GROUP TWO (2)

HSS 110

INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY

DR FELIX AJIOLA
 GROUP MEMBERS

1. AKINOLA ABAYOMI EDWARD. 210104053. HSS.

2. SHADO GOODSUCCESS AYOBAMI. 210104167. HSS.

3. ADEBANJO, DAVID OLADIPUPO. 210104185. HSS.

4. KALEJAYE IRADAH OMOTOLANI. 210104064. HSS.

5. OBADEIN OLAOLUWA DAVID. 210104173. HSS.

6. OLAPADE NAHEEMAT OLAWUNMI. 210104072. HSS.

7. OKONKWO PRECIOUS CHINECHEREM. 210104100. HSS.

8. ADERINALE ZAINAB TEMITOPE. 210302020. Educational management department.

9. NEBECHI, CHIKA PRAISE. 210104083. HSS.

10. IBIYEMI, IBUKUNOLUWA EMMANUEL. 210104153. HSS.

11. ADEBAYO AYOMIKUN ABDUL-GAFAR. 210104074. HSS.

12. AKINTOLA, AISHAT ANUOLUWAPO. 210104004. HSS.

13. QUADRI ADEDOLAPO VICTORIA. 210104046. HSS.

14. OGUNNIYI JOY OLUWABUKUNMI. 210104008. HSS.

15. OWOEYE BOLAJI DAVID. 210104057. HSS.

16. ADEJUMO OPEYEMI MERCY. 210104054. HSS.

17. OLUSOJI ADETOMIWA PRECIOUS. 210104065. HSS.

18. OLAIYA KEHINDE ELIZABETH. 210104032. HSS.

19. AWOGBADE ENIOLA TEMITOPE. 210104020. HSS.

20. KOLAWOLE VICTOR TEMITOPE. 210104048. HSS.

Question: HISTORY IS A MEDIATING SUBJECT THAT CUTS ACROSS VARIOUS

DISCIPLINES. IS THIS A GOOD JUSTIFICATION FOR THE STUDY OF HISTORY?

Table of content

Introduction

History and social sciences

History and Arts and Humanities

History and Law

Justification.

Conclusion.
Over the years, the study of history has always been a subject of debate. However, we do know for
a fact that history itself cuts across various fields of study. Is this a good reason to study history?
To understand how history cuts across several fields, we need to discuss fully what history is.

History is the study of the human past based on the traces of the past which exist in the
present. Therefore, the Subject matter of history is the human past. History as a discipline or as a
branch of knowledge is also one way or another related to other disciplines. It is so broad and
complex that its nature is difficult to define or explore in precise terms. Here are many views on the
nature of the subject as there are many interpretations of the events that occur in the past. However,
different Historians have different views on what history is. According to Arthur Marwick, "The
concept of history can be used to refer to the totality of the past, human actions, experiences, and
events" In this view, history is seen as everything that had happened in the human past. He also
viewed History as the "representation of the past in the works of the historian”. Professor E.J
Alagoa also defines history as the study of man's actions through the evidence of past actions. G.R
Collingwood's definition of history is also worth considering here: he defined history as "a study at
once critical and constructive, whose field is the human past and its entirety, and whose method the
construction of the past is from documents written and unwritten, critically analyzed and
interpreted". This definition gives us insight into the kind of understanding the historians aim at. It
does this by introducing the twin element of analysis and interpretation of historical research. Thus,
history is not just a body of ascertained facts, it also involves the analysis and interpretation of such
facts. It is difficult for the historian to reconstruct the past in its entirety because the past has
vanished and what the historians have left is fragmentary evidence which at best could only be faint
reflections of the actual past.

History is also a dialogue between the past and the present because we look at the past through the
eyes of the present. History as a discipline is characterized by a different approach to data
collection for historical reconstruction as this helps to corroborate, correct, and confirm existing
historical data.

History from Ancient Greek (historia) which means inquiry; knowledge acquired by investigation.
History is the study and documentation of the past. Events before the invention of writing systems
are considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well as the
memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of these events.
Historians seek knowledge of the past using historical sources such as written documents, oral
accounts, art and material artifacts, and ecological markers.

History is also an academic discipline that uses a narrative to describe, examine, question, and
analyze past events, and investigate their patterns, cause, and effect. Historians often debate which
narrative best explains an event, as well as the significance of different causes and effects.
Historians also debate the nature of history as an end in itself, as well as its usefulness to give
perspective on the problems of the present.

