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19th Century

19th century

:Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) The 19th century lasted from 1801 to 1900 in the Gregorian calendar (using the Common Era system of year numbering). Historians sometimes define a "Nineteenth Century" historical era stretching from 1815 (The Congress of Vienna) to 1914 (The outbreak of the First World War).

Europe

For Europe, the period is marked with revolution, social upheaval, and the emergence of a united conservatism from the monarchs of Europe in response to the emerging republican firestorm spreading from revolutionary France. There were many revolutions in Europe in 1848. Furthermore, the later end of the century was dominated by what many call the New Imperialism, which was the rapid aquisition of colonies worldwide by European powers, most noteworthy is the Scramble for Africa. Many countries in Europe underwent an Industrial Revolution, especially Britain and Germany, that spread elsewhere by the end of the century, with factories and railway lines built all over the continent. The start of the 19th century there was a struggle between France and Britain and their allies for control of Europe and the world during the Napoleonic Wars, with Napoleon being finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815. During the rest of the century, the British empire became the largest and most powerful empire in history, during the period known as the Pax Britannica.

Americas

In the Americas, the United States slowly grew economically, militarily, and politically, but nevertheless faced dramatic changes domestically, best seen in the Civil War, the end of slavery, and the expansion across the American continent known as Manifest Destiny. Industrially, America will explode following the Civil War, and would eventually begin expansion outward across the Pacific Ocean and in Latin America.

Other countries

For the rest of the world, there were few places not influenced by the West in some fashion, whether through colonialism, imperialism, or war. European powers gained increasing influence in China, where Qing control had weakened, and wars were fought by the western powers against China, such as the first and the second Opium wars and Sino-French War. Japan, which was forcibly opened to Western trade, began a rapid industrialisation. Africa which was largely free from European control at the start of the century, was almost completely dominated by Europe at the end of it, with the Scramble for Africa in the 1880s and 1890s. Large European settlement, especially British, of colonies such as Australia, New Zealand and the Cape Colony continued during the nineteenth century.

Events

- 1801: The Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merge to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
- 1803: The United States buys out France's territorial claims in North America via the Louisiana Purchase.
- 1804-06: Americans Meriwether Lewis and William Clark lead an expedition to the Pacific Coast and back.
- 1805-48: Muhammad Ali modernizes Egypt.
- 1806: Holy Roman Empire dissolved as a consequence of the Treaty of Lunéville.
- 1809: Napoleon strips the Teutonic Knights of their last holdings in Bad Mergentheim.
- 1813-1917: The contest between the British Empire and Imperial Russia for control of Central Asia is referred to as the Great Game.
- 1815: Congress of Vienna redraws the European map.
- 1815: Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo brings a conclusion to the Napoleonic Wars and marks the beginning of a Pax Britannica which lasts until 1870.
- 1816: Year Without a Summer
- 1816-28: Shaka's Zulu kingdom becomes the largest in Southern Africa.
- 1819: The modern city of Singapore is established by the British East India Company.
- 1820: Liberia founded by the American Colonization Society for freed American slaves.
- 1830: France invades and occupies Algeria.
- 1830: The Belgian Revolution in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands led to the creation of Belgium.
- 1833: Slavery Abolition Act bans slavery throughout the British Empire.
- 1834: Spanish Inquisition officially ends.
- 1835-36: The Texas Revolution in Mexico resulted in the short-lived Republic of Texas.
- 1837-1901: Queen Victoria's reign is considered the apex of the British Empire and is referred to as the Victorian era.
- 1845-49: Irish Potato Famine
- 1848: The Communist Manifesto published.
- 1848: Revolutions of 1848 in Europe
- 1848-58: California Gold Rush
- 1850: The Little Ice Age ends around this time.
- 1851-60s: Victorian gold rush in Australia
- 1851-64: The Taiping Rebellion in China
- 1854: The Convention of Kanagawa formally ends Japan's policy of Sakoku.
- 1855: Bessemer process enables steel to be mass produced.
- 1856: World's first oil refinery in Romania
- 1857-58: Indian rebellion of 1857
- 1859: The Origin of Species published.
- 1864-67: French intervention in Mexico
- 1865-77: Reconstruction in the United States
- 1866: Successful transatlantic telegraph cable follows an earlier attempt in 1858.
- 1866: Creation of the North German Confederation and the Austrian-Hungarian Dual Monarchy.
- 1866-69: Meiji Restoration in Japan
- 1867: The United States purchased Alaska from Russia.
- 1867: Canadian Confederation formed.
- 1869: First Transcontinental Railroad completed in United States.
- 1869: The Suez Canal opens linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
- 1870-71: Unifications of Germany and Italy.
- 1871-1914: Second Industrial Revolution
- 1870s-90s: Long Depression in Western Europe and North America
- 1872: Yellowstone National Park created.
- 1874: The British East India Company is dissolved.
- 1877: Great Railroad Strike in the United States may have been the world's first nationwide labor strike.
- 1877-78: The Balkans are freed from the Ottoman Empire after another Russo-Turkish War.
- 1878: First commercial telephone exchange in New Haven, Connecticut.
- 1880-1902: Great Britain conquers Dutch settlers in South Africa in two Boer Wars.
- 1882: First electrical power plant and grid in Manhattan.
- 1884-85: The Berlin Conference signals the start of the European Scramble for Africa. Attending nations also agree to ban trade in slaves.
- 1885: Unification of Bulgaria
- 1890: The Wounded Knee Massacre is the last battle in the American Indian Wars.
- 1894-95: After the First Sino-Japanese War, China cedes Taiwan to Japan and grants Japan a free hand in Korea.
- 1895-1896: Ethiopia defeated Italy in the First Italo-Abyssinian War.
- 1896: Olympic games revived in Athens.
- 1896: Klondike Gold Rush in Canada
- 1898: The United States gains control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines after the Spanish-American War.
- 1898-1900: The Boxer Rebellion in China is suppressed by an Eight-Nation Alliance.

