Keeping Records of Historical Event - Social Studies - Standard Four, Keeping Records of Historical Event
Historical events
Historical events are important matters that happened in the past. These might have been at family level, local or national level.
Examples of historical events are:
1. Birthdays.
2. Weddings and marriages.
3. Independence and republic days.
4. War, drought, floods and famine.
5. Deaths and funerals.
6. Religious festivals.
Historical/political events Events and dates
1. Karume’s assassination 7th April 1972.
2. Independence of Zanzibar 12th January 1964.
3. Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar 26th April 1964.
4. Republic day 9th December 1962.
5. Independence of Tanzania 9th December 1961.
6. Nyerere's death 14th October 1999.
7. May day/Workers day 1st May
8. Zanzibar Revolution 12th January 1964.
9. New year 1st January.
10. Christmas day 25th December
11. Nanenane day 8th August
12. Sabasaba day 7th July
13. Heroes day 1st September.
Ways of collecting information
1. Listening to narratives – oral tradition.
2. Interviewing people.
3. Visiting the area of an event.
4. Reading new and old newspapers.
5. Visiting libraries, archives and museums.
6. From mobile phones.
7. Reading books.
8. Listening to the radio and watching television.
Tools used for collecting information
The tools are:
1. Notebooks.
2. Camera
3. Voice and video recorders.
4. Mobile phones.
Keeping historical records
Ways of keeping historical information are:
1. Oral tradition
This is the keeping or telling of historical events through words of mouth. This is done through storytelling, songs and poems.
2. Museum
A museum is a building where historical objects are kept.
Examples of museums in Tanzania are the National Museum, Makumbusho village in Dar es Salaam, Mwl. Nyerere Museums in Butiama, Bujora in Mwanza, Halwego Handebezyo in Ukerewe and Kalenga in Iringa.
National Museum of Dar es Salaam and Makumbusho are National Museums while the rest are local museums.
3. Archives
An archive is a place/ library where historical documents are kept. These documents are like magazines, files, maps, diaries of the past, journals and newspapers.
4. Historical sites
These are places where historical remains are found, for example Kondoa-Irangi in Dodoma which is famous for rock paintings; Isimila in Iringa which is known for the remains of pots and pillars; and Bagamoyo in Coast region.
Olduvai Gorge in Manyara is known for the skull of the earliest man, which was discovered by Dr. Louis Leakey and his wife Mary Leakey in 1959. Bagamoyo is famous for old buildings and the slave market. Amboni caves in Pangani Tanga are earliest caves. Uvinza in kigoma was famous for salt production.
5. Photographs
There are so many historical events that are captured in photographs. Such photographs can be preserved for future generations. Photographs of historical events can be kept in archives, libraries, CDs, the internet or can be used as illustrations in books.
6. Written records
These are found in books, journals, magazines and charts.
7. Recorded information
These are found in CDs, DVDs and tapes. In these methods, we get traditional songs and dances from the past societies.
8. Sculptures
Historical information can be recorded in sculpture and statues. This method can be used to show national and society heroes and other events such as wars or independence. An example is the Askari monument along Samora Avenue in Dar es Salaam.
9. Archaeology
Archaeology is the study of remains of the past objects that are dug from the ground.
A person who studies past objects is called an archaeologist. A good example of archaeologists is Dr. Louis Leaky, who discovered and studied the skull of the earliest man.
Dating and recording historical events
Good knowledge of dating is needed for recording past events. The importance of dating is to help in explaining events that happened in the past at particular times.
It helps to explain why certain events happened in the past and not earlier or later.
Historians divide time into the following parts:
(i) Day – a period of 24 hours.
(ii) Week –a period of seven days.
(iii) Month – a period of 4 weeks =30/31 days or 28/29 days in a leap year.
(iv) Year – a period of 365 or 366 days= 12 months = 52 weeks.
(v) Decade – a period of ten years.
(vi) Century – a period of 100 years.
(vii) Millennium – a period of 1000 years.
(viii) B.C (Before Christ).This was the time before the birth of Jesus Christ.
(ix) A.D (Anno Domino). This is the time after the birth of Jesus Christ.
(x) Ages - Age is based on man's economic activity and the type of tools used during a given time. Example:
The stone age – Man used stone tools.
The iron age – Man used iron tools.
Importance of keeping records
1. Helps to have memory of the past events.
2. Recorded information can be used as evidence in courts of law.
3. Acts as a source of history, for example how people lived and behaved in the past.
4. The records can be used to write educational materials.
5. The challenging events can be retrieved and one can get knowledge of how they were overcome.
6. Used to learn past mistakes and correct them.