For the purpose of understanding the past, it is important to recognize the difference between "history" and "prehistory". These terms are defined on the presence or absence of written records, so the transition from prehistory to history has occurred at different time in different parts of the world. Pre-history refers to the time before writing, and history the time after. Since writing appears at different times in different places, specific areas are referred to as historic, while others wihtout written record are termed prehistoric. Formal writing wasn’t brought to the New World until the arrival of the Europeans in 1492 and into the southwest over a hundred years later. At the time in which the Hohokam Indians occupied the Southwest (termed prehistoric), Europe saw the transition from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance (termed historic).