Contemporary history describes theperiod timeframe that is closely connected to the present day; it is a certain perspective of modern history. The term "contemporary history" has been in use at least since the early 19th century.[1] In the widest context of this use, contemporary history is that part of history still in living memory. Based onhuman lifespan, contemporary history would extend for a period of approximately 80 years. In a narrower sense "contemporary history" may refer to the history remembered by most (more than 50 percent) of human beings alive, extending to about a generation. As the median age of people living on Earth is 30 years as of the present (2015) this is currently often understood as meaning anything after about 1991 when the Cold War order collapsed and use of the Internet became widespread outside of academia, defense and big business; the beginning of the "long 21st century".The present age possesses a distinct character of its own.[2][3]More than most periods of like duration, it is the direct consummation of the years immediately preceding. It differs from them as the harvest differs from the seed-time.— Contemporary History of the World, Edwin Grosvenor[2]While there have been scientific accomplishments and humanitarian achievements during the present age (i.e., the modern age), the contemporary era has seen scientific and political progress, not so much in what has been originated as by what has been developed. Notable achievements have been those such as the redefinition of nationalities and nations and the ongoing technological advances that marked the 20th century.In contemporary science and technology, history notably includesspaceflight, nuclear technology, laserand semiconductor technology and the beginning Information Age, and the development of molecular biology andgenetic engineering, and the development of particle physics and theStandard Model of quantum field theory.In contemporary African history, there was apartheid in South Africa and itsabolition, Decolonization, and a multitude of wars on the continent.In contemporary Asian history, there was the formation of the People's Republic of China, the independenceand partition of India, the Korean andVietnam wars, the ongoing Afghan civil war, and the stationing of US Forces in Japan and in South Korea. In the Middle East, there was the Arab-Israeli conflict, the conflict between Arab nationalismand Islamism, and the (still ongoing)Arab Spring. In contemporary European history, there were the Revolutions of 1989 which contributed to thedissolution of the Soviet Union, and the ongoing process of European integration.