How did the modern world decide on the same date/month/year?

Question

I mean, hundreds/thousands of years ago, how did countries across the world decide on a uniform date and year? They must have had their own beliefs of what year they were living in. How did they progress to the point where we are now?

Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

It can be traced back to those early aboriginals & tribes worshipping suns & moons for fertility,abundance in harvest and festivities.
It just evolved due to the fact that we as humans are curious beings digging and wanting to prove historical theories and be able to explain those scenarios in a rational & logical point of view.
Gradually it became a universal fact acceptable and carried out through generations revising here & there to make sure we all get updated.

Answer 2

There has been a gradual shift from the Roman calendar to the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.

The Roman calender had 12 months, but only 355 days per year, with an extra 22-24 day month added in every four years. The Roman calendar year, averaged over 4 years had 366 1/4 days.

In 45 BC, under Julius Caesar, the Julian calendar was introduced, after consulting the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria. The Julian calendar had 365 days divided into 12 months, and a leap day is added to February every four years, so over 4 years, each year had 365 1/4 days. The Julian calender should have worked well, except the Roman Church didn't follow the rules. They sometimes inserted an extra day every 3 years. Sometimes they forgot.

The years were not sequentially numbered. The year related to when the consul took office. Example: 12th year under Augutus Caesar, etc.

The years numbered per the perceived birth year of Jesus Christ was first proposed in 525 by Roman monk Dionysius Exiguus.

The first day using the Gregorian calendar was Friday 15 October 1582. It was initially used by the Roman Catholic Church nations. It corrected many of the accumulated errors through the centuries under the Julian calendar. The Gregorian calendar is very close to the Julian, except it has on average, over its 400 year cycle, has 365.2425 days. (Leap years in any year divisible by 4 except those divisible by 100).

This calendar slowly gained acceptance even outside the Catholic nations. There are people today still using the lunar calendar (as in some Asian countries). There is also the Hebrew calendar, the Islamic calendar, ancient Egyptian calendars, the Mayan calendars, etc. But as usual, the dominant culture exerts great influence on what becomes the standard.

Answer 3

Many countries still refer to their own kind of calendar system. I live in Taiwan and it's currently 1995. However, most countries do use the Roman calendar and this probably has a lot to do with the British empire as well as the established system of worldwide banking and stock exchanges.

Answer 4

It is correct from the other answer that the Gregorian Calender is what our current dates are based off of. However, this wasn't formally adopted until the late 1500s. So technically speaking if we were to consider the actual use of our calender we'd still be just short of the fifth century. But that's just food for thought.

Answer 5

As Sean M points out, they didn't! You are making the assumption that because you think it's 18AUG2006, everybody else does too, and that just isn't true! (Though most countries do). England, for instance, didn't start having the year "begin" on January 1st until 1752 (!)


You might find these links helpful:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_calendar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_calendar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_calendar

Confused as to how we ever get any business done with other countries yet?