The
1990s was the decade that ran from January 1, 1990, to December 31, 1999, the last decade of the
20th centuryThe 20th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar.The British Empire, the Russian Empire, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved in the first half of the century, with all but the...
. It was the first decade following the effective end of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
. A combination of factors including the mass mobilisation of capital markets through
neoliberalismNeoliberalism is a synonym of classical economic liberalism. The term was coined in 1938 at the Colloque Walter Lippmann by the German sociologist and economist Alexander Rüstow, one of the fathers of Social market economy. The label is referring to a redefinition of classical liberalism,...
, the widespread proliferation of
new mediaNew media is a term meant to encompass the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies in the later part of the 20th century...
, and the dissolution of the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
led to a realignment and reconsolidation of economic and political power across the world, and within countries. Living standards and democratic governance generally improved in many areas of the world, notably East Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and South Africa. However new ethnic conflicts emerged in Africa, the Caucusus and the Balkans, and signs of any resolution of tensions in the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
remained elusive.
Economics
Many countries, institutions, companies, and organizations were prosperous during the 1990s. High-income countries such as the United States, South Korea, and those in
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
experienced steady economic growth for much of the decade. However, in the
former Soviet UnionThe post-Soviet states, also commonly known as the Former Soviet Union or former Soviet republics, are the 15 independent nations that split off from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in its breakup in December 1991...
GDPThe gross domestic product or gross domestic income is a basic measure of a country's economic performance and is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year...
decreased as their economies restructured to produce goods they needed and some
capital flightCapital flight, in economics, occurs when assets and/or money rapidly flow out of a country, due to an economic event that disturbs investors and causes them to lower their valuation of the assets in that country, or otherwise to lose confidence in its economic strength...
occurred.
Oil and gas were discovered in many countries in the former Soviet bloc, leading to economic growth and wider adoption of
tradeTrade is the voluntary exchange of goods, services, or both. Trade is also called commerce or transaction. A mechanism that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and services. Later one side of the barter were the metals, precious...
between nations. These trends were also fueled by inexpensive fossil energy, with low petroleum prices caused by a glut of oil. Political stability and decreased militarization due to the winding down of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
led to economic development and higher standards of living for many citizens.
- The U.S experiences its longest period of economic expansion during the decade. Personal incomes doubled from the recession in 1990, and there was higher productivity overall. After the 1996 Welfare Reform Act
-Welfare reform in the United States:-The Welfare System and reform in Great Britain:Social welfare is administered in three ways in Great Britain, the National Health Service, the Social Services program, and the Pensions Service program all play a part in the providing social welfare.-The three...
there was a reduction of poverty, and the Wall StreetWall Street is a street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. It runs east from Broadway to South Street on the East River, through the historical center of the Financial District. It is the first permanent home of the New York Stock Exchange; over time Wall Street became the...
stock exchangeA stock exchange is a corporation or mutual organization which provides "trading" facilities for stock brokers and traders, to trade stocks and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for the issue and redemption of securities as well as other financial instruments and capital...
stayed over the 10,500 mark from 1999 to 2001.
- After the 1992 booming of the US stock market
A stock market is a public market for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately....
, Alan GreenspanAlan Greenspan is an American economist who served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. He currently works as a private advisor and provides consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC...
coined the phrase "irrational exuberance".
- GATT
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the International Trade Organization . GATT was formed in 1947 and lasted until 1994, when it was replaced by the World Trade Organization in 1995...
update and creation of the World Trade OrganizationThe World Trade Organization is an international organization designed by its founders to supervise and liberalize international capital trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, replacing the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade , which...
and other global economic institutions, but opposition by anti-globalization activists showed up in nearly every GATT summit, like the demonstrations in Seattle in December 1999.
- With the creation of the E.U.
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
there is freedom of movementFreedom of movement, mobility rights or the right to travel is a human rights concept which is respected in the constitutions of numerous states...
between member states, such as the 1992 and 1995 free trade agreements. The EU agreed to have a single currency, and the EuroThe euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
began circulation in March 1999 in 12 member states.
