eli5: did people living in the past, eg. the 1500s, know they were living in the 1500s like we know we’re living in 2023 and the 2000s?
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You’ll notice that in the west we use “BC” and “AD” after years (also BCE and CE “Before Common Era” and “Common Era”, but they have the same years, so it’s inconsequential). “BC” means “Before Christ” and “AD” means “Anno Domini” which translates from latin to “Year of our Lord” (Jesus Christ).
This is the Gregorian calendar. It was devised in the 1500s to replace the Julian Clandar, which was in effect since 45(ish?) BC. But the concept of AD and BC years didn’t come about until the 500’s AD. We switch from Julian to Gregorian to account better for leap years (as a year is not exactly 365 days, more like 365.24 and change or something). Now, up until the Gregorian calendar, the year was usually correct, but the moth and day were off. By today’s standards, had we stuck with the Julian Calendar, it would be February 23, not March 6th.
Note, this applies to Western “Christian” nations. If you have any East Asian and especially Chinses friends, you’ll notice that their New Years falls around February. Japan, China, Korea, etc. Didn’t start using the Gregorian calendar until the late 1800s and early 1900s. Probably due to a combination of that European colonialism and the spreading of Christianity into the regionand in Japan’s specific case the Meiji Restoration. Before then, years were based on “Era.” Kind of like if you ever play an Elder Scrolls game, rather than a year, the date is given as like “230th year of the fourth era.” With usually an imperial dynasty or major historic event marking an era.
Nowadays, since we live in a globalized society, we all use the same calandar for convenience, but several countries and cultures maintain their old calendars for traditional holidays like Chinese New Year.
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