What *is* "History"?

Part of world building is figuring out where things are located, where they come from, who built this place and who named that street, why everyone wears straw hats in this part of the continent. It's an exciting part of writing a book: coming up with the history of each land and people, but this history we're creating...is according to whom?

We, the author, decide how we want to present things. But if history is written by the victor, then our true account that's squirreled away in the accompanying documents to the book for drafting might not actually reflect what the truth on the ground looks like to the world's inhabitants. The oppressed, the marginalized, and the outcasts will have a divergent account from that which is popularized according to the text.

We can ask ourselves a number of interesting questions:
Is "our" history true?
Is it complete?
By whom was it written, and who might reject this telling of events?
What is left out?

A street is named after a famous politician from the revolution.
What was it called before that?
Do some people have a different name for this street?
Are people, places, and things also named in multiple languages, with different meanings?
Or even in the same language by different groups?
How do these things complicate your book bible's "official" history?

And even more questions about governance:
Where are the official records kept and why?
What gets taught in schools, if there are schools?
Are all schools providing a similar experience, or are there others with counter accounts?
How is your history portrayed in your world's media?
What events in history are buried or sealed topics?
Are the histories maintained in different regions different and in what ways?
Culturally, what misinformation is taken for granted as commonly held belief and who's responsible for spreading it?

Since Fantasy and SF sometimes include kingdoms and powerful lineages, what role does colonialism play in your story's history?

The answer to all these questions need not be in the text, nor even in your mind. Some of them are worth considering, however, and reward a deeper scrutiny of the world building we craft to underlie our narratives to make richer stories.