Category: History Essay Examples
See our collection of history essay examples. These example essays are to help you understanding how to write a history essay. History is a fascinating puzzle with both personal and cultural significance. The past informs our lives, ideas, and expectations. Historians study the past to figure out what happened and how specific events and cultural developments affected individuals and societies. Also, see our list of history essay topics to find the one that interests you.
Islam emerged out of the Arabian Peninsula (modern-day Saudi Arabia) in the seventh century. Prior to this, Arabian tribal peoples had practiced a wide variety of pagan beliefs, living in a time Muslims called jahiliyya or ignorance. The Ka’aba (probably a meteorite) in Mecca was one of the …
Islamic art and architecture is that of the Muslim peoples, who emerged in the early seventh century from the Arabian Peninsula. The Muslim empire reached its peak during the golden age of Islam from the eighth to the 13th century. Literary and archaeological evidence reveals that the early …
Arabic literature developed and dominated the Islamic cultural scene during the eighth to the 13th century and beyond, from Baghdad to Córdoba in the Andalus. Arabic language, the youngest and the most widely spoken of the ancient Semitic languages, is the language of the Qur’an—the sacred book of …
Science, technology, and other fields of knowledge developed rapidly during the golden age of Islam from the eighth to the 13th century and beyond. Early Abbasid caliphs embarked on major campaigns seeking scientific and philosophical works from eastern and western worlds. Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Empire, …
Shari’a is the collection of Islamic law that developed and was enlarged upon over a number of centuries. In Islamic society, fiqh, jurisprudence, was considered the queen of sciences and was held in extremely high esteem. Under the Abbasids Shari’a evolved as a codified system of Islamic law. …
The Isma’ilis are a sect within Islamic Shi’ism. Also known as Seveners, the Isma’ilis split from the Twelver Shi’i in 765 when they chose to follow Isma’il, the second son of the sixth imam. Early Isma’ilis were avid proselytizers and revolutionaries who attacked and sometimes even killed Sunni …
The history of Italy is the history of cities. This was especially true in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance when Italian cities gained such economic and political prominence that, independently of one another, many were considered actors on the European political stage. Generally defined, city-states were …
As the opening two phases of the grand cultural and intellectual rebirth (literal meaning of the French term Renaissance) of the late medieval period, the Italian Renaissance, or Quattrocentro (Italian for 1400s), and early northern renaissance sparked tremendous achievements in literature, art, architecture, and music that were inspired …
The people who ruled the Jin dynasty were called Jurchen; their language belonged to the Tungustic family related to Manchu and they were the first among the Tungustic people to form a major dynastic state. Their original homeland was in present day Jilin (Kirin) province in northern Manchuria, …
Joachim of Flora, or Joachim of Fiore, was an Italian monk, mystic, and biblical exegete who was the principal medieval proponent of apocalypticism or millenarianism (generally, any doctrine, usually based on the Book of Revelation, concerning the end of the temporal world, the Second Advent of Christ, and …
Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc), the national heroine of France, was born at Domrémy village on January 6, 1412, to Jacques Darc and Isabelle. Joan exhibited a pious character and was often absorbed in her prayers. At 13 years old, she started hearing inner voices calling upon her …
Kaifeng became the capital city of the Northern Song (Sung) dynasty c. 960–1126, when it was also called Bian (Pien) and was located south of the Yellow River on a rich agricultural plain in modern Henan (Honan) Province. Kaifeng was close to the Grand Canal, which made the …
The Kamakura Shogunate was a government established by Minamoto Yoritomo at the end of the Gempei War, which had lasted from 1180 until 1185. The shogunate lasted from 1185 (or 1192, when it was formally recognized by the emperor) until 1333. Because the Minamoto family lived at Kamakura, …
By 1200 c.e. the earlier African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai had passed. The dominant power in western Africa was Kanem Bornu. Another term for this region, since it encompasses part of central Africa, is Sudanic Africa. The first major leader of these kingdoms was Hummay, the …
The Japanese language supplanted that of the Ainu and is considered part of the Altaic group of languages. It is similar to Korean and may contain elements of Southeast Asian languages. Until the fourth century Japanese had no written form and the introduction of written Chinese provided an …
In 1185 the young Japanese emperor Antoku, some seven or eight years old, was drowned in the Battle of Dannoura in the Inland Sea by his grandmother, rather than be captured by their enemies. The power of the Taira clan, with which he was allied, was destroyed, and …
Until 802 the Khmers were organized into a number of warring independent kingdoms. They often fought among themselves and against foreign enemies such as the Chams located in present-day central Vietnam. King Jayavarman I, also named Parameshvara posthumously, united these disparate kingdoms. He first appeared in historical sources …
In 1366 c.e. the Anglo-Irish parliament met in Kilkenny and produced a body of royal decrees that became known as the Statutes of Kilkenny. The statutes aimed to prevent English colonists living in Ireland from adopting Irish culture and mandated that the Irish conform to English customs before …
At the time of the First Crusade (1096), Christian monasticism had been in existence since the third century after Christ. What developed out of the crusade, however, was a unique melding of Christian monasticism with the idea of crusade against the Muslims. The most spectacular result was the …
Kojiki means Record of Ancient Matters and Nijon Shoki means Chronicles of Japan. They were written in 712 and 720, respectively, and are the earliest works of Japanese myth and early history based on ancient oral traditions. They were produced on orders of the government to exalt the …
