Modern history, the modern period or the modern era, is the linear, global, historiographical approach to the time frame after post-classical history. Modern history can be further broken down into the early modern period and the late modern period after the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution.

Contemporary history is the span of historic events from approximately 1945 that are immediately relevant to the present time. The modern era began approximately in the 16th century. Many major events caused Europe to change around the start of the 16th century, starting with the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the fall of Muslim Spain and the discovery of the Americas in 1492, and Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation in 1517.

In the early modern period, the Age of Discovery saw the rise of colonial empires, the beginnings of recognizable nation-states, and the rise of strong centralized governments. The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the 18th century and brought a shift from rural societies to industrialized, urban ones.