NCERT History class 6 Chapter – 1 What, Where, How and When

OUR PAST-I

 Chapter – 1 What, Where, How and When

 History: History is a chronological account of events as they took place in the past.                                                                     PDF File: - click here

Why should we study History:

1.   We should study history as it tells us about our past.

2.   It gives us understanding about our culture and lifestyle in ancient age.

3.   It helps us to solve the problems of the present period of world. 

Time frames of History:

1.   Historians use chronological sequence for a better understanding. The Birth of Jesus Christ has been taken as zero year.

2.   All event before Christ is called Before Christ (BC) and all event after the birth of Jesus is called Anno Domini (AD).

3.   Timeline of history is divided into three stages –

• Prehistory
• Pro-history
• History. 

 Where did people live:

1.   People lived near river valleys, because rivers provided water for all purposes.

2.   Several thousand years ago, people were lived close to the banks of Narmada river .

3.   Traces of life were found near the Sulaiman and Kirthar hills in North West part of territory.

4.   Traces of life even existed along Ganga. Mahajanpadas like Magadha, Kashi, Vajji, etc. flourished 2500 years ago.

5.   The Himalayan Mountain has acted as natural barrier between Central Asia and India since ages. 

 

 

Sources of food:

1.   People collected roots,fruits and other forest produce for their food and also hunted animals.

2.   The two crops ,barley and wheat were grown about 8000 years ago near the north west region where Kirthar hills and Sulaiman are located.

3.   The region of Garo hills to the North- East and the Vindhyas in Central India were developed in the field of rice production.

Development of Cities:

1.   The river Indus and its tributaries are responsible for the flourishing of the earliest cities.

2.   In the course of later period the cities developed over the banks of river Ganga and its tributaries like Son, Chambal, Yamuna rivers.

3.   Magadha(The city developed to the south of the river Ganga) was considered as the most powerful Mahajanapada and its ruler were very powerful and set up large kingdom.

Why did people travel:

1.   People travelled from one place to another in search of their livelihood,to escape from natural calamities and also to conquer other's lands.

2.   Religious teachers were moved from one place to another to deliver their religious understanding to the people.

3.   Travelling emerged as a strong aspect of sharing ideas between more people,who were having diversities.

How was the name India derived :

1.   Our country is called India and Bharat.

2.   The name, Bharat was generally used by the people of North India, as mentioned in the Sanskrit composition Rigveda.

3.   The word Indus have its roots from the river Indus which is called as Sindhu in Sanskrit.

4.   The land, that is lied to the east of the Indus river was called India. 

How do we know about the past:

1.   Archaeologist and historians study several sources to tell us about the past. There are two sources to know the past  - archaeological and literary.

2.   Archaeology: The study of human prehistory and history through the excavation of sites and the analysis of physical remains.

3.   Archaeologists use sources like artifacts, monuments, inscription and coins.

4.   Literary: Handwritten or all other written record of the past is known as a literary sources.

5.   Literary sources include two types of literature - secular literature and religious literature.

6.   Manuscripts: Books that were written long ago called Manuscripts and they were usually written on palm leaf. These books dealt with religious practices and beliefs, the lives of kings,medicine and science.The Prakrit language was commonly used by ordinary people at that time.

7.   Inscriptions: Inscriptions were written on hard surface such as metal or stone, objects which were made on hard enduring substances.

Why studied sources of History:

1.   There were two groups of people who studied history. archaeologist and historians.

2.   Archaeologists studied bricks, remains of buildings made of stones, sculptures and paintings.

3.   Another group called historians were the people who studied the past and used information found in inscriptions, scripts and seals.

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