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Reaphis Unit 1 Readings

The document explores the definition and significance of history, emphasizing its dual nature as both a discipline and a philosophy. It outlines the sources of historical information, distinguishing between primary and secondary sources, and discusses the challenges faced in historical research, particularly in the context of Philippine history across three eras: Pre-Colonial, Colonial, and Post-Colonial. Additionally, it highlights the role of scholarly organizations and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines in promoting historical knowledge and cultural heritage.

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Mark Lovie De La Cruz
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9 views7 pages

Reaphis Unit 1 Readings

The document explores the definition and significance of history, emphasizing its dual nature as both a discipline and a philosophy. It outlines the sources of historical information, distinguishing between primary and secondary sources, and discusses the challenges faced in historical research, particularly in the context of Philippine history across three eras: Pre-Colonial, Colonial, and Post-Colonial. Additionally, it highlights the role of scholarly organizations and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines in promoting historical knowledge and cultural heritage.

Uploaded by

Mark Lovie De La Cruz
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The origin of the word History is associated with the Greek word ‘Historia’ which means

‘information’ or ‘an enquiry designed to elicit truth’.


History has been defined differently by different scholars. The following definitions
indicate the meaning and scope of History:

Jacob Burckhardt: “History is the record of what one age finds


worthy of note in another.”

Arthur Johnson: “History, in its broadest sense, is everything that ever


happened.”

Jawaharlal Nehru: “History is the story of Man’s struggle through the


ages against Nature and the elements; against wild beasts and the jungle
and some of his own kind who have tried to keep him down and to exploit
him for their own benefit.

The above definitions explain History as significant records of events of the past and a
meaningful story of mankind depicting the details of what happened to man and why it
happened. Mainly it deals with the human world.
1.1.1 History as a Discipline & Philosophy

History is both a Discipline and a Philosophy. History


is a unique subject possessing the potentialities of both a
Discipline and a Philosophy. It does the enquiry after truth
and wisdom; thus, history is a Discipline and is on factual
and proper basis. It is also based on the narrative account
of the past; thus, it is a Philosophy or a piece of wisdom from
the past. The disciplinary nature of history are impersonal,
impartial and capable of experimentation. Whereas absolute
impartiality is not possible in history because the historian is
a narrator and he looks at the past from a certain point of
view. History cannot remain at the level of knowing only.
The construction and reconstruction of the past are
inevitable parts of history. Like the wisdom from any
Philosophy, its wholeness, harmony and truth are
inseparable from a concrete and vivid appreciation of its
parts. History, in fact, is a social science discipline and a
Philosophy. In that lie its flexibility, its variety and
excitement.

1.1 The Sources in History

In history, historical source is the original


reference that contain important historical
information. These sources are something that
inform us about history at the most basic level, and
these sources are used as clues in order to study
history.
Historical sources include documents,
artefacts, archaeological sites, features, oral
transmissions, stone inscriptions, paintings, recorded
sounds, images (photographs, motion pictures), and
oral history. Even ancient relics and ruins, broadly
speaking, are historical sources. TWO TYPES OF
HISTORICAL SOURCES ARE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY Sources.

Primary sources include documents or artefacts created by a witness to or participant in


an event. They can be first-hand testimony or evidence created during the time period that you
are studying. Examples of Primary sources may include diaries, letters, interviews, oral histories,
photographs, newspaper articles, government documents, poems, novels, plays, and music. The
collection and analysis of primary sources is central to historical research.
Secondary sources analyze a scholarly
question and often use primary sources as evidence.
Examples of Secondary sources include books and
articles about a topic. They may include lists of
sources, i.e. bibliographies that may lead you to
other primary or secondary sources.
1.2 Questions and Issues in History

The major challenges to historical research revolve around


the problems of sources, knowledge, explanation, objectivity, choice
of subject, and the peculiar problems of contemporary history. The
problem of sources is a serious challenge to the historian in the task
of reconstructing the past and later on were given an answer.
Historians agreed that the moulding of our own history should be
classified into three (3) eras: Pre-Colonial, Colonial, and Post-
Colonial. This is so since The Philippines was colonized by three
(3) countries namely: Spain, the United States, and Japan.

Pre-Colonial Period

Indian culture has long reached the archipelago during


the period of Pallava dynasty and the Gupta Empire that led
to the “Indianized” kingdoms established in the Philippines.
A clear evidence is the use of honorific titles in the pre-
colonial Philippines. There is no other significant historical
documents from this period except for Laguna Copperplate
Inscription, a legal document inscribed on a copper plate
dated 900 CE which is the earliest known calendar dated
document found in the Philippines.
Ma-i, an ancient sovereign state located in what is now
the Philippines, is notable in the history of the Philippines for
being the first place in the archipelago ever to be mentioned in
any foreign account which was first documented in 971 AD,
in the Song dynasty documents known as the History of Song.
Its existence was also mentioned in the 10th-century records of the Sultanate of Brunei.
Until the year 1000 CE, maritime societies exist in the archipelago but there was no
significant political state unifying the entire Philippines. The region only included numerous
small administrative divisions (ranging in size from villages to city-states) under the sovereignty
of competing thalassocracies ruled by datus, rajahs, sultans or lakans.

Colonial Period
The first recorded document that mentions the
archipelago of the Philippines was Antonio Pigafetta's chronicle
Report of the first trip around the world on his narrative
record of the journey of a Spanish expedition in search of the
Spice Islands published sometimes between 1524-1525.
Another notable document
was Antonio de Morga's
Sucesos de las Islas
Filipinas published in 1609
based on the author's
personal experience and
documentations from eye-
witnesses of the survivors of
Miguel López de Legazpi's
expedition.

Documents
published are chronicles by
the early Spanish explorers
and navigators and religious
records of Spanish friars of
their Catholic mission during
the Spanish colonial period.
Post-Colonial Period

The historiography of the post-colonial period focused on the Philippine


revolutions and the Philippine–American War as historians saw the colonial era as a
prelude. Some pre-colonial and colonial literatures and books made by both Filipinos and
Spanish were fully censored by the American government and any person who would
create any information related to the past of the Filipino people were killed or
brainwashed by the US Army. The critical role played by the Filipinos in shaping the
Philippine national history in this period is well highlighted and analyzed based on the
accounts on the revolution and the Philippine-American War as it describes the social,
economic, political, and cultural conditions of the Philippines.

Organizations

Scholarly organizations and societies have been formed which usually hold
conferences, publish journals and promote historical knowledge and studies
particularly in Philippine History.
Government agency
The National Historical Commission of the
Philippines is a government agency of the
Philippines whose mission is "the promotion of
Philippine history and cultural heritage through
research, dissemination, conservation, sites
management and heraldry works and aims to
inculcate awareness and appreciation of the
noble deeds and ideals of our heroes and other
illustrious Filipinos, to instill pride in the
Filipino people and to rekindle the Filipino
spirit through the lessons of history.

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