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Ancient, Medieval and Modern History

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Last updated date: 23rd Apr 2024
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Classifications of History

History gives the memory, discovery, and organization of past events. History is available in the form of records or arts. History explains the habitat, life of people from their origin. The events that occurred before maintaining the records are known as prehistory. The events that occurred after people started to maintain records are known as history. Based on the time period, history is mainly classified into three divisions. They are ancient history, medieval history, and modern history. This article explains the important events that occurred in each classification and the difference between ancient, medieval and modern history.


Important Events of Ancient History 

The ancient history is also known as the stone age period or Iron age period. Ancient history started from 6000 BCE and ended in 650 AD. 

  • History of Mesopotamia (6000 BCE - 1100 BCE)

  • Indus Valley Civilization (3500 BCE - 1300 BCE)

  • Old Kingdom (3000 BC) - Egypt

  • Middle Kingdom (2000 BCE - 1300 BCE) - Egypt

  • Vedic period India (1750 - 500 BCE)

  • New Kingdom (1300 BCE - 700 BCE) - Egypt

  • Shang Dynasty (1800 BCE - 1200 BCE) - China

  • Mediterranean Antiquity

  • Zhou Dynasty (1200 BCE – 500 BCE) - China

  • Ancient Greece, (1000 BCE – 146 BCE) 

  • Mahajanapadas ( 600 - 300 BCE) - India

  • Ancient Rome (753 BCE - 476 CE)

  • Keeladi Tamil Civilization (600 BCE)

  • Classical India (230 BCE - 500 CE)

  • Six Dynasties (220 CE – 581 CE) - China

  • Three Kingdoms (220 – 280) - China

  • Late Antiquity ( 300 CE - 476 CE) - Europe, circa


Important Events of Medieval History 

The medieval period is also known as the dark age period. Medieval history explains the event that occurred in the 5th century to the 15th century. The majority of the events occurred in Europe. 


Classifications of Medieval History 

The mediaeval history can be majorly classified into following three parts:  

  • Early Middle Ages (5th century – 11th century) - Europe

  • High Middle Ages (11th century – 14th century) - Europe

  • Late Middle Ages (14th century – 15th century) - Europe


Important Empires & Periods of Mediaeval 

  • Byzantine Empire (476–1453) - Southeast Europe 

  • Merovingian dynasty (481–751) - France

  • Middle kingdoms of India (500–1206)

  • Nara period (709–795) - Japan

  • Islamic Golden Age (750–1300) - Middle East,

  • Carolingian dynasty (751–987) - France

  • Viking Age ( 793–1066) - Scandinavia, Europe 

  • Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907–960) - China

  • Capetian dynasty (987–1792, 1814 and 1815–1848) - France

  • Direct Capetians (987–1328) - France

  • Direct Valois (1328–1498) - France

  • Crusades in the Holy Land (1095–1291) - the Mediterranean Sea

  • Northern Crusades (1147–1410) - Europe

  • Mongol Empire (1206–1368) - Eurasia

  • Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) - India

  • Sengoku period (1478–1605) - Japan


Important Events of Modern History 

Based on the occurrence of events, modern history can be further classified into three periods. 

  • Early Modern Period

  • Late Modern Period

  • Contemporary Period 


Early Modern Period (1500 – 1750)

The early modern period is the first part of modern history.  In this period, people started inventing new machines and technology. Also, during this period Christopher Columbus invented voyages and the beginning of British industrialization. 

  • The Renaissance (14th century - 17th century) - Europe 

  • Age of Discovery (15th century - 18th century) - Europe

  • House of Valois-Orléans (1498–1515) - France,

  • Valois-Angoulême (1515–1589) - France

  • The Protestant Reformation (16th century) - Europe

  • Elizabethan period (1558–1603) - England

  • Age of Sail  (1571–1862)

  • House of Bourbon (1589–1792) - France

  • Qing dynasty (1644–1912) - China 

  • The Age of Enlightenment (18th century) - Europe


Late Modern Period (1750 – 1945)

The late modern period approximately covers the events that occurred between the early modern and contemporary. The late modern period begins with  European industrialization in 1750 and ends with World war II in 1945. 

  • Industrial Revolution (1760-1840) - England, Western Europe, Great Britain, United Kingdom,

  • French Revolution ( 1789–1799)  - France, Europe 

  • Napoleonic Era (1799–1814 and 1815) - France, Europe, 

  • House of Bourbon and Bourbon Restoration (1814 and 1815–1830) - France

  • New Imperialism (1815-1914) - Western Europe 

  • House of Orléans and July Monarchy (1830–1848) - France

  • Victorian era (1837–1901) - the United Kingdom

  • French Second Republic (1848–1852) - France,

  • Second French Empire (1852–1870) - France,

  • Meiji era (1868–1912) - Japan,

  • Gilded Age (1870–1900) - United States,

  • French Third Republic (1870–1940) - France

  • Machine Age (1880-1945) - Europe, United States 

  • Edwardian period (1901–1910) - United Kingdom

  • World War I (1914–1918) - Most European countries and other countries across the world. 

