A period is a cycle or time span.
Period is a term that comes from the Latin word periodus , which in turn has antecedents in the Greek language. It is important to note that period can also be written and pronounced as periodo , both forms being accepted by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) .
The notion is associated with time and different time spans or cycles . Period can be understood as the temporal extension of something or the time it takes for something to return to its original state.
For example: "Football matches are divided into two periods of forty-five minutes each" , "We are experiencing the longest period of economic growth in our history" , "The director obtained the necessary support to be re-elected for a new period at the head of the institution" .
From these general meanings, the term period can be found in different fields and with more or less diverse meanings. In chemistry , for example, a period is any of the horizontal lines found in the so-called periodic table of elements .
Periods of history
Although dividing history into periods is necessarily arbitrary, since humans only know a part of their time on Earth, historians decided to establish the year 3,000 BC as the beginning of history, based on the fact that it was then that some Mesopotamian civilizations developed writing. Everything that happened up to that point belongs to Prehistory and is divided into the Paleolithic (2.5 million years before, the period in which humans appeared), Mesolithic and Neolithic .
Resuming history from the year 3000 BC, four periods were defined, which are the following:
- Ancient Age : It began with the invention of writing and lasted until the fall of the Roman Empire in the West . Among its most outstanding characteristics are maritime and agricultural activity, social and governmental organization. Some of the most important civilizations of this period were the Roman , Ancient Greece , Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt .
- Middle Ages : is the period that began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and ended in 1492 with the discovery of America . Some scholars prefer to date this period to the year 1453 , when the invention of the printing press , the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire and the end of the Hundred Years' War took place. One of the most important features of the Middle Ages in Europe was the development of feudalism.
- Modern Age : characterized by the end of feudalism, the development of the bourgeoisie and capitalism, and the creation of modern states. This period ended with the French Revolution in 1789 .
- Contemporary Age : Depending on the point of view, it could be said that this is the period that we can best understand, given that it continues today. Some of its main characteristics are the advances at an artistic, technological, social , economic and political level, with a clear focus on the so-called consumer society .
It is possible to consider different periods.
Other uses of the concept
In the field of astronomy , the phase that a celestial body takes to complete an orbit is called the orbital period . It is possible to distinguish between synodic periods (how long it takes the body to appear again at an astronomical point, being observed from our planet and with respect to the sun ) and sidereal periods (the delay of the body in completing a full revolution around the sun, considering as reference a certain star).
This term can also be used to refer to the menstrual cycle ( menstruation ) in women and certain female animals: "I'm a little uncomfortable because I'm on my period."