Intellectual and Cultural Eras
What are the major eras of intellect and culture, and in what order did they occur?
When considering ages or eras of history, framing is very important.
The first thing you need to understand is that these time periods are wildly imprecise, for a couple reasons: (1) they naturally overlap, and (2) you need to decide the “altitude” from which you’re going to consider them.
At the highest level, most historians break recorded history into three big groups:
- Antiquity (or “Ancient Times”)
- The Middle Ages
- Modernity
But beyond that, you can break history down a lot of different ways, at a lot of different levels of granularity. Consider that some historians spend their entire lives just looking into one era, and they have no-doubt sub-divided that into finer and finer slices of time.
Additionaly, all time periods did not correspond exactly around the world. What I’m presenting here is an Anglo-centric view of it all – the view of so-called “Western Civilization,” or European history. In particular, East Asia would have experienced a different timeline.
In researching this, I had to make decisions what’s an “event” and what’s an “era.” For example, The Reformation was a long-running event (…?) that occurred over many years and drove far-reaching impacts to philosophy, education, religion and politics – does this constitute an era? I ran into the same confusion with things like The Cold War and The Black Death. I just made some arbitrary decisions there.
The Major Eras
The Stone Age
Started: Millions of years BC
Ended: About 2000BC
Lasted: Millions of years
This was the “caveman” era, where early Man was chipping away rocks to make tools. Humans were of the genus Homo, which ended with the appearance of Homo Sapien about 300,000 years ago. Therefore, this is the era in which the “human” as we know it today first appeared.
This is often broken down into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic ages.
The Bronze Age
Started: 3000BC
Ended: 1200BC
Lasted: Almost 2,000 years
This was when metal first appeared. The first metals in use by humans were those that could be smelted at lower temperatures, like tin, copper, and bronze (sometimes, The Copper Age is broken out as immediately preceding The Bronze Age). Most of the recorded activity in this era is in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq).
- Humans started writing during this era
- The classical period of Ancient Egypt occurred in this era
- Most of the Biblical Old Testament is dated to this era
- Historians often subdivide this into Early, Middle, and Late
The Iron Age
Started: About 1200 BC
Ended: Anywhere from 550BC to 800AD, depending on location
Lasted: Almost 1,000 years
This was when humans figured out how to smelt iron and combine it with carbon to create steel. The strength of this metal allowed for new advances in construction and technology, especially weapons and armor.
- Ancient Egypt continued through this era.
- This is the end of the “three-age” construct of ancient archeology: Stone, Bronze, and Iron.
- Most of the Biblical New Testament occurred within this era
The Classical Era
Started: 800BC to 500BC
Ended: About 500AD
Lasted: About 1,000 years
The era is concentrated around the Mediterranean Sea. Ancient Greece (earlier) and the Roman Empire (later) reached their peaks during this era, and Christianity began to spread from the Eastern Mediterranean west.
- Large parts of the New Testament took place during this era.
- Socrates, Plato, and Aristole all lived in Greece during this period
- Julius Ceasar lived in Rome during this period
- Ancient Egypt concluded during this era, as it was conquered by the Greeks then the Romans
The Middle Ages
Started: 500AD
Ended: 1500AD
Lasted: 1,000 years
This started after the fall of the Roman Empire. This was the age of kings, castles, and knights. The plague or Black Death happened during the later period of this era. The prophet Mohammed lived at the very beginning of this era, and it was marked by the rise of Islam. The Crusades occurred during this era. The printing press was invented towards the end of the Middle Ages (in Europe, at least; there’s some evidence that China invented it earlier)
- Collectively, it’s often known as Medieval Times, and historians sub-divide into Early, High, and Late.
- The earlier period is sometimes called The Dark Ages.
- This marks the end of what many historian refer to as Ancient Times or Antiquity
The Renaissance
Started: About the 1400s
Ended: The 1700s
Lasted: 200-300 years
This began in Italy as a “return” to the ideas of the Classical Era (“renaissance” is French for rebirth), driven in part by the invention of the printing press. It spread from Italy all throughout Europe.
- The era was renowned for art: Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, etc. all created art during this time
- The Catholic Church was dominant during this time until The Reformation began in 1517
- This is also known as the Age of Exploration.
- The second half of The Renaissance is sometimes called The Age of Reason
- The start of The Renaissance is sometimes used to mark the beginning of The Modern Period, which stetches to the current day
The Enlightenment
Started: 1600s
Ended: 1800
Lasted: About 200 years
This was a rapid expansion of science, education, and political theory.
- The first encyclopedia was printed during this era
- Both the American and French Revolutions happened during this era. Several other attempted revolutions around this time have led some historians to define The Revolutionary Era within this period.
- Sometimes called The Age of Reason, though some people use that name to refer only to the early period of The Enlightenment
The Industrial Age
Started: Late 1700s
Ended: ??
Lasted: 200 years (so far)
This marked the introduction of automation and machinery into manufacturing and transportation. Most of this advancement was driven by the development of the steam engine in the 1700s.
- The Luddite Revolution happened early in this era
- Given the accuracy of records, a lot of sub-eras are defined within this era, including The Nuclear Age, The Information Age, The Age of Imperlialism, and The Age of Globalization
And this leaves us with a question or two –
Are we still in The Industrial Age, or have we exited into something else? Is The Information Age an era all its own?
These are likely questions we’ll never be able to answer in our lifetimes – they will only be clear in retrospect, from far in the future.
Why I Looked It Up
I was reading a book about the Italian Renaissance, and at the same time, a friend recommended a book about The Enlightenment. I realized I’ve always had those two eras combined in my head.
I decided to figure out the difference, and it got expanded into figuring out the relative time periods of all the “named eras.”