List of time periods explained
The categorisation of the past into discrete, quantified named blocks of time is called periodization.[1] This is a list of such named time periods as defined in various fields of study.
These can be divided broadly into prehistorical periods and historical periods(when written records began to be kept).
In archaeology and anthropology, prehistory is subdivided into the three-age system, this list includes the use of the three-age system as well as a number of various designation used in reference to sub-ages within the traditional three.
The dates for each age can vary by region. On the geologic time scale, the Holocene epoch starts at the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age (c. 10,000 BC) and continues to the present. The beginning of the Mesolithic is usually considered to correspond to the beginning of the Holocene epoch.
Prehistoric periods
Era
General periods
- Geologic Time – Period prior to humans. 4.6 billion to 3 million years ago. (See "prehistoric periods" for more detail into this.)
- Primatomorphid Era – Period prior to the existence of Primatomorpha
- Simian Era – Period prior to the existence of Simiiformes
- Hominoid Era – Period prior to the existence of Hominoidea
- Hominid Era – Period prior to the existence of Hominidae
- Distant signs of Human-like apes
- Homininaeid Era – Period prior to the existence of Homininae
- Homininid Era – Period prior to the existence of Hominini
- Prehistory – Period between the appearance of Homo ("humans"; first stone tools c. three million years ago) and the invention of writing systems (for the Ancient Near East: c. five thousand years ago).
- Paleolithic – the earliest period of the Stone Age
- Mesolithic (Epipaleolithic) – a period in the development of human technology between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods.
- Neolithic – a period of primitive technological and social development, beginning about 10,200 BC in parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world.
- Chalcolithic (or "Eneolithic", "Copper Age") – still largely Neolithic in character, when early copper metallurgy appeared alongside the use of stone tools.
- Bronze Age – not part of prehistory for all regions and civilizations who had adopted or developed a writing system.
- Iron Age – not part of prehistory for all civilizations who had introduced written records during the Bronze Age.
- Ancient history – Aggregate of past events from the beginning of recorded human history and extending as far as the Early Middle Ages or the Postclassical Era. The span of recorded history is roughly five thousand years, beginning with the earliest linguistic records in the third millennium BC in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
- Classical antiquity – Broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world. It is the period in which Greek and Roman society flourished and wielded great influence throughout Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
- Post-classical history – Period of time that immediately followed ancient history. Depending on the continent, the era generally falls between the years AD 200–600 and AD 1200–1500. The major classical civilizations that the era follows are Han China (ending in 220), the Western Roman Empire (in 476), the Gupta Empire (in the 550s), and the Sasanian Empire (in 651).
- Middle Ages – Lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and is variously demarcated by historians as ending with the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, or the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, merging into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery.
- Modern history – After the post-classical era
- Early modern period – The chronological limits of this period are open to debate. It emerges from the Late Middle Ages (c. 1500), demarcated by historians as beginning with the fall of Constantinople in 1453, in forms such as the Italian Renaissance in the West, the Ming dynasty in the East, and the rise of the Aztecs in the New World. The period ends with the beginning of the Age of Revolutions.
- Contemporary history – History within living memory. It shifts forward with the generations, and today is the span of historic events from approximately 1945 that are immediately relevant to the present time.
Forms of modernity
Technological periods
American (continent) periods
Pre-Columbian America
Colonial America
Australian periods
Southeast Asian periods
Maritime Southeast Asia
Peninsular Southeast Asia
- Chenla (Cambodia, 630 – 802) and Khmer Empire (Cambodia, 802–1432)
- Anterior Lý dynasty and Triệu Việt Vương, Third Chinese domination, Khúc Family, Dương Đình Nghệ, Kiều Công Tiễn, Ngô dynasty, The 12 Lords Rebellion, Đinh dynasty, Prior Lê dynasty, Lý dynasty, Trần dynasty, Hồ dynasty, Fourth Chinese domination (Vietnam, 544–1427)
Chinese periods
Bronze Age China
Archaic China
Antiquity
- Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD)
- Western Han (206 BC – 2 AD)
- Xin dynasty (9–23 AD)
- Eastern Han (25–220 AD)
- Six Dynasties (220–580)
Medieval China
Mongol China
Late Dynastic Period
Modern China
Contemporary China
Post-Contemporary China
- People's Republic of China and Taiwan (1949–present)
Mongolian periods
Antiquity
Medieval Mongolia
Imperial Mongolia
Modern Mongolia
Egyptian periods
Prehistoric Egypt (pre-3150 BC)
Dynastic Period
Antiquity
Islamic Egypt
- Egypt under four foreign Arabic dynasties that ruled from capitals distant from Egypt.
