The following article attempts to cover some of the important historical time periods of the world that has helped shape the world today. Continue reading for more information related to history by period.
The historical time period begins from the time when earth was going through evolution. Each historical time period is categorized by specific date, events, and place in history. These major categories of history by period is divided into geological, historical, and cosmological. The ancient history by period is based on the ancient written records, archaeological findings, and stories of bygone eras being told over the ages. The historical time periods begins from the early Stonehenge. But, we shall not go so deep into the past and have a quick sneak preview of the list of historical time periods.
List of Historical Time Periods
The following list begins from the early Bronze Age. This was an era that gave way to the development of great civilizations and empires.
| Historical Time Period/(Country) | Period |
| Ancient Period | |
| Iron Age | |
| Mesopotamia | 3500 BC – 559 BC |
| Indus Valley Civilization | 3300 BC – 1300 BC |
| Old Kingdom (Egypt) | 3000 BC – 2000 BC |
|
2000 BC – 1300 BC |
| Shang Dynasty (China) |
1800 BC – 1200 BC |
| Vedic period (India) |
1500 BC – 500 BC |
| New Kingdom, Egypt | 1300 BC – 700 BC |
| Zhou Dynasty (China) |
1200 BC – 500 BC |
| Ancient Greece | c. 3300 BC – 31 BC |
| Jomon period (Japan) |
800 BC – 400 BC |
| Ancient Rome | 509 BC – AD 476 |
| Yayoi period (Japan) |
400 BC – AD 300 |
| Kofun period (Japan) |
300 – 600 |
| Migration period (Europe) |
200 – 700 |
| Coptic period (Egypt) |
300 – 900 |
| Middle Ages | |
|
AD 500 – 1000 |
(Japan) |
538 – 1603 |
(China) |
420 – 960 |
(China) |
1115 – 1234 |
(China) |
220 – 1644 |
| Classic and Postclassic eras (Central America) |
200 – 1519 |
(India) |
280 – 1323 |
| Islamic Golden Age (Middle East) |
700 – 1300 |
| High Middle Ages (Feudalism) European military expansion | 1000 – 1450 |
| Srivijaya (Indonesia) |
3rd century to 14th century |
| Tarumanagara (Indonesia) |
358 – 723 |
| Sailendra (Indonesia) |
8th & 9th centuries |
| Kingdom of Sunda (Indonesia) |
669 – 1579 |
| Kingdom of Mataram (Indonesia) |
752 – 1045 |
| Kediri (Indonesia) |
1045 – 1221 |
| Singhasari (Indonesia) |
1222 – 1292 |
| Majapahit (Indonesia) |
293 -1500 |
| Chenla (Cambodia) |
630 – 802 |
| Khmer Empire (Cambodia) |
802 – 1432 |
(Vietnam) |
544 – 1427 |
(Peru) |
200 – 1534 |
| The Renaissance Period (Italy) |
1300 – 1500 |
| Early Modern Period | |
| Age of Discovery (or Exploration) (Europe) |
15th century – 17th century |
| Elizabethan period (United Kingdom) |
1558 – 1603 |
| The Protestant Reformation (Europe) |
16th century |
| Jacobean Era (United Kingdom) |
1603 – 1625 |
| The Age of Enlightenment (or Reason) (Europe) |
18th century |
| Tokugawa shogunate (Japan) |
1603 – 1868 |
| Mughal Empire (India) |
1526 – 1857 |
| Ottoman Empire | 1299 – 1923 |
| Qing dynasty (China) |
1644 – 1912 |
| Spanish hegemony | America: 16th century – 1820s, Europe: 16th and 17th century, Philippines: 1525 – 1898 |
| Modern era | |
| Petrine Era, Russia | 1689 – 1725 |
| Industrial Revolution | 18th and 19th centuries |
| Napoleonic Era | 1799 – 1815 |
| Georgian Era (United Kingdom) |
1714 – 1830 |
| Victorian era | 1837 – 1901 |
| Romantic Era | 1850 – 1920 |
| Gilded Age (United States) |
late 19th century |
| Edwardian period (United Kingdom) |
1901 – 1910 |
| Meiji period (Japan) |
1868 – 1912 |
| Progressive era (United States) |
1880s to the 1920s |
| Machine Age | 1900 – 1945 |
| Age of Oil | after 1901 |
| World War I | 1914 – 1918 |
| Interwar period | 1918 – 1939 or 1937 |
| World War II | 1939 – 1945 |
| Atomic Age | after 1945 |
| Post-war era | 1946 – 1962 |
| The Sixties | 1960 – 1969 |
| Cold War (Soviet Union and United States, and their allies.) |
1945 – 1989 or 1991 |
| Space Age | after 1957 |
| Post-Modern Age | |
| Information Age | 1970 – circa 2025 |
| The Seventies | 1970 – 1979 |
| The Eighties | 1980 – 1989 |
| The Nineties | 1990 – 1999 |
| The Noughties | 2000 – 2009 |
| The Tens | 2010 – 2019 |
This was a bit about the historical time periods. The world history is very vast and it will takes ages to explain each event in detail. Hope the above information on historical time period has helped you get a fair idea of the important events that took place throughout history.
