by Max

Human beings are curious creatures by nature, they try to understand almost everything from where they stand to how the world works (they even tried pineapple on Pizza!).

But most importantly, they try to comprehend their present, the here and now that they are living. And in order to achieve this objective, the study of the past comes into action.

For it is thanks to the stories of the past that human identity, societies’ behaviors, and current situations can be grasped.

1. Understanding one’s own identity

To start with, it is important to point out to the role of history in understanding one’s own identity.

History helps people in understanding who they are by illustrating who their ancestors were and the events that these latter have gone through. As Stephen Fry once questioned: “how can we know who we are if we don’t know who we were?”.

For instance, it is thanks to the past stories about the Spanish and other European countries’ colonization of the Americas that we can understand why there is a variety of languages and accents in different places of the continent.

Not to mention, it is thanks to the history of the Islamic religious expansions in the Maghreb that the people of this latter could gain a sense of reasoning about how their religion was introduced to them.

2. Understanding micro and macro-behaviors

Moving on swiftly to the next point which is the fact that history helps in understanding society’s current behaviors and customs.

Societies all over the world are characterized by their traditions. Some of which seem to be astonishing for a foreigner who does not know the historical background of these latter traditions.

For example, a foreigner who may come to an Islamic country during the “Adha” feast is likely to face a cultural shock and may consider slaughtering sheep as a non-human act.

Unfolding the past of these acts helps in understanding them more.

3. Understanding current events

Another point worth mentioning is the fact that history helps in understanding current situations. A point that Janice Dickinson asserts in her quote: “the past explains how I got here”.

It is thanks to history that human beings gain a logical reasoning of some current events. Like the Algerian political “conflict” with Morocco.

Knowing that Morocco claimed once the Western Sahara to be one of its territories and that Algeria intervened in this matter as a neutral side helps in understanding the reason behind the conflict between these two countries.

Customise it – Make it your own

Knowing that a given population of two cities had a major conflict over a soccer match on a specific day helps indeed in understanding why these two populations are not in a good relation with each other today.

Conclusion

To sum it up, it is right to say that history helps in understanding the present moment.

History gives birth to patterns of reasoning by illustrating, analyzing, and questioning fact and dates of particular events. Share on X

History may not contribute in building better buildings. But it surely helps in understanding why the buildings are there in the first place.

​