How often do we use YouTube to set up an application or get down to business with DIY at home? It can also be a good educational resource that can be used in class, and outside of it, to learn about any subject.
Here is a selection of the best YouTube channels for learning History.
Behind The Cradle of Halicarnassus is José Antonio Lucero, a History graduate and teacher of Social Sciences and Language and Literature at the Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro School in Rota (Cádiz). The initial idea was to create an educational channel for 25 students so that they could have access to history lessons whenever and wherever they wanted. Their videos, in which History is treated in a very graphic way, with humour and with references to current characters, such as ‘The Simpsons’ or ‘Game of Thrones’, began to accumulate visits. It now has 64,000 subscribers.
YouTube channel to learn History, the purpose of its author, José J. Priego, is above all to entertain. This professor started Historias de la Historia more than three years ago and since then there are already about 85,000 people who enjoy the videos he publishes every Thursday. His purpose is to get rid of the popular idea that this subject is boring and to teach things that are not usually seen in the classroom. Among his most popular publications are ‘How to avoid being recruited by the legions in Ancient Rome’ and ‘Why priests in the Catholic Church can’t marry’.
If you are interested in the past, wonder why things happened, or want to know more about the enigmas of history, Peter’s Den will satisfy your needs. Again, behind this channel there is a professor of this subject. 7 Wonders of the Modern World’ or ‘The Origin of the Names of the Continents’ are among the most visited videos. Its contents are organized with sections such as The History of…, Curiosities and unknown anecdotes, The mysterious face of History, #HistoriaExpress or The lists of Cubil, among others. Already over 68,000 subscribers.
Play Academy videos are between one and 15 minutes long. Their contents, with an eminently didactic character, present historical facts, curiosities, current affairs, cinema, art, sport, music or science, although their specialization is above all History. In this case there is no one to appear on the screen but the technique of scribe video is used: videos in which a hand appears to draw and write the content. Recently they have also been including interviews and other material in this channel, which already has more than 1.5 million subscribers. Its author is Javier Rubio, a passionate about history.
The video ‘Venezuela’s crisis in 8 minutes’ has already registered almost 5.4 million visits. It is the most watched content in Memorias de Pez, a channel that I have more than 173,000 subscribers to every day. In this case, its authors, Borja Fernández and Sara González, also resort to the use of cartoon animation to explain curiosities about the Spanish flag, which has been the best sniper in history or to summarize in less than four minutes what it is and what a motion of censorship is for, among other issues. Its publications are regular, but they do not have a fixed frequency.
In addition to narrating conflicts and crises known worldwide, it shares content on issues such as religion, humanity, feminism or aliens. Dedicated to students who need to learn history and to curious people who want to know more about past and present mysteries, it has the sections #QuizHistory and #Did you knowthat include questions (trivia style) to test the user on how much he knows about historical facts.
It covers subjects from Charlemagne to the Empire of the Tsars, the Holy War or the medieval knights. However, it always uses the documentary format: it combines fictitious and real images about the events and includes testimonies of expert historians. His videos last about 40 minutes and some of them are divided into several chapters.
Martín and Sebastián, two young history students in Argentina, are the creators of this channel. As the name chosen by them shows, their summaries are usually 10 minutes long (approximately) and they present different topics related to any aspect of world history. Each month they attach new content based on images, maps, graphics and voiceover.
He makes summaries on topics of antiquity: Byzantine Empire, Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Medieval France… He also shares detailed explanations, accompanied by illustrations, about myths and legends, historical errors in cinema films or curiosities. It has over 500,000 subscribers and some of its videos have over a million hits.
Behind this channel is Rafa, a graduate in Ancient History, Prehistory and Archaeology. The material that goes up is very varied and gathers from opinions and analysis to detailed descriptions about history: current events, antiquity, curiosities, dismantling myths or relevant phrases. Its exhibitions do not exceed 10 minutes and its most visited publication has 272,759 reproductions.
