Sources and ways of keeping records of historical events

These are sources of information. Such information is conveyed through the word of mouth. There are two types of oral memories, namely oral traditions and oral testimonies.

Oral traditions refer to information about the distant past. They are transmitted from one generation to another through the word of mouth. In oral tradition, a person who narrates a story about a past event did not witness the event. Rather, he/she learnt about that event from previous generations. For example, a person can talk about the development of his/her society since the 1800s, not because he/she witnessed the development in question but because he/she learnt about it from previous generations.

Oral testimonies are sources of information about the past. They are given by people who witnessed a historical event. Historical events can be about an accident, death or war. Oral memories are easy and less expensive to collect but need careful analysis to avoid bias in recording information.

Archaeology is the study of material remains of the lives of human beings in the past. Those who study such remains are called archaeologists. Through the excavation method, archaeologists dig the soil in order to find and recover remains of buildings, tools, animals, plant fossils and others. They interpret the remains and write reports on what they have found. Historians use the remains and reports prepared by archaeologists as a source of information and as evidence for understanding the past. They also write about it. They can use that information to write about the culture of past societies, events that happened in the past and the time when the events happened. For example, British archaeologists Dr Louis Leakey and his wife Dr Mary Leakey discovered the skull of a Zinjanthropus at the Olduvai Gorge in 1959 (Arusha, Tanzania). This discovery is used by historians to justify the historical truth about the origin of mankind.

Historical anthropology is the study of human, social or cultural institutions and their relationships over time. It studies cultural systems such as ideas, beliefs, religions, practices and institutions that regulate a particular society.

Historians use this information to understand past human activities and cultural practices. By using data from anthropology, historians can collect information about the culture, lives, traditions, taboos, behaviours and the development of a particular society in time and space.

Historical linguistics is the study and analysis of the sounds, structures and formation of a given language and the way in which that language reflects the culture of a particular society. It pays attention to the time when the language started, ways in which it changed over time, the time when certain words began to be used and the reason why they are used.

Historical linguistics also studies the relationship between one language and others in order to understand cultural interactions between different societies. Therefore, historical linguistics is an important source of information for understanding events and processes about the human past. This is due to the fact that language carries important information about the history, culture and development of a society. For example, some Kiswahili words such as chupa, dunia, shukrani and shule resemble words spoken by people from the Middle East, the Far East and Europe. By studying the Kiswahili language, it is possible to get information about the origins of, and interactions between, the people in Tanzania who speak Kiswahili and those in the Middle East, the Far East and Europe.

Written records are also a very important source of information about events and processes that happened in the past. They may include books, diaries, letters, official correspondences, newspapers and institutional reports. Some of these records are very old. Others have been written recently. Many of these written records can be found in libraries and archives. For example, in Tanzania, some written sources were produced by the early Muslim traders who visited Tanzania. Other written records were produced by the early European explorers, missionaries and traders who visited the country and the colonial officials who worked in Tanzania during the periods of German and British rule. Some of these written records have been produced by officials who worked in the post-independence period. Historians use these written records to understand what happened in the past.

A museum is a place where memories of historical events about the past are kept. Many objects representing cultural events and developments about the past are stored in museums. Tanzania has many museums such as the National Museum and House of Culture in Dar es Salaam, the Village Museum in Dar es Salaam, the Maji Maji War Museum in Songea, the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Museum in Butiama, the Arusha Declaration Museum in Arusha, the Natural History Museum in Arusha and the Moravian Church Museum in Rungwe. In these museums, you can find objects showing social, political and economic events that happened in the past. Historians use these objects and their descriptions to understand and write about the past.

Historical sites are places where one can find information about historical events. There are various places with records of historical events in Tanzania. They include those mentioned below:

1. Sites of the Slave Trade and Arabic influence The sites include Mji Mkongwe in Zanzibar, Kilwa in Lindi, Kaole in Bagamoyo, Ujiji in Kigoma and Songea in Ruvuma. Other sites are located along the Lake Nyasa region, Tanga, Singida and Tabora.
2. Sites of ancient civilization in Tanzania They include the Olduvai Gorge in Arusha, Isimila in Iringa and Kondoa-Irangi in Dodoma.
3. Sites of colonial wars and the First World War They include Lugalo, Kalenga, Songea, Kilwa, Mahenge, Tanga, Nyangao and Masasi.

Historical sites are very useful sources of historical information, which show the reality through the physical existence of past experiences or development.