THE Agecontemporary it is one of the periods of history, according to the classical periodization that came to be used by historians in the 19th century. It began on July 14, 1789, when the Bastille was taken by the Parisian population, an event that started the French Revolution, and extends to the present day.
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Periodization
The Contemporary Age, within the periodization used by historians to divide History, begins in 1789. This periodization was established in the XIX century, having relationship with the transformation of history into matter from the 18th century onwards, when it started to be taught in schools and universities.
According to historian Jacques Le Goff, this division is a tool used by historians to make sense of study of the course of things, in addition to having been thought of as a way to give a sense of evolution of societies. He also states that periodization helps to understand the changes that happened over time|1|.
There were a number of periodization models proposed by different intellectuals during the Middle and Modern ages. The current model is well known in the world, being responsible for dividing History into: Prehistory, Old age, Middle Ages, AgeModern and Agecontemporary. If you want to know more about the composition of this tool, read: the division of history.
Understanding the Contemporary Age
The Contemporary Age is the current period of history and had its beginning with the Bastille fall, an event that took place on July 14, 1789 and started the French Revolution. This period was marked by the consolidation of the capitalism, through the industrialization of England, a direct offshoot of the Industrial Revolution.
Furthermore, the Contemporary Age is marked as a period of developmentgivesreason and its consolidation as the main way of seeing the world. This happened mainly because of the Enlightenment ideals who defended the primacy of human reason. This resulted, especially in Western countries, in a process of secularization of society, that is, the affairs of the State were becoming detached from the religious questions.
In the Contemporary Age, he found himself in a greatdevelopmenttechnologicalandscientific, and new machines were created in different areas. Thus, more lethal weapons were worked, and the explosion engine was created, allowing the invention of the automobile. In the field of science, new drugs have emerged, such as antibiotics, allowing yourself a increased longevity of human beings.
New forms of government were established, and the absolutist monarchies started to be replaced by monarchiesconstitutional. In the long run, the republic consolidated itself as the main form of government in the world. Finally, concepts such as Human rights they were consolidated from the 20th century.
The 20th century was also marked as one of the most violent periods in human history. wars they happened in all parts of the world, with the two world wars standing out. Genocides happened and terrible weapons were tested for the first time. Ideologically, this century was also marked by the rivalry between capitalism and socialism.
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Brazil in the Contemporary Age
The whole world underwent significant transformations in the Contemporary Age, and Brazil was no exception. Our country began the Contemporary Age as a Portuguese colony, and, at the end of the 18th century, there was still no national feeling forged in the Brazilian territory. The attempts at separatism that existed here were regionalized initiatives because people still did not see themselves as Brazilians.
THE independence of Brazil it happened when relations with Portugal became unsustainable, and the interests of the two sides were different. Brazil was organized as a monarchy, being ruled by d. Peter I and d. Pedro II. It was during this period that the country was territorially consolidated, as separatism was definitively defeated.
One nationalist feeling, however, was only reinforced here in the 20th century, mainly because this was a desire of the defenders of the republic who took power in Brazil at the end of the 19th century.
The organization and development of Brazil were limited to the interests of an elite formed mainly by large farmers. This made Brazil a nation extremelyuneven, and a clear symptom of this was the fact that slave labor in our country has existed until the doors of the 20th century.
O authoritarianism it was also consolidated as a common practice in Brazilian society. The first Constitution (1824) was the result of the authoritarianism of d. Peter I; provincial rebellions were crushed by force; the republic was established through a coup and had authoritarianism as a central element throughout its existence, being present in several governments.
To the late 20th century, Brazil resumed the path of building a more democratic country, enacting the Constitution plus advanced of our history and promoting attempts, albeit timid, to include groups historically marginalized in our history.
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Main events of the Contemporary Age
The Contemporary Age is a period that encompasses events of more than 200 years of history, therefore, it is full of important moments that generated significant changes in the planet. As for Brazil, our entire history, as an independent nation, unfolded in it.
As it is a long and eventful period, we list here some of the most remarkable of each of its centuries:
-
XVIII century
- French Revolution
- Minas inconfidence
- Bahia Conjuration
- Brumaire 18 hit
-
XIX century
- Napoleonic era
- Congress of Vienna
- Independence of Brazil
- Revolutions of 1830 and 1840
- Revolts
- Unifications of Italy and Germany
- secession war
- neocolonialism
- Paraguay War
- Abolition of slavery in Brazil
- Proclamation of the Republic
-
20th century
- First World War
- Russian revolution
- 1929 crisis
- 1930 revolution
- totalitarian regimes
- Second World War
- Cold War
- Korean War
- Vietnam War
- 1964 Coup and Military Dictatorship
- afghan war
- Redemocratization of Brazil
-
XXI century
- September 11 attacks
- 2001 Afghan War
- Iraq war
- 2008 crisis
- Emergence of Islamic State
- Syria Civil War
Note
|1| LE GOFF, Jacques. Should history be broken into pieces? São Paulo: Editora Unesp, 2015. P. 12.
Image credits
[1] Everett Collection and Shutterstock
