Have you ever wondered if the history we've been taught is accurate?

Question

It seems like every time i'm reading about dates i get a bit skeptical. i really think the dates in history are a little off. i think it's not even 2006. maybe we're a couple or a lot of years off.

Answer 1

Interesting question.
The ideas that were first theories are simplified into truths for young minds, and they stay around like that for years in teachers' notes.
It was discovered in some country in Europe that the history teachers were teaching from notes they made in college, that were themselves taken from notes their lecturers had made when they were students!
I know one of our teachers gave us a date for Hammurabi that no one had accepted since the nineteenth century. He also told us that the Dead Sea scrolls were written by the Essenes, which is disputed today.
That rats and fleas theory of the Black Death is usually still taught as a FACT - when it is just a theory, and one increasingly challenged by studies of plague victims' bones and die ratios. It's far more likely it was a viral infection.

Answer 2

I've never thought extensively about the dates we're taught being wrong, though it's completely possible. One must also remember that there are some socieites today that don't consider this the year 2006. The world was around much longer than 2006 years, though not "Anno Domini" (Latin for "In the Year of the Lord"). Suffice it to say that if the entire world cannot particularly agree that it is now 2006, it's overly possible that various historical records are off by a few years.

However, it is true that some of the history people are taught is not "accurate", depending on your definition of the word "accurate". For example, I know that schools in New England teach about the civil war and slavery abolishment as if the North was wonderful for helping slaves escape, slaves were treated poorly, etc etc... and schools in the south teach that slaves were treated as members of the family, that slave owners gave slaves the homes they so desired, etc etc.... On another topic, many people in the US are led to believe that the US's involvement in Iraq is a good thing, we're spreading democracy, etc etc, while many people in the middle east are led to believe that the US invaded another country to take over and force our beliefs upon them, etc etc. I'm not saying one is necessarily right over another (that's for another question thread), but it's a matter of how the subject is breeched.

I'm not saying all schools/teachers/etc do this, but as many people said above, History is exactly that: "his-story", it all depends on the author, teacher, school system, etc.

Answer 3

Hi Tree....I think I know what you mean. The year we know as 2006, well, its noly 2006 in our own calendar....for instance, the Mayan calendar records the current year as 2012. Remember, our calendar was worked over several times, beginning with Caesar (the Julian calendar). Also, time was divided into BC and AD...so, the count of years began all over again! Since we don't REALLY know how much time had actually passed before man began recording time, well, the dates are off, certainly.

Also, as someone already mentioned...history is written by men, and men (meaning human) are apt to mistakes.

Answer 4

Keep in mind that History is only as accurate as the person who wrote the book. Sure, the events could only have happened one way, but finding a group of people to write about it without adding hints of their own personal beliefs is a bit difficult.

None of us lived through something that happened more than a hundred or so years ago, so we're really relying on educated guesses (backed up with whatever scientific evidence we can gather) at best.

Answer 5

I think the biggest thing we have to remember is that history isn't just plain facts and dates. History is what historians make of it. Everything, and I mean everything is based on a particular historians interpretation (or historiography in history lingo). Unless we were there first hand we don't know exactly what happened and we can't consider first hand accounts as being without bias so all the history you learn is based on another historians interpretation of the facts.

If you want the truth, you have to search for it yourself. Never rely on anything anyone tells you because you're learning what they believe happened. It's better to make your own judgments based on the facts you can dig up on your own. For every historical interpretation, there is someone else who has said the exact opposite and whole a spectrum of ideas inbetween.

Answer 6

the year 2006 is really just a concept..it does not really make a difference. Really if you think about it what does 2006 mean...not much. You know how many years old you are....how long you have been here..does it really matter what number we use to describe the current year?? The planet is millions of years old...

Answer 7

The problem with history, is that while we have some concrete evidence, most of it is interpreted by mere human beings with opinions about what happened. Therefore, read widely on everything because there are certain to many differing views formed by different historians :)

Answer 8

What exactly are you basing this on, a feeling of information being concealed from you doesn't really prove much. What purpose would concealing historical dates serve. Information may be manipulated and skewed to serve an ideological purpose but i don't understand why anyone would, and more importantly, could falsify our entire dating and calender systems.

Answer 9

The strangest is the Civil War, Blacks fought for the South but you never here of it. If anybody doubts this stop in the Civil War museum in Harrisburg, Pa. they have the pictures and info on it.

Answer 10

You might want to check the so-called "phantom time hypothesis". There are some sceptics around regarding the "official" calculation of times. But beware, the stuff reminds me of the usual conspiracy theories.