Definition of 2000

Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). It is generally pronounced as "two thousand"; however, in keeping the tradition of previous centuries (e.g. 1900s, 1800s) could also be referred to as "twenty hundred" since, mathematically speaking, 2000=20×100. In the Chinese Calendar, it is the Year of the Dragon, and in the western astrological calendar, it is the year of Leo, the Lion. Popular culture also holds the year 2000 as the first year of the twenty first century and the third millennium. In the Gregorian Calendar, however, this distinction falls to the year 2001. This is because the first century began with the year 1 (there was no year zero), the first century (or first 100 years AD) was from January 1, in the year one (AD 1) through December 31, in the year one-hundred (AD 100). The second century began on January 1, in the year one-hundred and one (101 AD). (The selection of AD 1 may be up to seven years from Jesus' birth, and January 1 is a historical choice for New Year's Day.). The same reasoning applies to millenniums, where the first ends on the year one-thousand (1000 AD).