The first chapter of Canadian History: Pre-Confederation reviews the fundamentals of studying history, and a variety of studying methods. Historical sources are creditworthy after being verified and are subject to change through new methodologies. By using a variety of studying techniques, we find that the reader is open to the probability that there may be different perceptions to the past. E.H. Carr notes that “Events and personalities to which we apply importance are a matter of choice….. In other words, history doesn’t exist independently of the human imagination: it is something that is created.”

E.H. Carr, What is History? (London: Penguin, 1961): 11.