How can understanding the past, help us to understand the world?

I see that understanding the past taught us what happened and what is going to happen in the future. Take a very easy example about history, the story of Malaysian history is that it was colonized by England for hundred of years and got their independence day on the August 31st, 1957. If we don't learn anything about the past, we would not know when or how ours, or other countries had their independence. And as an International student, it is important to learn the culture of a country that you're living in. Even more, learning the past helps us to organize the knowledge available in the world today.

Understanding the past also helps us to know our beliefs. In some places people have their own beliefs for their group of people and make the history so that their later generation can follow their foot-steps and carry on their values and traditions. They will learn about their races and where they actually came from. In the last 6 years, BBC has on aired TV series about celebrities tracing their family tree. The show is called "Who Do You Think You Are?" Watching this show makes people think about their own history, how on earth did you get here?  

The more you know about the past helps you to know more about who you are in the world. Organizing the facts about your family tree makes you understand yourself a little better. Traditions that your family are practicing right now, all comes from your fathers even forefathers. And now this is your job to pass it on to the future generation.