Back in the days, what factors would make it hard to properly documentate history?

Question

I am wondering what are some of the sources that would make it difficult to documentate history back in the 1600's to the 1800's?

Answer 1

Marie,

Historical documentation was sometimes recorded in diary entry format- but was very inconclusive, meaning lacking details; when a nation was conquered it often times witnessed the "Victor" destroy ALL records of the conquered nation to erase and sever the conquered nation's ties to its history; unfortunately some people didn't think events were important to document- what we now refer to as history (so they didn't make any documentation); some nations relied upon "scribes (an expert at recording an event or eyewitness account) to accurately document events"; if the nation lacked a scribe for the event it may not have been recorded, or it was partially recorded, or inaccurately recorded; some nations were very biased and flat out distorted an event; sometimes they didn't have anything to write WITH or write ON; sometimes they recorded the event at a later date, and their memory of the event was not as accurate; sometimes the event was exaggerated by retelling the story over and over again; sometimes the event was downplayed; sometimes when a nation lost a battle it recorded lies to defend its honor; many documents have been destroyed by age; court houses burned- with historical records inside; floods and natural disasters destroyed a lot of historical documentation; wars and conflicts have destroyed much documentation.

ALSO:
Improper and incorrect "Preservation of historical documentation" has destroyed a lot of documents. And insufficient data or lack of sources to verify the accuracy of the historical data is currently a huge problem.

Answer 2

Data Storage medium. No computer mainframes with countless back-ups and fail-safes. The only way to encapsulate knowledge was to write it down on paper, or by the 1600-1800's (the era you mentioned), the printing press. Paper, especially old paper, is basically super-strength kindling waiting for a spark.

In fact, we can blame a couple of fires over the course of human history for pretty much every dark age we've ever encountered as a race. To this day, the destruction of the library of Alexandria is considered to be the greatest single loss of human knowledge in history.

The second problem is ability to record thoughts in a fashion understandable by others. For instance, though the Egyptians had EXTENSIVE written records, it's only been in the last 100 years or so that we've been able to understand them. Even after the industrial revolution reshaped Europe and the America's, the percentage of literate adults in either sphere was vanishingly small (with a few exceptions). Outside of those areas, there are large swaths of the globe that have remedial or non-existent language and writing systems to this day. Considering the undeniable fact that history does not occur solely in nations able to record and document it's events, many events have been lost to history or relegated to speculation. I say speculation because many of these areas rely on oral tradition, which modern scholars are reluctant to use without corroberating evidence.

Answer 3

Lack of long distance communication to gather accurate facts.
Scarcity and expense of writing materials such as paper and ink, plus decreased durability of said.
Illitiracy and lack of printing presses, all books documents would require handwriting and very few possesing the skills, most within the church and the elaborate style of writing would also greatly decrease the speed of recording and reproduction (this limit on the number of sources would also contribute to a very one sided and narrow view of the recorded history).

Its a wonder that we have any knowledge at all of earlier times

Answer 4

Historians often find "documentation" in the form of several written accounts of a given event that vary so much in detail that the historian must try to evaluate the conflicting statements to determine what is true.
That is somewhat subjective. The view reported by the historian may be skewed by his own biases.

Answer 5

Monarchies dominated the ruling class in Europe, so anything unfavorable to the King or Queen could well lead to treason charges. Honesty was not always the best policy for those who wanted to keep their heads. In addition, sedition laws in Europe and in the colonies were strictly enforced making printing the truth very dangerous if the truth was not the party line.

Chow!!