List of time periods

The categorization 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 prehistoric 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 designations 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.

Prehistoric periods

Era

General periods

  • 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
      • Lower Paleolithic – time of archaic human species, predates Homo sapiens
      • Middle Paleolithic – coexistence of archaic and anatomically modern human species
      • Upper Paleolithic – worldwide expansion of anatomically modern humans, the disappearance of archaic humans by extinction or admixture with modern humans; earliest evidence for pictorial art.
    • 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).
  • Modern history – After the post-classical era
    • Early modern period – The chronological limits of this period are open to debate. It emerges from the Late Middle Ages (c. 1500), demarcated by historians as beginning with the fall of Constantinople in 1453, in forms such as the Italian Renaissance in the West, the Ming dynasty in the East, and the rise of the Aztecs in the New World. The period ends with the beginning of the Age of Revolutions.
    • Contemporary history – History within living memory. It shifts forward with the generations, and today is the span of historic events from approximately 1945 that are immediately relevant to the present time.

Forms of modernity

Technological periods

African periods

Further information: History of Africa

Egyptian periods

Further information: History of Egypt

Prehistoric Egypt (pre-3150 BC)

Dynastic Period

  • Early Dynastic Period or Archaic Period (two dynasties) (3150 BC – 2686 BC)
  • Old Kingdom (four dynasties) (2686 BC – 2181 BC)
  • First Intermediate Period (four dynasties) (2181 BC – 2055 BC)
  • Middle Kingdom (three dynasties) (2055 BC – 1650 BC)
  • Second Intermediate Period (four dynasties) (1650 BC – 1550 BC)
  • New Kingdom (three dynasties) (1550 BC – 1069 BC)
  • Third Intermediate Period (five dynasties) (1069 BC – 664 BC)

Antiquity

  • Late Period of Ancient Egypt (six dynasties: of these six, two were Persian dynasties that ruled from capitals distant from Egypt) (664 BC – c. 332 BC)
  • Argead and Ptolemaic dynasties (332 BC – 30 BC)
  • Aegyptus (fifteen Roman dynasties that ruled from capitals distant from Egypt) (30 BC – 641 AD)
    • Sasanian Egypt (one dynasty) (619–629)
  • Coptic period (300 AD – 900 AD)

Islamic Egypt

Medieval Egypt

  • Tulunid dynasty (868–905)
  • Ikhshidid dynasty (935–969)
  • Fatimid Dynasty (969–1171)
  • Ayyubid Dynasty (1171–1250)
  • Mamluk dynasties (1250–1517)
    • Bahri dynasty (1250–1382)
    • Burji dynasty (1382–1517)

Modern Egypt

  • Ottoman Egypt (Turk dynasty that ruled from a capital distant from Egypt) (1517–1867)
  • Muhammad Ali dynasty (1805–1953)
    • Khedivate of Egypt (1867–1914)
    • Sultanate of Egypt (1914–1922)

Contemporary Egypt

Libyan periods

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
    • Early Independent Era
    • Libyan Arab Republic (September 1969–1977)
    • Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
    • Contemporary Libya (2011–present)

American (continent) periods

Further information: History of the Americas

Pre-Columbian America

Colonial America

Mexican periods

Ancient and Pre-Columbian Mexico

Colonial Mexico

Independence Era

  • Mexican War of Independence (1810 - 1821)
  • First Mexican Empire (1821 -1823)
  • First Mexican Republic (1824 - 1835)
  • Centralist Republic of Mexico (1835 - 1846)

Liberal Mexico

  • Second Federal Republic of Mexico (1846 - 1863)
  • Second French Mexican Empire (1864 - 1867)
  • Restored Republic (1867 - 1876)
  • Porfiriato (1876 - 1911)

Modern Mexico

United States historical periods

Further information: History of the United States

Pre-Colonial era

  • Lithic stage
  • Archaic stage
  • Formative stage
  • Woodland period
  • Classic stage
  • Mississippian period
  • Post-Classic stage

Thirteen British Colonies (1607–1775)

United Colonies (1775-1781)

Confederation period (1781-1789)

First Party System (1789–1824)

  • Federalist Era (1789–1800)
  • Jeffersonian democracy (1790s–1820s)
  • Era of Good Feelings (1817–1825)

Second Party System (1824–1856)

  • Jacksonian democracy (1825–1854)
  • Civil War Era (1849–1865)

Third Party System (1856–1896)

  • Civil War Era (1849–1865)
  • Reconstruction era (1865–1877) (Some of this time period is known as the "Old West".)
  • Gilded Age (1877–1896)

Fourth Party System (1896–1932)

  • Progressive Era (1896–1917)
  • United States in World War I (1917–1918)
  • Roaring Twenties (1920–1929)

Fifth Party System (1932–1980)

  • Great Depression (1929–1939)
  • United States home front during World War II (1942–1945)
  • Post-World War II (1945–1964)
  • Civil Rights Movement (1954–1968)
  • United States in the Vietnam War (1955–1973)

Sixth Party System (1980–present)

  • Reagan Era (1980–1991)
  • Post-Cold War period (1991–2008)
  • Contemporary United States (2008-present)

Asian periods

Chinese periods

Further information: History of China

Bronze Age China

Archaic China

Antiquity

Medieval China

Mongol China

Late Dynastic Period

Modern China

  • Republic of China (1912–1949)

Contemporary China

Post-Contemporary China

Indian periods

Further information: History of India and History of South Asia

Timeline of Indian history.

