21st century

(20th century - 21st century - 22nd century - other centuries) Decades: 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s 2050s 2060s 2070s 2080s 2090s ---- In calendars based on the Christian Era or Common Era, such as the Gregorian calendar, the 21st century is the current century, as of this writing. By some interpretations, it lasts from 2001-2100, and the 3rd millennium lasts from (2001 - 3000). This is based on the argument that there was no Year Zero, so the first century began in year 1http://www.astronomyboy.com/millennium/. However, common usage often regards the 21st century as lasting from 2000 to 2099. In 2000 the International Organization for Standardization implicitly backed this common usage by declaring that there was a Year Zero (see 20th century). Decades are almost always considered as starting with the "0" year and named accordingly ("2010s", etc.), so the first decade of a century could overlap back into the preceding one. Similar to the 20th century's place in popular culture as part of names such as 20th Century Fox, the 21st century has been used in the names of a number of companies and organizations. The real estate firm Century 21 uses a name that refers to this century.

Overview

The 21st century has had an influence on culture since well before it began. Speculation about future, social, cultural, and technological trends frequently centered on the year 2000, starting with late-19th century essays and novels (often of a utopian nature) such as Edward Bellamys Looking Backward. Its been said that the event horizon of Western culture was steadily shrinking in this period, since as late as the 1990s people were still often focusing on the year 2000 in their discussions of the future. Religious beliefs in a "millennial apocalypse" were supplemented by genuine concerns about the Y2K computer "bug" and about possible terrorist attacks centered on the year-2000 celebrations, but the actual turn of the millennium (both the popularly-celebrated one in 2000 and the "purist" one in 2001) went by in a fairly anticlimactic manner. However, the years since have continued in the tumultuous manner people of the 20th century were accustomed to expect, with wars, terrorism, and other conflict, as well as continued advances in science and technology including the continuing expansion of the use of computers and the Internet (despite the "tech bubble burst" where the overexuberance of early Internet companies was deflated). More Y2K-style computer date failures are due before the end of the 21st century; the Unix datestamps, consisting of a count of the number of seconds since 1970, will overflow in 2038, while the family of operating systems descended from MS-DOS (including the various versions of Microsoft Windows) can't handle dates beyond 2099.

Important developments, events, achievements

Politics

Science and technology

Wars, battles, and terrorism

Largest mass killings

Furthermore, there are several wars and dictatorships continuing from the 20th century. Mostly the number of deaths they caused during the 21st century is unknown. See also http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/wars21c.htm.

Natural disasters

Issues and concerns

Some of the things that have dominated discussion and debate in this century include: The United Nations lists global issues on its agenda here and lists a set of Millennium Goals to attempt to address some of these issues.

Significant people

Influential people in politics as of 2005

(in alphabetical order)

Influential people in religion as of 2005

Influential people in technology as of 2005

Influential people in science as of 2005

Influential people in mathematics as of 2005

See also: Timeline of the future in forecasts

Astronomical events and predictions

Science fiction set in the 21st century

Television and film

Computer games

Novels

Decades and years

Category:Centuries Category:3rd millennium Category:Postmodernism af:21ste eeu bg:21 век ca:Segle XXI cs:21. století cy:21fed canrif da:21. ĺrhundrede de:21. Jahrhundert et:21. sajand el:21ος αιώνας es:Siglo XXI eo:21-a jarcento fr:XXIe sičcle fy:21e ieu ko:21세기 hi:इक्कीसवी सदी io:21ma yar-cento it:XXI secolo he:המאה ה-21 lb:21. Joerhonnert li:Einentwintegste ieuw lt:XXI amžius hu:21. század nl:21e eeuw ja:21世紀 nb:21. ĺrhundre nn:2000-talet pl:XXI wiek pt:Século XXI ro:Secolul XXI ru:XXI век simple:21st century sk:21. storočie sl:21. stoletje sr:21. век fi:2000-luku sv:2000-talet (sekel) uk:21 століття ur:2000صبم wa:21inme sieke zh:21世纪

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