A historian is a person who studies the past. They act like a detective, looking for clues and asking good questions to work out what really happened long ago.
Past, present and future
The present is now. The past is everything that already happened. The future has not happened yet. History is all about the past — and chronology means putting events in order, from earliest to latest, on a line called a timeline.
Put these four events in order, earliest first:
- Stonehenge built (about 2500 BCE)
- Romans arrive in Britain (about 43 CE)
- First castles built in Britain (about 1080 CE)
- First railways (about 1830 CE)
BCE, CE and centuries
Years before a starting point are called BCE (Before Common Era); years after it are CE (Common Era). BCE years count backwards, so 500 BCE is longer ago than 200 BCE. A century is 100 years — the years 1901 to 2000 were the 20th century.
Primary and secondary sources
A source is anything that tells us about the past. A primary source was made at the time by someone who was there, like an old letter, coin, photograph or diary. A secondary source was made later by someone looking back, like a history book or website.
When sources disagree
Sometimes two sources tell different stories about the same event — people remember differently, only saw part of it, or wanted one side to look good. Good historians check lots of sources before deciding what is most likely true.