Wars

List of wars 1800–1899
- 1799-1815: Napoleonic Wars.
- 1801-15: Barbary Wars between the United States and the Barbary States of North Africa.
- 1806-12: Russo-Turkish War
- 1810-21: Mexican War of Independence.
- 1810s-20s: South American Wars of Independence.
- 1812-15: War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain.
- 1821-32: Greek War of Independence.
- 1828-29: Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829
- 1833-76: Carlist Wars in Spain.
- 1839-60: After two Opium Wars, Great Britain, France, the United States and Russia gain many concessions from China.
- 1854-56: Crimean War between Great Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and Russia.
- 1861-65: American Civil War between the Union and seceding Confederacy.
- 1866: Austro-Prussian War.
- 1877-78: Russo-Turkish War.
- 1879: Anglo-Zulu War in South Africa.
- 1879-84: War of the Pacific between Peru, Bolivia and Chile.
- 1880-81: First Boer War.
- 1894-95: First Sino-Japanese War.
- 1895-96: First Italo-Abyssinian War.
- 1899-13: The Philippine-American War.

Significant people

- Gilbert and Sullivan, playwright, composer
- William Gilbert Grace, English cricketer
- Baron Haussmann, civic planner
- Sándor Körösi Csoma, explorer of the Tibetan culture
- Fitz Hugh Ludlow, writer and explorer
- Florence Nightingale, nursing pioneer
- Ignaz Semmelweis, founder of hygiene
- Dr. John Snow, the founder of epidemiology
- F R Spofforth, Australian cricketer

Science

- Henri Becquerel, physicist
- Charles Darwin, biologist
- Thomas Alva Edison, inventor
- Michael Faraday, scientist
- Gottlob Frege, mathematician, logician and philosopher
- Carl Friedrich Gauss, mathematician, physicist, astronomer
- James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist
- Gregor Mendel, biologist
- Louis Pasteur, biologist
- Nikola Tesla, inventor
- Amedeo Avogadro, physicist
- Johann Jakob Balmer, mathematician, physicist
- Pierre Curie, physicist
- Christian Doppler, physicist, mathematician

Philosophy and Religion

- Bahá'u'lláh, Persian religious leader and founder of Bahá'í Faith
- Báb, Persian prophet and founder of Bábísm
- Nikolai of Japan, religious leader who introduced Eastern Orthodoxy into Japan.
- Mikhail Bakunin, anarchist
- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, philosopher
- Søren Kierkegaard, philosopher
- Karl Marx, political philosopher and economist
- John Stuart Mill, philosopher
- Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher
- Joseph Smith, Jr., religious leader, founder of Mormonism
- Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Hindu mystic
- Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher
- Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon, founder of French socialism
- Brigham Young, Mormon religious leader
- William Morris, social reformer

Politics

- Otto von Bismarck, German chancellor
- Napoleon Bonaparte, French general, first consul and emperor
- Guiseppe Garibaldi, unifier of Italy and Piedmontese soldier
- Ulysses S. Grant, U.S. general and president
- Theodor Herzl, founder of modern political Zionism
- Andrew Jackson, U.S. general and president
- Thomas Jefferson, American statesman, philosopher, and president
- Lajos Kossuth, Hungarian governor; leader of the war of independence
- Hong Xiuquan, revolutionary, self-proclaimed Son of God
- Benjamin Disraeli, novelist and politician
- Libertadores, Latin American liberators
- Robert E. Lee, Confederate general
- Abraham Lincoln, U.S. president; led the nation during the Civil War
- Mutsuhito, Japanese emperor
- István Széchenyi, aristocrat, leader of the Hungarian reform movement
- Queen Victoria, British monarch
- Klemens von Metternich, Austrian Chancellor

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

List of 19th century inventions
- Department stores
- Electromagnetism
- Epidemiology
- Mail order businesses
- Philology
- Postage stamps
- Public busses
- Subway
- The invention of the telegraph connected the world like never before, leading to quicker communication and interaction.
- One of the more devestating technologies emerging from this period is the machine gun, first used during the Civil War (considered the first modern war)

Decades and years

Category:19th century Category:Centuries Category:Romanticism als:19. Jahrhundert zh-min-nan:19 sè-kí ko:19세기 ja:19世紀 simple:19th century th:คริสต์ศตวรรษที่ 19

Nineteenth Century (periodical)

Nineteenth Century was a literary magazine founded in 1877 by Sir James Knowles. In 1901, the title was changed to Nineteenth Century and After. It was famously asserting shortly before the outbreak of World War I in 1914 that 'the only court in which nations' issues can and will be tried is the court of God, which is war.' Category:Literary magazines

1900

1900 (MCM) is a common year starting on Monday.

