SOURCES OF HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

SOURCES OF HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1. a)  Give five reasons for studying history.

   i)  Assumption of knowledge about the past ii) Using it to develop a sense of time iii)  To develop a sense of belonging/culture iv)  To learn from past mistakes and achievement.

   1. Provide intellectual fulfilment
   2. To develop critical thinking/reasoning vii)

Helps us appreciate why we need a government viii)

Instill a sense of patriotism and national pride

 ix)  Helps us in attainment of a profession.

 b)  Explain three limitations of using the following:

 i)  Oral tradition

• Information may be exaggerated and this may distort history
• Some information may be forgotten/omitted due to loss of memory.
• Some information is based on dominant groups such as

  leaders/heroes; this may not correct bias.

• It is difficult to give correct dates and chronology of events/wrong

  dates.

  Also Read:

  • History and Government Form 1 Notes : CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT.
  • History and Government Form 3 Notes : THE FORMATION, STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF KENYA.
• Some information may be deliberately concealed by informants.
• Information given may be false.
• It is an expensive and time consuming method. ii)  Archaeology
• It is an expensive method because one has to hire labourers to excavate the sites and

  take artifacts and fossils to the laboratory.

• It is time consuming to organize visits to museums and archaeological sites where information can be obtained.
• It is difficult to locate archeological sites.
• Some of the fragile artifacts and fossils are destroyed by weather or by man during

  the process of excavation.

• It is limited to the study of ancient period.
• It is not easy to determine the date when events took place; it can only be estimated through carbon dating system/carbon 14 dating.
• Sometimes the information is inaccurate as it is based on inferences/scanty

  information.

1. Identify two sources of information which Historians use tow rite the History of Africa.

   i) Archaeology/palaeontology ii) Oral tradition

   1. Linguistics
   2. Anthropology
   3. Botany/zoology/biology/genetics vi) written records vii) Rock painting/sculpture/engravings viii) Geology
2. Give two limitations of using written records as a source of African History.
   1. Most of the written records on Africa History were written by foreigners who put their biases in the records.
   2. Some written records on African History contain inaccurate information.
   3. Information may be exaggerated, iv)  It is difficult to correct dates/chronology of events.
3. State two shortcomings of oral tradition as a source of history.

   i) They may contain biases ii) They maybe inconsistent/inaccurate/false iii)  Some of the records are not readily available with ease for reference.

   iv) Written records are limited only to those who can read and write.

4. What is oral traditional as a Source of History? ££

   Oral traditional as a source of Hisory involves the study of historical information based on what has been handed down from one generation to another by words of mouth/verbally.

   ecolebooks.com
5. State one advantage of written materials as a source of History.

   i) Written materials ensure relatively permanent storage of Historical events for future reference, ii) Written materials can be easily translated to different languages relatively accurate storage of historical events.

   iii)  They relatively provide accurate storage of historical events, iv)  Written materials cannot be easily distorted/infected with/not easily changed.