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Department of the Navy Oceanographer of the Navy
Thursday December 13, 2001
Millennium Home When Is? Countdown Sunrise? Facts Events Time Ball

When Is the New Millennium?
mil*len*ni*um \ \ n, pl -nia or -niums: a period of 1000 years

The end of the second millennium and the beginning of the third was reached on January 1, 2001. This date is based on the now globally recognized Gregorian calendar, the initial epoch of which was established by the sixth-century scholar Dionysius Exiguus, who was compiling a table of dates of Easter. Rather than starting with the year zero, years in this calendar begin with the date January 1, 1 Anno Domini (AD). Consequently, the Third Millennium did not begin until January 1, 2001 AD.

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