Say you want to describe an event of great significance in history.
Which one would you use?
HISTORIC or HISTORICAL?
The Treaty of Waitangi was a ___________ event that changed the course of the Maori’s destiny.
Well, in this case, we would use historic because it was important in history.
The Treaty of Waitangi was a historic event that changed the course of the Maori’s destiny.
WHEN TO USE HISTORICAL
Now you want to convey that something belongs to an earlier period in history or is about history. In this case, use historical.
Most of the city’s historical buildings
are located near the hill.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the historical novel “All the light you cannot see”, which was poignant and exquisitely written.
(About history; it depicts some historic events before and during WWII.)
In a nutshell
Historic: significant in history
Historical: belonging to history