why is the history of the world/civilization studied using BC/AD?
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BC (Before Christ) and AD (anno domini – the year of our Lord) relating to Christianity/ Life of Jesus were designated to years based on the reckoning of when Jesus was born. So anything dated before Jesus’ birth is BC, after birth is AD.
However, more recently these are being replaced with BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) to move away from the religious association
Edit: as I understand, it was a monk in 525 AD (Dionysius Exiguus) who began counting the years after the birth of Jesus using the dates that were set down in the Easter Tables by the First Council of Nicea in 325 AD – they set out the date for when Easter was to be be celebrated.
BC/AD grew in popularity under the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne (9th Century) where the system was used as the standard for dating acts of government throughout Europe.
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