Areas of study Particular studies and fields These are approaches to history; not listed are histories of other fields, such as history of science, history of mathematics and history of philosophy. * Ancient history : the study from the beginning of human history until the Early Middle Ages. * Atlantic history: the study of the history of people living on or near the Atlantic Ocean. * Art History: the study of changes in and social context of art. * Big History: study of history on a large scale across long time frames and epochs through a multi-disciplinary approach. * Chronology: science of localizing historical events in time. * Comparative history: historical analysis of social and cultural entities not confined to national boundaries. * Contemporary history: the study of historical events that are immediately relevant to the present time. * Counterfactual history: the study of historical events as they might have happened in different causal circumstances. * Cultural history: the study of culture in the past. * Digital History: the use of computing technologies to produce digital scholarship. * Economic History: the study of economies in the past. * Futurology: study of the future: researches the medium to long-term future of societies and of the physical world. * Intellectual history: the study of ideas in the context of the cultures that produced them and their development over time. * Maritime history: the study of maritime transport and all the connected subjects. * Modern history : the study of the Modern Times, the era after the Middle Ages. * Military History: the study of warfare and wars in history and what is sometimes considered to be a sub-branch of military history, Naval History. * Natural history: the study of the development of the cosmos, the Earth, biology and interactions thereof. * Paleography: study of ancient texts. * People's history: historical work from the perspective of common people. * Political history: the study of politics in the past. * Psychohistory: study of the psychological motivations of historical events. * Pseudohistory: study about the past that falls outside the domain of mainstream history (sometimes it is an equivalent of pseudoscience). * Social History: the study of the process of social change throughout history. * Universal history: basic to the Western tradition of historiography. * Women's history: the history of female human beings. Gender history is related and covers the perspective of gender. * World History: the study of history from a global perspective. Periods Main article: Periodization Historical study often focuses on events and developments that occur in particular blocks of time. Historians give these periods of time names in order to allow "organising ideas and classificatory generalisations" to be used by historians.[30] The names given to a period can vary with geographical location, as can the dates of the start and end of a particular period. Centuries and decades are commonly used periods and the time they represent depends on the dating system used. Most periods are constructed retrospectively and so reflect value judgments made about the past. The way periods are constructed and the names given to them can affect the way they are viewed and studied.[31] Geographical locations Particular geographical locations can form the basis of historical study, for example, continents, countries and cities. Understanding why historic events took place is important. To do this, historians often turn to geography. Weather patterns, the water supply, and the landscape of a place all affect the lives of the people who live there. For example, to explain why the ancient Egyptians developed a successful civilization, you must look at the geography of Egypt. Egyptian civilization was built on the banks of the Nile River, which flooded each year, depositing soil on its banks. The rich soil could help farmers grow enough crops to feed the people in the cities. That meant everyone did not have to farm, so some people could perform other jobs that helped develop the civilization. World Main article: History of the world World history is the study of major civilizations over the last 3000 years or so. It has led to highly controversial interpretations by Oswald Spengler and Arnold J. Toynbee, among others. World history is especially important as a teaching field. It has increasingly entered the university curriculum in the U.S., in many cases replacing courses in Western Civilization, that had a focus on Europe and the U.S. World history adds extensive new material on Asia, Africa and Latin America. Regions * History of Africa begins with the first emergence of modern human beings on the continent, continuing into its modern present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing nation states. * History of the Americas is the collective history of North and South America, including Central America and the Caribbean. o History of North America is the study of the past passed down from generation to generation on the continent in the Earth's northern and western hemisphere. o History of Central America is the study of the past passed down from generation to generation on the continent in the Earth's western hemisphere. o History of the Caribbean begins with the oldest evidence where 7,000-year-old remains have been found. o History of South America is the study of the past passed down from generation to generation on the continent in the Earth's southern and western hemisphere. * History of Antarctica emerges from early Western theories of a vast continent, known as Terra Australis, believed to exist in the far south of the globe. * History of Australia start with the documentation of the Makassar trading with Indigenous Australians on Australia's north coast. * History of New Zealand dates back at least 700 years to when it was discovered and settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Maori culture centred on kinship links and land. * History of the Pacific Islands covers the history of the islands in the Pacific Ocean. * History of Eurasia is the collective history of several distinct peripheral coastal regions: the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe, linked by the interior mass of the Eurasian steppe of Central Asia and Eastern Europe. o History of Europe describes the passage of time from humans inhabiting the European continent to the present day. + History of Frisia is the study of the rich history and folklore of the Frisians and their languages, battles, culture, cuisine, and so forth. o History of Asia can be seen as the collective history of several distinct peripheral coastal regions, East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East linked by the interior mass of the Eurasian steppe. + History of East Asia is the study of the past passed down from generation to generation in East Asia. + History of the Middle East begins with the earliest civilizations in the region now known as the Middle East that were established around 3000 BC, in Mesopotamia (Iraq). + History of South Asia is the study of the past passed down from generation to generation in the Sub-Himalayan region. + History of Southeast Asia has been characterized as interaction between regional players and foreign powers. Military history Main article: Military history Military history conflicts within human society usually concentrating on historical wars and warfare, including battles, military strategies and weaponry.[32] However, the subject may range from a melee between two tribes to conflicts between proper militaries to a world war affecting the majority of the human population. Military historians record the events of military history. Social history Main article: Social history Social history is the study of how societies adapt and change over periods of time. Social history is an area of historical study considered by some to be a social science that attempts to view historical evidence from the point of view of developing social trends. In this view, it may include areas of economic history, legal history and the analysis of other aspects of civil society that show the evolution of social norms, behaviors and more. Cultural History Main article: Cultural history Cultural history replaced social history as the dominant form in the 1980s and 1990s. It typically combines the approaches of anthropology and history to look at language, popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past knowledge, customs, and arts of a group of people. How peoples constructed their memory of the past is a major topic. Diplomatic history Main article: Diplomatic history Diplomatic history, sometimes referred to as "Rankian History"[33] in honor of Leopold von Ranke, focuses on politics, politicians and other high rulers and views them as being the driving force of continuity and change in history. This type of political history is the study of the conduct of international relations between states or across state boundaries over time. This is the most common form of history and is often the classical and popular belief of what history should be. People's history Main article: People's history