Definition of Contemporary Age - What it is, Meaning and Concept

The history of humanity is usually divided into periods known as ages (from Latin aetas ). Contemporary , on the other hand, is that linked to the time in which is lived.

The Contemporary Age , in this context, is the historical age we live Nowadays, its beginning is usually located at the end of the 18th century or at the beginning of the 19th century .

According to historiography, the first age was the Ancient Age , which happened to what is known as prehistory .After the Ancient Age came the Middle Ages and then the Modern Age .The end of this period and the beginning of the Contemporary Age are usually located in the independence of the United States ( 1776 ) or in the French Revolution ( 1789 ).

Among the phenomena that marked the Contemporary Age , there is the Industrial Revolution , the expansion of capitalism throughout the world, the advance of science , the birth of the most transcendent media and the world wars .The consumption of multiple products was also widespread, a fact that allowed to improve the standard of living but that , simultaneously, I increase the social inequality .

To study carefully and in detail the Contemporary Age it is possible to divide it into two distinct stages:

* the high age : this is the period that began in the year 1776 and lasted until 1870.During the first years of this stage there were very important revolutions, which ended around 1815, when a season of relative peace ;

began

* the low age : the previous one continues and extends until 1914.It is characterized by the peaceful treatment between countries and the improvement of international communications.At the end of this stage, one of the most terrible history, with the First World War.

Among the many scientific discoveries and technological advances that took place during the Contemporary Age, we can cite the following:

* Volta invented the electric battery in 1800;

* the first steamboat appeared in 1807;

* Stephenson presented the steam locomotive in 1826;

* the phone, one of the creations more important and revolutionary in history, it was patented in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell, its inventor;

* The mythical Thomas Edison invented the electric bulb in 1879;

* in 1885 the average life was increased thanks to the work of Pasteur, who discovered the rabies vaccine;

* radioactivity was discovered in 1896 by Bacquerel, a scientist from France;

* in 1899 the consumption of aspirin was pupularized;

* DNA began to be investigated in 1900;

* the Wright brothers made their first air navigation tests in 1903;

* another milestone that improved the quality of life and increased the average longevity took place in 1928, when Alexander Fleming discovered the penicillin ;

* in 1957 the Sputnik I , the first artificial satellite, was sent to space;

* Dr.James Hardy was in charge of the first heart transplant in 1964;

* the CD , one of the most revolutionary inventions of recent times, was introduced in 1983;

* The first cloning from a single stem cell, a very controversial experiment, took place in 1997, and from it the Dolly sheep

was born

Never before has the human being enjoyed the quality of life it has in the Contemporary Age.Life expectancy, in fact, already exceeds 71 years a global level.However, material progress is very different according to the region, existing huge differences between the powers (which are part of the so-called first world) and underdeveloped countries.

Looking ahead, the Contemporary Age poses a major problem around sustainability or sustainability as today's society is depleting non-renewable natural resources and damaging the environment .