Okay so for me, it took a bit to think about how I wanted to answer this question. After a few minutes I got it. The way in which I wanted to define the term “engineering” for this class was to break it down into a two definitions. First will be the literal and second is the more analytical and my full take on the term. So let’s get to it, the literal is the idea of how the past has always had a “engineering” aspect as it has buildings that have shaped history and kept history intact with its engineering feats. For me an in depth answer for the term engineering means how using tools that have been presented we can engineer the past. Using these tools such as the module 2’s historical thinking we as historians can engineer or render an idea of what events took place. In simpler terms one can even take Prownians Analysis and “engineer” the past events based off of the evidence found in primary sources.

Engineering is design that is intended to solve a problem or better the lives of a certain people. Throughout history, people have been faced with obstacles and challenges that stood in their way. How they responded to these problems determined whether they thrived and passed on their genes, or died off and were forgotten to history. Many of these obstacles require physically engineered objects, while others require redesigned methods or ways of doing things. One of the first topics we looked at in this class were bridges. Bridges were originally engineered as a way to simply connect two land masses, but have evolved into artistic masterpieces and often serve as historic placemarks. This shows how engineering has transformed and how it can serve different purposes. We also looked at the architecture of ancient civilizations, such as the Incans and Aztecs, to study how engineering affected their ways of life. In these cases, engineering was heavily influenced by religious beliefs, rather than simply solving problems.