Millennium

__NOTOC__ A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years. There are two main viewpoints about naming millennia and there was a popular debate leading up to the celebrations of the year 2000 as to whether 2000 was the beginning of a new millennium. Historically, there has been debate around the turn of the millennium, centuries and decades before. ==Counting years== ===Ordinal=== The original method of counting years was ordinal number, whether ''1st year AD'' or regnal ''10th year of King Henry VIII''. This ordinal numbering is still present in the ''names'' of the millennia and centuries, for example ''1st Millennium'' or the ''20th century'', and sometimes in the names of decades, e.g. ''1st decade of the 21st century''. ===Cardinal=== In recent years, most people have moved to counting individual years as cardinal numbers, for example ''1945'' or ''1998''. The usage ''1999th year AD'' is no longer found. This follows scientific usage, for example astronomical year numbering. As a result, some other calendar names have also moved to cardinals, e.g. ''1980s'' is an acceptable name for a particular decade. However, ''1600s'' could be understood as either a decade or a century. ===Ranges=== Although the above change from ordinals to cardinals is incomplete or may never be completed, the main issues arise from the ''content'' of the various year ranges. Similar issues affect the ''contents'' of decades and centuries. Those following ordinal year names naturally choose *2001-2010 as the current decade *2001-2100 as the current century *2001-3000 as the current millennium Those following cardinal year names equally naturally choose *2000-2009 as the current decade *2000-2099 as the current century *2000-2999 as the current millennium ==Arbitrariness== As a side-note to the debate on timing of the turn of the millennium, the arbitrariness of the exact date bears highlighting. Firstly, the Gregorian calendar is the (secular) ''de facto'' standard, but is based on a significant Christian event, the birth of Jesus; thus the foundation of the calendar has little or no meaning to any non-Christian celebrants. Additionally, the calendar is one amongst List of calendars. Secondly, adjustments and errors in the calendar (such as Dionysius Exiguus's incorrect calculation of AD 1) make the particular dates we use today arbitrary. However, given that Gregorian calendar ''is'' an accepted standard, it is valid to discuss the significant dates within it, be it the timing of religious festivals (such as the moving date of Easter which Dionysius Exiguus was involved in calculating) or the delineation of significant periods of time, such as the end of a millennium. Finally, although post-2000 the significance of the debate is greatly diminished, we have only to wait until the turn of the next decade, century or millennium for it to rear its head again! ==Viewpoint 1: xx01-xx00== Those holding that the new millennium should be celebrated in the transition from 2000 to 2001 (i.e. December 31 2000), argued that since the Gregorian calendar has no year zero, the millenniums should be counted from AD 1. Thus the first period of one thousand complete years would be from the beginning of AD 1 to the end of AD 1000, and the beginning of the second millennium would be celebrated in the transition from 1000 to 1001. The second millennium would then end at the ''end'' of the year 2000.

Illustration of years with a 00-01 demarcation
2 BC	1 BC	AD 1	AD 2	3	4	5	...	998	999	1000	1001	1002	...	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	...	2998	2999	3000	3001	3002
		First one thousand years (millennium)									Second millennium						Third millennium

Arthur C Clarke gave this analogy (from a statement received by Reuters): "If the scale on your grocer's weighing machine began at 1 instead of 0, would you be happy when he claimed he'd sold you 10 kg of tea?" ==Viewpoint 2: xx00-xx99== The "year 2000" has also been a popular phrase referring to an often utopian future, or a year when stories in such a future were set, adding to its cultural significance. There was also media and public interest in the Y2K bug. Thus, the populist argument was that the new millennium should begin when the zeroes of 2000 "rolled over", i.e. December 31 1999 - see astronomical year numbering. This is similar to the common demarcation of decades by their most significant digits, e.g. naming the period 1980 to 1989 as the 1980s or "the eighties". Similarly, it would be valid to celebrate the year 2000 as a cultural event in its own right, and name the period 2000 to 2999 as "the 2000s".

Illustration of years with a 99-00 demarcation
-1	0	1	2	3	4	5	...	998	999	1000	1001	1002	...	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	...	2998	2999	3000	3001	3002
	millennium ZERO									millennium ONE						millennium TWO

If the counting of the years begins with zero, also the counting of millenniums must begin with zero. The majority of "millennium" celebrations were held at midnight on December 31 1999 / January 1 2000 reflecting the popular mood. ==Commentary== Stephen Jay Gould noted in his essay ''Dousing Diminutive Dennis' Debate (or DDDD = 2000)'' (''Dinosaur in a Haystack'') that celebrations and media announcements marked the turn into the 20th century along the 1900-1901 border (citing, amongst other examples, the New York Times headline "Twentieth Century's Triumphant Entry"). He also included comments on adjustments to the calendar, such as those by Dionysius Exiguus (the eponymous Diminutive Dennis), the timing of celebrations over different transitional periods, and the "high" versus "pop" culture interpretation of the transition. Further of his essays on this topic are collected ''Questioning the Millennium : A Rationalist's Guide to a Precisely Arbitrary Countdown''. In the editorial to 2002's ''Best American Essays'' Gould highlights the use of historical events, rather than transitional dates, to delineate periods of history: "Many commentators have stated � quite correctly in my view � that the twentieth century did not truly begin in 1900 or 1901, by any standard of historical continuity, but rather at the end of World War I, the great shatterer of illusions about progress and human betterment... I suspect that future chroniclers will date the inception of the third millennium from September 11, 2001." (Similarly, some commentators delineate the Middle Ages from the Fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Fall of Constantinople.) Douglas Adams highlighted the sentiment that those in favour of a 2001 celebration were pedantic spoilsports in his short web-article ''Significant Events of the Millennium''. This sentiment was also demonstrated when, in 1997, Australian Prime Minister John Howard made a point in favour of the 2001 celebration and was named "the party pooper of the century" by local newspapers. In an episode of the American sitcom Seinfeld entitled "The Millennium", it is revealed that the character Newman specifies the date of the millennium party that he is planning to be for the "millennium new year," meaning December 31, 2000. Thus Newman's party does not conflict with the party Kramer is planning for December 31, 1999, but will be perceived as "quite lame" according to Jerry, as the majority of people will be celebrating the new millennium on December 31, 1999. ==See also== * Wikipedia has a page for each millennium: See millennia. * Millenarianism * Third millennium * Calendar and List of calendars * Astronomical year numbering * Decades * Century * Centuries ==External links== * http://www.dilettantepress.com/Essayisthtdocs/Stephen_Jay_Gould.html The full text of ''DDDD = 2000'' on the Dilettante Press website: * http://www.douglasadams.com/dna/pedants.html ''Significant Events of the Millennium'' Units of time

