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In a wide sense, history is all that has ever happened, not necessarily concerning human beings.
The term history is also applied to chronological records of past events. In this sense, it is commonly accepted that history begins with written records (approx. 5,000 years ago). The long period before history is called prehistory, and today's paleolithical cultures can thus be called prehistorical.
Finally, history is a branch of knowledge that describes and tries to explain events that affect human communities.
Early historical records were largely mythological. Most of the time, history has dealt with political events and personalities, paying little attention to other fields of human activity and the complex relationships within human communities. Moreover, it was not until the 19th c. that European historians started to use scientifical methods. Today, the resources used by historians include not only written records, but also archaeological findings and interviews.
But, in spite of these efforts, history as a discipline continues to be conditioned by the values of the time. The way history is written is studied by a meta-discipline called historiography.
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