1. Having once actually existed or lived in the real world; as opposed to being part of some legend or fiction or as distinguished from religious belief.
2. Belonging to the past; of what is important or famous in the past.
3. Based on or reconstructed from an event, custom, style, etc., in the past: "A historical reenactment of the battle of Gettysburg as seen in a local newspaper at that time."
4. Noting or pertaining to analysis based on a comparison among several periods of development of a phenomena; such as, with languages or economics.

As seen in the International Herald Tribune:

French candidates scramble for center: Sarkozy and Royal woo Bayrou voters

Takeover to create a banking behemoth: ABN AMRO accepts offer from Barclays valued at 67 billion euro

Boris Yeltsin, a flawed hero, dies; Russia's democratic father was a praised, and reviled, figure

Alpine village will break hundred years of solitude: Anticipation and dread for Austrian tunnel

From chaos, Wikipedia shapes a breaking story

U.S. Envoy to Germany joins fray over energy

Europe approves tightening of sanctions against Iran

Charges of fraud abound as ruling party wins in Nigeria

Classes resume as Virginia campus fights to regain balance

Romanian lawmakers set date for impeachment vote

Boris Yeltsin's bequest

Bagging eternal plastics

Unintended consequences

The elusive man who May have invented jazz

American talent feted in London: Energy of young New York designers goes on display

Indo-European words.

Celts settled in Britain.

Romans invaded Britain and ruled the Celts from A.D. 43-410.

Romans had to conquer the Celts with many battles.

Icenian Queen, Boadicea, made the Romans pay a heavy price.

Romans built Hadrian's wall to protect themselves from the Picts.

Picts broke through Hadrian's wall in A.D. 300.

Roman troops went back to Italy to defend Rome from invading "barbarians".

In A.D. 410, the last Roman legions withdrew from Britain, leaving the Celts to defend themselves against the Picts and Irish.

Old English Period, A.D. 450-1150.

Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, Teutonic tribes settled in Britain.

St. Augustine arrived in England with 40 priests in A.D. 597.

Caedmon, wrote "Caedmon's Hymn" in A.D. 657-680.

Beowulf, Old English literature.

A.D. 731, the Venerable Bede, a monk at Jarrow, England.

A.D. 789, the Vikings began raiding and plundering Britain.

A.D. 871-899, Alfred the Great served as the first king of England.

Danelaw and English territory.

A.D. 1016-1035, reign of King Canute (Cnute).

Accession of Edward the Confessor restored King Alfred's line.

1066, "William the Conqueror" and his Normans and mercenaries took control of Britain.

1150-1500, Middle English Period.

1258, the "Provisions of Oxford", first official document to use English since the Norman Conquest.

1350-1400, period of great literary production in Britain.

Modern-English Period, A.D. 1500 to present.

English writers used Greek and Latin to present their ideas.

Human activities developed new objects and concepts, requiring new terms, many were still from Latin and Greek origins.

Scientific presentations used Latin and Greek as their nomenclature.

New inventions required more technical terms.

Improved travel methods and communication have developed standards of speech.

Uniformity of American English resulted from improved modes of travel and communication.

Space-age generation continues to utilize terms from Latin and Greek.

Getting better acquainted with Queen Boadicea.

Tacitus describes rebellion of Boudicca, A.D. 60-61.

A book of maps showing the various changes that have occurred over a specified period of time in a certain geographic area or in the development of a spatial event (examples: "Historical atlases usually contain more text than a standard atlas, with maps that are usually placed next to the passages they are intended to explain."

"A historical atlas may also have a chronology, or timeline, and biographical notes about the people whose names appear in the text."

A geologists who divides all time since the formation of the earliest known rocks (about four billion years ago) into four major divisions: Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras: A historical geologis maintains that each era, except the Cenozoic, ended with profound changes in the disposition of the Earth's continents and mountains and was characterized by the emergence of new forms of life.

Broad cyclical patterns, which run through all historical geology, include a period of mountain and continent building followed by one of erosion and, and then by a new period of elevation.

A study of the historical development of the Earth from the examination of its rocks: In historical geology, the rocks are analyzed in order to determine their structure, composition, and interrelationships and are examined for remains of past life.

Historical geology includes paleontology, the systematic study of past life forms, stratigraphy, layered rocks and their interrelationships, as well as the locations of ancient land masses and their boundaries, and geologic mapping, the superimposing of geologic information upon existing topographic maps.