Question

How do historians divide the past into periods? Do they face any problems in doing so?

Answer 1

Historians divide the past into periods on the basis of economic and social factors to characteries the major elements of different moments of the past.
2. Historians face many problems while dividing the past into period as there was a good amount of technological development in the ''medieval'' period, which can be called as 'modern' in the contemporary context. But still the period is called ''medieval'' and not ''modern''. On the other hand , modern past is followed by the ''medieval'' past.

Answer 2

Answer:

Historians divide the past into periods on the basis of economic and social factors to characterise the major elements of different moments of the past.

Yes, the historians face a lot of problems because economic and social factors do not exist in a stasis, they have a tendency to change constantly. In the period from 700 to 1750, Indian history witnessed a 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 the ‘modern’ period. The term ‘modernity’ implies a sense of material and intellectual progress. This further implies that there was no progress before, which is not true. This seems to suggest that the medieval period was lacking in any change whatsoever. But we know that this was not the case.

Explanation: