A Modest Proposal for a new calendar
In the last dozen years we have lived through two apocalyptic date. The first was in the year 2000 when the world was rumoured to be at risk from something or other which I now forget. The second was 2012 when some people asserted that the world would come to an end because a Mayan calendar had run out of dates or a rogue, invisible planet would crash into Pimlico, Des Moines or Nosy Varika.
Much of this nonsense is because one of the most common of the world’s timeline is based on the supposed date of Jesus Christ. Every one agrees that the date is nonsense and, because it is so nonsensical there was massive confusion about when the second millennium would actually start. If the first year of the Common Era, (it was called AD in my youth) was Year 1 then the new millennium did not actually start until 2001 which made the dire predictions of the end of the world in the year 2000 both hysterical and un-mathematical.
I also wonder if the latest scare date of 21st December 2012 had anything to do with its numerical equivalents 12.21.12 in the USA or 21.12.12 in my neck of the woods. Such dreadful symmetry.
As someone keen on history I would like to propose a new calendar. Not one based on a story in the bible but one which will pay tribute to all of humanity. I propose a calendar which will start with the dawn of civilisation. Even this is tricky as there is no firm agreement when civilisation started.
So, on a whim, I’ve plumped for 3,500 years BCE. This is when several civilisations started across the globe, from China, the Indus Valley, through Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Americas. I’ve also done it to keep the maths simple.
The benefits of this are manifold. My new calendar is not linked to western civilisation nor to a religion. It gets rid of the complications of counting backwards from the present year 1 for years BCE. Best of all it puts modern times into the long sweep of history.
Here are some familiar dates in the new calendar.
1
200
400
500
800
875
1000
1200
1500
1700
1900
1950
2000
2320
2620
2724
2747
2755
2950
2991
3010
3068
3169
3300
3327
3279
3298
3400
3456
3514
3726
3976
4000
4052
4070
4122
4250
4300
4371
4411
4476
4501
4566
4599
4611
4687
4727
4799
4810
4825
4847
4953
4992
5001
5026
5080
5088
5116
5120
5142
5151
5196
5220
5276
5289
5305
5351
5361
5370
5389
5414
5445
5463
5469
5513
Possible start of Egyptian calendar
Hakra phase of Indus Valley civilisation
First Dynasty in Egypt
Sumerian cuneiform writing
Knossos in Crete is a city of 80,000 inhabitents
Khufu completes the Great Pyramid
Mammoth becomes extinct
Stonehenge complete
The horse is domesticated
First alphabets created
Shang Dynasty in China
Hittite Empire dominant force in area
Rig Veda written
End of the Hittite Empire
Iliad and Odyssey written
First Olympic Games held
Rome said to be founded
Tiglath-Pileser III begins rise of Assyrian Empire
Foundation of Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great
Rome becomes a Republic
Greek city states defeat Persia at Marathon
Construction of the Parthenon in Athens
Alexander the Great defeats King of Persia
Start of construction of Great Pyramid of Cholula
Ashoka the Great becomes Emperor
Great Wall of China begun
Hannibal defeated by Scipio Africanus
Chola Dynasty rises to prominence in South India
Julius Caesar murdered
Death of Emperor Augustus
Rise of the Sassanian Empire in Persia
End of the Western Roman Empire
Franks under Clovis defeat the Visigoths
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) reconquers Italy
Birth of Mohammad
Mohammad moves from Mecca to Medina. Start of Islamic Calendar
Beginning of Abbasid Caliphate
Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor
Alfred the Great becomes King of Wessex
Rollo founds Normandy
Basil II becomes Emperor of Byzantium
Leif Ericson lands in Canada
The Battle of Hastings
First Crusade. Jerusalem is captured from the Muslims
University of Oxford founded
Saladin recaptures Jerusalem
Genghis Khan dies
Ottoman Empire founded
Dante publishes The Divine Comedy
Aztecs found city of Tenochtitlan
Black Death in Europe
Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks
Christopher Columbus reached the New World
Michelangelo begins sculpting David
Foundation of Mughal Empire
Sir Francis Drake first man to lead expedition round the globe
The Spanish Armada defeated
Shakespeare dies
Mayflower arrives in America
Tasman sights New Zealand
End of English Civil War
Peter the Great sole Tsar in Russia
The South Sea Bubble
American Declaration of Independence
The French Revolution starts
Napoleon becomes Emperor of the French
Great Exhibition in London
Start of American Civil War
Death of Charles Dickens
Edison tests his first light bulb
Start of World War 1
End of World War 2
The Beatles have their first hit record
Man lands on the Moon
This year. Happy New 5513
I can’t guarantee the accuracy of the dates or, sadly, my arithmetic. But I had fun doing it and it did make me think differently about history and time.
