Why the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar?
The Julian calendar introduced too many leap days, thus increasing the number of days between the vernal equinox of March 21, its scheduled date as noted in AD 325 during the Council of Nicaea. The introduction of the Gregorian calendar allowed for realignment with the equinox; however, a number of days had to be dropped when the change was made. Click on any one of the year links below for a better explanation of the calendars and the days that were dropped in order to make the switch to the Gregorian calendar. • The Gregorian calendar was first adopted in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain in 1582. This was done by dropping 10 days in October of that year. • .In Great Britain (and America), the Gregorian calendar would not be adopted until much later, in September 1752; 11 days were dropped. • Sweden (and Finland) had a “double” leap year in 1712. Two days were added to February–creating a date of February 30, 1712. (This was done because the leap year in 1700 was dropped and Sweden’s