- The Philippines saw great economic development after the People Power Revolution. The economy gains 5% from its deficit until the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
- The North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), which phases out trade barriers between the United States, MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
is signed into law by U.S. PresidentThe President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
.
- From 1990 until 1998 inclusive, the economy of Russia and some former USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
states was in a severe depression. Eastern European economies struggled after the fall of communism, but PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
, EstoniaEstonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russian Federation...
, and LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of...
saw healthy economic growth rates in the late 1990s.
- Much of Europe had serious economic problems including the massive 1995 general strikes in France
France , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
during its worst recession since World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the problems associated with German re-unification. The French economy mildly rebounds at the end of the decade as does Germany. During the late 90s, the economies of particulalrly SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
, ScandinaviaScandinavia is a geographical region in northern Europe that includes, and is named after, the Scanian Province. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark...
and former Eastern block countries accelerate at rapid speed. After the early 1990s recession, the United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and IrelandCeltic Tiger is a term used to describe a period of rapid economic growth in Ireland between 1995-2007, coming to a dramatic halt by 2008, with a GDP contraction of 14% by 2010....
experience rapid economic growth that continues throughout the decade. Unemployment is a persistant problem in many countries throughout the 90s.
- The sluggish economies of Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
, by a new emphasis on free markets for all their citizens, and Mexico, under economist president Ernesto ZedilloErnesto Zedillo Ponce de León is a Mexican economist and politician. He served as President of Mexico from December 1 1994 to November 30 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted seventy year line of Mexican presidents from the National Revolutionary Party to the Institutional Revolutionary Party...
elected in 1994, were in their best shape by the late 1990s.
- Financial crisis hits East
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. Geographically and geo-politically, it covers about , or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang,...
and Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
in 1997 and 1998 after a long period of phenomenal economic development. Japan was heavily affected, as was IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
when the 30-year rule of President Suharto ended in his resignation after widespread protests in May 1998. See Four Asian Tigers.
World-changing events
Significant events that occurred during or after 1990 which would influence the course of history and character of the years, include:
- The release of African National Congress
The African National Congress has been South Africa's governing party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a "disciplined...
leader Nelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in a fully representative democratic election, who held office from 1994–99. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of the African National Congress's armed wing Umkhonto...
from jail in February 1990 after thirty years of imprisonment for opposing apartheid and white-minority rule in South Africa.
- The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
The Invasion of Kuwait, also known as the Iraq-Kuwait War, and perhaps more appropriately as Iraqi abolition of Kuwait was a major conflict between the Republic of Iraq and the State of Kuwait which resulted in the seven-month long Iraqi occupation of Kuwait which subsequently led to direct...
in August 2, 1990 and the subsequent Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
in 1991.
- The German reunification
German reunification is the process in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and Berlin was united into a single city-state. The start of this process is commonly referred to by former citizens of the GDR as die Wende...
in October 3, 1990 as a result of the fall of the Berlin Wall|-||-||-||-||}The Berlin Wall was a physical barrier erected by the German Democratic Republic completely encircling West Berlin, separating it from East Germany, including East Berlin. The longer inner German border demarcated the border between East and West Germany...
.
- The breakup of Yugoslavia beginning on June 25, 1991 after the republics of Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a country in southeast Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Zagreb...
and SloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north...
declared independence from YugoslaviaYugoslavia is a term that describes three political entities that existed successively on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century.The first country to be known by this...
which was followed by the subsequent Yugoslav warsThe Yugoslav Wars were a series of violent conflicts fought in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the 1990s and 2001...
.
- The World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a web browser, one can view Web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them using hyperlinks...
becomes publicly available on the InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
on August 6, 1991, greatly accelerating the expansion of public use of the Internet.
- The Moscow Coup and subsequent break-up of the Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
on December 21, 1991.
- Signing of the Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles became a milestone toward the resolution of the Palestinian - Israeli conflict, one of the major continuing issues within the wider Arab-Israeli conflict...
by IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i and PalestinianThe Palestinian territories are composed of two discontiguous regions, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, whose final status has yet to be determined. The territories, which were originally contained within the British Mandate of Palestine, were captured and occupied by Jordan and by Egypt in the...
leaders on September 13, 1993. IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
permits the creation of an autonomous Palestinian National AuthorityThe Palestinian National Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip....
consisting of the Gaza StripThe Gaza Strip lies on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometers wide, with a total area of . The area is recognized internationally as part of the Palestinian territories...
and West BankThe West Bank is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories; on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel, which maintains the security of this area. To the east,...