Events

January

- January 1 - Chris Smith Born in 1972
- January 2 - John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
- January 2 - Chicago Canal opens.
- January 5 - Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.
- January 6 - It is reported that millions are starving in India.
- January 6 - Boers attack Ladysmith - over 1000 people were killed.
- January 8 - United States President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.
- January 13 - Kaiser of Germany declares that German is the command language in the German army
- January 14 - Premier presentation of opera Tosca in Rome - actors have received death threats and nameless letters.
- January 16 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounced its claims to the Samoan islands.
- January 24 - Battle of Spion Kop in Second Boer War.
- January 24 - The governments in London and Pretoria begin negotiations to end the Boer Wars.
- January 27 - Boxer rebellion: Foreign diplomats in Peking China demand that the Boxer rebels be disciplined.
- January 29 - The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs is organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with 8 founding teams.
- January 30 - United Kingdom forces fighting Boers in South Africa ask for reinforcements.

February

South Africa
- February 3 - Gubernatorial candidate William Goebel is assassinated in Frankfort, Kentucky. Former-Secretary of State Caleb Powers was later found guilty in a conspiracy to kill Goebels.
- February 7 - The British Labour Party is formed.
- February 8 - British troops are defeated by Boers at Ladysmith, South Africa.
- February 9 - Richard Wigginton Thompson, U.S. congressman, dies.
- February 14 - Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.
- February 14 - Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.
- February 17 - Battle of Paardeberg in the Second Boer War
- February 22 - Hawaii officially becomes a territory of the United States.
- February 23 - Boer War: Battle of Hart's Hill - In South Africa the Boers and British troops battle.
- February 27 - Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje.
- February 27 - Ramsay MacDonald appointed secretary of newly formed British Labour Party.

March

- March 3 - Mining strike ends in Germany.
- March 6 - A coal mine explosion in West Virginia traps 50 coal miners.
- March 9 - Women in Germany demand right to participate in university entrance exams
- March 11 - Boer War: Boer leader Paul Kruger's peace overtures are rejected by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Lord Salisbury.
- March 13 - Boer War: British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State.
- March 13 - In France, length of a workday for women and children is limited to 11 hours by law
- March 14 - The Gold Standard Act is ratified placing United States currency on the gold standard.
- March 16 - Sir Arthur Evans discovers the ruins of Knossos on Crete
- March 24 - New York City Mayor Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.

April

- April 1 - Every French policeman is assigned to carry a gun.
- April 1 - Irish Guards formed by Queen Victoria
- April 4 - Anarchist shoots at the Prince of Wales during his visit to Belgium in the birthday celebrations of the king of Belgium.
- April 14 - Paris World Exhibition opens.

May

- May 1 - Explosion of blasting powder in coal mine in Scofield, Utah kills 200
- May 2 - Oscar II, King of Sweden, declares support for Britain at the time of the Boer War.
- May 17 - Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking
- May 17 - Boxers destroy three villages near Peking and kill 60 Chinese Christians
- May 18 - Boer delegation travels to USA to ask for assistance
- May 18 - The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
- May 21 - Russia invades Manchuria
- May 23 - Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African American to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (awarded for heroism in the Battle of Fort Wagner during the American Civil War).
- May 24 - Boer War: British annex Orange Free State as Orange River Colony.
- May 25 - Boer soldiers vote for the continuance of the war
- May 28 - Boxers attack Belgian personnel in the Fengtai railway station
- May 29 - Chinese government condemns Boxers
- May 30 - Boxers occupy Tientsin
- May 31 - Peacekeepers from various European countries arrive in China
- May 31 - British under Lord Robert occupy Johannesburg

June

- June 1 - Carrie Nation demolishes 25 saloons in Medicine Lodge
- June 5 - Boer War: British soldiers take Pretoria, South Africa.
- June 14 - The Reichstag approves a second law that allows the expansion of the German navy.
- June 20 - The Boxers gather about 20,000 people near Peking and kill hundreds of European citizens, including the German ambassador.
- June 30 - Piers of North German Lloyd Steamship line burned in Hoboken, New Jersey - 326 dead

July

Hoboken, New Jersey
- July 2 - First zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany
- July 5 - Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act passes British Parliament
- July 9 - Queen Victoria gives royal assent to Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act
- July 13 - Boxer Rebellion: In China, Tientsin is retaken by European Allies from the rebelling Boxers
- July 29 - In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by Italian-born anarchist Gaetano Bresci.
- July 30 - The Duke of Albany becomes Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as Carl Eduard following the death of his uncle, Duke Alfred

August

- August 14 - An international contingent of troops, under British command, invades Peking and frees the Europeans taken hostage.
- August 27 - British defeat Boer commandos at Bergendal

September

- September 8 - Galveston Hurricane of 1900: a powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people.
- September 17 - Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.

October

- October - The Norwegian inventor Johann Vaaler demands a patent for his invention, the paperclip.