For this study, four areas have been identified in categorizing related disciplines to be examined.
They include Social Sciences with disciplines such as; Economics, Sociology, Political science,
Anthropology, and Statistics. Arts and Humanities, with disciplines such as Linguistics,
philosophy, Geography, and Ethics.

The roles of these disciplines to be examined are evident in their contributions to historical writing.
In other words, a historian writing family or intellectual history takes a cue from psychology,
prehistoric writing was influenced by archeology, Political history by Political science, Economic
history by Economics, and demographic by Sociology. History is a social science because it studies
society in a scientific methodology. It is substantiated by the fact that history cannot be studied
without taking resources from another subject. Ethno History/Cultural History by Anthropology,
Genetics study by Paleontology, while Ecology serves as inspiration for the environment.

Any subject of study in the aforementioned needs justification: its advocates must explain why it is
worth attention. The most widely accepted subject and history is certainly one of them and attracts
some people who simply like the information and modes of thought involved. But audiences are
less spontaneously drawn to the subject and more doubtful about why to bother and need to know
what the purpose is.

Historians do not perform heart transplants, improve highway design, or arrest criminals. In a
society that quite correctly expects education to serve useful purposes, the functions of history can
seem more difficult to define than those of engineering or medicine. History is very useful, as a
matter of fact, indispensable. Yet the products of historical study are less tangible, sometimes less
immediate, than those that stem from some other disciplines.

The discipline of history is gradually coming out of its shell and cooperating with other disciplines.
Gone were the days when 'traditional' historians preached the sanctity of the discipline and exhorted
that it should not be 'adulterated' by other disciplines. The old belief was that history would lose its
identity as an independent discipline; that it would become independent, and that it might even
become a dumping ground for the hypothesis and theories of other disciplines like the Social
Sciences. But recent developments in the intellectual world have proved this wrong. There is a
gradual move towards cooperation among related disciplines, especially in the humanities.
Conferences and research projects are packaged in such a way that scholars from different
disciplines contribute their perspectives on a given theme thus producing a comprehensive result
that no single discipline could have been able to fathom.
History and social sciences
In this section, we will be looking at the relationship between history and diverse disciplines
under social sciences. These disciplines include psychology, economics, sociology, political
science, and anthropology.

Economics and History

Economics is a social science that studies scarcity and its implications for the use of
resources, production of goods and services, growth of production and welfare over time, and
a great variety of other complex issues of vital concern to society. It is concerned with the
production, consumption, and transfer of wealth.
The knowledge of economic processes helps historians to understand certain historical
events. It helps the historian to account for changes in the circumstance under which humans
lived in the past as activities of a man in society are closely related to economic matters.
According to Karl Marx, a German philosopher, history cannot be understood except through
an economic lens as economic class struggles caused the ‘wheels’ of history to move.
Economic history which is a branch of history is vital because it provides context to
understand present-day economic decisions.
“Every single piece of economic theory is ultimately a piece of crystallized history.
And you have a much deeper and sophisticated form of knowledge if you know the history,
the events, what happened… if you just do the theory, if you just do the crystallized stuff,
there is a sense in which the thought process is on crack-you’re doing crystal stuff rather than
lines”
—Professor Brad DeLong, The University of California at Berkley.
Economics and history are closely related because human nature is closely related to
the way and manner he relates to his environment. A historian of any period must at least
have a basic knowledge of the rudiments of economic problems. Economic history is an
indispensable part of history and for any historian to be able to write well about this aspect of
history, he must at least have a fundamental knowledge of economics.
There has been a new orientation of history since the day of Carl Marx when he gave a
materialistic interpretation of history to be the class struggle of men, man’s skill in earning,
the arts and crafts of men, business and commerce, land revenue, taxes and a host of all other
economics activities.

It is undoubtedly true that economics has become hard over the years and has become
dependent on mathematics. This makes it difficult for a modern historian to have adequate
knowledge of economic problems without him putting time and effort into getting to know
the problems and how to solve them which might result in him having to put away the writing
of history. Therefore, the emergence of new economic history has helped more historians
understand economic history with the use of economic tools.
In the present, history and economics are so close that it would be very impossible to
reconstruct history without having a proper understanding of economic problems that has a
great impact on society.
History and Sociology
History and sociology and intimately related and several sociologists like Auguste Combo are
important in the development of history studies or construction. Karl Marx was also a great
historian and sociologist. History and sociology are both concerned with the study of man in
society only the manner of approach draws the margin. In recent years, it has been realized
that there can be a fruitful interaction between History and sociology. Even Emile Durkheim
and Max Weber acknowledge the initial dependence of sociology upon History. It is also true
that history derives some benefits from the syntheses produced by sociologists.

