Editing Periodization (section)

==Background==
Periodizing blocks might overlap, conflict or contradict one another. Some have a cultural usage (the "[[Gilded Age]]"), others refer to prominent historical events ('the [[Interwar period]]), while others are defined by decimal numbering systems ('the 1960s', 'the 17th century'). Other periods are named from influential individuals (the '[[Napoleon|Napoleonic Era]]', the '[[Victorian Era]]', and the '[[Porfiriato]]').

Some of these usages will also be geographically specific. This is especially true of periodizing labels derived from individuals or ruling dynasties, such as the [[Andrew Jackson|Jacksonian Era]] in America, the [[Meiji Era]] in Japan, or the [[Merovingian|Merovingian Period]] in France. Cultural terms may also have a limited reach. Thus the concept of the "[[Romantic period]]" is largely meaningless outside the Western world of Europe and European-influenced cultures. Likewise, 'the 1960s', though technically applicable to anywhere in the world according to [[Common Era]] numbering, has a certain set of specific cultural connotations in certain countries. For this reason, it may be possible to say such things as "The 1960s never occurred in Spain". This would mean that the [[sexual revolution]], [[counterculture]], youth rebellion and so on never developed during that decade in Spain's conservative [[Roman Catholic]] culture and under [[Francisco Franco]]'s authoritarian regime. The historian [[Arthur Marwick]] mentions that "the 1960s' began in the late 1950s and ended in the early 1970s". This was because the cultural and economic conditions that define the meaning of the period covers more than the accidental fact of a 10-year block beginning with the number 6. This extended usage is termed the 'long 1960s'. This usage derives from other historians who have adopted labels such as "[[the long 19th century]]" (1789–1914) to reconcile arbitrary decimal chronology with meaningful cultural and social phases. [[Eric Hobsbawm]] has also argued for what he calls "[[the short twentieth century]]", encompassing the period from the [[First World War]] through to the end of the [[Cold War]].

Periodizing terms often have negative or positive connotations that may affect their usage. This includes ''Victorian'', which often negatively suggests [[sexual repression]] and class conflict. Other labels such as ''[[Renaissance]]'' have strongly positive characteristics. As a result, these terms sometimes extend in meaning. Thus the ''[[English Renaissance]]'' is often used for a period largely identical to the ''Elizabethan Period'' or reign of [[Elizabeth I]], and begins some 200 years later than the [[Italian Renaissance]]. However the ''[[Carolingian Renaissance]]'' is said to have occurred during the reign of the [[Franks|Frankish]] king [[Charlemagne]], and his immediate successors, and the [[Macedonian Renaissance]] occurred in the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]]. Other examples, neither of which constituted a "rebirth" in the sense of revival, are the ''[[American Renaissance]]'' of the 1820s–1860s, referring mainly to literature, and the ''[[Harlem Renaissance]]'' of the 1920s, referring mainly to literature but also to music and the visual arts.[[File:Petrarch by Bargilla.jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[Petrarch]] conceived of the idea of a European "[[Dark Age]]" which later evolved into the tripartite periodization of Western history into [[Ancient history|Ancient]], [[Post-classical history|Post-classical]] and [[Modern history|Modern]].]]

The conception of a 'rebirth' of Classical Latin learning is first credited to the Italian poet [[Petrarch]] (1304–1374), the father of [[Renaissance Humanism]], but the conception of a rebirth has been in common use since Petrarch's time. The dominant usage of the word ''Renaissance'' refers to the cultural changes that occurred in Italy that culminated in the [[High Renaissance]] around 1500–1530. This concept applies dominantly to the visual arts, and the work of [[Michelangelo]], [[Raffaello Santi|Raphael]], and [[Leonardo da Vinci]]. Secondarily it is applied to other arts, but it is questionable whether it is useful to describe a phase in economic, social and political history. Many professional historians now refer to the historical periods commonly known as the [[Renaissance]] and the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] as the start of the [[Early Modern Period]], which extends much later. There is a gradual change in the courses taught and books published to correspond to the change in period nomenclature, which in part reflects differences between [[social history]] and [[cultural history]]. The new nomenclature suggests a broader geographical coverage and a growing attention to the relationships between Europe and the wider world.

The term [[Middle Ages]] also derives from [[Petrarch]]. He was comparing his own period to the Ancient or [[Classics|Classical world]], seeing his time as a time of rebirth after a dark intermediate period, the Middle Ages. The idea that the Middle Ages was a middle phase between two other large scale periodizing concepts, Ancient and Modern, still persists. It can be subdivided into the [[Early Middle Ages|Early]], [[High Middle Ages|High]] and [[Late Middle Ages]]. The term [[Dark Ages (historiography)|Dark Ages]] is no longer in common use among modern scholars because of the difficulty of using it neutrally, though some writers have attempted to retain it and divest it of its negative connotations. The term "Middle Ages" and especially the adjective ''medieval'' can also have a negative ring in colloquial use, but does not carry over into academic terminology. However, other terms, such as [[Gothic architecture]], used to refer to a style typical of the High Middle Ages have largely lost the negative connotations they initially had, acquiring new meanings over time (see [[Gothic architecture]] and [[Goth subculture]]).

The [[Goths|Gothic]] and the [[Baroque]] were both named during subsequent stylistic periods when the preceding style was unpopular. The word "Gothic" was applied as a pejorative term to all things Northern European and, hence, barbarian, probably first by [[Giorgio Vasari]]. He coined the term "Gothic" in an effort to describe (particularly architecture) what he found objectionable. The word ''baroque''—derived from similar words in Portuguese, Spanish, or French—literally refers to an irregular or misshapen pearl. Its first use outside the field of jewellery manufacture was in the early 18th century, as a criticism of music that was viewed as over-complicated and rough. Later, the term was also used to describe architecture and art.<ref>Pasiscla, Claude V., "Baroque" in Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online. Accessed Feb 2014.</ref> The Baroque period was first designated as such in the 19th century, and is generally considered to have begun around 1600 in all media. [[Music history]] places the end of the period in the year 1750 with the death of [[J. S. Bach]], while art historians consider the main period to have ended significantly earlier in most areas.