  • South Asian Stone Age
    • Pre-Harappan
      • Mehrgarh
  • Bronze Age India (3340 BC – 1350 BC)
  • Iron Age in India (1350 BC – 200 BC)
    • Vedic period (1350 BC – 500 BC): Mahajanapadas
    • Magadha period (c.500 BC – c.750 AD): Nandas, Mauryans, Shungas
  • Classical India (200 BC – 500 AD)
  • Medieval Age in India (500–1526)
    • Tripartite period (c.750 – c.900): Palas, Rashtrakutas and Gurjaras
    • Muslim period (712–1857): Delhi, Bengal, Bahmani and Gujarat sultanates
    • Vijayanagara Empire (1336–1646), Gajapati Empire (1434–1541) and kingdom of Mewar (1325–1448)
  • Modern Age in India (1526 – present)

Iranian periods

Further information: History of Iran

Prehistoric Iran

Ancient age:

Medieval age:

  • Persia under Caliphates (651 – 820 AD)
  • Iranian Intermezzo (c.820 – 1037): Tahirids (821 to 873), Saffarids (861 to 1003), Samanids (819 to 999) and Buyids (934 to 1062)
  • Seljuk Empire (1037–1194)
  • Khwarazmian Empire (1194–1219)
  • Mongol occupation of Persia (1219 –1256)
  • Ilkhanate (1256–1335)
  • Disintegration of the Ilkhanate (1335–1370): Jalayirids, Chobanids, Muzaffarids, Injuids, Sarbadars, and Kartids
  • Timurid Empire (1370–1507) and Aq Qoyunlu (1378–1501)

Modern age:

  • Safavid Iran (1501–1736)
  • Afsharid Iran (1736 –c.1750)
  • Zand Iran (1750–1794)
  • Qajar Iran (1794–1925)
  • Pahlavi Iran (1925–1979)
  • Islamic Republic of Iran (1979–present)

Japanese periods

Further information: History of Japan

Archaic Japan

Feudal Japan

Samurai Japan

Modern Japan

Contemporary Japan

Mesopotamian periods

Further information: History of the Middle East and History of Mesopotamia

Archaic Period

  • Mesopotamia
    • Samarra culture
    • Hassuna culture
    • Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period
    • Ubaid period
    • Uruk period
    • Jemdet Nasr period (3100 BC – 2900 BC)
    • Early Dynastic Period (2900 BC – 2270 BC)
    • Akkadian Empire (2270 BC – 2083 BC)
    • Gutian dynasty (2083 BC – 2050 BC)
    • Ur III period (2050 BC – 1940 BC)
    • First Babylonian dynasty (1830 BC – 1531 BC), Hittites (1800 BC – 1178 BC)
    • Kassites (1531 BC – 1135 BC), Mitanni (1500 BC – 1300 BC)
    • Neo-Assyrian Empire (934 BC – 609 BC)
    • Neo-Babylonian Empire (626 BC – 539 BC), Medes (678 BC – 549 BC)

Imperial Period

Islamic Period

Mongolian periods

Antiquity

Medieval Mongolia

  • Rouran Khaganate (Mongolia, Manchuria, Xianbei, AD 330 – 555)
  • Uyghur Khaganate (Mongolia, Manchuria, Tibet, 744–848)
  • Liao dynasty (Khitan people, 907–1125)

Imperial Mongolia

Modern Mongolia

Southeast Asian periods

Maritime Southeast Asia

  • Srivijaya (Indonesia, 3rd – 14th centuries), Tarumanagara (358–723), Sailendra (8th and 9th centuries), Kingdom of Sunda (669–1579), Kingdom of Mataram (752–1045), Kediri (1045–1221), Singhasari (1222–1292), Majapahit (1293–1500)

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)

European periods

Further information: History of Europe and Art of Europe

Oceanian periods

Australian periods

Further information: History of Australia

See also

  • Geologic time scale
  • List of fossil sites with link directory.
  • List of timelines around the world.
  • Orders of magnitude (time)
  • Periodization for a discussion of the tendency to try to fit history into non-overlapping periods.
  • Time

References

Notes

  1. ^ The area had settlements as far back as 9000 BC; see Timeline of ancient Greece.

Citations

  1. ^ Adam Rabinowitz. And king It’s about time: historical periodization and Linked Ancient World Data Archived April 25, 2022, at the Wayback Machine. Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, 2014.
  2. ^ Iles, Dr Louise (December 30, 2016). "Big digs: The year 2016 in archaeology". BBC News. Archived from the original on November 17, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  3. ^ Bowman 2000, pp. 118–161.
  4. ^ a b c The Venture of Islam, Volume 2: The Expansion of Islam in the Middle Periods (1974), p. 3.
  5. ^ "A Beginner's Introduction to the Islamic Civilization". ThoughtCo. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
  6. ^ A Concise History of the Middle East (2015), p. 53.

Sources cited

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