Short answers, pulled from the story.
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and to explain why it happened.
Historians debate this. Some classify history as a social science because historians form hypotheses and argue from evidence, others place it in the humanities because of its reliance on interpretation and storytelling, and some call it a hybrid discipline that belongs to neither category at the exclusion of the other.
A primary source originated during the period being studied and offers the most direct evidence, such as official documents, letters, diaries, eyewitness accounts, and artefacts. A secondary source analyses or interprets information found in other sources, and whether a document is primary or secondary can depend on the purpose for which it is used.
Source criticism is the process of analysing and evaluating the information a source provides. It begins with external criticism, which assesses authenticity by asking when, where, and by whom a source was created, then moves to internal criticism, which clarifies meaning and determines whether the content is accurate and comprehensive.
Major schools include positivism, which emphasizes empirical evidence and objective truths, Marxism, which interprets history through economic forces and class struggle, the Annales school, which studies long-term social and economic trends, and postmodernism, which rejects claims to a single objective truth. Feminist history analyses the role of gender to challenge patriarchal perspectives.
History became more professional and science-oriented in the 19th century. Following the work of Leopold von Ranke, a systematic method of source criticism was widely accepted, and academic institutions were established as university departments, professional associations, and journals.
Influential early traditions originated in Greece, China, and later the Islamic world. In Greece, Herodotus published the Histories in the 5th century BCE, while in China a complex tradition emerged with precursors in the late 2nd millennium BCE, later institutionalized when a history bureau was established in 629 CE under the Tang dynasty.