History of North America

How long ago was BC?

The concept of "BC" (Before Christ) is used in the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar most widely used in the world today. The Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar, meaning that it is based on the movement of the Earth around the Sun. It is also a continuous calendar, meaning that it does not reset to year zero at any point.

The Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, and it gradually replaced the Julian calendar, which had been used in Europe since the 4th century BC. The Julian calendar was based on the movement of the Earth around the Sun, but it was not as accurate as the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar corrected the errors in the Julian calendar, and it is the most accurate calendar that has ever been used.

The Gregorian calendar counts years in a sequence from 1 AD (Anno Domini, or "in the year of the Lord") onwards. The year 1 BC is the year immediately preceding the year 1 AD. So, 2000 years ago was the year 1 AD, and 2001 years ago was the year 1 BC.

The term "BC" is used to refer to the years before the year 1 AD. For example, the year 1000 BC is the year 1000 years before the year 1 AD.

So, the answer to your question is that BC stands for "Before Christ", and it is used to refer to the years before the year 1 AD.