Luba Empire Lunda Empire Modern history Europe French First Empire British Empire (1583–1997) Russian Empire (1721–1917) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867–1918) Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946) French Second Empire (1852–1870) German Empire (1871–1918) French Third Republic (1870–1940) Nazi Germany (1933–1945) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (since 1922) Soviet Union (1922–1991) Asia Qing dynasty (1636–1912) Qajar dynasty (1794–1925) British Raj (1858–1947) Empire of Japan (1868–1947) Republic of China (1912–1949) People's Republic of China (from 1949) Partition of India (1947) Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire Russian conquest of Central Asia First Philippine Republic (1898–1901) Americas United States of America (from 1776) Mexican Empire (1821–1823) Empire of Brazil (1822–1889) Federal Republic of Central America (1823–1841) Gran Colombia (1819–1831) Canadian Confederation (1867) Africa European exploration of Africa Scramble for Africa French West Africa French Equatorial Africa French Algeria German East Africa Italian Libya Portuguese Angola Portuguese Mozambique Spanish Sahara Spanish protectorate in Morocco Belgian Congo Decolonisation List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Africa Cultural and technological history Calendar The Julian calendar was used in Europe at the beginning of the millennium, and all countries that once used the Julian calendar had adopted the Gregorian calendar by the end of it. For this reason, the end date of the 2nd millennium is usually calculated based on the Gregorian calendar, while the beginning date is based on the Julian calendar (or occasionally the proleptic Gregorian calendar). In the late 1990s, there was a dispute as to whether the millennium should be taken to end on December 31, 1999, or December 31, 2000. Stephen Jay Gould at the time argued there is no objective way of deciding this question. Associated Press reported that the third millennium began on 1 January 2001, but also reported that celebrations in the US were generally more subdued at the beginning of 2001, compared to the beginning of 2000. Many public celebrations for the end of the second millennium were held on December 31, 1999 – January 1, 2000—with a few people marking the end of the millennium a year later. The years 1600 and 2000 are witnessed as the sistematic century leap years in the Gregorian Calendar. Centuries and decades Notes References Millennia