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An era is a commonly used word for long period of time. When used in science, for example geology, eras denote clearly defined periods of time of arbitrary but well defined length, such as for example the Mesozoic era from 252 Ma–66 Ma, delimited by a start event and an end event. The Mesozoic Era is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon. When used in social history, eras may for example denote a period of some monarch's reign. In colloquial language, eras denote longer spans of time, before and after which the practices or fashions change to a significant degree.

Contents

Uses

In chronology, an era is the highest level for the organization of the measurement of time. Definition A chronology may be either relative &mdashthat is locating related events relative to each other&mdashor ''absolute'' &mdashlocating For other uses see Time (disambiguation Time is a component of a measuring system used to sequence events to compare the durations of A calendar era indicates a span of many years which are numbered beginning at a specific reference date (epoch), which often marks the origin of a political state or cosmology, dynasty, ruler, the birth of a leader, or another significant historical or mythological event; it is generally called after its focus accordingly as in Victorian era. A calendar era is the year numbering system used by a Calendar. In the fields of Chronology and Periodization, an epoch means an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular Era. Cosmology (from Greek grc κοσμολογία - grc κόσμος kosmos, "universe" and grc -λογία -logia) is study Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities

Regnal eras

The word era also denotes the units used under a different, more arbitrary system where time is not represented as an endless continuum with a single reference year, but each unit starts counting from one again, as if time starts again. Such rather impractical system — a nightmare for historians once a single piece of the puzzle is missing — is the use of regnal years, which often reflects the preponderance in public life of the absolute ruler in many ancient cultures, while such tradition sometimes outlives the political power of the throne. A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign. From Latin regnum meaning kingdom rule

In East Asia, each emperor's reign may be subdivided into several reign periods, each being treated as a new era. The name of each was a motto or slogan chosen by the emperor. Different East Asian countries utilized slightly different systems, notably:

A similar practice survived in the United Kingdom until quite recently, but only for formal official writings: in daily life the ordinary year A. A Chinese era name ( is the Era name, reign period or regnal title used when traditionally numbering years in an emperor's reign and naming certain Chinese The Japanese era calendar scheme is a common Calendar scheme used in Japan, which identifies a year by the combination of the and the year number within the era Korean Era names were used during the period of Silla, Goguryeo, Balhae, Taebong, Goryeo, Joseon, and Below is a list of Vietnamese monarchs. Some declared themselves kings ( vua / vương) or emperors ( hoàng đế) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located D. was used since long, but Acts of Parliament were dated according to the years of the reign of the current Monarch, so that "61 & 62 Vict c. An Act of Parliament is a Law enacted as Primary legislation by a national or sub-national Parliament. TalkCommonewalth realm.--> The monarchy 37" refers to the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 passed in the session of Parliament in the 61st/62nd year of the reign of Queen Victoria. The Local Government (Ireland Act 1898 (61 & 62 Vict c 37 is a piece of legislation passed as an Act of Parliament by the Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901 was from 20 June 1837 the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Geological era

In natural science, there is need for another time perspective, independent from human activity, and indeed spanning a far longer period (mainly prehistoric), where era refers to well-defined time spans which subdivide Eons.

Cosmology era

In astronomy the periods are even longer, to cover the entire existence of the universe (in the order of 13. 7 billion years), but usually just denoted in numerical units, as there is no significant link to any earthly reality, our planet being astronomically insignificant (except as the only known observation point).

Colloquial "eras"

In common speech and various contexts, the term era is also used, by extension, for any (as a rule relatively long) period in history with a name, often relating to common characteristic(s), even if this is not the normal way to organize time. The most relevant type are politic periods, for example: the Roman era, the Elizabethan era, the Victorian era (dynastic criteria, only formally correct within the British realm/empire/Commonwealth) and the Soviet era, or comparable literary notions like the Biblical era. Romance and reality The Victorian era and the early twentieth century idealised the Elizabethan era Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union is covered in the following series of articles

The word era is also popularly used to denote the passing of — often shorter — periods that are only defined in terms of a specific discipline of sphere of life, such as the prominence of an artistic style, or more specifically in music, see musical eras, described in History of music, such as the Big Band era, Disco era. Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. Music is found in every known Culture, past and present varying wildly between times and places A big band is a type of Musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until the late Disco is a Genre of dance-oriented music whose origins are hard to define An event such as the death of Frank Sinatra is poetically called the end of an era. Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (December 12 1915 &ndash May 14 1998 was an American singer and actor

Etymology

The word has been in use in English since 1615, and is derived from Late Latin aera "an era or epoch from which time is reckoned," probably identical to Latin æra "counters used for calculation," plural of æs "brass, money".

The Latin word's use in chronology seems to have begun in 5th century Visigothic Spain, where it appears in the History of Isidore of Seville, and in later texts. The Visigoths (Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, or Wisi were one of two main branches of the Goths, an East Saint Isidore of Seville ( Spanish: es ''San Isidro'' or es ''San Isidoro de Sevilla'' Latin: latin ''Isidorus Hispalensis'' (c The Spanish era is calculated from 38 BC, perhaps because of a tax (cfr. The Spanish era refers to the dating system used in Hispania until the 14th century when the Anno Domini system was adopted indiction) levied in that year, or due to a miscalculation of the Battle of Actium, which occurred in 31 BC. An indiction is any of the years in a 15-year cycle used to date medieval documents throughout Europe, both East and West The Battle of Actium was the decisive engagement in the Final War of the Roman Republic between the forces of Octavian and the combined forces of Mark Antony

Like epoch, "era" in English originally meant "the starting point of an age"; the meaning "system of chronological notation" is c. 1646; that of "historical period" is 1741.

See also

The categorization of Time into discrete named blocks is called Periodization.

Dictionary

era

-noun

  1. A time period of indeterminate length, generally more than one year.
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