What do Dates Mean to Us?


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

What do Dates Mean to Us?

What do dates mean? Years are counted from the date generally assigned to the birth of Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity. So, 2000 means 2000 years after the birth of Christ. All dates before the birth of Christ are counted backwards and usually have the letters BC (Before Christ) added on. The period after that is known as AD (Anno Domini) meaning ‘in the year of the lord’ (i.e. Christ).so 2012 can also be written as AD 2012. Sometimes CE is used instead of AD and BCE instead of BC. The letters CE stand for “Common Era” and BCE for “Before Common Era”. We use these terms because the Christian Era is now used in most countries of the world. In India we began using this form of dating from about two hundred years ago. A decade is a period of 10 years, while a century is a span of 100 years and a millennium refers to a period of 1000 years. Sometimes, the letters BP meaning ‘Before Present’ are used.

 
 
 
 


Students / Parents Reviews [20]