What is history?

The commonly accepted (although not entirely accurate)
definition of history is the study of the past of human beings. This explanation is too
simple, as one's breakfast is part of one's "past." History is more precisely defined as
the "study of change over time." Many events happened in the past, people are born,
live, and die, but this is not "history." History is rather the study of those events in
the past which evoked change, from the time early man learned the use of fire and
developed settled architecture until the more recent events such as the War in
Afghanistan. An integral part of the study of change is also the study of continuity; a
true story of history must involve both the changes that have occurred and the customs,
practices, beliefs, etc. that have continued unchanged.