November

- November 3 - the first automobile show in the United States opened at New York's Madison Square Garden under the auspices of the Automobile Club of America.
- November 6 - U.S. presidential election, 1900: Republican incumbent William McKinley is reelected by defeating Democrat challenger William Jennings Bryan.

Births

January

- January 5 - Yves Tanguy, French painter (d. 1955)
- January 26 - Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
- January 27 - Hyman Rickover, American admiral (d. 1986)

February

- February 4 - Jacques Prévert, French lyricist and author (d. 1977)
- February 5 - Adlai Stevenson, American politician (d. 1965)
- February 11 - Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (d. 2002)
- February 12 - Roger J. Traynor, American judge (d. 1983)
- February 19 - Giorgos Seferis, Greek writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
- February 22 - Luis Buñuel, Spanish film director (d. 1983)
- February 28 - Wolfram Hirth, German pilot and aircraft designer (d. 1959)

March

- March 9 - Howard Aiken, American computing pioneer (d. 1973)
- March 19 - Frédéric Joliot, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1958)
- March 23 - Erich Fromm, German-born psychologist and philosopher (d. 1980)
- March 29 - John McEwen, eighteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1980)
- March 31 - Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (d. 1974)

April-June

- April 2 - Roberto Arlt, Argentinian writer (d. 1942)
- April 5 - Spencer Tracy, American actor (d. 1967)
- April 25 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- April 26 - Charles Richter, American geophysicist and inventor (d. 1985)
- April 30 - Cecily Lefort, English World War II heroine (executed) (d. 1945)
- May 1 - Ignazio Silone, Italian author (d. 1978)
- May 12 - Helene Weigel, Austrian actress (d. 1971)
- May 28 - Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (heart attack) (d. 1939)
- June 3 - Rolland Fisher, American temperance movement leader (d. 1982)
- June 5 - Dennis Gabor, Hungarian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
- June 15 - Paul Mares, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1949)
- June 29 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer (d. 1944)

July-September

- July 13 - George Lewis, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1969)
- July 29 - Eyvind Johnson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
- August 3 - Ernie Pyle, American journalist (d. 1945)
- August 4 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, queen of King George VI of the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
- August 6 - Cecil H. Green, British-born geophysicist and businessman (d. 2003)
- August 10 - Arthur Espie Porritt, New Zealand politician and athlete (d. 1994)
- August 15 - Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet (d. 1966)
- August 22 - Sergei Ozhegov, Russian lexicographer (d. 1964)
- August 25 - Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1981)
- August 26 - Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (d. 1980)
- September 3 - Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland (d. 1986)
- September 6 - W.A.C. Bennett, Canadian politician (d. 1979)

October-December

- October 6 - Stan Nichols, English cricketer (d. 1961)
- October 7 - Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official and leader of the SS (d. 1945)
- October 30 - Ragnar Granit, Finnish neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1991)
- November 5 - Martin Dies, Jr., American politician (d. 1972)
- November 8 - Charlie Paddock, American athlete (d. 1943)
- November 8 - Margaret Mitchell, American writer (d. 1949)
- November 11 - Halina Konopacka, Polish athlete (d. 1989)
- November 14 - Aaron Copland, American composer (d. 1990)
- December 3 - Ulrich Inderbinen, Swiss mountain guide (d. 2004)
- December 3 - Richard Kuhn, Austrian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
- December 12 - Sammy Davis, Sr., American dancer (d. 1988)

Deaths

- January 20 - John Ruskin, English writer and social critic (b. 1819)
- March 6 - Gottlieb Daimler, German inventor and automotive pioneer (b. 1834)
- April 5 - Joseph Louis François Bertrand, French mathematician (b. 1822)
- April 24 - George Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, British politician (b.1823)
- April 30 - Casey Jones, American train wreck victim (b. 1864)
- May 18 - Jean Gaspard Felix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher (b. 1813)
- June 3 - Mary Kingsley, English explorer and writer (b. 1862)
- June 5 - Stephen Crane, American author (b. 1871)
- June 11 - Belle Boyd, American Confederate spy and actress (b.1843)
- July 29 - Umberto I, King of Italy (assassinated) (b. 1844)
- July 30 - Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1844)
- August 10 - Charles Russell, Baron Russell of Killowen, Lord Chief Justice of England (b.1832)
- August 12 - Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian-born chess player (b. 1836)
- August 16 - Eça de Queirós, Portuguese writer (b. 1845)
- August 25 - Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher and writer (b. 1844)
- August 25 - Kuroda Kiyotaka, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1840)
- September 23 - William Marsh Rice, American philanthropist and university founder (murdered) (b. 1816)
- September 29 - Samuel Fenton Cary, American politician and temperance movement leader (b. 1814)
- October 15 - Zdeněk Fibich, Czech composer (b. 1850)
- October 22 - John Sherman, American politician (b.1823)
- November 22 - Sir Arthur Sullivan. English composer (b. 1842)
- November 30 - Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (b. 1854)

Month/day unknown

- Henry D. Cogswell, American philanthropist and temperance movement pioneer (b. 1820)

Notes

- 1900 is not a leap year even though the number is divisible by 4. It is one of the dropped leap years of the Gregorian Calendar.
- ko:1900년 ms:1900 ja:1900年 simple:1900 th:พ.ศ. 2443

Common Era

The Common Era (CE), also known as the Christian Era and sometimes the Current Era, is the period beginning with the year 1 onwards. The term is used for a system of reckoning years that is chronologically equivalent to the anno Domini (AD) (Latin for "in the year of [our] Lord") system, but with less overt religious implications. Although common era was a term first used by some Christians in an age when Christianity was the common religion of the West, it is now a term preferred by some as a religiously neutral alternative. It has its equivalents in other languages. For example, Chinese uses its literal translation, gōngyuán (公元), for date notation.

