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History

Get history ready

Learn how the world, and India within it, came to be the way it is. Read the past through evidence, understand different perspectives, and make better sense of the present.

5 levels · 122 modules · about 17 hours

  1. 1
    1. 1What Is History?Why history is an ongoing argument built from evidence, not a fixed list of dates to memorise.6 min
    2. 2Primary and Secondary SourcesHow to tell first-hand records from later accounts, and why historians need both kinds.7 min
    3. 3How Do You Read a Source?A simple routine for asking who made a source, when, why, and for whom.8 min
    4. 4Bias and PerspectiveWhy every source has a point of view, and how bias can still tell us something useful.8 min
    5. 5What Archaeology AddsHow digging, artefacts and material remains reveal lives that were never written down.8 min
    6. 6Dating the PastHow radiocarbon dating, tree rings, coins and layers of soil help put events in order.9 min
    7. 7BCE, CE and Other CalendarsHow different calendar systems, including Vikram Samvat and Hijri, count years in different ways.6 min
    8. 8Oral History and MemoryHow songs, stories and interviews preserve the past, and how historians check them carefully.7 min
    9. 9Inscriptions and CoinsWhy carved stone and metal coins are among the most reliable clues to ancient Indian history.8 min
    10. 10Who Writes History?How colonial, nationalist, Marxist and subaltern historians have told India's past differently.10 min
    11. 11Myth, Memory and FactHow to respect epics and traditions while separating what evidence can and cannot confirm.8 min
    12. 12Spotting Fake HistoryHow to check viral history claims online using sources, experts and a healthy dose of doubt.9 min
    13. 13Where Did Humans Come From?How Homo sapiens evolved in Africa and spread across the world over tens of thousands of years.8 min
    14. 14Early Humans in IndiaWhat sites like Bhimbetka and Attirampakkam reveal about the first people in South Asia.8 min
    15. 15The Farming RevolutionWhy the shift to farming and settled villages changed human life more than almost anything else.9 min
    16. 16Mehrgarh: Villages Before CitiesHow one of South Asia's earliest farming villages set the stage for later civilisation.7 min
    17. 17Mesopotamia: Land Between RiversHow the Sumerians built cities, temples and some of the world's earliest writing and laws.10 min
    18. 18Ancient Egypt and the NileHow the Nile shaped Egyptian farming, kingship, pyramids and beliefs about the afterlife.10 min
    19. 19Harappa and Mohenjo-daroHow Indus Valley cities were planned with grid streets, drains and standard bricks.10 min
    20. 20Daily Life in the Indus ValleyWhat seals, beads, weights and trade links tell us about ordinary Harappan lives.8 min
    21. 21The Undeciphered Indus ScriptWhy the Indus script remains unread and what the competing theories about it suggest.7 min
    22. 22Why Did the Indus Cities Fade?How climate change, shifting rivers and trade decline are weighed as explanations for Harappan decline.8 min
    23. 23Early China: Shang and ZhouHow oracle bones, bronze and the Mandate of Heaven shaped early Chinese kingdoms.9 min
    24. 24The Birth of WritingHow cuneiform, hieroglyphs and Chinese characters developed independently to record trade, law and belief.8 min

  6. History Ready badge + certificate

    You can read the past with care and use it to understand today.