Contemporary history describes the period timeframe that is without any intervening time closely connected to the present day and is a certain perspective of modern history. The term "contemporary history" has been in use at least by the early 19th century. In the widest context of this use, contemporary history is that part of history still in living memory. Based on human lifespan, contemporary history would extend for a period of approximately 80 years. Obviously, this concept shifts in absolute terms as the generations pass. In a narrower sense, "contemporary history" may refer to the history remembered by most adults currently living, extending to about a generation. As the median age of people living on Earth is currently 30 years as of the present (2013), approximately half the people living today were born prior to 1983.
From the perspective of the 2010s, thus, contemporary history may include the period since the mid-to-late 20th century, including the postwar period and the Cold War and would nearly always include the period from about 1985 to present which is within the memory of the majority of living people.
The present age possesses a distinct character of its own.
More than most periods of like duration, it is the direct consummation of the years immediately preceding. It differs from them as the harvest differs from the seed-time. —Contemporary History of the World, Edwin GrosvenorWhile there have been scientific accomplishments and humanitarian achievements during the present age (i.e., the modern age), the contemporary era has seen scientific and political progress, not so much in what has been originated as by what has been developed. Notable achievements have been those such as the redefinition of nationalities and nations and the ongoing technological advances that marked the 20th century.
In contemporary Science and Technology, history notably includes spaceflight, nuclear technology, laser and semiconductor technology and the beginning Information Age, and the development of molecular biology and genetic engineering, and the development of particle physics and the Standard Model of quantum field theory.
In contemporary African history, there was apartheid in South Africa and its abolition, Decolonization, and a multitude of wars on the continent.
In contemporary Asian history, there was the formation of the People's Republic of China, Indian independence, the Korean and Vietnam wars, the ongoing Afghan civil war, and the stationing of US Forces in Japan and in South Korea. In the Middle East, there was the Arab-Israeli conflict, the conflict between Arab nationalism and Islamism, and the (still ongoing) Arab Spring. In contemporary European history, there were the Revolutions of 1989 which contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the ongoing process of European integration.
Read more about Contemporary History: Timeline, Post-1945 History, Contemporary World
Famous quotes containing the words contemporary and/or history:
“The shift from the perception of the child as innocent to the perception of the child as competent has greatly increased the demands on contemporary children for maturity, for participating in competitive sports, for early academic achievement, and for protecting themselves against adults who might do them harm. While children might be able to cope with any one of those demands taken singly, taken together they often exceed children’s adaptive capacity.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“You that would judge me do not judge alone
This book or that, come to this hallowed place
Where my friends’ portraits hang and look thereon;
Ireland’s history in their lineaments trace;
Think where man’s glory most begins and ends
And say my glory was I had such friends.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)