Chronology and notation

The calendar practice prompting the coining of the term common era is the system of numbering and naming years using the presumed (although incorrect) birth year of Jesus as a starting point. This system was devised by the monk Dionysius Exiguus in the year 525, and used the label anno Domini to identify the year. Two centuries later the monk Bede introduced a Latin term that is roughly equivalent to the English term before Christ to identify years in the era preceding anno Domini. Both Dionysius and Bede regarded anno Domini as beginning at the incarnation or conception of Jesus, not his birth nine months later. Anno Domini was in widespread use by the ninth century, but the Latin equivalent of before Christ did not become widespread until the late fifteenth century (neither was abbreviated in Latin). The term "common era" refers to the time period since the year 1 in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars. By convention, for most purposes except astronomical use, year zero is not used. Instead, 1 BCE (or 1 BC) immediately precedes 1 CE (or AD 1). The Gregorian calendar is the de facto standard calendar system. Thus, according to this calendar, the French Revolution occurred in the year 1789, and human beings first walked on the Moon in the year 1969. Users of common era nomenclature consider these events to have occurred in years "of the common era". When used as a replacement for BC/AD notation, the common era is abbreviated as CE and is the direct chronological equivalent of AD. Similarly, the time before the common era is written as BCE and is the direct chronological equivalent of BC. Both abbreviations are written following the year, thus Aristotle was born in 384 BCE (or 384 BC), and Genghis Khan died in 1227 CE (or AD 1227). On (rare) [http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22Era+Vulgaris%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta= occasions], one may find the abbreviation "e.v." or "EV" instead of "CE"; this stands for "Era Vulgaris", the Latin translation of "Common Era".

Origins

According to Peter Daniels (a Cornell University and University of Chicago trained linguist):

CE and BCE came into use in the last few decades, perhaps originally in Ancient Near Eastern studies, where (a) there are many Jewish scholars and (b) dating according to a Christian era is irrelevant. It is indeed a question of sensitivity.

However, the term "common era" has earlier antecedents. A 1716 book by English Bishop John Prideaux says, "The vulgar era, by which we now compute the years from his incarnation." In 1835, in his book Living Oracles, Alexander Campbell, wrote "The vulgar Era, or Anno Domini; the fourth year of Jesus Christ, the first of which was but eight days." In its article on Chronology, the 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia uses the sentence: "Foremost among these (dating eras) is that which is now adopted by all civilized peoples and known as the Christian, Vulgar or Common Era, in the twentieth century of which we are now living." "Vulgar" comes from the Latin word vulgāris (from vulgus, the common people), meant "of or belonging to the common people, everyday," and acknowledges that the date was commonly used, even by people who did not believe that Jesus was divine. By the late 1800s, however, vulgar had come to mean "crudely indecent" and the Latin word was replaced by its English equivalent, "common". The first known Jewish use of this practice is from an inscription on a gravestone in a Jewish cemetery in Plymouth, England:

Here is buried his honour Judah ben his honour Joseph, a prince and honoured amongst philanthropists, who executed good deeds, died in his house in the City of Bath, Tuesday, and was buried here on Sunday, 19 Sivan in the year 5585. In memory of Lyon Joseph Esq (merchant of Falmouth, Cornwall). who died at Bath June AM 5585/VE 1825. Beloved and respected.

This inscription, like most, uses the Jewish calendar (5585), but ends by providing the common year (1825); presumably the "VE" means "Vulgar Era", and presumably VE was used instead of AD in order to avoid the Christian implications.

Usage

Jewish and Christian scholars have developed the BCE/CE terms for the benefit of cross-cultural dialogue.[http://www.torontoareamennonites.ca/danforth/dmc_notes/witmer10.htm]. Some Islamic scholars and others outside the Judeo-Christian religious traditions have used the system. Some Christians have used the term CE to mean "Christian era." Many non-religious academics in the fields of history, theology, archaeology and anthropology have also in recent decades begun using this system. More visible uses of common era notation have recently surfaced at major museums in the English-speaking world: Canada's Royal Ontario Museum adopted BCE/CE in 2002 [http://www.rom.on.ca/ossuary/ossuary_intro.html], and the Smithsonian Institution also prefers common era usage, though individual museums are not required to use it.[http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/field_trips/standards/world_history_standards.html] As well, many style guides now prefer or mandate its usage. [http://www.egyptstudy.org/OstraconGuidelines.html][http://chass.colostate-pueblo.edu/natrel/pom/pomstyle.html][http://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/american_journal_of_philology/guidelines.html][http://www.sagepub.com/journalManuscript.aspx?pid=10754][http://www.yorku.ca/topia/docs/styleguide] Some style guides for Christian churches even mandate its use; for example, that of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.[http://www.ang-md.org/mcn/style-guide.pdf (pdf)] "CE" is growing in usage in textbooks. It is used by the College Board in its history tests.

