLY to our present world.
ò  So that OUR NATION CAN LEARN from the
experience of nations in the past. (Ex. Reasons the
Roman Empire fell and how to avoid it from happening
to our own nation.)
Why do we study history?
ò  Learning about the past helps us understand the present.
ò  Studying history helps us understand how we fit into the
human story.
ò  History teaches us who we are.
Measuring Time
ò To study the past, historians
must have a way to identify
and describe when things
happened.
Measuring Time
ò Decade: A group of 10 years
ò Century: A group of 100 years
ò Millennium: A group of 1,000 years
Measuring Time
ò Historians divide the past into larger
blocks of time known as eras or
epochs.
ò Prehistory, an era in history, is the
time before people developed writing.
Timelines
Timelines
ò A timeline is a way to track the
passage of time.
ò Timelines show the chronological
order of events within a period of
time
Dating Events
ò  Today, most of the world uses the Gregorian calendar,
created in order to keep time better
ò  In the Gregorian calendar, the years before the birth of
Jesus are known as “B.C.” or “Before Christ”
ò  The years after this point are called “A.D.” or “Anno
Domini”
ò  This phrase is Latin for “in the year of our Lord”
Dating Events
ò  In order to avoid religious references in dating, most historians
prefer to use the initials B.C.E. ,which stands for “Before the
Common Era” and C.E., which means “Common Era”
ò  There is no year 0.
ò  Historians count backward from 1 A.D.
ò  Historians count up after 1 A.D.
ò  Example: the year before 1A.D. is 1 B.C. and the year before that
would be 2 B.C.
ò 
The older the civilization, the higher the “B.C.” number
ò 
The numbers go up once you are in A.D.
Digging up the Past
ò  What is archaeology?
ò  Archaeology is the study of the past by looking at what
people left behind
ò  Archaeologists study artifacts
ò  Artifacts are objects made and left behind by people
throughout history
Digging up the Past
ò  Paleontology is the study of fossils
ò  Fossils are the remains of plant and animals that have
been preserved from an earlier time
ò  Example: Jurassic Period
ò  Paleontologists study fossils
ò  They study remains from prehistoric times
Digging up the Past
ò  Anthropology is the study of human culture and how it
develops over time
ò  Anthropologists study fossils and artifacts too
ò  They study them so they can understand what people
believed and valued during any given period in time
ò  Example: An anthropologist would study what people
valued in life during the Middle Ages versus what we
value in our current time period.
Sources
ò  Historians use sources to interpret what happened in the
past
ò  A source is a document or reference work
ò  Primary Sources
ò  Written or created by people who saw or experienced the
event
ò  Example: A primary source of the Holocaust would be
someone who was in a concentration camp in Poland
during WWII and tells their story to people.
Sources
ò  Secondary sources
ò  A secondary source is created after an event in history
ò  Secondary sources are usually based on primary sources
ò  Example: A book on the Holocaust would be a primary
source (the information in it would most likely be taken
from a primary source).
Sources
ò  Point of view
ò  Point of view is what someone believes, personally, about
a point or event in history
ò  Example: Someone may have the point of view that the
Roman Empire was the greatest empire in the world; some
may have the opposite point of view and think that it was
the worst empire in the world
Sources
ò  Point of view is all about someone’s personal
opinion on a point or event in history
ò  Point of view usually creates bias
ò  Bias is when someone allows their
personal feelings or emotions get in the
way of making sound judgments about
people and events
Vocabulary Words
ò  Analysis: a detailed examination ofò 
something in order to discuss or
understand it
ò 
ò  Anthropology: the study of human
culture and how it develops over
ò 
time
Chronological: to arrange in the
order of time (earliest to latest)
Era: large blocks of time used by
historians to study history
Fossil: the remains of plant and
animal life that have been preserved
from an earlier time
ò  Archaeology: the study of the past
by looking at what people left
ò  Paleontology: study fossils to learn
behind
what the world was like long ago
ò  Artifact: objects made by people
and studied by archeologists
Vocabulary Words
(Continued)
ò  History: the study of the people
and events of the past
ò  Species: a class of individuals with
similar physical characteristics
ò  Historian: people who study
history
ò  Decade: a group of 10 years
ò  Secondary sources: created by
people who were not part of the
historical event
ò  Millennium: a group of 1,000
years
ò  Epoch: a period of time in history
ò  Historical inquiry: the process of
or a person’s life, usually marked by
investigating to understand the past
significant events
ò  Century: a group of 100 years
ò  Primary source: firsthand pieces of
evidence
ò  Calendar: a system for arranging
days in order