Skill 4 · ages 10-14
What came first?
Putting events in the right order, knowing what happened at the same time, and understanding that periods are conventions.
DraftNot yet reviewed by a historian or history teacher.Why
A cause always comes before its effect. If you do not know the order, you cannot make connections.
What happened at the same time matters too: while Flanders fought in 1302, other realms elsewhere in the world lived their own history.
Understand it
Always put dates on a single number line first. BC dates are negative numbers: the bigger the number, the earlier. AD: the bigger, the later.
Historians divide time into periods: prehistory, antiquity, the Middle Ages, the early modern period, the modern period and our own time. The borders (such as 476 or 1492) are conventions. People in 1492 did not know a 'modern age' was beginning.
On a timeline with tracks side by side you see what happened at the same time: here, in Europe and in the rest of the world.
Put everything on one number line (BC negative) and ask: what came first, and what happened at the same time?
See it on a source
The Belgian Revolution (1830), Caesar and the Belgae (57 BC), the printing press (around 1454), Charlemagne becomes emperor (800).
Which comes first?Show
Caesar and the Belgae: 57 BC is the only date before Christ.
What is the full order?Show
Caesar (57 BC), Charlemagne (800), the printing press (around 1454), the Belgian Revolution (1830).
Which period does the printing press fall in?Show
Just within the Middle Ages, which by the usual convention run until 1492.
Pitfalls
Not like this: For BC dates the biggest number is the most recent.
Like this: The other way round: for BC dates the biggest number is the oldest.
Not like this: In 1492 people knew the Middle Ages were over.
Like this: Periods are conventions invented later. Life changed gradually.
Do it
Choose a level. Five right in a row and you can do this.
With Kaft PlusWant every topic? Open them with Kaft Plus
Make a worksheet of itAt the table
If you could divide history into periods, where would you put the borders, and why?