An account that traces developments over time is known as:

(1) Synchronic
(2) Epichronic
(3) Diachronic
(4) Dialective

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A diachronic account traces developments over time, whereas a synchronic account depicts one or several situations at one particular moment or point of time.

The Akbar Nama was written to provide a detailed description of Akbar’s reign in the traditional diachronic sense of recording politically significant events across time, as well as in the more novel sense of giving a synchronic picture of all aspects of Akbar’s empire – geographic, social, administrative and cultural – without reference to chronology.