  • Spanish flu (February 1918-April 1920) - Most of the countries across the world 

  • Interwar period (1918–1939) - Entire Earth 

  • The Roaring Twenties (1920–1929) - United States, Earth 

  • The Great Depression ( 1929–1939) - the United States, Most of the countries around the world 

  • World War II ( 1939–1945) - Most of the countries around the world. 


Contemporary Period (1945 – present)

The contemporary period explains the event that occurred approximately 100 years before the current year. So, the contemporary period for 2021 was taken into account after 1945, when the second world war ended. 

  • Cold War (1945–1991) - Between the Soviet Union and the United States, with their allied states,

  • Space Age (after 1957)

  • Information Age (1971–present)

  • Post-communist period (after 1991) / Post-Cold War (Western world after 1991)

  • War on Terror Era (after September 11, 2001)

  • COVID-19 pandemic (2020-present)


Difference Between Ancient Medieval And Modern History 

The below table shows the difference between ancient medieval and modern history in detail with its period and advantages..etc. 


Ancient History

Medieval History

Modern History

Records from 6000 BC to 650 AD

Records from 500 AD to 1500 AD

Records from 500 AD to Present Day

In this era, human beings widely started using bronze and iron tools. Also, people concentrated on the formation of composite human societies for the evolution of large empires. 

During this period, people started using advanced science and technologies like the invention of gunpowder. The trade between Asia and Europe increased on large scale.  

The new era invited many technological advances. Meanwhile, it appreciated new systems of government by overcoming the old systems

Ancient history often refers to the beginning of the iron age. Usually, the term “classical antiquity” creates confusion with ancient history, but it was mainly used to describe western history at the time, Ancient Mediterranean Civilisations prospered

In Europe, Medieval history wasal ways referred to with the term ‘dark ages’. Because many records were lost due to the chaos and western half of the roman empire fell. 


 

Modern history is also known as the ‘Age of exploration’. The late modern period or one of the three major subsets of modern history including the early modern period and the late modern period were referred to with the term contemporary history. The term contemporary history was mainly used to explain records of the early 19th century.  

During this period, the world population was estimated at around 72 million in 1000 BC. And it should be around 209 million in 500 AD. 

During this period, the world population rose from 210 million in 500 AD to 461 million in 1500 AD. 

During this era, the world population increased from 460 million to 7 billion as of 2020 AD. 

The list of the most important events of Ancient history is given below. They are the rise and fall of the Indus Valley Civilization, the rise of the Greek Kingdoms, and the establishment of international trade networks.


The important events of the dark ages were listed below. In 476 AD, the fall of the roman empire in the west. In 534 AD, the invasion of Italy by the Byzantine Empire. This rise of the Byzantine Empire was marked as the beginning of a period and marked by anarchy and disorder


The fervent period of European culture of the 15th and 16th centuries was declared as the start of the modern period. The remarkable events of this period are advancements in learning, technology, medicine and exploration.

World war I and world war II are other two major events that occurred in Modern history. 


Conclusion

This article explained the complete information about ancient, medieval and modern history. Here, the differences between ancient medieval and modern history are also described in detail. With this, we have got a brief introduction about the major events of all the periods Worldwide. To get detailed information, regional and country video history is preferred. 


FAQs on Ancient, Medieval and Modern History

1. What is the ancient and medieval period?

Ancient history explains human settlements on the earth around 6000 BC. Medieval history explains the human settlements around 500 AD.  During this period, human beings faced outbursts of major cultures and religions. Medieval history is also known as post-classical history. Mediaeval period is considered as the transitional period between the Ancient and the modern period. 

2. Answer the following questions:

  • Which is the medieval period of European history?

  • Which is the mediaeval period of Indian history?

The answers are given below:

  • The middle ages period of European history was started in the 5th century when the Roman civilization collapsed to the period of the Renaissance. Regions of Europe faced huge interpretations in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. 

  • The medieval period of Indian history can be divided into two parts ie. early mediaeval and late medieval period. The establishment of Delhi Sultanate as well as the Mughal Empire could be seen in this period. The mediaeval period is important because of the great art and architecture of India.

3. Which period is known as the early medieval period?

The dark ages are referred to as the early middle ages or early medieval period. The middle ages are mainly about European history. Historians recorded the event from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century AD in the early medieval period. In Europe, the dark age was considered as the time after the fall of the Roman Empire in which intellectual, economic as well as cultural decline was seen and this age was part of early middle ages in the Western Europe.