Millennium

==Start Date of the millennium== It would improve this article if the reason for stating that millennia start on Years 1001, 2001, 3001, etc. could be spelled out - i.e. the authority for such a statement should be made plain. This authority should be internationally-recognised. If one was to take the recent millennium celebrations as the most recent statement of the world consensus - these were mostly celebrated at midnight on December 31 1999 / January 1 2000, which contradicts this article. The 3rd millennium article contains the year 2000 and states that the millennium started on 2001. I believe there are two schools of thought on this issue, and we should either state our authorities or else present both arguments as a matter on NPOV. For myself, I understood the reason for this was that the years were commonly treated as ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, etc) when the counting started, but that by recent times these years were treated as cardinal numbers (1998, 1999, 2000). User:Icairns 10:33, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC) : I don't get it. As far as I can see, what you want is already given in the article, so what is it you want to add? User:Aliter 22:20, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC) == Names for longer periods of time == Please fill in this blank: 10^1 years: decade 10^2 years: century 10^3 years: millennium 10^6 years: __________ 10^9 years: eon User:66.245.126.251 16:38, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC) ==Recent reversion of edits== I added a second table and some additional text to ensure the fairness of both viewpoints in this article, and avoid POV. I am happy to discuss this, but a simple rv and insertion of 'sex' into the article doesn't bring the discussion any further forward. User:Icairns 03:52, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC) :Apologies if I misunderstood your rv. It looks as though I had moved the article during your consideration. User:Icairns 14:17, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC) ==Counting years== I've added an early section on the issues of counting years as ordinals vs cardinals. I believe I've done this in a NPOV manner - but would welcome comments. Thanks, User:Icairns 14:17, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC) == Topic == This article doesn't seem to focus much on Millennium. Instead, for the most part it appears to be about the starting point of the Common Era, and the starting points of time units within it that follow from this. User:Aliter 16:46, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Millennium

--User:Flockmeal 05:45, Nov 24, 2004 (UTC)

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M

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Words begining with Millennium:

Millennium
Millennium
Millennium
Millennium:_The_Story_So_Far
Millenniums
Millennium_(album)
Millennium_(album)
Millennium_(disambiguation)
Millennium_(Items)
Millennium_(Items)
Millennium_(movie)
Millennium_(novel)
Millennium_(planet)
Millennium_(single)
Millennium_(song)
Millennium_(television_series)
Millennium_(TV)
Millennium_(TV_series)
Millennium_Actress
Millennium_Actress
Millennium_Attack
Millennium_Biltmore_Hotel
Millennium_Boy_Productions
Millennium_Bridge
Millennium_Bridge_(Dublin)
Millennium_Bug
Millennium_bug
Millennium_Bureau_of_Canada
Millennium_Challenge
Millennium_Challenge_2002
Millennium_challenge_account
Millennium_Chemicals
Millennium_Combination
Millennium_cruise
Millennium_Declaration
Millennium_Democratic_Party
Millennium_Democratic_Party
Millennium_Democratic_Party_(South_Korea)
Millennium_Democratic_Party_(South_Korea)
Millennium_Development_Goal
Millennium_Development_Goals
Millennium_Development_Goals
Millennium_Dome
Millennium_Dome
Millennium_Ecosystem_Assessment
Millennium_Ecosystem_Assessment
Millennium_ecosystem_assessment
Millennium_Falcon
Millennium_Falcon
Millennium_Force
Millennium_Galleries
Millennium_Group
Millennium_Group
Millennium_High_School
Millennium_Institute
Millennium_Interactive
Millennium_Island
Millennium_Items
Millennium_Items
Millennium_Line
Millennium_Monsterwork_2000_(album)
Millennium_Monsterwork_2000_(album)
Millennium_Park
Millennium_Park
Millennium_Park_(Chicago)
Millennium_Park_(disambiguation)
Millennium_Planet
Millennium_Point
Millennium_Pride_Festival
Millennium_Prize
Millennium_Prize_Problem
Millennium_Prize_Problems
Millennium_Project
Millennium_Project
Millennium_Puzzle
Millennium_Run_(cosmology)
Millennium_Scholarship
Millennium_Stadium
Millennium_Stadium
Millennium_Stamp
Millennium_Star
Millennium_Star
Millennium_star
Millennium_star
Millennium_Technology_Prize
Millennium_train
Millennium_Underground
Millennium_Underground_(Budapest)
Millennium_Volunteers
Millennium_Wheel
Millennium_World
Millennium_World