Maharashtra Board Class 10 History Chapter 3 Applied History PDF Download

Applied History

3.1 What Is Applied History?

Applied History is also known as Public History. Applied History is a field of study concerned with the application of history for the benefit of people in the contemporary and future times. Knowledge of history is useful as it can provide guidance in finding solutions to contemporary social issues and incorporate them in the social planning. Knowledge of history is essential for this purpose.

The projects and programmes related to applied history can create opportunities for people to participate along with the technical experts. Their participation in the capacity of tourists visiting museums and ancient sites is also important. Tourism creates interest in history among people. They can volunteer to participate in the conservation and preservation projects of their own city or town or village.

Teacher's Note

Applied History helps us connect our past to our present life. For example, when you visit the Taj Mahal or a local fort, you learn how people lived long ago and understand our culture better.

Exam Trick

Remember: Applied History = Using history in real life. Just like you use math to count money, you use history to understand and preserve heritage sites.

Points to Remember

Applied History is also called Public History.
It helps people understand how the past connects to their present life.
People can volunteer to help preserve historical sites in their area.
Tourism at historical sites creates interest in history.
Knowledge of history helps solve problems in modern society.

3.2 Applied History And Research In Various Fields

History is about the past events. The way our present life style is shaped, is dependent on the historical chain of events. Historical events relate to various fields like politics, social and religious structure of a community, philosophy, technology and science, etc. Each of these fields have their own history of building knowledge. The direction of future development in every field is dependent on the state of available knowledge. Hence, the method of history can prove to be of value in the research of various fields. For example,

(1) Philosophy: The history of philosophy helps in understanding the origin of various ideologies, the intellectual traditions giving rise to those ideologies and their historical development. Philosophy needs language as a medium of expression. In order to understand the philosophical expression, knowledge of the history of language proves useful.

(2) Science: The history of science helps in understanding the chronological order of scientific discoveries, inventions and theories. It can also help to understand the cause-effect chain that led to those discoveries and inventions. It is said that need is the mother of inventions. Scientific discoveries and inventions are often the effects of human efforts to fulfil a need and also curiosity. These efforts are based on already available scientific knowledge. Knowledge of history of science helps in understanding the factors that facilitated a scientific discovery or invention and also its chronology.

(3) Technology: The history of technology helps in understanding the changes and their causes in the field of agricultural production, commodity production, architecture, engineering, etc. Scientific discoveries and inventions and technological advancement are mutually dependent on each other. Knowledge of science and technology was very important at every step from the making of stone tools to agricultural production in the evolution of mankind. Later the advancement of science promoted the mechanisation of production. It is necessary to know the history of technology in order to understand the development of mechanisation and the mutual dependence between science and technology.

(4) Industry and Commerce: The field of mutual social transactions expands with the growth of industry and trade. It also promotes continuous development of the network of cultural interactions. It is an integral part of the industrial and commercial management. It is essential to understand the history of these processes. The nature of the market and commerce has continued to change. Accordingly, the nature of human relationships and the social organisation also has continued to change. To understand this development it is necessary to study the history of culture, social organisation and economic institutions.

(5) Management Studies: In order to understand various factors involved in the chain of production such as means of production, human resources and processes of production, as well as the chain of market and sales management, etc. it is essential to have a knowledge of similar functional systems of the past. It is essential to understand the psychological character of people working at various levels in the chain of production and marketing for healthy management. In order to achieve it, understanding of the social and economic institutions that support the industrial and commercial processes is important. Knowledge of history in this regard makes the management at various levels easier.

(6) Arts: It is important to understand the development of various art forms with the help of their style of expression and their foundation in the form of intellectual-emotional-cultural traditions. The key to the expressions in any art form, emotional temperament of the artist and the developmental history of the respective art form can be understood with the help of cultural history.

