The first importance of history is at it acquainted
with knowledge of evolution of our society. It is necessary that people must
know how their society began and grow, the way its functions, its achievements,its
founders its friends and enemies, its partners and behaviour its religious
belief and cosmology etc.
Through history we also come to know how other
countries came to be what they are today.
Cicero once quote “said not to know what took place before you were
born it… will remain forever ...
History has answer to why certain events in the world happened the way they did. To
know how Nigeria become federation 1954,
one must go back to its
past. Why must English Language is our or the lingua Franica, Ghana, Sierrialone, Gambia, and France as in Ivory
Coast, Benin, Dohameny Bokinafoso, Mali etc.
What led to the development of aparty in South Africa.
Why America had led independence in 1776. What led to the new imperialism in
the earlier part of 19th century? What acieration of nationalist
movements in Africa between 1939-1946.
For answer to these questions, one must go back to history.
Professor cooling Wood, has noted that history embodies knowledge and that it
value lies in the fact that it teaches
us what man has done.
Through history we know and appreciate good deeds of
our ancestors. All these objectives are attend through a biographical approach
which involves the study of the life of
great men like Jaja of Opobo, Mohammed
Rimfa of Kano, Ajada Terrudo of Dahomy, Shaka
of Zulu of South Africa. Abdel Cada of Algeria and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe of
Nigeria etc.
Further more, history
help to develop peoples creative, imaginative, and literary abilities. This is
so because history stirs up of our imagination and create in us awareness of
past events by telescoping them and making perceivable to the senses. It thus make us live share
experiences of the past actors in events in which we were not participants
History as a
human science and force the opportunity to increase our capacity for dealing
with question affecting human beings Heads
of government and bureaucratic organizations, policy makers,
administrators, who have decisions involving
people need to have a knowledge of
history. Such as knowledge will help to know how the past successors succeeded
or failed in similar situations,
History equips
us with level headedness and G.M Brown regard such level headedness as an asset in life since it ask as a
check on ill considered action.
The truth is that people who have acquired the historical habit of
weighting and shifting the evidences. Such people are less likely it show an
unreasonable progenitor
Infact, lessons learnt from history can be guide to future action and decision making, a flash back on the French Revolution of 1789 and Russia Revolution of
1917 could serve as a guide to
how events would lead to positive
result. History equips us to have a deep insight into human character to know its like
and dislikes what would be likely being its action under certain condition, what he could and
could not tolerate. Such knowledge is a necessary ingredient such
knowledge brings tolerance which able to see the other persons point of views.
Another importance is that it helps to the development of talents or training of the
mind for the logical reason. There is no doubt, that the ability to sift or
deduce evidence and to identify the truth in no of conflicting statement called
for a certain intellectual skills. Such skill comes to the study of
history