århundre

Århundre (Norwegian for century) is the term for a 100-year period used in history and chronology. The concept groups events into a manageable timespan and helps compare periods across regions and cultures. The word is cognate with Danish århundrede and Swedish århundrade, reflecting shared Germanic roots from Latin centum meaning hundred.

In the Gregorian calendar, centuries are usually defined so that the first century spans 1–100, the second 101–200, and so on. By this convention the 20th century is 1901–2000, and the 21st century is 2001–2100. In common usage, people sometimes treat the 1900s as the 20th century, reflecting a less formal convention.

Centuries are used to characterize long-term changes in politics, culture, technology, and society. They are not exact boundaries; overlaps and regional differences in dating can occur. For example, the 15th century (the 1400s) is associated with the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, the 18th century (the 1700s) with the Enlightenment, the 19th century (the 1800s) with industrialization, and the 20th century (the 1900s) with modernity and global conflicts. The concept remains a practical framework for organizing historical narratives and scholarly analysis, even as historians acknowledge variations in dating and regional perspectives.