Readings in Philippine History - Lesson 1

History: Traditional Understanding

Study of the past; chronological record of significant events often including an explanation of their causes.

History: Modern Understanding

Sources are oral traditions in forms of epics, songs, artifacts, architecture, memory etc.

Historia

Greek word of History, meaning "knowledge acquired through inquiry or investigation".

Zeus Salazar

"Ang kasaysayan ay salaysay na may saysay sa sinasalaysayang salinglahi".

Pre-history

Period where no written records exist or when the writings of people were not preserved; analyzed through fossils and artifacts by archaeologists and anthropologists.

History

Period when man started to write and record events using a system of writing; analyzed through wood carves, engraved metals, written papyrus, written papers.

Historiography

"Writing of history"; based on critical examination of sources, selection of particular details from authentic materials in those sources and the synthesis of those details into a narrative.

Primary Sources

Produced at the same time as the event being studied (Contemporary Accounts); include documents or artifacts created by a witness or participant of the event

Secondary Sources

Produced by authors who used and interpreted primary sources; analyzed a scholarly question and often use primary source as evidence

Tip: Primary Source

The closer the date of creation, the more reliable one.

Tip: Secondary Source

The more recent, the more reliable one.

External Criticism

Verification of authenticity by examining physical characteristics.

Internal Criticism

Looks at the truthfulness and factuality of the evidence by looking at the author of the source, its context, the agenda behind its creation.

Usage of the word "kalayaan" alongside a final letter of Rizal to his brother Paciano.

How did historians debunked that Rizal didn't write Sa Aking Mga Kabata?

Roman Roque

Termed as the ‘Forger of Philippine History’; forged the document about the Retraction of Rizal.

Jose Marco

Termed as the ‘Greatest Con Man of Philippine History’; known for Code of Kalantiaw and La Loba Negra.

William Henry Scott

A historian that debunked the Code of Kalantiaw in 1968; found that Friar José María Pavón was not in the Philippines in 1838-1839; or that Spain didn't have a king in 1838, the same year the writer dedicated the document to the supposed leader of the monarchy.