Start/End dates for Modernity?

Spain, Portugal, France, the Mughals, Venice, the Ottomans, the dutch and others I probably forget beg to differ.

Want we spreken nederlands nu hier. Niet engels.
Or should that be in Turkish? (I know none and won't babelfish it :p)
Ou en francais?
 
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I think of History being split into eras: Early Ages, Middle Ages, Modern Ages.

Early Ages ends with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 475AD
Middle Ages (split into Dark, High Middle and Late Middle) is 475-c. 1500 and Modern (again Early, Industrial, Post-Industrial, Digital) is after c. 1500
 
Why does it matter?

Seriously, you have to use suvbject-specific terminology depending on what you're studying, anyway. Eras exist strictly for the sake of convenience. No reason to lose sleep over the exact boundaries, especially when you're talking world history. On that scale, a few centuries either way won't make a difference.
 
I generally define it differantly for each country, and it can vary alot depending on where the most convenient sudden change is. So "modern Britain" began in 1688, "modern France" in 1789 as far as I'm concerned. Or modern Bulgaria in 1879, modern Turkey in 1923. Russia might be 1696 or 1917, depending on the mood I'm in.
 
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