Why does the year begin on january 1

There was also an error made by Caesar and Sosigenus in calculating the number of days in a solar year. The actual number of days in a solar calendar is Consequently, there was a gap of minutes every year, which added up to about 11 days by the year Thereafter began the effort to standardise a calendar, most suitable to the Christian life of the middle ages.

The reform was not easy. Pope Gregory assembled an eminent body of astronomers, mathematicians and clergymen for the purpose. The main challenge it faced was that afflicting almost every civil calendar, that of dealing with a fraction of a dangling at the end of the year.

In order to fix the miscalculation of the Julian calendar, Aloysius Lilius, the Italian scientist who worked on the Gregorian calendar, devised a new system whereby every fourth year would be a leap year, but century years that were not divisible by were exempted. For instance, the years and were leap years, but not , and These revisions were formally instituted by the papal bull of February 24, , setting off a furious debate among religious leaders and scholars.

The religious opposition to the reform was in essence against Catholicism. He adds that the accusation was not entirely unfounded since Gregory XIII was a ruthless promoter of counter Reformation.

Consequently, the Catholic countries like Italy, Spain and Portugal were quick to adopt the new system. Protestant countries like England and Germany held off till about the end of the 18th century. Some accounts suggest that a riot took place in the streets of England in the year when the country went on to adopt the new calendar. By the end of , A farmer named Daniel Freeman submits the first claim under the new Homestead Act for a property near Beatrice, Nebraska.

Signed into law in by President Abraham Lincoln, the Homestead Act essentially legalized the long-standing American practice of squatting on the vast Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. But the prison with which Johnny Cash was most closely Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is published. The gentle, The incident inspires the cautionary novel and subsequent movie Looking For Mr.

President Franklin D. An American soldier accepts the surrender of about 20 Japanese soldiers who only discovered that the war was over by reading it in the newspaper.

On the island of Corregidor, located at the mouth of Manila Bay, a lone soldier on detail for the American Graves Registration was Amid celebration and chaos in the Cuban capitol of Havana, the U.

Live TV. Up until then, England and the American colonies had celebrated the new year on March If America hadn't finally accepted the new calendar, we'd be raising our champagne glasses and toasting to a new year Live Science. Remy Melina.