South Asian History

1. 1
What is History?
Why it is Important to Study History?
One American Historian , David McCullough, warns that not knowing about the past is “like a
creeping disease”
He further observer history as under:
“ Everything we have, all our great institutions, hospitals, universities, libraries, , this city ,
our laws, our music, art, poetry, our freedoms, everything is because some body went
before us and did the hard work………….. Indifference to history isn’t just ignorant , it’s
rude. It’s a form of ingratitude.
-David McCullough, Why History?
Scope of Learning History:
Historians like McCullough use many methods to help us learn from the past. They do not
simply collect names and dates. Instead, they explore important questions and issues of the past
in order to find out how people lived and why they made the decisions they did. Historians also
consider how past is linked to our lives today.
Egyptian Mummy
SOTH ASIAN HISTORY 2ND SEMESTER LL.B. PART I,
TOPIC _________________________ DATED _________________
Presented by: SM Zarkoon , Lecturer,
B.Sc. LL.B. LL.M. {Criminology & Law of Evidence}
University Law College Khojjak Road Quetta.
Email: lawyer.21st@yahoo.com Ph.# 081-2843053
History: ( Greek word historia,
meaning "inquiry, knowledge
acquired by investigation") is
the study of the past as it is
described in written documents.

2. 2
How Evidence is collected to Study History?
Historian uses many types of evidence to learn about the past. This evidence can be divided into
Primary Sources and Secondary Sources.
Primary Sources:
A Primary Source is firsthand information about people or events. Primary sources include
official documents, such as laws and public speeches, as well as eyewitness accounts, such as
diaries, letters, and autobiographies. Primary Sources may also include visual evidence, such as
news photographs or videotapes.
Another type of primary source is an artifact. This is an item left behind people in past. An
artifact could be statue, a tool or an everyday object.
Primary sources are valuable because they were created at the time an event occurred. This does
not necessarily make them “true,” through. Primary Sources are created by people and may
simply reflect the point of view of those who created them. The source might have been made to
impress someone or to make the creator seem to be an expert or for some other personal reason.
So, you can see that even primary sources must be evaluated carefully and considered in relation
to other sources on the same subject.
Secondary Sources:
Historians also use secondary sources. These are sources created by someone who did not
actually witness the events. Secondary sources include news articles and biographies. A text
book is a secondary source. The Author gathered information from many sources to reach an
understanding of what happened and why it happened. Then he writes and interoperates the
events.
Types of Source Description Examples
Primary Sources o Direct Evidence about event
o Limited view Point
o May be reliable or Unreliable
o Includes Objects left behind
by people.
o Official Documents
o Letters and diaries
o Speeches and
Autobiographies
o Photographs
o Artifacts: (tools and
weapons, Religious
objects, Statues and
other art.
Secondary Sources o Secondhand Information
about event
o Uses Primary Sources to
create broader picture
o May be reliable or unreliable.
o History Books
o Biographies
o Encyclopedias and
other reference
works,
TYPES OF HISTORICAL SOURCES

3. 3
How to Learn History by Using Historical Sources?
Learning about history starts with asking questions. You, as a student, might be accustomed to
the types of question you are asked in your text book or by your teacher.
But historians ask questions the way a detective would. Each answer is a clue that leads to
another question. The questions and answers will bring the historian to an understanding of
events in the past.
Illustration:
Consider the situation: Ahmed visited a nearby history museum with his family. In one display
case, he saw a very old letter, written in a language he couldn’t read. Beside the letter was a copy
that had been translated into English.
Reading the letter, Ahmed asked himself many questions. Trying to find the answers to the
questions is the same sort of thinking that historians use to find out about past.
Solutions:
Ahmed may follow several steps to find the answers to his questions:
 Read and Observe: Ahmed has to search for further information to answer the
question aroused in his mind through following the primary and secondary sources. He
might look on a map to discover a particular area or to read a book or visit a web site.
 Speculate:
Ahmed might make some guesses, called “Hypothesis” about the answer of his
questions, to help him get started.
 Evaluate Evidence:
As Ahmed uncovers , more information, he will test his hypothesis, against the
information he finds. He can always change his hypothesis as he learns more.
 Draw Conclusion:
Ahmed states what he believes are the final answers to his question.
o Internet Web sites.

4. 4
HOW TO READ INFORMATIONAL TEXT?
Reading a magazine, an Internet page, or a textbook is not the same as reading a novel. The
purpose of reading nonfiction texts is to acquire new information.
Analysis of Text:
Different types of materials are written with different purpose in mind. For example:
A Textbook: is written to teach students information about a subject.
A Technical Manual: is to teach for purpose some one how to use something such as a
computer.
A Newspaper Editorial : might be written to persuade the reader to accept a particular point
of view.
An author’s purpose influences how the material is presented. Sometimes, an author states his or
her purpose directly. More often, the purpose is only suggested, and you must use clues to
identify the author’s purpose.
DINSTINGUISH BETWEEN FACTS AND OPINIONS !
Active reading enables you to distinguish between facts and opinions when reading
informational texts. Facts can be proved or disproved, but opinions reflect someone’s own point
of view.
Because News editorials usually offer opinions on current events and issues , you should watch
for bias and faulty logic when reading them.
Exercises:
More than 5,000 people voted last week in favor of building a new shopping center, but
opposition own out. The margin of victory is irrelevant. Those radical voters who opposed the
center are obviously self serving elitists who do not care about anyone but themselves.
SOTH ASIAN HISTORY 2ND SEMESTER LL.B. PART I,
TOPIC _________________________ DATED _________________
Presented by: SM Zarkoon , Lecturer,
B.Sc. LL.B. LL.M. {Criminology & Law of Evidence}
University Law College Khojjak Road Quetta.
Email: lawyer.21st@yahoo.com Ph.# 081-2843053