Support

Supporters of common era notation promote it as a religiously neutral notation suited for cross-cultural use. Arguments given for standardizing common era notation include:
- The calendar used by the West has become a global standard — one built into every computer's hardware. It should be religiously and culturally neutral out of consideration for those cultures compelled to use it out of necessity. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A3176345]
- It has been largely used by academic and scientific communities for over a century now, and is not a completely unfamiliar dating system. [http://www.answers.com/topic/common-era]
- Dating years according to Christian theology has the potential to be culturally divisive in worldwide use. Dating months and days based on Roman and Norse gods, however, is of little concern because the Roman and Norse religions are virtually extinct, and because the names can just as easily be seen as coming from the names of the planets and other celestial objects. People in other cultures are free to name the months and days of the week as they wish in their own language, but years are just numbers and it is quite easy to make them less overtly culturally specific. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A3176345]
- It promotes ecumenical standards and Christian Era is an interchangeable meaning for the acronym CE.
- It is simple to change BC/AD to BCE/CE terminology, since the years are exactly equal, regardless of which terminology is used. No conversion of the numbers is required. Documents with years that do not have AD designation do not need to be changed. (example: 1066 remains 1066 in AD and in CE systems)
- The label Anno Domini is likely inaccurate because Christ's birth probably occurred no later than 4 BC, the year of Herod the Great's death.
- It avoids confusion over whether "AD" should come before or after the year. (This is important for the in-house manuals of style of periodicals.)
- Stylistic rules which require that AD precede the year are justified by saying that "In the year of our Lord 2005" is correct syntax, and "2005 in the year of our Lord" is incorrect. Such statements belie the claim that AD has lost its religious meaning.
- The intensity with which some Christians protest any switch from BC/AD to BCE/CE indicates that, despite any claims to the contrary, BC/AD has not become "removed from its religious connotations".

Opposition

Changing dates expressed in BC terminology to BCE has given rise to some opposition. Arguments against the common era designation include:
- BC and AD have been used for such a length of time as to have become somewhat removed from their religious connotations.
- The newer BCE/CE system has not been used widely enough so as to have become commonly understood.
- "BCE" and "CE" are so similar that they may confuse readers.
- The names for the months and days of the week derive respectively from Roman and Nordic religious traditions, so naming eras based on the Christian tradition should not be seen as objectionable.
- It downplays the prominence of Jesus in societies that have a Christian heritage.
- Some object to the common era's retention of the year 1 as its epoch because it preserves a Christocentric worldview at the expense of a religiously neutral timekeeping system. Examples of this opposition include:
- When BC was changed to BCE in one examination question in New South Wales, Australia in early 2005, it prompted questions and protestations of offence in both chambers of the State Parliament, and the State Education Minister stated in Parliament that the change should not have been made.
- When the teaching of what BCE/CE meant was introduced into the English National Curriculum in 2002, it prompted confused letters to national newspapers.
- When the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada changed from using BC to using BCE, it was subjected to derision as well as complaints expressed in the national Canadian press.

Other calendars in use

Several major calendar systems exist in addition to the Western calendar.
- The Hindu calendar constitutes four eras and the epoch of the present (fourth) era, the Kali Yuga, is BCE 3102 January 23 on the proleptic Gregorian calendar, making the current year (2005) 5107.
- The Hebrew calendar dates from the Creation (according to which the year beginning in the northern autumn of 2000 was 5761 AM);
- Most Chinese do not assign numbers to the years of the Chinese calendar, but the few that do (expatriate Chinese and Westerners) date from the Yellow Emperor (three different systems are in use, which caused the Chinese years 4637, 4697, or 4698 to begin in early 2000).
- The Buddhist calendar dates from the birth of the Buddha (making 2000, 2543 under this calendar, but only in Thailand);
- The Indian national calendar (also the Saka calendar) is the official civil calendar in use in India. Years are counted in the Saka Era, which starts its year 0 in 78. The current year is 1927.
- The Islamic calendar dates from the Hijra in 622 using a lunar year of about 354 days (so the Western year 2000 contains parts of 1420 AH and 1421 AH);
- The Bahá'í calendar dates from the year of the declaration of the Báb. Years are counted in the Bahá'í Era (BE), which starts its year 1 from March 21, 1844.

External links

- [http://www.ucc.org/ucnews/jan03/asiseeit.htm Whatever happened to B.C. and A.D., and why?] (United Church of Christ)
- [http://www.religioustolerance.org/ce.htm The use of "CE" and "BCE" to identify dates] (Religious Tolerance.org) Category:Calendars

1815

1815 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar).

