Why There Are 60 Minutes in an Hour
Tuesday, 2026/03/31169 words3 minutes243 reads
In 1793, France tried to change time. They wanted 10 hours in a day, with 100 minutes per hour. The experiment failed after just 17 months. People found it too confusing and impractical.
Our current time system comes from the ancient Sumerians, who lived in Mesopotamia from around 5300-1940BC. They developed a mathematical system based on 60, called sexagesimal. This system was practical because 60 can be divided by many numbers without creating fractions.
The Babylonians, who came after the Sumerians, adopted this system. They used it for astronomical calculations, dividing time periods into smaller units based on 60. The ancient Egyptians were the first to divide the day into hours, around 2500BC. They used 12 hours for day and 12 for night.
The ancient Greeks adopted the Babylonian astronomical system, and it passed through centuries to modern times. Only in recent centuries, when clocks became accurate enough, did minutes and seconds become part of daily life. Today, this ancient system remains deeply ingrained in how we measure time.