5. 5
IDENTIFY EVIDENCE:
Before you accept a writer’s conclusion, you need to make sure that the writer has based that
conclusion on enough evidence and on the right kind of evidence.
A writer may present a series of facts to support a claim, but the facts may not tell the whole
story. .
EVALUATE CREDIBILITY:
Whenever you read informational texts, you need to assess the credibility of the writer. In other
words, you have to decide whether the writer is believable.
This is especially true of sites you may visit on the internet. All internet sources are not equally
reliable. Here are some questions ask yourself when evaluating the credibility of a web site:
o Is the site created by a respected organization , a discussion group or an individual?
o Does the web site creator include his or her name as well as credentials and the sources
he or she used to write the material?
o Is the information on the site balanced or biased?
o Can you verify the information using two other sources?
o Is there a date telling when the web site was created or last updated?
BUILD VOCABULARY:
One of the most important step in reading informational texts is to make sure you understand the
key vocabulary used by the writer.
In Studying history a student might encounter mostly with types of Vocabulary:
1. Key Terms. = Pharaho
2. Academic Words = Challenge.
HISTORY READING SKILLS:
The History Reading Skills introduced on this page are important in helping you read and
understand the information. As you learn to use these skills , you will find that you can apply
them to other books you read.

6. 6
How to become a Successful Reader:
1. Understand Text Structure: you can use text elements such headings,
punctuation, or boldface print to understand how information is organized.
2. Reading Fluently: Learning to read text easily at a steady pace will help you
understand and remember what you have read.
3. Clarify Meaning: As you read the history book, you will recognize ideas that you
have explored in earlier chapters or even in other books. When using this still, you first
identify main ideas and then connect these ideas to other sources. For that you need to
read carefully :
(a) Summaries (b) Outlines (c) Notes
4. Use Context: As you read , you will practice using context clues to help you
understand the meaning of unfamiliar words and words with more than on meaning.
5. Word Analysis: You can analyze words to determine their meanings. You will
practice using word parts ( such as roots and prefixes) and recognizing word origins.
6. Make Comparisons and Contrasts: When you compare , you examine the
similarities between things. When you contrast, you look at the
differences.
7. Evaluate Information: As you read to find information , you need to determine
what the author’s purpose is and whether the author gives evidence to support his or her
conclusion.

7. 7
BUILDING GEOGRAPHIC MAP SKILLS:
Historical Information is present not only in written sources. Maps are often a key to understand
what happened and why.
To get the most out of maps as sources, you may need to build your geography map skills.
Historians use certain basic tools to understand maps and geography:
Five Themes of Geography:
Studying the history and geography of the ancient or historic world is a huge task. However you
can make the task easier by thinking of geography in terms of five themes. By using these you
can answer questions about the influence of geography on human history.
1. Location: The exact location of a country or city is expressed in terms of longitude and
latitude. Relative location defines where a place is relative to other places.
For example: The exact location of the city of Athens, Greece is 37 Degree North (Latitude)
and 23 Degree East (Longitude). Its relative location could be described as “On the Aegean
Sea” or “North of Egypt”
2. Place: Location answers the question where is it? Places answers the question what is it
like there?
You can identify a place by such features as: Its Climate, Its Plants, and animals, and people
who live there. Much of the history of ancient Egypt was shaped by the fact that it was narrow
strip of fertile land in the middle of a desert.
3. Regions: Areas that share a least one common feature are known as regions. Some
regions are defined by geography. For example, the modern nations of India and Pakistan are
the same region because they are both located on a large peninsula in South Asia. Other places
are part of cultural regions, where people share the same language, the same religion, or the
same background.
SOTH ASIAN HISTORY 2ND SEMESTER LL.B. PART I,
TOPIC _________________________ DATED _________________
Presented by: SM Zarkoon , Lecturer,
B.Sc. LL.B. LL.M. {Criminology & Law of Evidence}
University Law College Khojjak Road Quetta.
Email: lawyer.21st@yahoo.com Ph.# 081-2843053

8. 8
4. Movement: Much of history has to do with the movement of people , goods and ideas
from place to place . Chines Traders traveled hundreds of miles across desert and mountains to
carry silk to markets in Southwest Asia.
5. Interaction: Human-Environment Interaction has two parts. The first part has to do with
the way an environment affects people. For example. People in harsh deserts of North Africa
developed very different ways of life from those living in the rich farmlands of Italy. The
second part of interaction concerns the way people affect their environment. Even in ancient
times, people found ways to bring water form rivers to farms or the build roads across
mountains.