The Origin of Zero

The origin of zero is a nebulous subject.

The Babylonians were known to have used a space as a placeholder for empty "columns" as far back as 1700 BC.

Around 1400 years later, they developed the first known symbol to stand for an empty place. It looked something like YY.

It didn't actually stand for the number we know as "zero." It was never used alone. It was only a place holder.

The Mayan culture developed a symbol for the number zero, probably independently of the Babylonians, sometime later. So did the Hindu culture.

The first records we have of the symbol we use for 0, is from Hindu writings from the late 9th century.

There was no internet back then, but information still got around. Mostly by camelback, or foot, so it took awhile for 0 to migrate to Arab lands, (probably due to commerce).

Eventually, about 400 years after South Asia