Welcome to the UAA Department of History!

History is, at its core, the study of people. It encompasses all of the human past and all kinds of human activity. This includes, but is not limited to, the institutions people create, their relationships with their environments and one another, the cultures they develop, the decisions and actions they take, and the ways they understand and view the world.

Historians are similar to detectives. They use primary sources, as well as other evidence, to ask big questions about the past, like: What motivates people? Why did certain things happen? Why are human decisions, actions, and events significant? How have societies, structures, etc. changed over time? Does continuity outweigh change, or vice versa? Historians use evidence to interpret the past and to demonstrate that choices people made long ago have shaped their worlds and our present.

The History Department at UAA includes experts in the history of Europe, the United States, Russia, East Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.  Their specialties range from political history to economic history to cultural history to social history and beyond.With roughly 200 majors, the History Department at UAA is a thriving community of historical inquiry.

So why should you study history? Through intensive readings of texts and sources, intensive discussions in class, and a variety of writing and other projects, history majors at UAA get to become detectives of the past for themselves and to discern the wide and wonderful array of human experiences and activities. The research and critical thinking skills that historians develop help make them more informed global citizens and prepare them for a variety of potential careers. Plus, it’s fun!