Century (c)
The century is one hundred years, approximately 3,155,760,000 seconds based on the Gregorian average year. It is the natural unit of historical periodization: we speak of the eighteenth century, the nineteenth century, the twentieth century as distinct epochs with recognizable characters. A century is long enough to encompass multiple generations, the rise and fall of technologies, the reshaping of borders, and the transformation of cultures. It is short enough that a single human life, properly extended, can span more than a century, and that documents, buildings, and institutions from a century ago remain directly relevant today.
Definition
One century equals exactly 100 years, 10 decades, approximately 1,200 average months, approximately 52,178 weeks, or approximately 36,524.25 days. In seconds, using the Gregorian average year, one century equals 3,155,760,000 seconds.
History
The Latin centum, meaning one hundred, gives us century via the Old French centurie, which originally described a group of one hundred men in the Roman army. The use of centuries as historical periods in the modern sense developed gradually in European historiography from the Renaissance onward. Historians in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries began describing the intellectual and cultural character of earlier periods in terms of centuries, a practice that became universal in historical writing by the nineteenth century. The century turn has long been a cultural moment: the passage from 1799 to 1800, from 1899 to 1900, and from 1999 to 2000 each prompted widespread reflection on change and progress.
Common Uses
Centuries are the fundamental unit of historical periodization. Historians speak of the nineteenth century as the age of industrialization, the twentieth century as the era of world wars and technological revolution, the twenty-first century as the digital age. Architectural styles are described in centuries: Gothic cathedrals of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Baroque palaces of the seventeenth. In ecology and climate science, changes in species distribution, deforestation, and sea level rise are tracked over centuries. In genealogy, family trees often reach back several centuries. In finance, long-term government bonds occasionally span a century: Austria, Mexico, and Argentina have issued 100-year bonds.
Did You Know? Facts About Century
- The twentieth century, depending on how you count, was either the most violent or the most peaceful in human history — or both. Hundreds of millions died in wars and genocides, yet for the first time in history, the majority of the world's population reached old age, literacy became near-universal, and global poverty fell dramatically.
- The centenarian — a person who has lived 100 or more years — was once extraordinarily rare. Today, there are estimated to be over 600,000 centenarians worldwide, with the number doubling approximately every ten years. Japan has more centenarians per capita than any other country.
- The term 'secular' comes from the Latin saeculum, one of the words for a long age or century, originally referring to the longest possible human lifespan. It entered English and other languages through the Church's distinction between temporal (century-scale) and eternal matters.
- In Gregorian calendar reckoning, century years — 1700, 1800, 1900 — are not leap years unless divisible by 400. The year 2000 was a leap year; 1900 was not. This rule is why the Gregorian calendar is accurate to within 26 seconds per year.
- The first century CE technically ran from January 1, year 1 to December 31, year 100. The twenty-first century therefore began on January 1, 2001, not January 1, 2000 — though the cultural celebration happened at the millennium, one year early.