, while the Palestine Liberation OrganizationThe Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization founded in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," by over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed observer status at the United...
recognizes Israel's right to exist.
- The enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) on January 1, 1994, creating a North American free tradeFree trade is a type of trade policy that allows traders to act and transact without interference from government. According to the law of comparative advantage the policy permits trading partners mutual gains from trade of goods and services....
zone consisting of Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
- The Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda's Tutsis and Hutu political moderates by Hutus under the Hutu Power ideology. Over the course of approximately 100 days, from the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana on 6 April through mid-July, at least 500,000...
which began on April 6, 1994 until mid-July 1994 leads to the deaths of 800,000 people. It results in serious criticism of the United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
and major countries for failing to stop the genocide.
- The first cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep is confirmed and reported by global media on February 26, 1997.
- The government of the People's Republic of China announces major privatization of state-owned industries in September 1997.
- The adoption of the Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at combating global warming...
by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeThe United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992...
on December 11, 1997.
- The rival countries India and Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
in succession reveal their acquisition of nuclear weaponA nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion...
s in 1998 with two separate missile tests amid escalating tensions over the disputed region of KashmirKashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent...
.
- The Belfast Agreement
The Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement or the Good Friday Agreement , and occasionally as the Stormont Agreement, was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process. It was signed in Belfast on 10 April 1998 by the British and Irish governments and endorsed by...
(a.k.a. the Good Friday Agreement) is signed by U.K. and Irish politicians on April 10, 1998, declaring a joint commitment to a peaceful resolution of the territorial dispute between the Republic of IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
and the United Kingdom over Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
.
Significant events that marked the passing of the decade include:
- The Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army is a branch of the Pakistan military that protects the state borders and territories.The Pakistan Army, combined with the Navy and Air Force, makes Pakistan's armed forces the sixth largest military in the world. The Army is modelled on the United Kingdom armed forces and came...
overthrows the democratically elected government of PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
on October 12, 1999. Army chief Pervez MusharrafGeneral Pervez Musharraf , NI, TBt, was the 10th President of Pakistan and the Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army,....
takes control of government as Prime Minister of PakistanThe Prime Minister of Pakistan , is the Head of Government of Pakistan.The Prime Minister is elected by the National Assembly, members of which are elected by popular vote. Most commonly, the leader of the party or coalition with the most votes becomes the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is...
; he would dominate Pakistan's political leadership for nine years.
- The anti-globalization
The anti-globalization movement is critical of the globalization of capitalism. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-corporate globalization movement, or movement against neoliberal globalization...
protests at the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 in Seattle, WashingtonWashington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the...
began on November 30, 1999. This marks the beginning of a steady increase in anti-globalization protests which occurred in the 2000s as well as increasing hostility to neoliberalismNeoliberalism is a synonym of classical economic liberalism. The term was coined in 1938 at the Colloque Walter Lippmann by the German sociologist and economist Alexander Rüstow, one of the fathers of Social market economy. The label is referring to a redefinition of classical liberalism,...
.
- Ahmed Ressam
Ahmed Ressam was convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison in a plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve 1999.-Early life:...
, an IslamistIslamism is a set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system; that modern Muslims must return to their roots of their religion, and unite politically....
militant associated with Al-QaedaAl-Qaeda , alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida, is an Islamist group founded sometime between August 1988 and late 1989 and early 1990...
is arrested when attempting to cross from Canada to the United States at the Canada-U.S. border on December 14, 1999; it is discovered that he intended to bomb Los Angeles International AirportLos Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving Los Angeles, California, the second-most populated metropolitan area of the United States. It is often referred to by its airport code LAX, with the letters usually pronounced individually...
during millennium celebrations. This is the first major attempted terrorist attack by Al Qaeda on U.S. soil since the 1993 World Trade Center bombingThe 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a car bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,500 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower into the South Tower , bringing both...
and marked the beginning of a series of attempted terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda against the U.S. that would continue into the 2000s.
