HISTORY FORM ONE NOTES ALL TOPICS (NEW SYLLABUS)

Table of Contents

History for form one competence based approach as demanded by the new curriculum.

Meaning of History

History is the study of events and processes that happened in the past and which might influence the present. These events and processes are about social, political and economic developments of people and society at large. Through studying History, we can able to answer the questions, such as;

What happened in the past?

When did the events happen?

Why did the events happen?

Who took part in those events?

How did those events affect people’s lives?

Qualities of historical events

Historical events have specific qualities that differentiate them from non-historical events. For an event to be termed as historical, it must have the following unique qualities;

Significance

A historical event must have a significant impact on shaping the course of history in a particular society. Historical events can have a significant impact on politics, education and economic such as trade, industries and agriculture. A good example is Maji Maji War of 1905-1907

Long-term effects

A historical event possesses long-term effects on the society in which it occurred. Some of the event, are the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, the Slave Trade and the independence. These events can influence or shape such a society

Diversity

Historical events are diverse and cover a wide range of topics. These topics may include social, political, economic, scientific and military events

Context

A historical event happens within a specific historical context or place influenced by various factors such as political, social, economic and technological condition

Interpretation

Historical events are subject to interpretation by historians. Historians can come up with different perspectives and narrative that can lead to debates and interpretations on the causes, effects and significance of an event

Educative

Historical events provide essential lessons for future generations. By studying the past, societies learn from successes and failure, enabling them to make informed decisions in the present and future. For example, resistance to colonial imposition on Africa had lessons to modern nationalist leaders

Time

A historical event must have time in which it happened. It is time which specifies one event from another. Indeed, it is time which justifies the occurrence of an event.

Ways of dating historical events

Historians divide time into several categories, namely

Day- is a period of twenty four hours (24hrs)

A Week- is a period of seven days (7days)

Month- is the period of four week (4 weeks) or thirty days (30 days)

A year- is the period of twelve months (12 months)

Decade- is a period of ten years (10 years)

Generation- is a period of time that that it takes for children to grow into adulthood and have children of their own (average differences on age between parents and his or her children). This period is usually 30 years

Century- is a period of one hundred years (100 years)

Millennium- is a period of one thousand years (1,000 years)

Age- is a period during which a particular historical phenomenon dominated and it based on man’s economic activities. It may cover several years, decade, centuries or millennia. Known age in history include the Stone Age, the Iron Age, the Nuclear Age and the Digital Age

Period- is determined by one continuous event lasting a number of years.

Example includes the period of long-distance trade in East Africa, the period of the slave trade and the period of the colonial rule in Tanzania.

Time division in History

In order to divide time, a starting point has been chosen. This is known as year zero.

This period from zero onwards is called the Common Era (CE). Initially, this period was known as Anno Domino (AD), which meant years after the birth of Jesus Christ, and years starting from lower to higher. Thus, we say Julius Nyerere was born in 1922 and died in 1999 CE. The period before zero years is called Before Common Era (BCE), which was previously known as Before Christ (BC), and the years stated from high to low. Thus, we say the ruler of the Roman Empire, Julius Caesar, was born in 100 BCE and died in 44 BCE

Dating historical events

Dates are instrument in a science of history; there are four main ways of determining dates, namely recalling events, language studies, carbon 14 dating and Potassium argon

Recalling events

In this method, one has to remember important events. Examples of such events are famines, wars, and drought, eclipse of the sun or moon, volcanic eruptions, flood, epidemics, the arrival of strangers, age groups, births and deaths. This method is very useful in studying societies which did not keep written records.

Language studies.

Dates can also be determined by studying languages. Some names help people to remember dates of some events. For example, foreign names and words have been introduced into Kiswahili over a long period. One of such words is Karafuu, which means cloves. Thus, by determining when the words karafuu started being used in Zanzibar or along the East African coast, we can tell when cloves began to be grown there.

Carbo-14 dating

This is the scientific method of determining dates. It is used in finding dates for remains of animals and plants which died over 5000 years but not more that 150000 years ago. Carbon- 14 is an elements found in carbon dioxide which is absorbed by plants and other living things. When living things die, Carbon-14 starts leaving them at a constant rate. In laboratories, scientists measure the amount of carbon 14 that has remained in particular animal or plant remains in order to find out the number of years that have passed since the plant or animal died.

Potassium- argon

Archaeological materials that last beyond years can be dated using another scientific method known as Potassium- argon. This technique is used to date inorganic materials associated with volcanic remains that lasted beyond 150000 years.