Topic outline of history

The list of basic history topics includes various historical topics and other collected sets of information about the past. When used as the name of a field of study, "history" refers to the study and interpretation of the record of humans, families, and societies as preserved primarily through written sources.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to history:

Essence of history

* Chronology
* Past
* Time

Studies and fields of history

* Archaeology – study of past human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data
* Archontology – study of historical offices and important positions in state, international, political, religious and other organizations and societies
* Art history – the study of changes in and social context of art
* Chronology – locating events in time
* Cultural history – the study of culture in the past
* Economic history – the study of economies in the past
* Environmental history – study of natural history and the human relationship with the natural world
* Futurology – study of the future: researches the medium to long-term future of societies and of the physical world
* History painting – the painting of works of art having historical motifs or depicting great events
* Military history – the study of warfare and wars in history
* Natural history – history of the natural world, now usually referred to as science
* Naval history – the branch of military history devoted to warfare at sea or in bodies of water
* Paleography – the study of ancient texts
* Political history – the study of past political events, ideas, movements, and leaders
* Psychohistory – study of the psychological motivations of historical events
* Social history – the study of societies and social trends in the past

Record of history

History by chronology

* Timeline of the Big Bang
* Formation and evolution of the solar system
* History of the world
* Geologic time scale
* Ancient history
** Prehistory
** Classics
* Middle Ages
* Pre-Columbian
** Mesoamerican chronology
* Renaissance
* Modern history
* Future history

Ages of history

* Stone Age
** Paleolithic
*** Lower Paleolithic
**** ("Homo")
**** (control of fire, stone tools)
*** Middle Paleolithic
**** ("Homo neanderthalensis")
**** ("Homo sapiens")
**** (Recent African origin of modern humans)
*** Upper Paleolithic
**** (behavioral modernity, atlatl, Origin of the domestic dog)
**Mesolithic
*** (microliths, bow, canoes)
** Neolithic
*** Stone Age Levant
**** Tell Halaf
**** Ubaid period
*** Neolithic Europe
**** (Linear Pottery)
**** (Vinča culture)
*** Neolithic China
*** Neolithic South Asia
**** Mehrgarh
*** Paleo-Indians (Americas)
**Chalcolithic (Copper Age)
*** Uruk period
*** (Yamna culture)
*** (Corded Ware)
*** Europe
*** (Metallurgy in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica)
* Bronze Age
* Iron Age
* Axial Age
* Dark Age
* Middle Ages
* Viking Age
* Age of Discovery
* Age of Reason
* Age of Enlightenment
* Industrial Age
* Information Age
* Space Age
* Digital Age

Eras of history

* Chinese Eras
* Japanese Eras
* Korean Eras
* Vietnamese Eras

History by region

* Ancient Egypt
* Babylonia
* Classics
** Ancient Greece
** Ancient Rome
* Ancient China
* Mesoamerica

