Zero has been recognized in Europe for roughly 800 years , with wide acceptance arriving around the 12th to 13th centuries after it spread from Indian mathematics through Arabic scholarship and into Europe.

Quick timeline

Period| What happened
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5th–7th century| Zero became a true number in India 29.
12th century| Zero entered Western Europe through translations and trade, especially via Italy 24.
13th century| It was being used by European mathematicians and merchants, though not always welcomed 24.
1299| Venice banned its use in bookkeeping because officials feared fraud 14.
15th century| Zero and the Arabic numeral system were broadly accepted in Europe 8.

Why the answer varies

The exact “how long” depends on what you mean by a number in Europe. If you mean first arriving , it was in Europe by the 1100s. If you mean fully accepted across Europe , that took until roughly the 1400s , and some accounts describe a much longer social struggle.

Simple version

A safe one-line answer is: zero has been in Europe for about 800 years, but it took a few more centuries to become fully accepted.