There are four perk categories, one for each of the advisors and another that has "general" perks. I remember watching a video where they briefly showed the general perk list; one of them was similar to Arcane Knowledge, but focused on the history of Thedas and the Chantry rather than magic.
Perks are unlocked using influence, which is separate from the power resource you use to unlock new areas or operations. I'm unsure how you go about earning influence though, since most exploration and quest resolution in the videos reward with power.
EDIT: The history perk is called History Knowledge and was shown briefly in IGNs Gamescom coverage of DA:I