THE CHARTS OF HISTORY.
Note: The charts beginning opposite page 877, Vol. II, of THE NEW STUDENT'S REFERENCE WORK should be consulted. They supplement The Outlines of History by giving their subject-matter in the order of time and in parallel columns.
In these charts the landmarks of the world's history are presented by centuries. Contemporary nations are ranged side by side, each designated by a separate color, and the chief events in the history of each nation are recorded with the proper date. The contemporary events of a century are taken in at a glance, and thus the eye is brought to the aid of the mind in grasping the whole current of history. The wonderful efficiency of this method a brief study will demonstrate. It is to history what maps are to geography.
"Sounds which address the ear are lost and die In one short hour; but that which strikes the eye Lives long upon the mind; the faithful sight Engraves the knowledge with a beam of light."
EXPLANATION.
The date of each century is given in heavy figures in the left margin. In Chart I note that the blue on the left represents the Hebrew nation. Going* down these columns, we get the progressive history of each nation. For instance, we trace the history of the Hebrew nation from the time of Noah down to the period when, in 975 B.C., the one nation became two through the revolt of the Ten Tribes. This change is marked by a change of color under the headings Judah and Israel, and then we have the two nations instead of one. In like manner we have the history of Egypt and Greece. On the other hand, looking across the page we get the contemporary history of each century. We find that Joash in Judah, Elijah and Elisha in Israel, lived in the same century with Homer the Greek poet. In the next chart we see that in 721 B.C. the Assyrian empire, which had come into power, carried the Ten Tribes captive. So the color disappears, and its place is occupied by the color representing Assyria. We see that about 700 B.C. the Assyrian empire was overthrown and succeeded by the Babylonian empire; and later the Jews were wiped out, being carried captive to Babylon. So, by looking down this column, we get the complete history of these nations. In the same way we get the continuous history of Greece, and, in the last column, Rome. Looking across the page, we see that Hezekiah and Isaiah in Judah, the captivity of the Ten Tribes and the Epoch of the Olympiads, from which the Greeks reckoned time as we do from the time of Christ, and the founding of Rome were contemporary in the eighth century B.C. In like manner we see that the captivity of the Jews, the period of the seven wise men of Greece etc. occurred in the same century. In the next century we see that Xerxes, the mighty ruler, Ezra, Nehemiah and Malachi, the last of the Old Testament writers, were contemporary with Socrates and the Laws of the Twelve Tables, being the first time that the celebrated Roman laws were reduced to writing. Passing to later history, the next page shows the history of England, France, Germany and other nations of the world down to the sixteenth century. Looking from the top to the bottom of the first column, we will trace the history of England through these centuries. We see that the Danish kings were succeeded by the Norman kings; that the House of Plan-tagenet ran until 1399, when the House of Lancaster came into power, and was succeeded by the House of York and then by the House of Tudor. And so of each of the other nations. Looking across, as before, we get the contemporary history of each century.
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