History by continent and country

* Timeline of country and capital changes

Economic history by region

Military history by region

History by field

* Cultural history
** History of archaeology, timeline
** History of banking
** History of cooking
** History of critical theory
** History of entertainment
** History of gaming
*** History of board games
**** History of chess
*** History of role-playing games
** History of hobbies
** History of literature
** History of money
** History of poetry
** History of sport
*** History of American football
*** History of baseball
*** History of billiards
*** History of cricket
*** History of football
*** History of the Olympics
*** History of skiing
*** History of swimming
*** History of track and field
* History of art
** History of the performing arts
*** History of dance
*** History of film
*** History of music
*** History of opera
*** History of theatre
** History of visual arts
*** History of architecture, timeline
*** History of crafts
*** History of design
*** History of drawing
*** History of film
*** History of painting
*** History of photography
*** History of sculpture
* History of geography
** History of archaeology, timeline
* History of history
* History of mathematics, timeline
** History of algebra
** History of arithmetic
** History of calculus
** History of discrete mathematics
** History of geometry
** History of trigonometry
** History of logic
** History of statistics
* History of philosophy, timeline
** History of ethics
*** History of normative ethics
*** History of meta-ethics
** History of epistemology
** History of humanism
** History of logic
** History of metaphysics
** History of transhumanism
** History of Western philosophy
* History of religion
** History of Buddhism, timeline
** History of Christianity, timeline
** History of Hinduism
** History of Islam, timeline
** History of Judaism
** History of Taoism
* History of science
** History of science in general
*** History of scientific method
*** Theories/sociology of science
*** Historiography
*** History of pseudoscience
** By era
*** History of science in early cultures
*** History of science in Classical Antiquity
*** History of science in the Middle Ages
*** History of science in the Renaissance
*** Scientific revolution
** History of natural science
*** History of biology
**** History of biochemistry
*** History of physical science
**** History of nature
**** History of astronomy, timeline
**** History of chemistry
**** History of ecology
**** History of earth science
**** History of geography
**** History of geology, timeline
**** History of meteorology, timeline
**** History of oceanography
**** History of physics
** History of the social sciences
*** Historiography
*** History of science and technology
*** History of scientific method
*** History of society
*** Business history
*** History of archaeology, timeline
*** History of cognitive science
*** History of community
*** History of criminal justice
*** History of critical theory
*** History of economics
*** History of education
*** History of finance
*** History of law
*** History of linguistics
*** History of management
*** History of marketing
*** History of parapsychology
*** History of political science
*** History of psychology, timeline
*** History of public affairs
*** History of sociology, timeline
* History of technology
** History of invention
** History of aerospace
** History of artificial intelligence
** History of agriculture
** History of agricultural science
** History of architecture, timeline
** History of biotechnology
** History of cartography
** History of chemical engineering
** History of communication
** History of computer science
*** History of programming languages, timeline
*** History of software engineering
** History of electrical engineering
** History of energy development
** History of engineering
** History of health science
** History of industry
** History of library and information science
** History of manufacturing
** History of materials science
** History of measurement
** History of medicine
** Military history
*** History of military science
*** History of warfare
**** List of battles
**** List of wars
** History of transport

Methods and tools

* Contemporaneous corroboration – a method historians use to establish facts beyond their limited lifespan
* Prosopography – a methodological tool for the collection of all known information about individuals within a given period
* Historical revisionism – traditionally used in a completely neutral sense to describe the work or ideas of a historian who has revised a previously accepted view of a particular topic
* Historiography – the study of historical methodology

Basic history concepts

* Annals
* Big History
* Centuries
* Chronicle
* Chronology
* Classics
* Cultural history
* Family history
* Future
* Genealogy
* Historian
* Historical classification
* Historical revisionism
* Historical thinking

* Historiography
* History
* History is written by the victors
* History of science and technology
** Timeline of invention
** Timeline of electromagnetism and classical optics
** Timeline of mathematics
** Timeline of mechanics and physics
* Identity
* Intellectual History
* Intellectual history of time
* Landscape history
* List of time periods
* Local history
* Marxist historiography

* Mythology
* Oral history
* Palaeography
* Past
* Periodization
* Philosophy of history
* Prehistory
* Present
* Pseudohistory
* Social history
* Social change
* Virtual history

Historians

:Herodotus – Dio Cassius – Livy – Appian – Jean Froissart – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel – Voltaire – Edward Gibbon – Thomas Macaulay – Alexis de Tocqueville – Arnold J. Toynbee – J. B. Bury – Will Durant – Samuel Eliot Morison – Francis Parkman

History lists

* List of basic classics topics
* List of basic medieval history topics
* List of basic Renaissance topics

* List of historians
* List of timelines

See also

* List of basic archaeology topics

External links

Further reading

* Williams, H. S. (1907). [http://books.google.com/books?id=g5sFAAAAIAAJ The historians' history of the world] . (ed., This is Book 1 of 25 Volumes; [http://books.google.com/books/pdf/The_Historians__History_of_the_World.pdf?id=g5sFAAAAIAAJ&output=pdf&sig=fg_jzCIwiXQiuqVE7Q_ciy4ulok PDF version is available] )
* Wells, H. G. (1921). [http://books.google.com/books?id=1O4BAAAAMAAJ The outline of history, being a plain history of life and mankind] . (ed., This is Book 1 of multi-volume set.)

General Information

* [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ Internet History Sourcebooks Project] See also Internet History Sourcebooks Project. Collections of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly (without advertising or excessive layout) for educational use.
* [http://vlib.iue.it/history/index.html WWW-VL: History Central Catalogue] first history on the WWW, located at European University Institute
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history BBC History Site]