What is Chronology ?

1. What is Chronology ? Aim – to learn how we use time to help make sense of the past Keywords – chronology, orient/orientation – what we do to help us work out where we are

2. What will I learn about in History this year? • Chronology • What is History? • Norman Conquest • Castles • Life in Norman Britain • Importance of the Church • Black Death • Crusades

3. When is your birthday? What year were you born? Write down the date, month and year.

4. Now line up in chronological order of birth...... Those born earliest (the oldest) on the far left and latest (youngest) on the far right....

5. Chronology … • You have learnt how we use maps to help us orient ourselves in geographic space. • Chronology helps us orient ourselves in time. • Historians tend to divide history into periods – easily measurable chunks of time – this can make describing the past easier, e.g. • Decades • Centuries • Millenium (plural = millenia) • Epoch or Era, e.g BC/AD

6. What is a ‘decade’ ? • This is a period of 10 years, e.g. • 1990s – period from 1990-99 • 1870s – period from 1870-79 • 1510s – period from 1510-19

7. What is a century ? • A century is a period of 100 years, e.g. • 20th century AD = 1900-1999AD • 15th century AD = 1400-1499AD • 10th century AD = 900-999AD • 5th century AD = 400-499AD • 1st century AD = 000-99AD • 1st century BC = 99BC-000 • 5th century BC = 499BC-400BC • 10th century BC = 999BC-900BC

8. What is a ‘millenium’ ? • Historians normally use this phrase to explain a period of 1000 years, e.g. • 1000AD-1999AD = the 2nd millenium after Jesus’ birth • 1000BC-1BC = the 1st millenium before Jesus’ birth

9. What is an epoch or era ? • Historians have tended to measure long periods of history, over a 1000 years in terms of epochs or eras, e.g. • AD – Anno Domini = literally, ‘in the year of our Lord’ – refers to the periods after Jesus’ birth • BC = Before the birth of Jesus • The birth of Jesus is supposed to have taken place in the year 000 – not that such a year actually existed, but Historians have conveniently chosen a starting point from which to begin measuring time

10. BC & AD or BCE & CE ? • As we have already seen, historians often refer to BC or AD – this dates back to a periods when people were more religious than they are today • In more recent times, some have referred to • BCE = before the common era • CE = the common era

11. What is Chronology ? • Historians like to place measured time in the order that events happened – this is called placing things in chronological order = from the earliest date to the most recent • Move onto the next slide for an exercise in chronology …

12. Exercise • Place the following ten dates in chronological order, beginning with the earliest and ending with the most recent – set out your order on a straight line, or time line • 1023BC, 2000AD, 1945AD, 54BC, 750BC, 1381AD, 1066AD, 45AD, 1BC, 1AD,

13. What date comes first? • 999BC • 998AD

14. Now time for your own chronological history! • Draw a horizontal line starting with the date you were born on the left, and today’s date on the right. • Put down the events which are most significant (have the most meaning to you). Use pictures and symbols too illustrate your timeline. • Your teacher will demonstrate on the board.