FamilySearch Wiki:Wiki Project Country Histories

Instruction
Task List

Step One: Open Page in Wikitext

 * From the Task List, select a country.
 * Click on the link in the task list. This will take you to the country page.
 * If there is a link to the History page in the sidebar (usually under the Background section of the sidebar), open the page.

Step Two: Locate Corresponding Page in Wikipedia

 * In a separate window, open Wikipedia.org
 * Search for the country.

Step Three: Extract Historical Information

 * NOTE: if there is already information on the History page, and you have more to add to it, add the information wherever it fits.
 * From the introduction and the history section (and other sections if need be) of Wikipedia, find the following type of information:
 * The date the original area was founded.
 * The date the location was created.
 * What jurisdiction it belonged to at different periods of time.
 * Historically significant events (fires, earthquakes, battles) that may have damaged genealogical records.
 * Rephrase the historical information whenever possible so we are not directly copying Wikipedia.
 * The histories should be written in paragraph form, with each piece of information you find in a sentence right after each other.
 * The last sentence should give the population of the province. The basic format is already provided.
 * Fill in the name of the location
 * Fill in the population number, (usually stated in the sidebar), rounded to the hundred.

Step Four: Create Timeline

 * Based on the information in the History section, compile a timeline, organized in chronological order by year.
 * Use  to separate each event in the timeline.
 * For an example of how a timeline is supposed to look, see the Hong Kong page.

Example Page
The following link is the completed history page for Hong Kong.