Sociologists have made some profound influence on the study of history by developing
certain narrow areas of human activity. They adopted some techniques and established tools
to minimize the nature of its subjectivity. Simply put, sociology is helping history to study
“social dynamics” which is a study not of society at rest but constantly in social change and
development, social processes, and social causation are giving new perspectives to history.

Sociology is a social science that focuses on social life, social change, and the social causes
and consequences of human behavior. It studies human social relationships and institutions,
and the development, structure, and functioning of human society.

Sociology cannot be separated from history and history cannot be secluded from sociology.
History studies the interactions, actions, and behaviors of men and women in society.

Sociology relies on history to study past events because it is concerned with the study of
historical developments of human society. And historians need the knowledge of sociological
concepts to explain the past.

G.E Howard mentioned that “History is the past sociology and sociology is the present
history”. Also, Hon Seely says that “History without sociology has no fruit, sociology
without history has no root”

As much as history and sociology are interrelated, there are some differences between them.
For instance, sociology is concerned with the present social event while history deals with
men’s past actions.

Despite their differences, the close relationship between history and sociology cannot be
denied.

Political science and History

Political science is the scientific study of politics, government, and public policy. It focuses
on the theory and practice of government and politics at local, state, national, and
international levels.
Political institutions all have a history of evolution. Hence, political science relies on
history to study its emergence, contemporary nature, power, functions, and positions.
Historians also depend on political science to understand and study the political implications
of historical accounts and developments in each society.
History and political science are closely related. Professor Seely summed up the relationship
between political science and history by saying:
‘History without political science has no fruit and political science without history has no
root.’
Historians cannot just read the nature of the state’s politics in episodes. They have to analyze
and understand the fundamental principles of some political institutions. Given this closeness,
we can deduce that the development of political institutions, rules, regulations, laws, modes
of justice, executive, legislative, and administrative functions, economic and financial
implications, the nature of bureaucracy, and fundamental principles of state policy are all
defined by the constitution’s history.
Diplomatic history is a very vital part of political history which deals with principles of
international relations. Ambassadors are the cords that link nations together. History is very
intertwined with political science because politics is a part of the whole writing of a historian
and a politician will need to know about history in other to perform his duty more effectively.

Anthropology and History

Anthropology is the systematic study of evolutionary origins, behaviors, biology, cultures,
and societies of humanity. It focuses on understanding diverse forms of social existence
across the world and through time.
Anthropologists study past and present human communities through a variety of
techniques. They can comprehend and explain the purpose of local institutions, culture, and
practices.
History and anthropology tend to be similar as both aims on discovering unexplored
events of human life. Each of them develops its methodological principles. While history is
concerned with past events, anthropology focuses on the determination of culture.
Anthropology sometimes deals with historical materials as change is inevitable.
The relationship between history ad anthropology lies in the epistemological
proximity between various disciplines in social sciences.

History and Statistics.

In recent times, the writing of History has been greatly influenced by the collection of data.
The invention of computers has also contributed to the evolution of the writing of historians
with regard to the collection of data. Historians have stopped using words like “the majority
of people”, “the majority of historians”, “wide support”, etc. they now use the exact
percentage of people with the help of computers. Even a wide range of data can be collated
and arranged within a short period.
Although any conclusion drawn based on the data may be known to historians as
impressionistic evidence it does reduce the value because it provides concrete evidence for a
previously held thesis.

In the same vein, the use of historical demography ‘viz-information regarding the movement
of people, births and deaths, fertility rate, immigration, etc. cannot be possible without the
means to process and correlate the vast and complex data made available by various official
records. This type of investigation equips the historian with the knowledge of past facts and a
proper understanding of the knowledge acquired.