- The end of the last colonial holdings in China with the transfer of Hong Kong (under the United Kingdom) and Macau
The Macau Special Administrative Region , commonly known as Macau or Macao , is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong...
(under Portugal) to the People's Republic of China in 1997 and 1999.
- The resignation of President Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999....
on December 31, 1999 resulting in Prime MinisterThe Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation is the second most powerful official of the Russian Federation, who, under Article 24 of the Federal Constitutional Law On the Government of the Russian Federation, "heads the Government of the Russian Federation".Nowhere in the Russian Law...
Vladimir PutinVladimir Vladimirovich Putin was the second President of Russia and is the current Prime Minister of Russia as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus...
's succession to the position.
- Worldwide New Year's Eve celebrations on December 31, 1999 welcoming the year 2000. The 2nd millennium
Beethoven|Te Kooti|- align="left"!20th Century|Nelson Mandela
Paul Rusesabagina|Martin Luther King, Jr.
Franklin D...
and the 20th centuryThe 20th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar.The British Empire, the Russian Empire, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved in the first half of the century, with all but the...
would end on December 31, 2000.
- Worldwide concern about possible widespread computer malfunctions resulting from the Year 2000 problem
The Year 2000 problem was a notable problem for both digital and non-digital documentation and data storage situations which resulted from the practice of abbreviating a four-digit year to two digits.In computer program design, the practice of representing the year...
.
Science
- Physicists develop M-theory
In theoretical physics, M-theory is an extension of string theory in which 11 dimensions are identified. Because the dimensionality exceeds the dimensionality of five superstring theories in 10 dimensions, it is believed that the 11-dimensional theory unifies all string theories...
.
- Detection of extrasolar planet
An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet beyond our solar system, orbiting a star other than our Sun. , 403 exoplanets are listed in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia. The vast majority have been detected through radial velocity observations and other indirect methods rather than actual...
s orbiting starA star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma that is held together by gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth. Other stars are visible in the night sky, when they are not outshone by the Sun...
s other than the sun.
- Dolly the sheep is cloned
Cloning in biology is the process of producing populations of genetically-identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or organisms...
.
- Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project was an international scientific research project with a primary goal to determine the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA and to identify and map the approximately 20,000–25,000 genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional standpoint...
begins.
- DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information...
identification of individuals finds wide application in criminal lawThe term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply...
.
- Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by the space shuttle in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Although not the first space telescope, the Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well-known as both a vital...
launched in 1990; revolutionizes astronomyAstronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere...
. Unfortunately, a flaw in its main mirror caused it to produce fuzzy, distorted images. This was corrected by a shuttle repair mission in 1993.
- Protease inhibitors
Protease inhibitors are a class of medications used to treat or prevent infection by viruses, including HIV and Hepatitis C. PIs prevent viral replication by inhibiting the activity of HIV-1 protease, an enzyme used by the viruses to cleave nascent proteins for final assembly of new...
introduced allowing HAARTAntiretroviral drugs are medications for the treatment of infection by retroviruses, primarily HIV. When several such drugs, typically three or four, are taken in combination, the approach is known as highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART...
therapy against HIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid,...
; drastically reduces AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus ....
mortality.
- NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for...
's spacecraft PathfinderThe Mars Pathfinder later called The Carl Sagan Memorial Station was launched on December 4, 1996 by NASA aboard a Delta II just a month after the Mars Global Surveyor was launched. After a 7-month voyage it landed on Ares Vallis, in a region called Chryse Planitia on Mars, in the Oxia Palus...
lands on MarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the "Red Planet" because of its reddish appearance, due to iron oxide prevalent on its surface....
and deploys a small roving vehicle, SojournerThe Mars Pathfinder later called The Carl Sagan Memorial Station was launched on December 4, 1996 by NASA aboard a Delta II just a month after the Mars Global Surveyor was launched. After a 7-month voyage it landed on Ares Vallis, in a region called Chryse Planitia on Mars, in the Oxia Palus...
, which analyzes the planet's geology and atmosphere.
