The following
outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to modern history:
The modern era or the modern period is the period of
human history that follows the
Middle Ages from about
1500 AD and continues into the present. It is a form of
periodization that is applied primarily to
European and
Western history. From about the 1990s, it has been more common to refer to an
early modern period from about 1500 to 1800, while "modern period" is often reserved for events from about 1800 until today. The time from the end of
World War II (1945) can also be described as being part of
contemporary history.
What type of thing is modern history?
Modern history can be described as all of the following:
A branch of
history – the recorded past, and the study of it.
A historical
time period – quantified block of time in the past named via
periodization. Such as "ancient history", "Middle Ages", "Renaissance", "modern history", etc.
Contemporary History Institute (CHI). ohiou.edu (ed., Analyzes the contemporary period in world affairs—the period from World War II to the present—from an interdisciplinary historical perspective.)