The realization of a new term CLIOMETRICS has helped us understand that mathematics
can be used in the writing history and interpretation of numerous sources.
Good historical writing is described as:
A=a+b
“A” stands for the net result that flows from the historian’s mind and pen. “a” is the statistical
data and facts which he finds in records or sources. “b” is the interpretative and explanatory
skill of a historian which are essential to make history meaningful. The proper use of
CLIOMETRICS has resulted in what we call QUANTIFIED HISTORY.

Although not a social science discipline in itself, we see clearly the impact history has on
these social sciences. We see also see the similarities in approach and methodology that they
share. Most important of all, the fusion that subliminally exists amongst these disciplines are
clearly noticed and understood when we bring history into play.

History and Arts and Humanities

Psychology and History
Psychology is a scientific study of the human mind, its functions, and behaviors. It deals with
the mental characteristics of a person or a group. It explains why people act the way they do.
History and psychology are closely related. A historian needs psychological insight when
analyzing history. He tries to understand the reason why certain actions were taken and the
mindset of the subject matter involved. This can be related to E.H Carr’s definition of history.
He said,

“History is a continuous process of interaction between the historian and

His facts and unending dialogue between the present and the past.”

According to E.H Carr, “history is a continuous process of interaction between the historian
and the past. An unending dialogue between the historian and the past.”
The use of psychology in history creates an interaction between the present and the past. A
work of a historian without the use of psychological insight is seen as mere fiction.
David Baker, Ph.D., director of the Archives of the History of American Psychology at the
University of Akorn said,
“History provides perspective, context, a dose of humility, and it
Allows us to see the development of our profession in the larger
Cultural context”
History and psychology have a close relationship. A historian has to have an understanding of
psychology for him to be able to analyze the actions of men in his writing. For a historian not
to make his writing just mere fiction, he must be able to relate the effects of the environment
on humans to his perspective.
The impact of psychology on history is evident from the fact that in the past historian
inquired primarily into the origins of war and ignored the result of war. As a result of the
influence of psychology, historians have undertaken the study of the results and impacts of
war. An understanding of group psychology can enable a historian to determine the role of
the masses in the various revolutions Jingoistic patriotism has been described as the cause of
certain wars but historians can discuss this cause with the help of social psychology.
Historians also employ the use of psychology to meticulously analyze the mental state of the
leader of the Nazi army, Adolf Hitler, who happened to be the cause of the Holocaust and
World War II. After recounting the various events that surrounded the deeds of this
mysteriously evil man, historians conclude that it can only be well understood with the use of
psychology’s synthesis.
History and Linguistics.
When we talk about history, it is paramount to include the mode or means of passing
information. In this parlance, English is the mode of communication. Without an intelligible
mode of passing information, there will be no need for history. This is why it is very
paramount to acknowledge the graveness of linguistics in the writing of history.
Historians over the years have evolved along with the way things have changed thereby
adjusting to the mode of communication. The inevitable sway of linguistics has helped
humans keep records of the incidents of the past and has enabled historians analyze these
incidents with the view of preventing us from making mistakes we once made

Philosophy and History

In general terms, philosophy means ‘love of wisdom. It is the study of the fundamental nature
of knowledge, reality, and existence.

Philosophy of history uses philosophical theories to best explain historical events. It is often
said that it is the philosophical construction of the historian that constitutes history.
Historians’ ability to interpret history is not based on the available evidence but on their
ideology that is why there is a saying that it is the historian who makes history.

Everything in this world has an account of its evolutionary origin. A historical investigation
is needed in order to understand the factors and processes of change.

History and Geography.

Geography is a field of science that focuses on the study of the earth and the relationship
between people and their environments.

Historical geography studies the land at specific periods in the past. Historians deal with
geography in the aspect of how it affects certain historical events. Certain branches of history
cannot be studied without prior knowledge of geography.

The scope of history is so vast that it had to be broken down into time and space. To study
history in terms of space (regionalism), knowledge of geography is needed as space (regions)
represents the geographical or spatial dimension of the subject (history).

Johann Herder said,

“History is geography set in motion”.
It is universally known that history and geography have very close ties. In fact it would be
very impossible to write about some certain branches of history without having rudimentary
knowledge in geography e.g., the diplomatic or military history cannot be fallowed without
necessary geographical knowledge of the region. Geography can be said to be one to the eyes
of history and the other eye, chronology. Time and space factors give history its correct
perspective. Prof. Michelet was of the opinion that history was in essence found upon
geography. He says “Without a geographical basis the people, the makers of history, seek to
be walking.” German philosopher Kant said, “Geography lies at the basis of history.” Herder
said that “history is geography set in motion.” It is an indispensable fact that many
geographical factors such as climate, social, rivers, mountains, sea, coastline and mineral
resources played essential roles in the development of river in valley.
Geography also plays an essential role in the national character creation and influence the
human behavior. As we know that climate of a country immensely affects its growth or
civilization, hence the knowledge of geography is very essential for historians. It would be
wise to accept the limited interpretation of geographical influence on man’s conduct or on his
history.

