Examples Of Periodization In History

Learning Objective

Clarify the complications inherent to splitting history for the purpose of academic report

Cardinal Points

The question of what kind of inquiries historians pose, what cognition they seek, and how they interpret the prove that they find remains controversial. Historians draw conclusions from the past approaches to history only in the end, they always write in the context of their own time, electric current dominant ideas of how to interpret the by, and even subjective viewpoints.
All events that are remembered and preserved in some original course constitute the historical record. The job of historians is to place the sources that can most usefully contribute to the production of accurate accounts of the past. These sources, known are primary sources or prove, were produced at the time under study and constitute the foundation of historical research.
Periodization is the procedure of categorizing the by into discrete, quantified named blocks of time in order to facilitate the report and analysis of history. This results in descriptive abstractions that provide convenient terms for periods of time with relatively stable characteristics. All systems of periodization are arbitrary.
The mutual full general split between prehistory, ancient history, Middle Ages, modern history, and gimmicky history is a Western sectionalization of the largest blocks of fourth dimension agreed upon by Western historians. However, even within this largely accepted sectionalization the perspective of specific national developments and experiences oft divides Western historians, as some periodizing labels will be applicable simply to particular regions.
The report of world history emerged equally a distinct academic field in order to examine history from a global perspective rather than a solely national perspective of investigation. Nevertheless, the field still struggles with an inherently Western periodization.
World historians use a thematic approach to look for common patterns that emerge across all cultures. World history's periodization, as imperfect and biased as it is, serves equally a way to organize and systematize cognition.

Terms

periodization

The process or study of categorizing the by into detached, quantified named blocks of time in order to facilitate the written report and analysis of history. This results in descriptive abstractions that provide convenient terms for periods of time with relatively stable characteristics. However, determining the precise beginning and ending to whatsoever menses is usually arbitrary.

main sources

Original sources of information about a topic. In the study of history as an academic subject, master sources include artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or other source of information that was created at the time nether written report.

How Do We Write History?

The word history comes ultimately from Ancient Greek historía, pregnant "inquiry," "noesis from enquiry," or "judge." However, the question of what kind of inquiries historians pose, what knowledge they seek, and how they interpret the evidence that they find remains controversial. Historians
depict conclusions from by approaches to history, but in the stop, they ever write in the context of their own time, electric current dominant ideas of how to interpret the by, and even subjective viewpoints. Furthermore, current events and developments oftentimes trigger which by events, historical periods, or geographical regions are seen as disquisitional and thus should be investigated. Finally, historical studies are designed to provide specific lessons for societies today. In the words of Benedetto Croce, Italian philosopher and historian, "All history is gimmicky history."

All events that are remembered and preserved in some original form plant the historical record. The task of historians is to identify the sources that tin can most usefully contribute to the production of accurate accounts of the past. These sources, known are primary sources or bear witness, were produced at the fourth dimension under study and constitute the foundation of historical research. Ideally, a historian will use as many available primary sources as can exist accessed, but in practice, sources may have been destroyed or may not be bachelor for research. In some cases, the simply eyewitness reports of an consequence may exist memoirs, autobiographies, or oral interviews taken years afterwards. Sometimes, the only evidence relating to an event or person in the distant past was written or copied decades or centuries afterwards. Historians remain cautious when working with show recorded years, or even decades or centuries, subsequently an event; this kind of prove poses the question of to what extent witnesses remember events accurately. However, historians also bespeak out that hardly any historical evidence can be seen as objective, as it is always a product of particular individuals, times, and dominant ideas. This is too why researchers endeavor to find every bit many records of an event under investigation equally possible, and it is non unusual that they find evidence that may present contradictory accounts of the same events.
In full general, the sources of historical noesis can be separated into three categories: what is written, what is said, and what is physically preserved. Historians ofttimes consult all three.

Periodization

Periodization is the process of categorizing the past into discrete, quantified, named blocks of time in social club to facilitate the study and analysis of history. This results in descriptive abstractions that provide convenient terms for periods of time with relatively stable characteristics.
To the extent that history is continuous and cannot be generalized, all systems of periodization are arbitrary. Moreover, determining the precise beginning and ending to whatsoever menstruation is too a matter of capricious decisions. Eventually, periodizing labels are a reflection of very particular cultural and geographical perspectives, likewise as specific subfields or themes of history (e.g., military machine history, social history, political history, intellectual history, cultural history, etc.).
Consequently, not only do periodizing blocks inevitably overlap, simply they also often seemingly disharmonize with or contradict ane another. Some have a cultural usage (the Gilded Age), others refer to prominent historical events (the inter-state of war years: 1918–1939), yet others are divers by decimal numbering systems (the 1960s, the 17th century). Other periods are named after influential individuals whose impact may or may non have reached beyond certain geographic regions (the Victorian Era, the Edwardian Era, the Napoleonic Era).

Western Historical Periods

The mutual general split between prehistory (before written history), ancient history, Center Ages, modernistic history, and gimmicky history (history within the living retentivity) is a Western division of the largest blocks of time agreed upon by Western historians and representing the Western point of view. For example, the history of Asia or Africa cannot be neatly categorized following these periods.

However, fifty-fifty inside this largely accepted partitioning, the perspective of specific national developments and experiences often divides Western historians, as some periodizing labels will be applicative simply to item regions.
This is especially true of labels derived from individuals or ruling dynasties, such equally the Jacksonian Era in the U.s., or the Merovingian Menses in French republic. Cultural terms may as well take a limited, even if larger, reach. For example, the concept of the Romantic menstruum is largely meaningless outside of Europe and European-influenced cultures; even inside those areas, different European regions may mark the beginning and the ending points of Romanticism differently. Likewise, the 1960s, although technically applicable to anywhere in the world according to Common Era numbering, has a certain prepare of specific cultural connotations in sure countries, including sexual revolution, counterculture, or youth rebellion. However, those never emerged in certain regions (e.g., in Spain under Francisco Franco'due south authoritarian regime). Some historians have also noted that the 1960s, equally a descriptive historical period, actually began in the late 1950s and concluded in the early 1970s, because the cultural and economic conditions that define the significant of the period dominated longer than the actual decade of the 1960s.

While world history (also referred to as global history or transnational history) emerged equally a distinct bookish field of historical study in the 1980s in order to examine history from a global perspective rather than a solely national perspective of investigation, it still struggles with an inherently Western periodization. The common splits used when designing comprehensive college-level world history courses (and thus likewise used in history textbooks that are usually divided into volumes roofing pre-modern and modern eras) are still a result of certain historical developments presented from the perspective of the Western world and particular national experiences. However, even the split between pre-modern and modern eras is problematic because it is complicated by the question of how history educators, textbook authors, and publishers determine to categorize what is known as the early on modernistic era, which is traditionally a period betwixt Renaissance and the end of the Age of Enlightenment. In the end, whether the early modern era is included in the first or the 2d office of a world history class ofttimes offered in U.Due south. colleges is a subjective decision of history educators. As a result, the aforementioned questions and choices utilize to history textbooks written and published for the U.S. audience.

World historians use a thematic approach to place common patterns that emerge across all cultures, with two major focal points: integration (how processes of world history have drawn people of the world together) and divergence (how patterns of globe history reveal the diverseness of the human experiences). The periodization of world history, as imperfect and biased equally it is, serves as a style to organize and systematize knowledge.
Without it, history would be nothing more than than scattered events without a framework designed to help us empathise the past.