What is history?

What is history?. History is a science that is responsible for describing information related to events that occurred in the past, in order to preserve as much data as possible about them. Thanks to history, we can understand a lot about our ancestors and those events that would have forever marked the course of life itself in our societies.

In this way, we are able to interpret all the facts that, in the present, define multiple realities, allowing us to understand how we can advance as a society, always bearing in our knowledge, the most important facts of our past.

So far, a clear definition with which we could agree. Let us now dedicate ourselves to understanding what we are talking about when we cite, for example, terms such as medical history, universal history, etc. Next, a glossary of the different terms of history that we can know.

What is history, event
What is History, Event

Universal

Also known as world history or world history, universal history corresponds to the study and historical analysis of all the events that took place on the environment of the human being, starting from its appearance to the present, creating a series of stages that allow understanding in greater detail its development throughout history.

Through his studies of universal history, it has been possible to segment in a chronological order, those events of greatest relevance in the history of mankind, which, currently, constitutes a division of different periods that are most outstanding for man. Each of these defines a totally different scenario, important to understand continuously.

One of the most decisive points to gather information was thanks to the discovery of writing, which allowed civilizations to immortalize and transmit information related to their traditions, beliefs and culture, thus being of great help for universal history and its explanation of periods.

In the same way, the development of other tools such as agriculture, work and forms of government, would have marked a before and after. Elements of this magnitude are those that universal history addresses and explains.

Due to its importance, universal history is studied worldwide, allowing all people to understand in the most complete way possible, the advancement and development of humanity up to the present time, valuing all the events that would have defined the course forever. Of the same.

Of art

As its name indicates, the history of art is based on the historical explanation of how art has evolved from its beginnings to the present. Art, as an activity carried out by humans in order to express what they feel, has been part of their practices since the earliest civilizations, and for this reason, art history has dedicated its efforts to collect all of this.

It is also known as historiography of art, being an academic discipline in which it emphasizes certain artistic expressions, in order to explain the way in which a specific society conceived its values, its inclinations through its artistic expressions.

Elements such as art theory and aesthetics are part of the fields that, on occasions, can be seen related to the history of art, contributing relevant data together, in order to develop a solid narrative in the face of a specific event.

Many art historians have joined efforts to determine the true origin of art, which, until now, has not been precisely proven. Some conjectures indicate that the art would have had its beginnings in the Chauvet cave, a location where it houses the oldest artistic expression in cave painting, in this case, more than 30,000 years old.

In the same way that world history has done, art history makes use of periods to segment the historical development of art. Each of these periods are further classified into styles, which are currently better known as artistic currents and art schools respectively.

The expressions of rock art would be, according to the history of art, the first samples of art obtained from a civilization. Later, there is talk of a set of expressions in ancient civilizations, present before the fall of the Roman Empire, such as China, Persia, Egypt, India, etc.

Clinic

A medical record is a document that collects all the information related to a person who visits a health center for the first time. This document contains a series of data that is reflected in order to handle all the procedures that the patient has undergone, so that the health professional can have all this information in their hands.

In this sense, the clinical history is used to know the medical history of the patient, the allergic reactions that he has, the treatments that he has received, and finally, the results obtained after the different services that he has received respectively.

The use of medical records is used in different contexts of the medical branches, be it dentistry, psychology, pediatrics, etc. These documents are present in health centers and are requested every time the patient attends them, so that his doctor can gather all his information in a few moments.

In order to optimize processes, many health centers have electronic medical records, saving on material, space and time required. Also, these stories may vary depending on the information they contain. Currently, we can find three different types of history:

  1. Typical clinical history: Used to track and monitor the development of the patient’s disease. In this, you will find all the interviews that have been carried out, in order to corroborate all the information that is necessary.
  2. Chronological medical history: It is used in hospitals to know the treatments that a patient has received since his first visit to a specific medical center.
  3. Clinical health history: They are used to collect all the personal information of the patient, in order to know their allergies, their size information, their blood type, age, if they suffer from any birth disease, etc.

Of the law

As its name indicates, it refers to the analysis of all those institutions of the social type that regulated the laws of a specific society, from a historical perspective. The application, formulation and criticism about the law are also analyzed, in order to understand how this faculty was practiced in ancient times.

The history of law is taught in law schools, where it is necessary to make use of elements from both history and law to obtain information relevant to the events studied. These analyzes include, by their nature, the study of legal texts, as well as of multiple institutions that historically performed the law.

However, some authors refer to legal history as a discipline, while others as a science. Although there is no agreement on this quality so far, it is undeniable to appreciate the contributions that this branch has offered in the consolidation of the understanding of the law.

For the study of law, as well as other disciplines, it is essential to start from the historical bases, in order to understand the origins of all the premises, postulates or laws that make up such disciplines. The case of the history of law, is explained, to a large extent, on this useful value for their contribution to their research in faculties.

Contemporary

Contemporary history includes one of the historical periods of humanity, being the most recent of all, which starts from the 18th century to the present day. Specifically, the beginning of contemporary history dates from the year 1789, one of the most important moments due to the French Revolution, where modern history would culminate.

There are some differences in the way in which the periods of contemporary history are conceived, since some authors suggest that this culminates with the beginning of the 21st century, thus beginning the postmodern era. However, not all the authors agree with this, since they warn that there is no clear and decisive moment for the change of this course.

Some phenomena such as globalization and the birth of imperialism would have marked determining events in the course of history. Events of this scope have not arisen to establish or describe the end of contemporary history respectively, this being the main factor behind the ambiguity of this situation.

Contemporary history is conceived as one of the periods that, depending on the author, we could be studying, or, on the contrary, have culminated at the beginning of the 21st century. What we can finally agree on is that its beginning is framed in the events of the French Revolution.

Conclusion

The story can frame a wide variety of information, relative to a person, a set of events, or the development of a specific discipline. In any of the cases, we can see that it is the consolidation of discoveries and findings that have made it possible to explain the course of a group of highly relevant events.

Read more:What is philosophy?;What is ontology?