Adoption of the Gregorian calendar to 11 days. Sweden finally adopted the solar portion of the Gregorian calendar in 1753, when Wednesday, 17 February, was followed by Thursday, 1 March. Since Finland was under Swedish rule at that time, it did the same. The Russian Empire's 1809 conquest of Finland did not revert this, since autonomy was granted, but government documents in Finland were dated in both the Julian and Gregorian styles. This practice ended when independence was gained in 1917. Through enactment of the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750, Great Britain and its colonies (including the eastern part of what is now the United
December (Roman month) December (Roman month) December (from Latin "decem", "ten") or mensis December was originally the tenth month of the Roman calendar, following November ("novem", "nine") and preceding Ianuarius. It had 29 days. When the calendar was reformed to create a 12-month year starting in Ianuarius, December became the twelfth month, but retained its name, as did the other numbered months from Quintilis (July) through December. Its length was increased to 31 days under the Julian calendar reform. The Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the first day through the last. Instead, they counted back from the three