Though not well choreographed, and often unclear in terms of dramatic action, it's cleverly shaped so as to place itself at the end of three centuries of unthinking sexism.
While the end of four centuries of international slaving might have been expected to lead to a new era of freedom and opportunity in Central Africa, this did not happen.
Although the novel ends shortly before Barack Obama's first term begins, it is a literary response to the racial politics that emerged when the obvious became clear — that electing an African-American to the Presidency had not signalled the triumphant end of four centuries of systematic oppression.
The war also marked a watershed in the geo-political history of the region, as together with the Lombard migration the following year, it signalled the end of six centuries of Germanic dominance in the Pannonian Basin.
Local people would like the reopened mine to put an end to two centuries of decay in the area.
The Beijing Olympics this summer were supposed to be China's coming-out party, celebrating the end of nearly two centuries of weakness, poverty and humiliation.
Four decades after his birth, the Spanish Monarchs – Fernando II of Aragón and Isabel I of Castile – brought an end to seven centuries of Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula.
To them, the — irreversible — end of over three centuries of successful cultural, political and economic integration would be a backward step, not a progressive one.
For it was from the Alhambra's watchtower that Christian conquerors unfurled their flag in 1492, marking the end of almost eight centuries of Islamic rule in Spain.
Across the Po Valley in north-eastern Italy, the gates of Lanerossi's huge wool mill in Schio shut for the last time at the end of August 2005, ending almost two centuries of activity; 30 years ago the firm employed 7,000 workers.
