Understanding Dates and Time Abbreviations in History

1. Dates and Time Pre AP Social Studies

2. What do the following abbreviations stand for? • B.C. • A.D. • C.E • B.C.E. • c. 1900 2. What type of calendar do we use today?

3. Our calendar • Gregorian (or Christian calendar) – has 365 or 366 days. One year equals one revolution. One day equals one rotation. Year A.D. 1 was the birth of Christ (supposedly). Most countries use this calendar.

4. Other Calendars • Muslim – is a lunar based calendar. It has 354 or 355 days and has 12 months. Year one (1) was in A.D. 622. Today is year 1431 on this calendar. • Chinese – is a solar and lunar calendar. It was created nearly 5000 years ago. It has 353-55 days. Leap year has 383-385 days. Each year is named after one of twelve animals (is cyclical). • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_zodiac

5. Hebrew – begins in 3760 B.C.; therefore the year 2010 AD (or C.E.) on our calendar is the year 5770 on the Hebrew calendar!

6. The Long Count Calendar: started Aug. 11, 3114 BCE A cyclical view of history: current cycle to end Dec. 21, 2012 CE A non-Linear calendar:The Mayans

7. Counting Centuries According to the Gregorian calendar, the 1st century A.D./C.E. started on January 1, 1 and ended on December 31, 100. The 2nd century started at year 101, the third at 201, etc. 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 ) • 1st century CE and BCE: There is no "zeroth century" in between the first century BCE and the first century AD. Also, there is no 0 AD[1]. The Julian calendar "jumps" from 1 BC to 1 AD. The first century BC includes the years 100 BCE to 1 BCE. Other centuries BC follow the same pattern