Genealogy

And is the compilation of information necessary to construct what is usually known as a family tree, our pedigree or our ancestry. It is a chart which shows the relationships between individual people in an extended family over a period of time.The first records of genealogy can be traced back to the earliest civilisations in northern Africa, who recorded successions of dynasties and wealthy families reaching back hundreds of years. This was usually done to establish rights to title, land and property.There is evidence that this happened in many places in the world. However, it was the domain of the wealthy and few people outside those circles were even aware that family ancestry could be recorded and traced.This situation changed in the early 19th century when genealogy became more generally well known after the first practical guide to research was published.But it was not until the mid-20th century that family history was no longer solely devoted to tracing the genealogies of the great, the wealthy or the famous and it became a more common activity among the general population.