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The twentieth century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar.

The century saw a remarkable shift in the way that vast numbers of people lived, as a result of technological, medical, social, ideological, and political innovation. Terms like ideology, world war, genocide, and nuclear war entered our common usage.  This was a shift from predominantly farming and rural society to urban living, the world over.

The period witnessed radical changes in many areas of human endeavors. Scientific discoveries, such as the theory of relativity and quantum physics, drastically changed the world-view of scientists, causing them to realize that the universe was fantastically more complex than previously believed, and dashing the hopes at the end of the 19th century that the last few details of scientific knowledge were about to be filled in. Accelerating scientific understanding, more efficient communications, and faster transportation transformed the world in those hundred years more rapidly and widely than at any time in the past. It was a century that started with steam-powered ships and ended with the space shuttle.

Horses and other pack animals, Western society's basic form of personal transportation for thousands of years, were replaced by automobiles within the span of a few decades. These developments were made possible by the large-scale exploitation of fossil fuel resources (especially petroleum), which offered great amounts of energy in an easily portable and storable form, but also caused widespread concerns about pollution and our long-term impact on the environment. Humanity explored outer space for the first time, even taking their first footsteps on the Moon, and sending robots to every planet in our solar system.

Mass media, telecommunications, and information technology (especially the Internet) put the world's knowledge at the disposal of nearly everyone in most industrialized societies and many people in developing countries as well. Many people's view of the world changed significantly as they became much more aware of the suffering and struggles of others and, as such, became increasingly concerned with human rights. In the latter half of the century especially, mankind became aware of the vast scale on which it had affected the planet, and took steps to minimize its damage of the planet's fragile ecosystems.

Advancements in medical technology also improved the welfare of many people on the planet; life expectancy increased dramatically from the mid-30s to the mid-60s worldwide during the century. The healthiest countries had life expectancies of over 80 years by the turn of the millennium.  One of the most revolutionary of the medical advances was the ability to see inside any part of the body, using Quantum Physics & Magnetism, with MRI.  It also saw the emergence of incredibly deadly virus outbreaks, from the Influenza outbreaks in the early century, to HIV, Ebola, Hanta, and others towards the end, but it also saw effective treatments for many of these also come forth.

Rapid technological advancements, however, also allowed warfare to reach an unprecedented level of global destruction; World War II alone killed over 60 million people, while nuclear weaponry gave humankind the means to destroy itself in a matter of minutes. The world also became more culturally homogenized than ever with developments in transportation and communications technology, popular music and other influences of Western culture, international corporations, and what has become a true global economy by the end of the century, the we are fully experiencing today!

To explore some of the underpinnings of the evolution of the present, explore the years that help to shape our past, and continue to shape our present.