Universal history is the presentation of the history of humankind as a whole, as a coherent unit. It is basic to the Western tradition of historiography, especially the Abrahamic wellspring of that tradition. A universal chronicle or world chronicle traces history from the beginning of written information about the past up to the present (contemporary time). As understood by historians, universal history embraces the events of all times and nations with the only limitation being that they should be ascertained as to make a scientific treatment of them possible.
Universal history is the representation of general facts both of entire nations and of individuals. Its uses are manifold. It teaches human nature and the experience of all centuries. Universal history is commonly divided into three parts, viz. ancient, medieval, and modern time.
Read more about Universal History: Historiography
Famous quotes containing the words universal and/or history:
“There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object, those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious. We find human faces in the moon, armies in the clouds; and by a natural propensity, if not corrected by experience and reflection, ascribe malice or good-will to every thing, that hurts or pleases us.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)