Numbering Centuries

Because there is no such date as 0 BCE (or BC) or 0 CE (or AD), when we number the centuries it always seems like the actual date is a hundred years behind the century that we say.

Dates Century

1 – 100 1st

101 – 200 2nd 201 – 300 3rd 301 – 400 4th

401 – 500 5th 501 – 600 6th 601 – 700 7th 701 – 800 8th 801 – 900 9th 901 – 1000 10th 1001 – 1100 11th 1101 – 1200 12th 1201 – 1300 13th 1301 – 1400 14th 1401 – 1500 15th 1501 – 1600 16th 1601 – 1700 17th 1701 – 1800 18th 1801 – 1900 19th 1901 – 2000 20th 2001 – 2100 21st

*Remember, there is no year “0”, so since a century is 100 years, the centuries start at year one and continue for one hundred years.

So the year 1900 is in the 19th century, but the year 1901 is the beginning of the new century, so it is in the 20th century.

Try these one your own by writing the answers in your notes:

1200 1401 1650 1505 1891 2000

2005 3000 1 200 1701 303

Now let’s look at the way we number the centuries in BCE (or BC)

In math you may have been taught integers (positive and negative numbers)

The way it works is we normally count 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5....

But we can actually start lower using negative numbers: -5, -4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Both ways go on forever.

However, there are no negative numbers in this method of counting the years. Instead we write “BCE” after the number. And the LOWER the number, the more recent the year is.

For example, 12 BCE is more recent than 1500 BCE.

Practice this idea by drawing a timeline in your notes using the following numbers:

2000 CE 1500 CE 1800 BCE 4 CE

2000 BCE 100 BCE 6 BCE 50 BCE

400 CE 500 BCE 10 BCE 1950 CE