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