A century (from the Latin centum, meaning one hundred) is one hundred consecutive years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages (e.g. "the seventh century AD").
Contents |
Start and end in the Gregorian Calendar
According to the Gregorian calendar, the 1st century AD started on January 1, 1 and ended on December 31, 100. The 2nd century started at year 101, the third at 201, etc. The n-th century started/will start on the year 100×n - 99. A century will only include one year, the centennial year, that starts with the century's number (e.g. 1900 is the final year in the 19th century).
End of the 20th century
It is commonly-held misconception that the 20th century ended on December 31, 1999. The 20th century actually ended on December 31, 2000, its centennial year.[citation needed]
1st century AD and BC
There is no "zeroth century" in between the first century BC and the first century AD. Also, there is no 0 A.D. The Gregorian calendar "jumps" from 1B.C. to 1 A.D. The first century BC includes the years 100 BC to 1 BC. Other centuries BC follow the same pattern.
Dating units in other calendar systems
Besides the Gregorian calendar, the Julian calendar and the Hindu calendar have cycles of years which are used to delineate whole time periods; the Hindu calendar, in particular, summarizes its years into groups of 60.
Centuries in Astronomical Year Numbering
Astronomical year numbering, used by astronomers, includes a year zero . Consequently, the first century in these calendars may designate the years 0 to 99 as the first century, years 100 to 199 as the second etc. However, in order to regard 2000 as the first year of the twenty-first century according to the astronomical year numbering, the astronomical year 0 has to correspond to the Gregorian year 1 BC.
Alternative naming systems
In Swedish and Finnish centuries are typically not named ordinally, but according to the hundreds part of the year, and consequently centuries start at even multiples of 100. For example, Swedish nittonhundratalet (or 1900-talet) and Finnish tuhatyhdeksänsataaluku (or 1900-luku) refer unambiguously to the years 1900–1999. The same system is used informally in English. For example, the years 1900-1999 are sometimes referred to as the nineteen hundreds(1900s). This is similar to the English decade names (1980s = the years 1980–1989).
References
The Battle of the Centuries, Ruth Freitag, U.S. Government Printing Office. Available from the Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250- 7954. Cite stock no. 030-001-00153-9.
See also
Categories: Centuries | Units of time
|
Washington Post
Liss's 18th- century London is one that James Bond would have felt at home in. The action is fast and full of surprises -- so many, in fact, ...
and more »
484px x 640px | 86.30kB
[source page]
Century 0015 jpg Century 0013 jpg 14 Jun 2005 16 50 81k Century 0014 jpg 14 Jun 2005 16 50 94k Century 0015 jpg 14 Jun 2005 16 50 86k Century 0016 jpg 14 Jun 2005 16 50 108k Related
Sandy Maisel
ue, 07 Jul 2009 23:51:55 GM
The goal is not to criticize journalists working in any media nor is it to criticize the news that is produced. Rather, it is to encourage thought and dialogue about what it means to be news literate in the 21st . century. . ...
Q. do people just want ot become doctors or lawyers to basically get the big money, im saying are people more economically motivated rather than pursuing someting they find satisfaction in. Please help im writing an essay on how work changed after the industrial revolution. Fromm who i support is saying that people of the 20th century hate their job find no purpose no meaning in it. i agree cuz we work mainly for economic prosperity rather than self fulfillment or somthing like that. Any thoughts
Asked by the STIG - Tue Nov 25 17:25:20 2008 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments
A. Well the "carrots" are much bigger today. Look at the salaries paid to directors of US companies, e.g the boss of L-3 communications recently received an annual salary of some $15million, roughly half was salary and the rest was in the form of a bonus. Then of course many of these people employ accountants in a way that effectively reduces their tax burden to say less than 10%. ie they arrange to have their money paid into an offshore tax haven where the rate may only be 10% whereas someone in the UK on 100,000 or more would be liable for tax at the higher rate of 40%. If you chase the big money then you have to accept that you will be working long hours in a high pressure environment. My 54 son is a senior partner in a management… [cont.]
Answered by JT - Tue Nov 25 18:06:37 2008
