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.
- 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
Pre-Columbian America
Colonial America
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)
Bronze Age China
Archaic China
archaicic china[clarification needed]
divistates of China[clarification needed]
Antiquity
mid dynastic periods
Medieval China
Mongol China
Late Dynastic Period
Modern China
Contemporary China
Post-Contemporary China[clarification needed]
Antiquity
Medieval Mongolia
Imperial Mongolia
Modern Mongolia
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
- Bronze Age (c. 3000 BC – c. 1050 BC)
- Iron Age (c. 1050 BC – c. 500 AD)
- Greek expansion and colonization (c. 1050 BC – 776 BC)
- Archaic Greece (776 BC – 480 BC) – begins with the First Olympiad, traditionally dated 776 BC
- Archaic period (776 BC – 612 BC) – the establishment of city-states in Greece
- Pre-classical period (612 BC – 480 BC) – the fall of Nineveh to the second Persian invasion of Greece
- Classical antiquity (480 BC – 476 AD)
- Migration Period (Europe, 300 AD – 700 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)
- First, interwar period and Second World Wars (1914–1945)
- Cold War (1945–1991)
- Post-Cold War (1991–present)
Prehistoric Iran
Ancient age:
Medieval age:
Modern age:
Archaic Japan
Feudal Japan
Samurai Japan
Modern Japan
Contemporary Japan
Imperial Period
Islamic Period
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
Ancient and Pre-Columbian Mexico
Colonial Mexico
Independence Era
Liberal Mexico
Modern Mexico