1900s: A new century, a new world

No. The 1900s usually means just the decade from 1900 to 1909, the first ten years of the century, while the 20th century covers every year from 1900 through 1999. People blur the two because both start with 19, but a decade and a century are very different spans.

For most people, daily life still looked more like the 1800s than today. Few homes had electricity or a car, work often meant long factory or farm hours, and life expectancy sat far below modern levels. Cities grew quickly as people left farms for factory jobs.

The decade's biggest breakthroughs were the airplane, the affordable car, and radio. The Wright brothers made the first powered flight in 1903, Ford's Model T put cars within reach of ordinary families in 1908, and early radio carried the first voice broadcasts, changing how people traveled and communicated.