Events

- January 2 - Lord Byron marries Anna Isabella Milbanke, Seaham, County Durham.
- January 3 - Austria, Britain, and France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against Prussia and Russia.
- January 8 - War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans
- February 3 - The first commercial cheese factory is founded in Switzerland
- February 4 - Netherlands, Foundation of the first dutch student association, the Groninger Studenten Corps, Vindicat atque Polit. The first rector of the senate was B.J. Winters.
- February 6 - New Jersey grants the first American railroad charter to a John Stevens.
- February 26 - Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba
- March 1 - Napoleon returns to France from his banishment on Elba.
- March 16 - Willem I becomes King of the Netherlands
- March 20 - Napoleon enters Paris after escaping from Elba with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000 beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.
- April 5-April 12 - Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies blows its top during an eruption event. 92,000 are killed during this eruption. The event is the cause of 1816 becoming known as the Year Without a Summer.
- April 23- Second Serbian Uprising against Ottoman rule takes place in Takovo, Serbia. By the end of the year Serbia had been acknowledged as a semi-independent state. Ideals of the First Serbian Uprising have thus been temporarily achieved.
- June 9 - End of the Congress of Vienna: new European political situation is set.
- June 18 - Battle of Waterloo ends the Napoleonic wars.
- June 22 - Napoleon abdicates again, restoration of Louis XVIII as King of France
- July 8 - Louis XVIII returns to Paris
- July 17 - In France, Napoleon surrenders at Rochefort to British forces.
- October 15 - Napoleon I of France begins his exile on St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.
- October 21 - Humphry Davy patents the miner's safety lamp for use in coal mining
- Austria, Prussia and Russia sign a Holy Alliance to uphold the European status quo.
- British missionaries arrive in New Zealand
- In Britain, use of pillory is limited to punishment for perjury
- Second wave of Amish immigration to North America
- First-class cricket begins.

Ongoing events

- Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815)-Seventh Coalition/Hundred Days
- War of 1812 (1812-1815)
- Congress of Vienna (1814 - 1815)

Births

- January 10 - John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1891)
- February 15 - Constantin von Tischendorf, German Biblical scholar (d. 1874)
- April 1 - Otto von Bismarck, German statesman (d. 1898)
- April 1 - Edward Clark, Governor of Texas (d. 1880)
- April 6 - Robert Volkmann, German composer (d. 1883)
- April 24 - Anthony Trollope, British author (d. 1882)
- August 5 - Edward John Eyre, explorer
- October 16 - Francis Lubbock, Governor of Texas (d. 1905)
- October 31 - Karl Weierstrass, German mathematician (d. 1897)
- November 2 - George Boole, English mathematician and philosopher (d. 1864)
- December 10 - Augusta Ada King (neé Byron), Countess of Lovelace, early English computer pioneer (d. 1852)
- November 12 - Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American women's rights activist (d. 1902)
- December 21 - Thomas Couture, French painter (d. 1879)

Deaths

- January 8 - Edward Pakenham, British general (killed in battle) (b. 1778)
- January 16 - Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of Horatio Nelson (b. 1765)
- February 24 - Robert Fulton, American inventor (b. 1765)
- February 26 - Prince Josias of Coburg, Austrian general (b. 1737)
- March 4 - Frances Abington, English actress (b. 1737)
- March 5 - Franz Mesmer, German developer of hypnotism (b. 1734)
- April 21 - Joseph Winston, American patriot and Congressman from North Carolina (b. 1746)
- June 1 - Louis Alexandre Berthier, French marshal (b. 1753)
- June 16 - Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick, German noble and general (killed in battle) (b. 1771)
- June 18 - Thomas Picton, British general (killed in battle) (b. 1758)
- June 18 - Claude-Etienne Michel, French general (killed in battle) (b. 1772
- June 18 - Guillaume Philibert Duhesme, French general (killed in battle) (b. 1766)
- August 2 - Guillaume Marie Anne Brune, French marshal (murdered) (b. 1763)
- September 9 - John Singleton Copley, American painter (b. 1738)
- September 20 - Nicolas Desmarest, French geologist (b. 1725)
- October 15 - Joachim Murat, French marshal and King of Naples (executed) (b. 1767)
- December 3 - John Carroll, first American Roman Catholic Archbishop (b. 1735)
- December 7 - Michel Ney, French marshal (executed) (b. 1769) Category:1815 ko:1815년 ms:1815 simple:1815 th:พ.ศ. 2358

1914

1914 (MCMXIV) is a common year starting on Thursday. (see link for calendar)

Events

January-April

- January 4 - 77 seal hunters freeze to death on ice near Labrador.
- January 5 - Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor.
- January 10 - Mexican Revolution - Pancho Villa's troops take Ojinaga in the Mexican state of Chihuahua
- February 13 - Copyright: In New York City the ASCAP (for American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.
- March 1 - The Republic of China joins the Universal Postal Union.
- March 10 - Suffragette Mary Richardson damages Velasquez painting Rokeby Venus in London’s national gallery with a meat chopper.
- March 16 - Wife of French minister Joseph Caillaux shoots Gaston Calmet, the editor of Le Figaro because he threatened to publish Caillaux's love letters to her during his previous marriage. (She is later acquitted.)
- March 27 - Belgian surgeon A. Hustin makes the first successful blood transfusion, using anticoagulants.
- March 29 - Katherine Routledge and her husband arrive in Easter Island to make the first true study of it (departs August 1915)
- April 14 - The city of Irving, Texas is incorporated.
- April 20 - Colorado coalfield Massacre or Ludlow Massacre. Colorado National guard attacks 1200 tent colony of striking coal miners in Ludlow - 24 people dead.
- April 21 - 3000 US marines land in Vera Cruz, Mexico.
- The American Radio Relay League is founded.

