The term BC stands for ‘Before Christ’ and is used to denote years before the traditionally recognized year of the birth of Jesus Christ. The BC era starts from the year 1 BC, which is immediately followed by AD 1 (Anno Domini, meaning ‘in the year of the Lord’). There is no year 0 in this dating system.
This system was devised by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century. It was intended to calculate the correct date of Easter. Over time, it became the standard method for numbering years in the Gregorian and Julian calendars.
It’s important to note that the BC/AD system is based on a religious event and is not universally used. Some prefer the BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) designations, which are numerically equivalent to BC and AD but are secular in nature.