To start with, History, with the use of its open arms has married the characteristics of
geography with that of sociology. Let us take a look at the way history mediates geography
and sociology. When and historian decides to study the past of a particular people, he has to
take into consideration the way deeds of people are affected by their environment. Without
the proper understanding of the nature of the environment and the effects it has on its
inhabitants, it might bring about bias in the writing of an historian.
In furtherance of this, we should consider the relationship that history established between
statistics and economics. When historians write about the economic problems of the society,
they try to relate the effects it has on the people, they employ statistics to get the accurate
percentage of people affected by the economic problems thereby juxtaposing the use of
economics with that of statistics.

Ethics and History

Ethics is derived from the Greek word ‘ethos’ which means way of living.
Ethics is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with the well-founded standards of right
and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations,
benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. It deals with human conduct, more
specifically the behavior of individuals in society. It can also be called moral philosophy.

History can be used as a mirror to check our morals and values. It gives us the opportunity to
study past heroes who teach us lessons in courage and persistence. It gives us the platform to
learn from past mistakes and helps us better influence our future.

Although historians are meant to be objective when giving historical accounts, they must
have knowledge about the ethical principles of the time which influenced the behaviors of
people in the past. A historian must master and comprehend the science of ethics in order to
have a wider perspective of the issue he/she is dealing with.

History and ethics have a close relationship. Although a true historian must not pass sensitive
and distinct judgment on the way men reacted to incidents in his writing, he is meant to
understand that there are ethical principles of time that governed the ways and conducts of
man at that time.

Probably, in the past, ethical science was not known at that time in the past and this resulted
in bigotry and complexities in the writings of historians. In the recent times, ethical theories
has tried to build its basis on biology, sociology, psychology, like scholars like Stephen,
Duprat, and Dewey.

An historian must be able to understand the science of ethics so as to gain a wider range of
knowledge and proper application of these when writing in his perspective.

History and Law

Life, law, and history are reflections of each other. Law is the mirror of life and life is the
mirror of history. One cannot isolate this law from life and history. It is impossible to
understand the law and legal trends of any period, without learning and understanding the
real-life history during the period. . Likewise, it is impossible to understand and follow social
and political trends, without being acquainted with the law of that time and the time is
history.
First of all, let’s go through the definition of law, the simple means of law is to regulate
society. So, it is very significant to understand society and frame the law by society, for this,
we have to know the history. Laws are created when numerous events or things occur over
time, and these occurrences become known as history. So, we may conclude that laws are
either byproduct of history or that current rules will stifle future occurrences that will
eventually become history. Its applicability to the latter is contingent on which end of the
spectrum you are on. Because by knowing the history of a certain country one can have a
clear idea about how that law was made. Even in law precedents, history is considered as an
important source as the law is based on the history of a country and its people. For example,
if we talk about the Contract Law, of 1872. We can see that after the industrial revelation in
(1760-1840) people understood the importance of having such kind of law. As there were no
such laws at that time, many conflicts were taking place among the people. At that time, this
Contract Law, 1872 was created.

Moreover, an understanding of history may be advantageous in understanding the law. Also,

an understanding of the law may help us in understanding history. An obvious example is the
Brehon Laws of Celts in understanding modern laws. The historian develops how an event
came to be and its consequence. The lawyer develops how it came to be and its significance.
In the US, Shepard’s is required reading to check the status of several laws and how judicial
decisions explain those statutes which are key to our case. The difference is the law is usually
of much more direct consequence and history is not as consequential as the law because this
law gives us the final justice and history shows us the road to walk. Also, if a judge has to
give a judgment on a question, then he will prefer previous examples means he is relying on
history alone.
Throughout its history as a scientific study, legal history has been handled in a variety of
ways. Friedrich Carl von Savigny (1779-1861) might be considered its forefather, as his
Geschichte des römischen Rechts im Mittelalter influenced numerous following works. As a
result, fundamentally a historic approach to the past emerged, which continues to impact
present legal scholars.

