Auxiliary sciences of history facts for kids

The Auxiliary sciences of history are fields of study based on historical sources and items.

Many of these fields of study started between the 16th and 19th centuries. At first, they were started by students of old artifacts. At the time, "History" was thought of only as a literary skill.

In the late 18th century the study of history became more empirical. This change was lead by the Göttingen School of History. Then in the mid-19th century, Leopold von Ranke also focused on it. These changes lead to the rise of the trained historian as a skill.

The auxiliary sciences of history include, but are not limited to:

• Archeology, the study of human activity
• Archaeography, the study of ancient documents
• Archival science, the study and theory of making and maintaining archives
• Chorography, the study of regions and places
• Chronology, the study of the sequence of past events
• Cliometrics, using economic theory and other mathematical methods to study history
• Codicology, the study of books
• Diplomatics, the study historical documents
• Epigraphy, the study of ancient inscriptions
• Genealogy, the study of family relationships
• Heraldry, the study of armorial devices
• Numismatics, the study of coins
• Onomastics, the study of proper names
• Paleography, the study of old handwriting
• Phaleristics, the study of military orders, fraternities, and award items
• Philately, the study of postage stamps
• Philology, the study of the language of historical sources
• Prosopography, the investigation of a historical group of individuals
• Sigillography, the study of seals
• Toponymy, the study of place-names
• Vexillology, the study of flags

Related pages

Historical method

See also

In Spanish: Disciplinas afines usadas en Historia para niños