Why dates are so important in the study of history ?
There was a time when historians were fascinated with dates. There were heated debates about the dates on which rulers were crowned or battles were fought.
History is certainly about changes that occur over time. It is about finding out how things were in the past and how things have changed. As soon as we compare the past with the present we refer to time, we talk of “before” and “after”.
Living in the world we do not always ask historical questions about what we see around us. We take things for granted, as if what we see has always been in the world we inhabit.
- But most of us have our moments of wonder, when we are curious, and we ask questions that actually are historical.
- Watching someone sip a cup of tea at a roadside tea stall we may wonder – when did people begin to drink tea or coffee?
- Looking out of the window of a train we may ask – when were railways built and how did people travel long distances before the age of railways?
- Reading the newspaper in the morning we may be curious to know how people got to hear about things before newspapers began to be printed.
All such historical questions refer us back to notions of time. By what criteria do we choose a set of dates as important?
The dates we select, the dates around which we compose our story of the past, are not important on their own. They become vital because we focus on a particular set of events as important. If our focus of study changes, if we begin to look at new issues, a new set of dates will appear significant.
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