Chronological thinking is at the heart of historical reasoning. Students should be able to distinguish between past, present, and future time. Students should be able to identify how events take place over time. Students should be able to use chronology in writing their own histories. Students should be able to interpret data presented in time lines. Students should be able to analyze patterns of historical duration or continuity as well as to recognize historical change. Finally, students should begin to understand how the periodization of history is culturally constructed. Europeans tend to see historical change and periodization as a gradual move to modernity and divide history into the history of the Ancient World, the Medieval (or Middle) period, the Early Modern Period (we're no longer middle but we haven't gotten into modernity yet), the Modern Period, and the Contemporary Period (generally history in the post-World War II period). Moreover, our current system of dating events depends upon a Christian conception of time even though historians now believe Jesus was alive at the time A.D. begins. B.C. means "before Christ." A.D. means "Anno Domini," or after the birth of our lord. Historians now are more like to name these two patterns of dating B.C.E. ("before the common era") and C.E. ("after the common era") to secularize periodization. Other civilizations, including the Nahuas, understood history quite differently, understood time in a more cyclical way. Their history and sense of time, too, was culturally constructed. Their notion of time contributed to the Mexica understanding of their history. The Toltecs, who dominated ancient Mexico from the city of Tula long before the Mexica took power, worshipped Quetzalcoatl, an ancient god of the sky and wind. According to oral traditions, an ancient Toltec ruler, Topiltzin, became merged with the god. After a battle, Toplitzin/Quetzalcoatl left or was forced out of Tula. The Mexica subsequently embraced Topiltzin/Quetzalcoatl to persuade others that they were the legitimate successors of the Toltecs, and they constructed a temple to the god in Tenochititlán. Legend taught that Quetzalcoatl would return to reclaim his title. Adding to the legend, Quetzalcoatl was born in the year Ce Acatl one-Reed and left in the year one-Reed. This corresponded to fifty-two years, which would be one cycle in the Mexica calendar. According to sources, Cortés appeared in what would have been one-Reed in the Mexica calendar, hence the reason why Moctezuma might have assumed that Cortés was Topiltzin/Quetzalcoatl. This makes a good story, but there is no way to know if this story was constructed before or after the conquest. What is important to understand is how much our history and construction of time contribute to our understanding of ourselves and shape our actions in the present world. Other great civilizations had their own periodization, and even European historians argue with each other about how history should be divided up. As you do the assigned reading in the textbook, you should think about how its authors have organized historical eras. Can you think of different ways they might have ordered events? Many of your study questions are designed to stimulate chronological thinking and an understanding of how things changed over time.
