Periodization

In historiography, periodization is the process or study of categorizing the past into discrete, quantified, and named blocks of time for the purpose of study or analysis.^[1][2] This is usually done in order to understand current and historical processes, and the causality that might have linked those events.

Periodizations can provide a convenient segmentation of time, wherein events within the period might consist of relatively similar characteristics. However, determining the precise beginning and ending of any 'period' is often arbitrary, since it has changed over time and over the course of history. Systems of periodization are more or less arbitrary, yet it provides a framework to help us understand them. Periodizing labels are continually challenged and redefined, but once established, period "brands" are so convenient that many are hard to change.

History

The practice of dividing history into ages or periods is as early as the development of

The term Middle Ages also derives from Petrarch. He was comparing his own period to the Ancient or Classical world, seeing his time as a time of rebirth after a dark intermediate period, the Middle Ages. The idea that the Middle Ages was a middle phase between two other large scale periodizing concepts, Ancient and Modern, still persists. It can be subdivided into the Early, High and Late Middle Ages. The term Dark Ages is no longer in common use among modern scholars because of the difficulty of using it neutrally, though some writers have attempted to retain it and divest it of its negative connotations. The term "Middle Ages" and especially the adjective medieval can also have a negative ring in colloquial use, but does not carry over into academic terminology. However, other terms, such as Gothic architecture, used to refer to a style typical of the High Middle Ages have largely lost the negative connotations they initially had, acquiring new meanings over time (see Gothic architecture and Goth subculture).

The

Three-age system

In

Some events or short periods of change have such a drastic effect on the cultures they affect that they form a natural break in history. These are often marked by the widespread use of both pre- and post- phrases centered on the event, as in pre-Reformation and post-Reformation, or pre-colonial and post-colonial. Both pre-war and post-war are still understood to refer to World War II, though at some future point the phrases will need to be altered to make that clear.

World history

Several major periods historians may use are:

1. Prehistory
2. Ancient history
3. Late antiquity
4. Post-classical history
5. Early modern period
6. Late modern period
7. Modern history^[6] (sometimes the nineteenth century and modern are combined)^[6]
8. Contemporary history

Although post-classical is synonymous with the Middle Ages of Western Europe, the term post-classical is not necessarily a member of the traditional tripartite periodization of Western European history into 'classical', 'middle' and 'modern'.

Some popularized periodizations using the terms long or short by historians are:

• Long eighteenth century

• Long nineteenth century
• Short twentieth century

See also

References

Citations