Additionally, the historical development of law is very important for us to know. The law that
we read was not created overnight, there is a certain history behind all of them. The idea of
law includes fundamental rules of behavior, as well as institutions and devices for changing,
clarifying, refining, and applying the rules. It is a natural outcome of people living and
working together. The evolution of law began before history was recorded with laws built up
one by one as disputes were settled. The growth of rules in society predates both courts and
the written law. For thousands of years, customary and private legal systems alone ordered
human activities. The law is fundamentally discovered, not made. It is a systemic discovery
process involving the historical experiences of successive generations. Law reflects and
embodies the experiences of all men who have ever lived. Also, if we looked at the history of
Criminal Law we can see the same. In Europe, one of the initial documents that highlight
Criminal law arose after 1066 when William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded
England. By the 18th century, European law began to specifically address the criminal
movement and the concept of trying criminals in a courtroom to give them true justice. The
English government created a system known as “Common law”, which is the process that
starts and updates rules that govern a group of people. Common law covers both civil and
criminal matters and works through the formation and continual revision and expansion of
laws by judges as they make rulings on legal matters. These rulings become precedents to
help determine the outcomes of future cases. In modern times, the U.S. system of common
laws continues to define what is and is not a crime and the severity of any offense. Criminal
cases brought before the courts are generally separated into three categories: misdemeanors,
felonies, and treason. It shows us how history controls the law and law regulates one’s life.
Studying law and history, particularly legal history as a cultural phenomenon, pushes us as
academics to go beyond our restricted fields and specialties. A more comprehensive,
contextual investigation of a legal phenomenon as part of its larger legal and historical culture
promises to open up fresh perspectives on our past. While there will always be a subjective
aspect to a historical examination, it should not deter lawyers from participating.
Every law has its background history and that history makes the law stronger day by day. We
learn from our history and move with it for a better future. The study of history is something
where we have to deal with the drawing of conclusions based on events that took place in the
past and evidence. The same thing happens with lawyers, they have to reach the conclusion
based on fact and evidence, and history is that evidence.
Justification for the Study of History

People live in the present, they plan and worry about the future. History is the study of past
events, given all the demands that press on living in the present and anticipating what is yet to
come. History has cut across different fields, it makes us know the importance of these fields
and the impact history has had on the various fields. Studying history will make one become
a professional historian and historians are people who investigate the past through the
available sources be it written, oral traditional history, etc., and analyze what they find.
History is very important and indispensable but the product of historical study are less
tangible, sometimes they are less immediate than those that are from other disciplines. There
are many reasons why history is important to humans day to day activities, some of which
this importance

We study history to develop an understanding of the world. Through history, we can learn
how past societies, systems, and technology were built, how they operated, and how they
have changed. The history of the world helps us to paint a better picture of where we stand
today. For example, the history of political science helps us to know how politics started, it
helps us know how past generations went about politics in their periods, the problem they
faced, the cause of the problems, the solutions, and many other things. Knowing all of these
will help the contemporary generation know how to go about politics to avoid the mistake of
the past. Developing knowledge of history means developing knowledge of different aspects
of life and it also gives us insight into the field in which history cut across.
The study of history helps us learn from past mistakes. Those who cannot remember the past
are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana’s quote is one of academia’s most cited and
paraphrased lines, and one that explains perfectly why everyone should study history. The
past is filled with warning signs. We must be able to reflect on the events that built up to
them, learn from mistakes made and resist and question if we see similar patterns emerging.
On this basis, the study of history can be justified from the above statements but the topic can
be justified based on not only cutting across the different fields aforementioned but also by
being an integral part of the study and development fields. In the preceding paragraphs the
justification of the study of history as it cuts across different disciplines. With the relationship
history has with other disciplines thoroughly discussed in the previous chapters we would
like to fully emphasize its relevance in such disciplines and fields which in turn would be
reasons viable enough to defend its justification for the study.
To start, during the proceedings of a law court, the persecutor or the defendant may reference
old court cases which without the study of their history won’t be available for use. Also, the
law on its own is a field dealing with facts that most of the cases have to be brought up from
the past and hence is similar to history in that perspective. Research has also proven that a lot
of court cases were won mainly due to the reference to past cases that have a similarity to the
cases won hence the study of the history of those cases and the study of history as a whole is
justified.
In addition, the study of the history of Law cases is of utmost importance to any prosecutor
judge jury, or defendant to not make a mistake or repeat past cases’ woes and flaws as the
famous Winston Churchill saying goes “those who fail to learn from history are doomed to
repeat it” so the study of history hence helps to develop and correct some flaws that would
have happened if some cases weren’t brought back from the past with the help of history.
History is so relevant in all disciplines that its justification of study shouldn’t be even
considered a debate. For instance, Geography has its roots firmly placed in history for,
without history, it is just a collection of maps without a true identity and a true sense of
meaning. History gives it meaning and enough roots and background to grow on and develop.
Psychology needs history to understand and give meaning to several distinct characters and
behaviors.
As earlier stated in this body of work, prof. Seely stated that history without political
science has no fruit and political science without history has no root. To sum it all up, history
is basically the mother of all these fields aforementioned, due to the fact that many of these
fields cannot be studied without referring to history.