Medieval Egypt
Modern Egypt
Contemporary Egypt
European periods
- Bronze Age Europe (c. 3000 BC – c. 1050 BC)
- Iron Age Europe (c. 1050 BC – c. 500 AD)
- Middle Ages (Europe, 476–1453)
- Early modern period (Europe, 1453–1789)
- Age of Discovery (or Exploration) (Europe, c. 1400 – 1770)
- Polish Golden Age (Poland, 1507–1572)
- Golden Age of Piracy (1650–1730)
- Tudor period (England, 1485–1603)
- Stuart period (British Isles, 1603–1714)
- Protestant Reformation (Europe, 16th century)
- Classicism (Europe, 16th – 18th centuries)
- Industrious Revolution, (Europe, 16th – 18th centuries)
- Petrine Era (Russia, 1689–1725)
- Age of Enlightenment (or Reason) (Europe, 18th century)
- Scientific Revolution (Europe, 18th century)
- Long nineteenth century (1789–1914)
- Georgian era (the United Kingdom, 1714–1830)
- Industrial Revolution (Europe, United States, and elsewhere 18th and 19th centuries, though with its beginnings in Britain)
- Age of European colonialism and imperialism
- Romantic era (1770–1850)
- Napoleonic era (1799–1815)
- Victorian era (the United Kingdom, 1837–1901); British hegemony (1815–1914) much of world, around the same time period.
- Belle Époque (Europe, primarily France, 1871–1914)
- Edwardian era (the United Kingdom, 1901–1914)
- First, interwar period and Second World Wars (1914–1945)
- Cold War (1945–1991)
- Post-Cold War (1991–present)
Iranian periods
Prehistoric Iran
Ancient age:
Medieval age:
Modern age:
Indian periods
Japanese periods
Archaic Japan
Feudal Japan
Samurai Japan
Modern Japan
Contemporary Japan
Mesopotamian periods
Archaic Period
Imperial Period
Islamic Period
- Islamicate periods (7th – 21st centuries)
Libyan periods
Prehistoric Libya
- Prehistoric Libya (pre-600 BC)
Early Libya
- Carthaginian Libya (600 BC – 200 BC)
- Roman Libya (200 BC – 487 AD)
- Vandal Libya (487 AD – ≈600 AD)
- Islamic Libya (≈600 – ≈1200)
- Ottoman Libya (≈1600 – ≈1900)
Modern Libya
- Colonial Libya (≈1900 – ≈1950)
- Libya as an independent country
- Early Independent Era
- Libyan Arab Republic (September 1969–1977)
- Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
- Contemporary Libya (2011–present)
Mexican periods
Ancient and Pre-Columbian Mexico
Colonial Mexico
Independence Era
Liberal Mexico
Modern Mexico
United States historical periods
Pre-Colonial era
Thirteen British Colonies (1607–1775)
United Colonies (1775-1781)
Confederation period (1781-1789)
First Party System (1789–1824)
Second Party System (1824–1856)
Third Party System (1856–1896)
- Civil War Era (1849–1865)
- Reconstruction era (1865–1877) (Some of this time period is known as the "Old West".)
- Gilded Age (1877–1896)
Fourth Party System (1896–1932)
Fifth Party System (1932–1980)
Sixth Party System (1980–present)
See also
References
Sources cited
Notes and References
- Adam Rabinowitz. And kingIt’s about time: historical periodization and Linked Ancient World Data . Study of the Ancient universe Papers, 2014.
- News: Big digs: The year 2016 in archaeology. Iles. Dr Louise. 2016-12-30. BBC News. 2017-01-03. en-GB. November 17, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171117041806/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38381878. live.
- The area had settlements as far back as 9000 BC; see Timeline of ancient Greece
- A Concise History of the Middle East (2015), p. 53.
- The Venture of Islam, Volume 2: The Expansion of Islam in the Middle Periods (1974), p. 3.