History: Quick Facts

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Timeline from the article “History” in the second edition (1780) of Encyclopædia Britannica

How a Historical Interpreter Connects to the Past at Colonial Williamsburg

Know about the secondary sources that historians use to analyze past events, like the creation of the London Metropolitan Police Department by Sir Robert Peel

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history of Europe history of China history of France History of Germany ancient Rome ancient Greek civilization Pre-Columbian civilizations Historiography Islamic world History of Austria political system social science government Culture election war terrorism Lobbying revolution philosophy

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Historiography: Introduction

Key People

Karl Marx

Karl Marx

German philosopher

Portrait of Niccolo Machiavelli by Santi di Tito shows Machiavelli in black and red robes, holding a document, against a plain background.

Niccolò Machiavelli

Italian statesman and writer

David Hume

David Hume

Scottish philosopher

Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault

French philosopher and historian

Thucydides manuscript

Thucydides

Greek historian

Ibn Khaldūn

Ibn Khaldūn

Muslim historian

Engraved portrait of Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz with long curly hair, wearing a buttoned coat and cravat, facing forward.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

German philosopher and mathematician

Tacitus

Tacitus

Roman historian

Xenophon, statue in front of the parliament building in Vienna.

Xenophon

Greek historian

Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon

British historian

Oil portrait of Hugo de Groot, also known as Hugo Grotius, by the workshop of Michiel Janszoon van Mierevelt, showing him with a ruffled white collar and dark clothing.

Hugo Grotius

Dutch statesman and scholar

Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville

French historian and political writer

Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle

British essayist and historian

Herodotus, detail of a Roman herm probably copied from a Greek original of the first half of the 4th century bce; in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples.

Herodotus

Greek historian

Josephus before Vespasian

Flavius Josephus

Jewish priest, scholar, and historian

Thomas Babington Macaulay, detail of an oil painting by J. Partridge, 1840; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay

English politician and author

Livy

Livy

Roman historian

Leopold Ranke

Leopold von Ranke

German historian

Theodor Mommsen.

Theodor Mommsen

German historian, philologist, and legal scholar

Marble statue of Polybius seated with one arm raised, draped in classical robes, against a blue sky in Vienna, Austria. The base is inscribed with the name Polybius.

Polybius

Greek historian

41 Questions from Britannica’s Most Popular World History Quizzes

Temple ruins of columns and statures at Karnak, Egypt (Egyptian architecture; Egyptian archaelogy; Egyptian history)

History Buff Quiz