- The Hale-Bopp
Comet Hale-Bopp was arguably the most widely observed comet of the twentieth century, and one of the brightest seen for many decades...
comet swings past the sun for the first time in 4,200 years in April 1997.
- Development of biodegradable products
Biodegradation is the material breakdown of chemicals by a physiological environment. The term is often used in relation to ecology, waste management and environmental remediation . Organic material can be degraded aerobically with oxygen, or anaerobically, without oxygen...
, replacing products made from styrofoamPolystyrene , sometimes abbreviated PS, is an aromatic polymer made from the aromatic monomer styrene, a liquid hydrocarbon that is commercially manufactured from petroleum by the chemical industry...
; advances in methods for recyclingRecycling involves processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower...
of waste products (such as paper, glass, and aluminum).
- Genetically engineered crops
Genetically modified foods are foods derived from genetically modified organisms. Genetically modified organisms have had specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering, unlike similar food organisms which have been modified from their wild ancestors through selective breeding ...
are developed for commercial use.
- Discovery of dark matter
In astronomy and cosmology, dark matter is hypothetical matter that is undetectable by its emitted radiation, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter...
, dark energyIn physical cosmology, astronomy and celestial mechanics, dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to increase the rate of expansion of the universe. Dark energy is the most popular way to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be...
, brown dwarfBrown dwarfs are sub-stellar objects with a mass below that necessary to maintain hydrogen-burning nuclear fusion reactions in their cores, as do stars on the main sequence, but which have fully convective surfaces and interiors, with no chemical differentiation by depth...
s, and first confirmation of black holeIn general relativity, a black hole is a region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing, not even light, can escape. The black hole has a one-way surface, called an event horizon, into which objects can fall, but out of which nothing can come...
s.
- The Galileo probe orbits Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass slightly less than one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all of the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas...
, studying the planet and its moons extensively.
- The Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a U.S. space-based global navigation satellite system. It provides reliable positioning, navigation, and timing services to worldwide users on a continuous basis in all weather, day and night, anywhere on or near the Earth.GPS is made up of three parts: between 24...
(GPS) becomes fully operational.
- Proof of Fermat's Last Theorem
In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem states that no three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than two...
is discovered by Andrew WilesSir Andrew John Wiles KBE FRS is a British mathematician and a professor at Princeton University, specializing in number theory...
.
- Construction starts on the International Space Station
The International Space Station is an internationally developed research facility currently being assembled in Low Earth Orbit. On-orbit construction of the station began in 1998 and is scheduled to be completed by 2011, with operations continuing until at least 2015...
– 1996
Technology
Some technologies invented and improved during the 1990s:
Electronics
- The Pentium processor
The original Pentium processor was a 32-bit microprocessor produced by Intel. The first superscalar x86 architecture processor, it was introduced on March 22, 1993. Its microarchitecture was a direct extension of the 80486 architecture with dual integer pipelines, a faster FPU, wider data bus, and...
is developed by IntelIntel is the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. The company is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers. Intel was founded on July 18, 1968, as Integrated Electronics Corporation and based in Santa Clara,...
.
- Explosive growth of the Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, perhaps caused by a decrease in the cost of computerA computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century . These were the size of a large room, consuming as...
s and other related technology.
- Advancements in computer modems
Modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
, ISDNIntegrated services digital network is a set of communications standards enabling traditional telephone lines to carry voice, digital network services, and video. Prior to ISDN, the phone system was viewed as a way to transport voice, with some special services available for data...
, cable modemA cable modem is a type of network bridge and modem that provides bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels on a cable television infrastructure. Cable modems are primarily used to deliver broadband Internet access in the form of cable Internet, taking advantage of the high...
s, and DSLDSL or xDSL is a family of technologies that provides digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network. DSL originally stood for digital subscriber loop, but the term digital subscriber line has been widely adopted as a more marketing-friendly term for Asymmetric Digital...
lead to faster connection to the Internet.
- Pager
A pager is a simple personal telecommunications device for short messages. A one-way numeric pager can only receive a message consisting of a few digits, typically a phone number that the user is then expected to call...
s are initially popular but ultimately are replaced by mobile phoneA mobile phone or mobile is a long-range, electronic device used for mobile telecommunications...
s toward the end of the decade.
