History

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.^[1]

—George Santayana

History is the study of the past. Events occurring before the invention of writing systems are considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of information about these events. Historians place the past in context using historical sources such as written documents, oral accounts, ecological markers, and material objects including art and artifacts.^[2]

Etymology

The word history comes from the Ancient Greek historía, which originally meant "inquiry," "knowledge from inquiry," or "judge". It was used by Herodotus, often called the "Father of History,"to describe his investigation into the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars.