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21st century. Template:Century Box. The 21st century is the current century in the Anno Domini or Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It began on 1 January 2001 and will end on 31 December 2100. It is the first century of the 3rd millennium .
- How long has our calendar been around?
- B.C. or B.C.E.?
- Circa?
- Why 2012 is in the 21st Century
We are writing this on 12/26/12 or Wednesday, December 26, 2012. Traditionally understood as two-thousand and twelve years (give or take a few) after Jesus Christ is believed to have been born. But if Jesus used a calendar, it would not have been the one we use.
Our calendar is called the Gregorian calendar and was instituted by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. There are many other calendars. Quite a few societies have used calendars linked to the years their kings ruled. And there are numerous calendars, beyond the Gregorian calendar, that are still in use today. For example, 2012 equates to 1434/35 in the Islamic calendar and 5772-73 in the Jewish calendar (both are lunar, based on the cycles of the moon).
Many people use the abbreviations B.C. and A.D. with a year (for example, A.D. 2012). B.C. refers to "Before Christ," and the initials, A.D., stand for Anno Domini, which is Latin for "In the year of our Lord." This system was devised by a monk in the year 525.
A more recent system uses B.C.E. which stands for "Before the Common Era" and C.E. for "Common Era." This newer system is now widely used as a way of expressing the same periods as B.C. and A.D., but without the Christian reference. According to this system, we count time backwards Before the Common Era (B.C.E.) and forwards in the Common Era (C.E.).
Often dates will be preceded with a "c." or a "ca." These are abbreviations of the Latin word "circa" which means around, or approximately. We use this before a date to indicate that we do not know exactly when something happened, so c. 400 B.C.E. means approximately 400 years Before the Common Era.
We live in the 21st Century, that is, the 2000s. Similarly when we say "20th Century," we are referring to the 1900s. All this because, according to the calendar we use, the 1st Century included the years 1-100 (there was no year zero), and the 2nd Century, the years 101-200. Similarly, when we say 2nd Century B.C.E. we are referring to the years 200-101 B.C.E.
Within our calendar, we also have a tendency to find portentous meaning in the millennial years, that is, in the years 1000 and more recently, 2000.
We assume there will be renewed debate on the matter in the late 2000s, and won't weigh in ourselves in the meanwhile. When referring to a century, an easy way to remember is that it is one higher than the number that starts the century's years. So the 1500s were the 16th century, the 1600s were the 17th century, and so on.
People also ask
Are We in the 21st century?
When does the 21st century start & end?
How long is the 20th century?
How did the 21st century get its name?
By the way, the same could technically be said about centuries and millennia. It is factually correct to say that “the 1900s” began on January 1, 1900, just like New Year's Day 2000 kicked off “the 2000s.”. It's just much more common to call these time spans the 20th and 21st centuries—and they began in 1901 and 2001, respectively.
Oct 23, 2023 · Ah, the eternal question! We are currently in the 21st century. It may seem counterintuitive at first, but here’s the breakdown: the 1st century includes the years 1-100 AD, and each subsequent century follows suit. Therefore, the 20th century spans from 1901 to 2000, and the 21st century began in 2001 and will continue until the year 2100.
February 8: The Algerian Civil War ends. February 27 – March 1: Riots and mass killings in the Indian state of Gujarat leave 1,044 dead. March 14: SpaceX is founded by Elon Musk. April 11 - 13: 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt fails to overthrow president Hugo Chavez. May 20: East Timor gains independence.
21st Century. 2006 649-day tree sit-in at the University of California, Berkeley begins 21st Century. 2021 William Shatner goes to space 21st Century. 2021 U.S. withdraws from Bagram Air Force ...
