BCE stands for “Before Common Era,” and it’s a way to label years that happened a long time ago. Think of it like counting backward from a specific starting point in history, which is the year 1 on our modern calendar. So, if you see a date like 500 BCE, it means 500 years before that year 1. BCE is used in the same way as BC (which means “Before Christ”), and the years are exactly the same; for example, 500 BCE is the same year as 500 BC. The main reason people use BCE is that it doesn’t refer to any specific religion, making it a more neutral term for everyone, especially in history books and science. While the idea of a “common era” has been around for centuries, using BCE became more popular in recent times as a way to be inclusive. So, when you see BCE after a year, it just tells you that the event happened before the Common Era began.