Curated category
Historical eras
- Bronze AgeThe term Bronze Age describes a phase in the development of material culture among ancient societies across Asia, the Near East, and Europe.
- Middle AgesIn 476, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by a Germanic chieftain named Odoacer.
- Cold WarOn the 5th of March 1946, former British prime minister Winston Churchill delivered a speech in Fulton, Missouri, that would define the opening chapter of…
- Age of EnlightenmentThe year 1637 marked a turning point when René Descartes published his Discourse on the Method. This text introduced a radical approach to knowledge that…
- Upper PaleolithicThe Upper Paleolithic marks the final chapter of the Old Stone Age, stretching from 50,000 years ago to 12,000 years ago.
- PaleolithicThe word Paleolithic arrived in 1865 when archaeologist John Lubbock coined it from Greek roots. He combined palaios meaning old with lithos meaning stone to…
- Mycenaean GreeceThe year 1750 BC marks the beginning of a new era in mainland Greece, known as the Late Helladic period. Archaeologists trace the emergence of Mycenaean…
- NeolithicIn 1865, the British archaeologist John Lubbock coined the term 'Neolithic' to describe a new phase of human history. This period marked the final division…
- Viking AgeOn the 8th of June 793, a group of Norse raiders landed on Lindisfarne. They destroyed the abbey and killed monks who tried to defend the holy place.
- Tudor periodIn the year 1485, Henry VII defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field to seize the English throne. This victory ended decades of civil war known…
- Early Middle AgesIn 378, the Roman army suffered its most shattering defeat since the Battle of Cannae at Adrianople. Emperor Valens died in that battle, and the core forces…
- Second Thirty Years' WarCharles de Gaulle stood before a crowd in Bar-le-Duc on the 28th of July 1946. He spoke of the drama of the Thirty Years War that France had just won.
- PeriodizationThe Sumerian King List dates to the second millennium BC and divides history into dynastic regnal eras. This ancient document serves as one of the earliest…
- Early modern periodThe year 1453 marked the fall of Constantinople, a moment that many historians cite as the starting point for the early modern period.
- Elizabethan eraQueen Elizabeth I ascended to the throne in 1558, inheriting a nation that had been financially bankrupt and religiously fractured.
- RenaissanceIn the year 1348, a plague known as the Black Death swept through Florence and killed nearly half of its population. This demographic catastrophe created an…
- Jacobean eraJames VI of Scotland inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I. This practical unification of two nations under one ruler marked a profound shift in…
- ChalcolithicThe word Chalcolithic combines two Greek roots: khalkos for copper and lithos for stone. This term emerged around 1900 to replace earlier labels like…
- Ancient historyThe first written words appeared in Mesopotamia around 3400 BC, etched into clay tablets by scribes who needed to track grain and livestock.
- Pre-Columbian eraThe haplogroup most commonly associated with Indigenous Amerindian genetics is Y-chromosome haplogroup Q1a3a. Researchers have found genetic evidence that…
- Neolithic RevolutionThe Neolithic Revolution began approximately 12,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent. This period marked a wide-scale transition from egalitarian…
- Age of DiscoveryIn 1492, the joint rulers of Castile and Aragon conquered the Moorish kingdom of Granada. This military victory removed a source of African goods that had…
- Iron AgeThe Iron Age marks the final epoch of three historical Metal Ages, following the Copper Age and Bronze Age. This period is defined locally around the world…
- Classical antiquityThe 8th century BC marked a turning point when the earliest Greek alphabetic inscriptions appeared on pottery and stone.
- Migration PeriodThe Migration Period spans from 300 to 600 AD, though some historians extend the boundaries as early as 300 and as late as 800.
- Georgian eraOn the 1st of August 1714, Queen Anne died without surviving children. Her death triggered an immediate succession crisis that ended centuries of Stuart rule.
- Post-classical historyThe year 500 CE marks a turning point in human history, as the Western Roman Empire had fallen and new powers began to rise across Eurasia.
- Modern eraThe year 1500 marks a rough starting point for the modern era, though historians debate exact boundaries. Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses in…
- Contemporary historyIn 1947, the United States and the Soviet Union began a decades-long confrontation that defined global politics. The Western Bloc led by Washington faced off…
- Space AgeOn the 20th of June 1944, a German V-2 rocket became the first manmade object to enter space. This brief flight occurred during World War II and remained…
- Ages of ManThe Greek poet Hesiod wrote his poem Works and Days between 750 and 650 BC. Lines 109 through 201 of that text describe five distinct ages of humanity.
- Little Ice AgeThe term Little Ice Age entered scientific literature in 1939 when geologist François E. Matthes described glaciers in the Sierra Nevada of California that…
- Information AgeIn 1947, a team at Bell Labs in New Jersey created the first working transistor. John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain built this germanium-based…
- Dark Ages (historiography)In the 1330s, an Italian scholar named Petrarch looked back at centuries of history and saw only shadows. He wrote that amidst errors there shone forth men…