CHAPTER 2

KEEPING RECORDS OF HISTORICAL EVENTS

KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS.

  • Historical events: Events which occurred in the past.
  • Oral traditions: Passing information from one person to another
  • Archeology: This is the study of remains of the past
  • Historical sites: Are places where the remains of ancient people and items can be found.
  • Museums: are places or buildings where past informations and objects are kept.
  • Archives: A place where historical documents or government records are kept.
  • Decade: This is a period of ten years
  • Century: is a period of 100 years
  • Millennium: This is a period of 1000 years.

Introduction.

  • Historical events are events which happened in the past. We keep records of historical events so that we and the future can learn through them about what happened in the past.
  • Wecan get historical information through many ways. These ways are known as sources of history.

The following are the sources of history: -

1. Oral tradition

  • It is the practice of passing historical information from one generation to the next through the word of mouth.
  • It involves talking and listening. Information can be passed through narration, songs, riddles and poetry. It was mostly used in societies where people could not write or read.
  • Nowadays, people do not depend much on oral traditions since important information is written down.

2.Archaeology and Historical sites

  • Archaeology is the study of the remains of past human societies. People who practice archaeology are called archaeologists.
  • Archaeologists sometimes dig the ground to exhume buried human, animal bones and tools used by early humans. Areas with ancient remains are catles historical sites.

Historical sites are places where the remains of ancient people and items can be found. Among the popular historical sites in Tanzania are the paintings in Irangi caves in Kondoa, Dodoma, Amboni caves in Tanga, Kaole Ruins in Bagamoyo, Engaruka ruins in Arusha, Kilwa ruins at Songo Mnara and Kisiwani and the old buildinos in Zanzibar located in Stone town.

  • Ancient man's skull was discovered at Olduvai Gorge in Arusha, by Doctor Louis Leakey in 1959. The skull is believed to be of the first human to live on earth, named Zinjanthropus.
  • Fossils are marks or remains of living things that lived many years ago that have been preserved.
  • Ismito Stone age site contains remains of stone tools made by early man. These remains were discovered at Isimila in Iringa Region in 1951. Tools found included spears, knives and arrows.

3. Written records

Written records are also a source of obtaining historical information. They include letters, books, maps, diaries, magazines, newspapers and journals. These records are found in libraries, schools, offices and even with individuals. The written information can easily be referred to and can be easily kept. Written records are more accurate than oral information.

4. Museums

Museums are places or buildings where past information and

objects are kept. Cultural, religious, political and economic objects are preserved in museums. People who visit museums can see objects which were used in past like stone tools and early iron tools. There are museums in all the regions of Tanzania. In order to enter to a museum one must pay a fee.

A local museumor local history museum is a museum that covers a history of a small area such as ar town or region. Examples of local museums in Tanzania include the Maji Maji Rebellion Museum Songea and Mkwawa Memorial Museum at Kalenga, Iringa.

  1. Archives

An archive is a place where historical documents or government records are stored. We can get many official government documents which were used in the past years when we visit archives. However, accessing archieves is not as easy as entering a public library.

  1. Audio and Audiovisual

The term audio means the reproduction of sound. When you put a compact disc (CD) in a CD player and listen to music or an sound, we call that CD to be audio CD. However, in audiovisual there is sound and sight. People not only hear sound but also see pictures. A digital video disc (DVD) is inserted in a DVD player then sound is heard and pictures are seen. The audio and audiovisual devices include television, video camera, DVDs, CDs, DVD players, computers, and radio.

Ways of keeping historical records

It is important to keep historical records. Keeping them enables future generations to know about what happened in the past.

The following are the ways used in keeping historical events:-

  1. Museums

A museum is a building where objects of historical, artistic and cultural interest are kept and exhibited. When we visit. a. m.u.seu.m we see and learn about objects that were used in the past.

  1. Writings

Writings consists of information written in books, magazines, newspapers and pamphlets. We get written information from writings by reading.

  1. People

People can also keep historical information. They keep information in their minds. People give out information through oral tradition. They keep on telling stories about the past. Through historical information in the minds of elders other people can learn about the past.

4. Historical sites

Information is also kept at historical sites. People get historical
information by visiting the historical sites found in our country and in other countries.

5. Audio and Audiovisual

Historical records are also kept in compact disks (CD), DVDs and flash discs.

Family Events that happens in a family

Carlton is a young boy. He stays with his parents in Moshi Msaranga, Kilimanjaro region. One day carlton asked his father how they come to stay in Moshi. The father told him about a long family story. He also told him about his grandfather. Carlton listened carefully and come up with the following.

S/N

EVENT

Year it occured

1

My father Stephen was born Monduli

1982

2

He joined Monduli Primary school

1988

3

He completed standard seven

1996

4

He joined form one at Moshi Technical school

1997

5

He Joined university of Dar es salaam

2000

6

Completed university education

2004

7

Started to teach at Mwenge Secondary school

2006

8

He married my mother

2007

9

I was born

2008

10

My family shifted from Arusha to kilimanjaro

2009

11

My father got a new job at Mwenge University

2010

12

I joined primary school at brighter days academy

2012

The History of Our School

My name is Jane. I am in standard Four. My school is called Ushirikiano Primary School. In 1989 people in our village cooperated to build our school. It was officially opened by the Minister of Education in 1991 with 24 Standard One pupils.

Nine pupils were boys and 15 were girls. Now there are 975 pupils in our school. 500 pupils are girls and 475 are boys. There was only one classroom when our school started but there are now six buildings. Since its opening in 1991, our school has been headed by different headteachers. Their names and years of service are listed below: -

Year

Name of headteacher

1991-1996

Mr. James Kibuyu

1997-2002

Mr. Amigo Mangi

2003-2010

Mr. Karangau Chege

2011-2015

Mr.Daniel Saguti

2016 to date

Mr. Kyambo Massawe

Durations oftime

A decade is a period of ten years.

A century is a period of one hundred years.

A millenium is a period of one thousand years.

CHAPTER SUMMARY.

  • Historical events are events which took place in the past
  • History is the study of past events
  • The various sources of history includes, oral traditions,archeology,written records, museums, archives and audio-visual recordings.
  • There are several ways of keeping historical informations, these are, museums, writings, people, historical sites and audio-visual recordings.

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