Question

How was history divided by historians during the middle of the nineteenth century?

Answer 1

Hint: During the middle of the nineteenth century, India was under the colonial rule of the British. The division of history was also done by British historians during this time.

Complete answer:
Historians divide history into various time periods or cultural periods for an easy understanding of the relevance and changes of each period. The study of time is made significantly easier by dividing large segments and periods of history into a smaller period that possess similar characteristics.

During the middle of the 19th century, the English historians had divided Indian history into three periods
- Hindu
- Muslim
- British

They made this division on the basis of religion rather than the importance of historical changes and development that each period possessed. This kind of division was not accurate as it ignored the rich diversity of the Indian subcontinent.

Few historians still follow this same ignorant periodization of India to date, while other historians look at economic and social factors to classify the major elements of development in the different periods of history.

The most accurate division of history is its division into the ancient, medieval and modern period with the consideration of elements like hunting, gathering society, towns and villages, the building of empires, kingdoms and peasant societies and imperial states.

Ancient history referred to the Vedic age and the early rulers such as the Mauryans and the Guptas. Medieval history referred to later rulers, from the Delhi sultanate to the Europeans. Modern history refers to the period from the advent of Europeans till the present day.

Note: The process of dividing history into quantified blocks of time is known as periodization. Periodization never precisely denotes the beginning or the end of a period; as a history is a continuous event and the transitions into the next periods took place over thousands of years.