diff --git a/docs/design/architecture/README.md b/docs/design/architecture/README.md
index 296276a7b1..73d1ef459d 100644
--- a/docs/design/architecture/README.md
+++ b/docs/design/architecture/README.md
@@ -39,22 +39,10 @@ Kata Containers provides a ["shimv2"](#shim-v2-architecture) compatible runtime.
 The Kata Containers runtime is shim v2 ("shimv2") compatible. This
 section explains what this means.
 
-### History
-
-In the old [Kata 1.x architecture](https://github.com/kata-containers/documentation/blob/master/design/architecture.md),
-the Kata [runtime](#runtime) was an executable called `kata-runtime`.
-The container manager called this executable multiple times when
-creating each container. Each time the runtime was called a different
-OCI command-line verb was provided. This architecture was simple, but
-not well suited to creating VM based containers due to the issue of
-handling state between calls. Additionally, the architecture suffered
-from performance issues related to continually having to spawn new
-instances of the runtime binary, and
-[Kata shim](https://github.com/kata-containers/shim) and
-[Kata proxy](https://github.com/kata-containers/proxy) processes for systems
-that did not provide VSOCK.
-
-### An improved architecture
+> **Note:**
+>
+> For a comparison with the Kata 1.x architecture, see
+> [the architectural history document](history.md).
 
 The
 [containerd runtime shimv2 architecture](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/tree/main/runtime/v2)
@@ -86,26 +74,6 @@ launch both Pod and OCI compatible containers with a single
 alone `kata-proxy` process is required, even if VSOCK is not
 available.
 
-### Architectural comparison
-
-| Kata version | Kata Runtime process calls | Kata shim processes | Kata proxy processes (if no VSOCK) |
-|-|-|-|-|
-| 1.x | multiple per container | 1 per container connection | 1 |
-| 2.x | 1 per VM (hosting any number of containers) | 0 | 0 |
-
-> **Notes:**
->
-> - A single VM can host one or more containers.
->
-> - The "Kata shim processes" column refers to the old
->   [Kata shim](https://github.com/kata-containers/shim) (`kata-shim` binary),
->   *not* the new shimv2 runtime instance (`containerd-shim-kata-v2` binary).
-
-The diagram below shows how the original architecture was simplified
-with the advent of shimv2.
-
-![Kubernetes integration with shimv2](../arch-images/shimv2.svg)
-
 ## Root filesystem
 
 This document uses the term _rootfs_ to refer to a root filesystem
diff --git a/docs/design/architecture/history.md b/docs/design/architecture/history.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ca23396e5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/design/architecture/history.md
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# History
+
+## Kata 1.x architecture
+
+In the old [Kata 1.x architecture](https://github.com/kata-containers/documentation/blob/master/design/architecture.md),
+the Kata [runtime](README.md#runtime) was an executable called `kata-runtime`.
+The container manager called this executable multiple times when
+creating each container. Each time the runtime was called a different
+OCI command-line verb was provided. This architecture was simple, but
+not well suited to creating VM based containers due to the issue of
+handling state between calls. Additionally, the architecture suffered
+from performance issues related to continually having to spawn new
+instances of the runtime binary, and
+[Kata shim](https://github.com/kata-containers/shim) and
+[Kata proxy](https://github.com/kata-containers/proxy) processes for systems
+that did not provide VSOCK.
+
+## Kata 2.x architecture
+
+See the ["shimv2"](README.md#shim-v2-architecture) section of the
+architecture document.
+
+## Architectural comparison
+
+| Kata version | Kata Runtime process calls | Kata shim processes | Kata proxy processes (if no VSOCK) |
+|-|-|-|-|
+| 1.x | multiple per container | 1 per container connection | 1 |
+| 2.x | 1 per VM (hosting any number of containers) | 0 | 0 |
+
+> **Notes:**
+>
+> - A single VM can host one or more containers.
+>
+> - The "Kata shim processes" column refers to the old
+>   [Kata shim](https://github.com/kata-containers/shim) (`kata-shim` binary),
+>   *not* the new shimv2 runtime instance (`containerd-shim-kata-v2` binary).
+
+The diagram below shows how the original architecture was simplified
+with the advent of shimv2.
+
+![Kubernetes integration with shimv2](../arch-images/shimv2.svg)