The question “Why does history matter?” is often asked. To arrive at an answer, one would need to understand when history actually began. Ask historians and various answers are offered depending on who you talk to, but the answer to this question should be: Now. History begins now, at this very moment. What happened a second ago is already history. History is the huge succession of events that created us. Think of it, if you like, in the same way as you do a family tree, tracing back to your two parents, four grandparents, and so on. I would suggest that you can't begin to know about yourself, to understand the present, the way we live and why, until you understand something of your roots in the past. So, firstly, the past gives the present its value.