I hope this is the correct place to ask this:
Does history only refer to the past of humans? I'm trying to answer a college essay prompt "What historical moment or event do you wish you could have witnessed?" However i'm unclear on the definition of history. The dictionary definitions are vague and sometimes refer to specifically human history, but other definitions do not specify .
Any help would be much appreciated.
If considered with its technical and narrow definition, "history" refers to that part of the past that is documented with written records. One can have a history of volcanic eruptions - and not even consider their effect on people - but the use of the term "history" would technically imply "volcanic eruptions" that appear in written documents.
That said, the term history is often used generically for "the past." Given the nature of the question, I don't think we can include the mass extinction of the dinosaurs since there are no documents that can be brought to bear on that event. Stick with events that are within the period of recorded documents - whether or not those documents deal specifically with the effects of natural phenomenon on people.