Using Time and Timelines

A timeline is a diagram of a certain period of time. It tells... The year an event happened The order in which events happened The time that has passed between events

Numbering the years....

Did ancient peoples number years the way we do? Of course not! Why??

The calendar we use today is the Gregorian calendar. We number years backward and forward from Christ’s birth. Years are divided into 12 months Named after 16 th century Pope Gregory XIII

The Jewish religious calendar Numbers years from when they believe God created the Earth. Current year would be about 5775 Lunar calendar with 12 or 13 months Used to set religious observances.

The Muslim calendar.. Numbers years from when Prophet Muhammad received his call from Allah & fled from Mecca. Current year about 1435 Used to set religious observances

The Chinese calendar is the oldest continuously used calendar in the world. The Chinese believe that a person will possess some of the characteristics of the animal of the year of their birth. What’s your year?

SHOWING HISTORY ON A TIMELINE

We number years backward and forward form the time of Christ’s birth. Since a timeline is read from left to right, anything before His birth is labelled BC or “before Christ”. Some texts use BCE for “before Common Era.”

The larger the year BC, the earlier the time in history. That’s why the BC side of a timeline appears to go “backward”. One way to understand why is to think of it as a countdown, like the way you mark time before a special event. First the event is 4 months away, then as time passes, it is only 2 months away More time passes and then it’s only 1 month away, etc.

The years after the birth of Christ are labelled “AD” standing for the Latin phrase “Anno Domini” (in the year of the Lord). Some texts will use “CE” (Common Era) instead of “AD” to avoid reference to Christ as Lord. Whenever a year is written without a BC or AD label, you assume it is AD. (Therefore, if someone asks when you were born, you don’t need to say 2000 AD!!)

FINDING LENGTH OF TIME... To figure out how much time has passed between two events... For two dates that are BOTH either BC or AD, simply subtract the years This is how, for example, you can easily figure out how old a classmate is if they’ve already had their birthday this year! For one date that is AD and one that is BC, you add the years.

Let’s practice...First hand up gets to answer! How many years passed between 3100 BC and 1900 BC? How many years passed between 1492 and 1776? How many years passed between 44 BC and 1965 AD?

Vertical timelines Normally timelines are horizontal and read from left to right. A vertical timeline is read from top to bottom Notice it is still arranged in regular intervals

Centuries, decades, and millennia.. A decade is ________________ years. A century is ________________ years. A millennium is _____________ years.

What about that little “c” before some dates? When historians aren’t sure EXACTLY when something happened in the past, they use a “c” before the date. This stands for the Latin word “circa” which means “around” or “about” For example, Abraham left Mesopotamia c BC.

Naming the centuries... This can be somewhat confusing, because at first glance it doesn’t make sense. Remember this simple rule.. The name of the century is always one more than the number of hundreds in the year.

Here’s why.. Years 1 – – – – – – 1999 Century name 1 st century 2 nd century 3 rd century 4 th century 13 th century 20 th century So, here’s the cool thing. If you were born in the late 1990’s, it is possible for you to live in 3 different centuries! Think about it!