Conclusion

Now, from the above paragraphs, we have been able to establish the fact to a certainty that
the course of discussion ( History) is in fact not only a mediating subject that helps in giving
and providing substantial information, solutions, and understanding to the vastly different
disciplines that cut across human existence on earth but also the fact that it’s study is so
beneficial to various disciplines that we study, in the sense that without history being used,
the antiquity, stories and the knowledge of such courses would not only be forgotten but in
fact, left redundant and inevitably go extinct. For example, History is being applied to
courses like Philosophy, Geography, Economies, etc. Geography for example is so
intertwined with a history that without a rudimentary knowledge of Geography, it would be
difficult to understand or study certain branches of history such as; Diplomatic History or
Military History, as these branches of history cannot be fully grasped except with the
understanding of location skills. Furthermore, it is important to state that history is the
bedrock and the storehouse for all sorts of information about all other disciplines and how
they are all interwoven with one another. A good example of how history is the bedrock of
knowledge and information is its relationship and the connecting dots it has with Geography.
These two are intimately correlated, they could be said to be twin courses- one stresses time
and the other emphasizes space i.e. History endeavors to study people, key events, and
important materials from different times and ages. While Geography expresses itself through
the study of people from different regions or areas. A Great example that further broadens
the statement above is the remarks credited to Immanuel Kant who said ‘Geography and
History fill up the entire circumference of our perceptions, i.e. geography is that of space and
history is that of time’. The study of history has helped in providing an identity to several
other disciplines and this is a contributing factor to why all modern nations encourage its
teaching in some form. Historical data have shown to include evidence of the origins of these
disciplines, for example, the historical data embedded in the study of philosophy and
economics, etc., and how they can be beneficial and the career opportunities embedded in
these disciplines and also the list of influential persons who have been successful after
choosing them as a field of study, also not forgetting the advantages that accompany the
study of such disciplines. This is just a minute detail of what the whole concept of the term
History has in store for the people who study it. This body of work has unequivocally thrown
its full support towards the argument that the study of history, is not only a good justification
but a very useful and adequate reason, due to the fact that history is actually indispensable
to all other disciplines of study, so it only makes sense to study history. Finally, let’s
emphasize that history is connected to every aspect of human existence, everything ever
known to man and even things beyond human comprehension all have history and so every
discipline or course that has been studied or will be studied already has a history. Given the
vast points that has been vividly stated in this entire body of work, it is safe to say without an
iota of doubt that the precise study of history in its entirety is a worthy justification for the
study of history.

REFERENCES;
1. E.H Carr. 1964. What is history? Harmonds worth. Penguin. 16.
2. B.V Rao 2006. World History from early times to A.D 2000. New Delhi. Sterling
publishers.
3. Ademola Ajayi. 2015. History and Historians. A Historian guide. U published
Manuscript. 8
4. Peter N. Sterns 1998. Why study history? Archived.
5. J. Vansina, R. Mainly, L.V. Thomas (eds.), the historian in tropical Africa (IAI and
OUP 1964).
6. Alagoas, E.J "The interdisciplinary Approach to African history in Nigeria", presence
Africaine, 94, 1975.
7. American Psychological Association.
8. History Discussion.
9. The Future of Economic History by Dr. Chris Colvin.
10. Studying Economics.
11. Preserve Articles: What is The Relationship between Sociology and History by Bharat
Kumar.