May-July

- May 9 - J.T. Hearne becomes the first bowler to take 3000 first-class wickets.
- May 14 - Woodrow Wilson signs Mother's Day proclamation.
- May 14 - The Hellenic Holocaust begins in the Ottoman Empire.
- May 25 - The United Kingdom's House of Commons passes Irish Home Rule.
- May 29 - The ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in Gulf of St. Lawrence; 1,024 lives lost. Gulf of St. Lawrence, World War I has now become inevitable]]
- June 1 - Woodrow Wilson's envoy Edward Mandell House meets with Kaiser Wilhelm II.
- June 18 - Constitutionals take San Luis Potos - Venustiano Carranza demands Victoriano Huerta's surrender
- June 23 - Kiel Canal reopened (owing to its having been deepened) by the Kaiser: Visit of the British Fleet under Sir G. Warrender: Kaiser inspects the Dreadnought H.M.S. "King George V".
- June 28 - The assassination in Sarajevo: Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife, the Archduchess Sophie are killed by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
- June 29 - Austria-Hungary: Secretary of the Legation at Belgrade sends despatch to Vienna suggesting Serbian complicity in the crime of Sarajevo.Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo and throughout Bosnia generally.
- June 30-Great Britain: Addresses in Parliament on the murdered Archduke: Lords Crewe and Lansdowne in House of Lords; Messrs. Asquith and Law in House of Commons.
- July 2 -Announcement that the Kaiser will not attend the Archduke's funeral.
- July 4 - Austria-Hungary: Funeral of the Archduke at Artstetten (50 miles west of Vienna).
- July 5 - Council at Potsdam.
- July 6 - Kaiser leaves Kiel for a cruise in Northern waters.
- July 7 - Austria-Hungary: Council of Ministers, including Ministers for Foreign Affairs and War, Chief of General Staff and Naval Commander-in-Chief: Council lasts from 11.30 a.m. to 6.15 p.m.
- July 8 -Count Tisza makes grave statement in Hungarian Chamber concerning the murder of the Archduke.
- July 9 -The House of Lords completed the recasting of the Amendment Bill(Ireland).Among the Amendments adopted with one excluding the Unionists of the West and South (as well as Ulster )from the jurisdiction of the judiciary appointed by the Home Rule Government;and another withdrawing of the Land Purchase Acts from the conrol of the Irish Parliment. Austria-Hungary.-Emperor recieves report of Austro-Hungarian investigation into the Sarajevo crime.The London Times publishes account of Austro-Hungarian press campaign against Serbians (who are described as "pestilent rats").
- July 10 - Mr.Hartwig,Russian Minister to Serbia, dies suddenly at Austrian Legation in Belegrade.
- July 12 - Demonstrations in Ulster suggesting Civil War.
- July 13 - Reports of a projected Serbian attack upon the Austro-Hungarian Legation at Belegrade.
- July 15 - Victoriano Huerta resigns and leaves for Colón. July 17 he leaves for exile in Spain
- July 18 - The Signal Corps of the United States Army is formed, giving definite status to its air service for the first time.
- July 28 - World War I begins: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after it fails to meet the conditions of an ultimatum it set on July 23 following the Sarajevo assassination.
- July 31 - French pacifist Jean Jaures is assassinated.

August

- August 1 - Germany declares war on Russia, following Russia's military mobilization in support of Serbia.
- August 2 - German troops occupy Luxembourg.
- August 2 - Secret treaty between Turkey and Germany to secure Turkish neutrality
- August 3 - Germany declares war on Russia's ally France.
- August 4 - German troops invade neutral Belgium. Britain declares war on Germany after the latter fails to respect Belgian neutrality. The United States declares neutrality.
- August 5 - USA and Panama sign the Panama Canal Treaty
- August 15 - The Panama Canal opens to traffic.
- August 15 - Venustiano Carranza's troops under general Alvaro Obregon enter Mexico City
- August 17-September 2 - World War I: Battle of Tannenberg
- August 20 - World War I: German forces occupy Brussels.
- August 23 - Japan declares war on Germany.
- August 26-27 - The Battle of Le Cateau.
- August 28 - The Battle of Helgoland - British cruisers under admiral Beatty sink three German cruisers Battle of Helgoland]]
- August 29-30 - The Battle of St. Quentin.

September-October

- September 1 - St. Petersburg, Russia changes its name to Petrograd.
- September 1 - The last known passenger pigeon dies in the Cincinnati Zoo.
- September 2 - Moronvilliers occupied by the Germans.
- September 3 - Giacomo della Chiesa is elected as the new pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He becomes pope Benedict XV.
- September 5 - London Agreement - no member of Triple Entente (Britain, France, or Russia) may seek a separate peace with Central Powers.
- September 5 - World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins - Northeast of Paris, the French 6th Army under General Michel-Joseph Maunoury attack German forces who are advancing on the capital. Over 2 million troops will fight in the battle and 100,000 will be killed or wounded in this significant Allied victory.
- September 6 - French and British counterattack at Marne ends German advance on Paris.
- September 13-28 - The First Battle of the Aisne.
- September 17 - Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
- September 26 - The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) established by the Federal Trade Commission Act.
- September 30 - Flying Squadron

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