NCERT Class 6 History Chapter 1 Notes What Where How and When

Chapter 1 What Where How and When Class 6 History NCERT Notes will be useful in developing skills and helpful in understanding the concepts in better way. These Class 6 History Notes will make concepts more simple and interesting.

CBSE Chapter 1 Notes What Where How and When Class 6 Social Science History

What can we know about the past?

1. There are several things we can find out about our past, like what people ate, the kinds of clothes they wore and the types of houses in which they lived.

Where did people live?

1. People have lived along the banks of this river for several hundred thousand years. Some of the earliest people who lived here were those who gathered their food from plants. They also hunted animals.

2. About 8000 years ago, women and men first began to grow crops such as wheat and barley lived in the areas of Sulaiman and Kirthar hills.

3. People also began rearing animals like sheep, goat, and cattle, and lived in villages.

4. Garo hills in north-east were some of the other areas where agriculture developed.

5. The places where rice was first grown are to the north of the Vindhyas.

6. About 4700 years ago, some of the earliest cities flourished on the banks of river Indus and its tributaries.

7. Later, about 2500 years ago, cities developed on the banks of the Ganga and its tributaries, and along the seacoasts.

8. In ancient times the area along Son and to the south of the Ganga was known as Magadha. Its rulers were very powerful, and set up a large kingdom. Kingdoms were set up in other parts of the country as well.

Movement of People

1. Throughout, people travelled from one part of the subcontinent to another.

2 Men and women moved to different places in search of livelihood and to escape natural disasters.

3. Men also marched in armies to conquer other lands while merchants travelled in caravans to carry their goods everywhere.

4. Religious teachers moved from place to place to offer advice while other people travelled to discover new places.

5. The movement of people and their settlements in the subcontinent enriched the local culture and enabled exchange of knowledge.

Names of the land

1. Two of the words we often use for our country are India and Bharat.

2. The word India comes from the Indus, called Sindhu in Sanskrit. The Iranians and the Greeks who came through the northwest about 2500 years ago and were familiar with the Indus, called it the Hindos or the Indos, and the land to the east of the river was called India.

3. The name Bharata was used for a group of people who lived in the north-west, and who are mentioned in the Rigveda, the earliest composition in Sanskrit (dated to about 3500 years ago). Later it was used for the country.

Finding out about the past

1. There are several ways of finding out about the past.

2. One is to search for and read books that were written long ago. These are called manuscripts which are handwritten historical documents which provide information about ancient beliefs, practices, knowledge and events. These were usually written on palm leaf, or on the specially prepared bark of a tree known as the birch.

3. Inscriptions were the writings on stone or metals. Sometimes, kings got their orders inscribed so that people could see, read and obey them. There are other kinds of inscriptions as well, where men and women (including kings and queens) recorded what they did.

4. An archaeologist is a person who studies the people and what they did in the past by the things they left behind.

5. Manuscripts, inscriptions and other archaeological remains are the sources of information for historians who study the past.

One past or Many?

1. The past was different for different groups of people.

2. Also, people followed different practices and customs in different parts of the country.

3. However, there is another kind of difference. We have lot of information of about kings and the battles

they fought because they kept records of their victories but generally ordinary people such as hunters, fishing folk, gatherers, farmers or herders did not keep records of what they did so there is much that remains unknown.

What do Dates mean?

1. AD stands for two Latin words, "Anno Domini, meaning in the year of the Lord' (ie., Christ). The year 2007, also written as AD 2007, means2007 years after the birth of Christ.

2. BC stands for 'Before Christ', meaning before the birth of Christ. For example, a time period written as 200 BC means 200 years before the birth of Christ.

Important Terms:

• Skilled Gatherers: People who gathered their food and who have lived on the banks of river Narmada for several hundred thousand years.

• Tributaries: Smaller rivers which flow into a large river. Archaeologists: People who study old objects made and used in the past.

• Historians: Scholars who study about the past.

• Excavation: Digging under the surface of the earth.

• Manuscripts: Books written by hand long ago.

• Inscriptions: Old writings on hard surfaces such as metal or stone.