HISTORY

The course of life is like the sea; Men come and go; tides rise and fall; And that is all of history.              –   Joaquin Miller

History is the collective memory of a people. It informs us about the movers and shakers of the past, for it is shaped by the thoughts and actions of individuals. It is narrated by individuals who were rarely present when the events transpired.

 National histories instill pride in one’s ancestors: a privilege that, in our own times, is beyond the reach of new immigrants to a country. History warns us of blunders others committed without realizing the long-range effects of their actions.

Most of all, history is the story of significant changes that have occurred in the world. These changes are fast or slow, good or bad, but they make one period different from another. Thus, the running thread in history is change. When changes are slow, it results in gradual transformation. The march of history is like the experience of an adult, a middle-aged, or old person who rarely notices the day-by-day changes that made the infant into a greying senior. When major changes occur too fast or too suddenly, we have revolutions. In a matter of days or weeks, the old order is completely gone, yielding place to a new.  When there is no change, or it is arrested, this may lead to civilizational stagnation.

Factors causing changes are often unpredictable, brought about by forces over which we have little control. Notwithstanding books and fictions about the unborn future, no one can have the slightest inkling of who will be leading a nation three decades hence, and what the status of international relations will then be. History is the most dramatic proof that there is no such thing as strict determinism in human affairs.

There are many kinds of history. Each family and community has a history all its own. This is local history. It is of interest to individuals and small groups, not unlike family journals and albums. The popular search for genealogy is an effort to find missing links in local history in the context of an individual or a family.

Then there is regional history: the history of a village or town, of a state or province. Thus, there can be the history of the city of Ames in Iowa or of Kolkata in Bangla; of Burgundy in France or Brong-Ahafo in Ghana. Regional history is relevant to people bound by a common language and ethnic group. This is changing in the context of multiculturalism.

Next, we have national history: the history of a people constituting a nation. The histories of Great Britain and Poland, Iran and Japan, are good examples.  National history may have emotional dimensions. Where multiculturalism is not a dominant force, national history tends to bring out collective pride in the people of a country.

Finally, there is global history. This refers to the history of humanity, encompassing all the people of the world. This is a relatively new concept and is encyclopedic in scope. Global history is written only by a handful of informed and enlightened scholars who think and reflect beyond particular cultures, religions, races, and nationalities.

Quite unconnected to the human condition, are astronomical histories, ranging from the history of the earth and of Mars to that of stars and galaxies and of the universe at large.

Humanity’s history has been affected by a variety of factors, some subtle and others quite overt.  First are natural forces. Over the ages, countless famines, epidemics, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions have changed the course of history.

Discoveries of aspects of the natural world have also had significant impacts. The discovery of fire began a new era in human life on earth.  The possibility of sowing and harvesting caused the agricultural revolution which led to the establishment of villages, towns and civilizations. Inventions like the wheel and the steam engine changed history’s path.

The founders of religions molded history in substantial, perhaps irreversible, ways: Such were the rishis of ancient India, Zoroaster, Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tzu, the prophets of the Abrahamic tradition like Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mohammed.  Invaders and conquerors, like the Huns, Normans, Alexander of Macedonia, Vandals, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan and the like have also charted history.

Of no less importance are the impacts of thinkers, philosophers, and their books. Their written works have influenced the thinking of vast numbers of people and the shaping of civilizations. Thus, the Vedas and their offshoots like the Mahabharata are the bases of Indic civilization. The Old and the New Testaments have been tremendous forces in forming the Western framework. The Holy Qur’an has etched Islamic world.

On the scientific plane, the works of Nicolas Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin are among those that have molded scientific worldviews. The Communist Manifesto authored by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels influenced political history in dramatic ways.  Other books have influenced economics and our understanding of the human mind. It is often said that History judges. As Friedrich Schiller put it, Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht: The world’s history is the world’s judgment. However, history never actually judges, but historians often do.

Thus, history is a three-dimensional tale with countless ups and downs, joys and sorrows, that is ceaselessly working its way along the fourth dimension of time, translated periodically on to the pages of books.