"History (from Greek ἱστορία, historia, meaning "inquiry; knowledge acquired by investigation") is the scientific study of the past. Events occurring before the invention of writing systems are considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of information about these events. Historians place the past in context using historical sources such as written documents, oral accounts, ecological markers, and material objects including art and artifacts.
History also includes the academic discipline which uses narrative to describe, examine, question, and analyze a sequence of past events, and investigate the patterns of cause and effect that are related to them. Historians seek to understand and represent the past through narratives. They often debate which narrative best explains an event, as well as the significance of different causes and effects. Historians also debate the nature of history and its usefulness by discussing the study of the discipline as an end in itself and as a way of providing "perspective" on the problems of the present.
Stories common to a particular culture, but not supported by external sources (such as the tales surrounding King Arthur), are usually classified as cultural heritage or legends. History differs from myth in that it is supported by evidence. However, ancient influences have helped spawn variant interpretations of the nature of history which have evolved over the centuries and continue to change today. The modern study of history is wide-ranging, and includes the study of specific regions and the study of certain topical or thematic elements of historical investigation. History is often taught as part of primary and secondary education, and the academic study of history is a major discipline in university studies."
(from Wikipedia)
A few sentences from the Introduction of a book titled "On the Frontiers of History - Rethinking East Asian Borders"
"But once I started looking at history from the vantage point of frontiers, I found myself confronting profound questions about the nature of history itself. Why is it that we so readily accept the boundary lines drawn around nations – or around regions like East Asia – as though they were natural, self-evident and eternal, when in fact they are so mutable and often so very arbitrary? What happens to people not only when the borders they seek to cross become heavily guarded, but also when new borders are drawn straight through the middle of their lives? In trying to answer those questions, it soon becomes clear that time and space are woven together in complex ways. Questioning spatial frontiers therefore also forces us to question the frontiers that we draw through time."
Information about the author of the book "On the Frontiers of History", available below, is provided here. This may help readers to better evaluate the contents of the book.
"Tessa Morris-Suzuki (born 29 October 1951 in England), born as Tessa Morris, is a historian of modern Japan and North Korea. She is Professor in the School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, the Australian National University. She is also a coordinator of an open access journal AsiaRights, and has served as president of the Asian Studies Association of Australia. She was the winner of the Academic Prize of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 2013.
Born in England, she obtained her B.A. in Russian history in University of Bristol, M.A. and Ph.D. in Economic history of Japan in University of Bath. She lived and worked in Japan before emigrating to Australia in 1981. Tessa Morris married to the Japanese writer Hiroshi Suzuki and incorporated her husband's surname into her double surname. In turn, her husband incorporated her surname into his pen name as Morisu Hiroshi.
Her research focuses on Japan's frontiers and minority communities and on questions of historical memory in East Asia. She is the author of Exodus to North Korea: Shadows from Japan's Cold War. Her two most recent books are To the Diamond Mountains: A Hundred Year Journey Through China and Korea, and Borderline Japan: Foreigners and Frontier Controls in the Post-war Era (both 2010)."
(from Wikipedia)