Modern history, the modern period or the modern era, is the global historiographical approach to the timeframe after the post-classical era in European history (known as the Middle Ages).[1][2] Modern history can be further broken down into periods:
Early modern period began approximately in the early 16th century; notable historical milestones included the European Renaissance and the Age of Discovery.[3][4]
Late modern period began approximately in the mid 18th century; notable historical milestones included the Seven Years' War, French Revolution, the First Industrial Revolutions, and the Great Divergence. It took all of human history up to 1804 for the world's population to reach 1 billion; the next billion came only 100 years later, in 1927.