Thinking About Time and Historical Periods


Tracing Changes Through Thousand Years - II - Concepts
Class - 7th Foundation NTSE Subjects
 
 
Concept Explanation
 

Thinking About Time and Historical Periods

Thinking About Time and Historical Periods: Historians do not see time just as a passing of hours, days or years- as a clock or a calendar. Time also reflects changes in social and economic organization, in the persistence and transfor4mation of ideas and beliefs. The study of time is made somewhat easier by dividing the past into large segments- periods- that possess shared characteristics. In the middle of the nineteenth century British historians divided the history of India into three periods: “Hindus”, “Muslim” and “British”. This division was based on the idea that the religion of rulers was the only important historical change, and that there were no other significant developments- in the economy, society or culture. Such a division also ignored the rich diversity of the subcontinent.

Few historians follow this periodisation today. Most look to economic and social factors to characterise the major elements of different moments of the past.The histories we read last year included a wide range of early societies - hunters- gatherers, early farmers ,people living in towns and villages, and early empires and kingdoms.The histories you will be studying this year are often described as 'medieval'.you will find out more about peasants societies ,the rise of regional amd imperial state formations-sometimes at the cost of pastoral and forest people- the development of Hinduism m and Islam as major religious and the arrival of European trading companies.

These thousands years of Indian history witnessed considerable change. After all,the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries were quite different from the eighth or the eleventh. Therefore ,describing the entire period as one historical unit is not without its problems Moreover, the "medieval" period is often contrasted with of material progress and intellectual advancement . This seems to suggest that the medieval period was lacking in any change whatsoever.

During thousand years the societies of the subcontinent were transformed often and economies in several regions reached a level of prosperity that attracted the interest of European trading companies.

 
 
 


Students / Parents Reviews [10]