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21st century

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(20th century - 21st century - 22nd century - other centuries)

The century known as the twenty-first century comprises the years 2001-2100. This is different from the century known as the twenty hundreds, which comprises the years 2000-2099. These were preceded by centuries known as the twentieth century (1901-2000) and the nineteen hundreds (1900-1999), respectively.

These two systems are often confused, because "century" means a hundred-year period, but the two systems start their centuries on different years. Use of the former system is more common among historians ("the U.S. civil war was in the nineteenth century"). Use of the latter is more common among the general public ("the U.S. civil war was in the eighteen hundreds").

The twenty-first century is the first century of the third millennium (2001-3000). The twenty hundreds is the first century of a millennium which could be called the two thousands (2000-2999). But the first decade of this century (2000-2009) is also often called that.

The increasing prevalence of global communications and encounters with other calendars (Islamic calendar, Chinese calendar, Persian calendar, Hebrew calendar) suggest that the terms "21st century" and "the third millennium" has a substantial cultural bias. Some futurists suggest simply abandoning the idea of "centuries", setting the start date back to the beginning of human urbanization in the 4th millennium BC, making this the Seventh Millennium. Within that, some suggest also adopting a cyclic time[?] model based on global climate change, which they view as the macro-equivalent of the annual seasons.

Table of contents
1 Important developments, events, achievements
2 Influential people in Politics as of 2003
3 Influential People in Technology as of 2003
4 Influential People in Science as of 2003
5 Influential People in Mathematics as of 2003
6 Influential People in Art as of 2003
7 Predictions for the 21st century as of 2003
8 Other things

     Important developments, events, achievements  

     Influential people in Politics as of 2003  

(In alphabetical order)

     Influential People in Technology as of 2003  

     Influential People in Science as of 2003  

     Influential People in Mathematics as of 2003  

     Influential People in Art as of 2003  

     Predictions for the 21st century as of 2003  

Please note that these predictions are controversial, and disputed by many other observers: they are listed here to show some late 20th century futurists' predictions of the events of the 21st century so that they may be compared with real events as they happen.

     Other things  

Decades and Years

1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
2030s 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 2036 2037 2038 2039
2040s 2040 2041 2042 2043 2044 2045[?] 2046 2047 2048[?] 2049[?]
2050s 2050[?] 2051[?] 2052[?] 2053[?] 2054[?] 2055[?] 2056[?] 2057[?] 2058[?] 2059[?]
2060s 2060 2061 2062[?] 2063[?] 2064[?] 2065[?] 2066 2067 2068[?] 2069[?]
2070s 2070[?] 2071[?] 2072[?] 2073[?] 2074[?] 2075[?] 2076 2077[?] 2078[?] 2079[?]
2080s 2080[?] 2081[?] 2082[?] 2083[?] 2084[?] 2085[?] 2086[?] 2087[?] 2088[?] 2089[?]
2090s 2090[?] 2091[?] 2092[?] 2093[?] 2094[?] 2095[?] 2096[?] 2097[?] 2098[?] 2099
2100s[?] 2100[?] 2101[?] 2102[?] 2103[?] 2104[?] 2105[?] 2106[?] 2107[?] 2108[?] 2109[?]