Did we always keep track of the year (as it's 2021 right now)? How did we get to calling it 19 and 20?

by Draygoes

Have we been counting the year since the concept was first created?
How does one get the entire planet to agree on, well, anything?

I don't really know how to word it other than that.
It's 2021. What happened that we are calling it that number globally?

DanKensington

The Christian BC/AD calendar is just one amongst many possible systems of year counting. Various other alternative calendars exist, as we can see from the appropriate section of the FAQ, Other Dating Systems under Calendars, if your browser doesn't automatically take you there. (And the rest of the Calendars section for your other questions.)

Indeed, BC/AD is simply a regnal calendar that refuses to change eras like normal regnal calendars. Multiple other calendar systems remain in use today. Japan still uses a regnal calendar for official purposes.

Posted on this day, Monday 11 October; Décadi 20 Vendémiaire, An CCXXX; 19 Mehr of 1400 Solar Hijri; Reiwa 3; 7530 Anno Mundi; the sixth year of Rodrigo Duterte being President.