Historical method and objectivity

History is not a list of dates to memorise but a disciplined inquiry into the past based on evidence, argument and interpretation. The historical method asks a question, gathers sources, tests them, and builds an explanation that other scholars can check and challenge. A concrete example is the study of the 1857 uprising: British official records call it a mutiny, while Indian sources and later historians argue for a wider revolt, showing how the same events yield different histories depending on sources and questions. This chapter sets out the method and the problem of objectivity.