Abstract: This article uses excerpts from Professor Michael Seadle's forthcoming book Information Science: History, Philosophy, Applications. It recapitulates contents presented in Professor Seadle's keynote lectures during the 2024 iConference, the annual conference of the iSchools organisation. The purpose is to introduce readers to the origin of Information Science and how it developed over time in multiple cultures. The origin of the iSchools is also explained from the viewpoint of one of the founders. The content relies both on Professor Michael Seadle's experience as one of the founders of the iSchools, and on standard historical sources. It has a breadth coverage of knowledge and explores the role of information in multiple cultures with an emphasis on the Europe and China. The facts show that information is as old as humans and is integral to virtually everything that people do. The historical perspective and the international emphasis is missing from many works about information.

Keywords: Information history, Information science, Discipline identity, Discipline definition, Discipline scope, Library science