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In my story Halflings and Goblins have a somewhat accurate knowledge of their history, despite being spread over multiple continents. Now for the longest time humans weren't that good at keeping accurate records, especially involving the origin of their cultures and where they came from. So how might a group of hominids keep somewhat accurate records of their history over multiple continents?

NOTE: magic does not exist my story.

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    $\begingroup$ Accurate records do not necessarily mean a clear understanding of history. Even with accurate records, many folks today disagree on whether historical events within our lifetime actually occurred, their significance, and the importance of various factors that led to the events. $\endgroup$
    – user535733
    Feb 22, 2020 at 18:17

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Song.

Do you wonder why you, an ordinary (but special!) human, know hundreds, maybe thousands of songs? Why you can sing along to songs that were on the radio many years ago? Why do tiny kids love songs and want to sing? It is our birthright. Before we could write, and maybe before we could talk, humans could sing. That was how humans preserved their cultural history - with song.

There still exist very ancient stories and poems, that at one time were unwritten and passed along singer to singer. The Vedas is an example.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_chant

The oral tradition of the Vedas (Śruti) consists of several pathas, "recitations" or ways of chanting the Vedic mantras. Such traditions of Vedic chant are often considered the oldest unbroken oral tradition in existence, the fixation of the Vedic texts (samhitas) as preserved dating to roughly the time of Homer (early Iron Age).

It is not hard to imagine a world without Youtube where people got together and sang the songs that marked their cultural identity. That was our world. Sometimes it still is our world. You can hear it when that song comes on and everyone starts to sing.

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    $\begingroup$ I am not downvoting, but I would like to bring attention on how accuracy could be preserved through each iteration as the song passes from generation to generation. Humans are inherently biased, and crazy things can happen when history turns to legend. $\endgroup$
    – V. Sim
    Feb 24, 2020 at 20:09
  • $\begingroup$ @vsim The question asks for 'somewhat accurate records' - whether or not enough accuracy can be preserved by chants/songs depends on the penalty of failing to do so. I imagine that a cast of priests holding the belief the deity will punish the entire world if they change something recorded long ago may offer a solution (at least the alterations will be involuntary). $\endgroup$
    – Adrian Colomitchi
    Feb 25, 2020 at 9:50
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They had a profound impact on neighboring cultures that do keep accurate records.

Real world example, when Bulgarians came to Eastern Europe they didn't have their own alphabet and so they didn't keep records. However, being a thorn in the Byzantine's back side, the Byzantines kept their own accurate records of their interactions with them.

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