What is bc?

BC stands for "Before Christ," and is a notation used to denote years before the birth of Jesus Christ in the Gregorian calendar. It is used primarily in the Western world and has been in use since the Middle Ages. The years before the birth of Christ are counted down from 1 BC to a period of approximately 4,000 years before that, known as the prehistoric era. The use of BC has been criticized by some who find it exclusive and prefer the use of BCE (Before Common Era) or CE (Common Era) instead. However, the majority of scholars and historians still use BC to denote dates before Christ's birth.