(7) Humanities: Humanities include disciplines like history, archaeology, sociology, anthropology, political science, economics, etc. To understand the history of the origin and development of these disciplines is an essential part of their learning. All disciplines are supposed to have their origin in philosophy. Ancient people all over the world tried to speculate in order to understand the relationship between the universe and human existence. It gave rise to various mythological stories about the origin of this world, the universal order, human life, gods and goddesses, rituals and their philosophical explanation. Roots of philosophical ponderings are to be found in these mythological stories. Various disciplines under humanities have theoretical foundations based on philosophical theories. Only historical knowledge can help us in understanding these developmental stages.

Teacher's Note

History helps us understand how science, art, and technology changed over time. For example, learning about Indian mathematicians helps us understand how numbers and zero came to our country.

Exam Trick

Remember: Seven fields use history - Philosophy, Science, Technology, Industry and Commerce, Management, Arts, and Humanities. Think of it as: all fields have a past that helps us understand their present.

Points to Remember

History of science helps us understand discoveries and inventions in order.
Technology history shows how machines and tools changed human life.
Business and commerce changed because society changed over time.
Art forms developed through cultural and emotional traditions of people.
All knowledge comes from philosophy, which has a history we must study.

3.3 Applied History And Our Present

People often ask about the practical value of history. The answer to the question about the nature of applied history answers this question as well. The visible and invisible relics of the past exist in the present. We nurture some kind of curiosity, attraction toward them. We wish to know more about their history because they represent the creative thoughts and traditions of our ancestors. It is our heritage. It helps in building our identity. The history of our heritage links us with our origin. Hence it becomes necessary to preserve and conserve it for future, for our benefit as well as for the benefit of future generations. Applied history is concerned with the preservation and conservation of our heritage and make it accessible to people. Heritage management creates opportunities of employment. In brief, applied history can be described as understanding of our present with the help of history and finding right direction for the benefit of our future.

Teacher's Note

Our heritage tells us who we are and where we come from. Keeping old temples, forts, and traditions alive is like keeping our family memories safe for our children to know their grandparents.

Exam Trick

Remember: Applied History = Present + Past. We use the past to understand today and plan a better tomorrow, like how we learn from old mistakes to avoid repeating them.

Points to Remember

Heritage is the creative work and traditions of our ancestors.
Preserving heritage helps build our identity and connection to our past.
Applied history makes old things available and understandable to everyone.
Heritage management creates jobs for people in our communities.
Understanding our past helps us find the right direction for our future.

3.4 Management Of Cultural And Natural Heritage

(a) Cultural Heritage: It is in the form of human creation. It is of two types - tangible and intangible.

1. Tangible Cultural Heritage: This type of cultural heritage includes ancient sites, buildings, artefacts, manuscripts, sculptures, paintings, etc.

2. Intangible Cultural Heritage: This type of cultural heritage includes the following things:

Oral traditions and their language
Traditional knowledge
Social customs and rituals of celebrating festivals
Styles of performing arts
Certain traditional skills
Communities, groups who represent such traditions, customs and skills

(b) Natural Heritage: the concept of natural heritage gives importance to the thought of biodiversity. It includes the following things:

(1) Fauna (2) Flora (3) Ecology and geomorphic characteristics which is crucial for sustaining the flora and fauna of a particular region.

It is essential for the benefit of future generations to preserve our heritage. UNESCO, the global organisation has announced some directives with the objective of promoting the cultural and natural heritage. On the basis of those directives list of sites and traditions are declared as World Heritage.

The list of UNESCO's World Natural Heritage now includes Western Ghats. The Kaas plateau in the District Satara, is also a part of the Western Ghats.

Teacher's Note

Cultural heritage is what people create like temples and songs. Natural heritage is what nature gives us like forests and animals. Both are precious for India like the Western Ghats which has many plants and animals.

Exam Trick

Remember: Tangible = touch it (temples, forts, paintings). Intangible = cannot touch it (songs, dances, stories). UNESCO makes a World Heritage list to protect both.

Points to Remember

Tangible heritage is things we can see and touch like buildings and sculptures.
Intangible heritage is traditions and knowledge we cannot touch but must remember.
Fauna means animals and Flora means plants in natural heritage.
UNESCO decides which sites are important enough to be World Heritage Sites.
We must preserve heritage for future generations to enjoy and learn from.

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