It's a matter the sense of *history* used as an unqualified abstract noun.

Compare with this case where *history* is used in a fully qualified abstract noun:

> During most **of the** history of Europe...

> During most **of** European history...

As you can see, the first of these follows the pattern you describe in "most of the people", while the second follows that of "most of history" pattern you describe. We can see it with some other words:

> She has a love for all **of the** culture of America.

> She has a love for all **of** American culture.

What's changing here is not a matter of *most of* vs *most of the*, but of whether or not an article is used. That is, it's the difference between *the history* vs *history*, *the culture* vs *culture*, and so on.

This is a matter of qualifying the abstract noun so that it becomes treated like a concrete noun.