HISTORY

by Prof. Adam Ferguson, L.L.D. Unlike the First Edition of the Encyclopdia Britannica, which defined the subject of history in little more than a single paragraph, the Second Edition presented a lengthy treatment in three parts: civil history, ecclesiastical history, and the composition of history. Accompanying the text was a hand-coloured plate representing the history of the world in the form of a chart, the first timeline published in Britannica. The text which follows formed the introduction to Ferguson's article and the explanatory notes to the timeline. history1 The outline is presented in the form of an "HISTORICAL CHART: Representing at one View the rise and progress of the Principal States & Empires of the Known World" and the accompanying "EXPLANATION." For a photograph of the chart, see Ferguson, Adam. history2 the discipline that studies the chronological record of events (as affecting a nation or people), based on a critical examination of source materials and usually presenting an explanation of their causes. History is treated in a number of articles. For the principal treatment of the subject of historiography and the scholarly research necessary for the discipline, see historiography. For information on any specific historical topic, such as the history of specific peoples, cultures, countries, and regions, the reader should first consult the relevant title in the Index. For information on the historical aspects of military affairs, economics, law, literature, sciences, art, philosophy, religion, and other fields of human endeavour, the reader should also first consult the relevant title in the Index.