Historical Terms and Concepts
To understand the past, we need to be able to arrange events. To do this, we need to understand how to
divide and measure time correctly.
Chronological Order
Timelines help us organise events into a day, year, decade, or even century.
Below is an example of a timeline.
Dividing Time
Historians divide time in different ways. For example, the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. These three
time periods are called prehistoric. The prehistoric period was before people created written records. Time
can also be divided by a ruling family, such as the Han dynasty in China, or even by important events or
influences, such as the Renaissance. The Renaissance was when new ideas about art, music, literature and
science were prominent. There was even a Space Age when a time saw advances in space exploration.
Religious beliefs also influence historians when they are dividing time. Muslims count the time from when
Mohammed (PBUH) left the city of Mecca. For Christians, this is the year AD/CE 622, as they count time from
the year of the birth of Christ. Jewish people count time from the advances in space exploration made of the
world’s creation; therefore, Christ’s birth was in the year 3,761 CE.
BC, AD, BCE and CE
Many parts of the world divide time using the Christian Gregorian calendar. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII
introduced his calendar based on the practice introduced by a monk called Dionysius Exiguus. Dionysius
referred to the time after Christ’s birth as Anno Domini, Latin for ‘in the year of our Lord’. This was then
abbreviated to AD. Scholars would refer to the time before Christ’s birth as ‘before Christ’, which was then
abbreviated to BC. Since people practice many religions, historians decided to create a neutral dating system.
This is when BCE ‘before the common era’ replaced BC and CE ‘common era’ replaced AD. When a date does
not have either BC/BCE or AD/CE, it is considered AD/CE.
Centuries
Centuries divide time into 100-year blocks. We start the first year of each century as year 1 and the last year
as 100. For example, the 21st Century starts in 2001. The year 1456 is in the 15th century. The last year of
the 19th century is 1900.
Anachronism
Anachronism means that a person, object, event or practice is not in its correct time period.
Activities
1. Using the timeline below, create your own personal timeline about your life.
2. Using the timeline below, create a timeline including the following dates.
a. Pyramids were built in Ancient Egypt – 2500 BCE
b. Mohammed leaves Mecca – 622
c. Columbus discovers America – CE 1492
d. Founding of Rome – 753 BC
e. The First World War begins – AD 1914
f. Shang dynasty of China – 1500 BCE
g. Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy – 79
h. Battle of Marathon – 490 BCE
1. Which century did each of these events occur?
a. The Battle of Hastings (1066) ______________
b. The invasion of Poland (1939) ______________
c. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated (1865) ______________
d. Captain Cook lands in Botany Bay, Australia (1770) ______________
e. Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon (79 BCE) ______________
f. Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC) ______________
2. Can you pick what is wrong with the following picture and why?
Your answer:
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