- Hand-held satellite phone
A satellite telephone, satellite phone, or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites. Depending on the architecture of a particular system, coverage may include the entire Earth, or only specific regions.The mobile equipment, also...
s are introduced towards the end of the decade.
- CD burner drives are introduced.
- Digital SLRs
A digital single-lens reflex camera is a digital camera that uses a mechanical mirror system and pentaprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder on the back of the camera....
and regular digital cameraA digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor....
s become commercially available.
- The DVD
DVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
media format is developed and popularized along with a plethora of Flash memory cardA memory card or flash memory card is solid-state electronic flash memory data storage device capable of storing digital contents. These are mainly used with digital cameras, handheld and Mobile computers, mobile phones, music players, digital cinematography cameras, video game consoles, and other...
standards.
- Apple introduces the iMac
The iMac is a range of all-in-one Macintosh desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its introduction in 1998, and has evolved through four distinct forms. In its original form, the iMac G3, the iMac was gum drop- or...
computer, initiating a trend in computer design towards translucent plastics and multicolor case design, discontinuing many legacy technologiesA legacy system is an old method, technology, computer system, or application program that continues to be used, typically because it still functions for the users' needs, even though newer technology or more efficient methods of performing a task are now available...
like serial portIn computing, a serial port is a serial communication physical interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time...
s, and beginning a resurgence in the company's fortunes that continues unabated to this day.
- IBM
International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM, is a multinational computer technology and IT consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, Town of North Castle, New York, United States. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating...
introduces the wide MicrodriveThe Microdrive is a brand name for a miniature, 1-inch hard disk designed to fit in a CompactFlash Type II slot. The release of similar drives by other makers has led to them often being referred to as 'microdrives'...
hard drive in 170 MB and 340 MB capacities.
- The first GSM network is launched in Finland in 1991
- The first MP3 Player, the MPMan
The MPMan F10 was the first portable solid state digital audio player sold in the North American Market, developed by SaeHan Information Systems which is headquartered in Seoul, Korea and imported by Eiger Labs, Inc. The MPMan was the first of its kind in what would become a new era in portable...
, is released in late spring of 1998. It came with 32Mb of flash memory expandable to 64Mb.
- The introduction of affordable, smaller satellite dish
A dish is a type of parabolic antenna designed to receive microwaves from communications satellites, which transmit data transmissions or broadcasts, such as satellite television.-Principle of operation:...
es and the DVB-SDVB-S is the original Digital Video Broadcasting forward error coding and modulation standard for satellite television and dates from 1994, in its first release, while development lasted from 1993 to 1997...
standard in the mid-1990s expanded satellite television services that carried up to 500 televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
channels.
Software
- The World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a web browser, one can view Web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them using hyperlinks...
and HTMLHTML, which stands for Hyper Text Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for web pages. It provides a means to create structured documents by denoting structural semantics for text such as headings, paragraphs, lists etc as well as for links, quotes, and other items. It allows images...
are created by Tim Berners-LeeSir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, OM, KBE, FRS, FREng, FRSA , is a British engineer and computer scientist and MIT professor credited with inventing the World Wide Web, making the first proposal for it in March 1989...
and eventually displace the Gopher protocol.
- Development of the free Linux
Linux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed,...
kernel is started by Linus TorvaldsLinus Benedict Torvalds is a Finnish software engineer best known for having initiated the development of the Linux kernel...
in Finland.
- Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices...
introduces Windows NT 3.1Windows NT 3.1 is the first release of Microsoft's Windows NT line of server and business desktop operating systems, and was released to manufacturing on 27 July 1993. The version number was chosen to match the one of Windows 3.1, the then-latest operating environment from Microsoft, on account of...
, Windows 95Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
and later Windows 98Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It was released on June 25, 1998, and is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit monolithic product based on MS-DOS...
to the market, which gain immediate popularity.
- The development of Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
s such as Netscape NavigatorNetscape Communications was a US computer services company, best known for its web browser. The browser was once dominant in terms of usage share, but lost most of that share to Internet Explorer during the first browser war...
and Internet ExplorerWindows Internet Explorer , is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems starting in 1995...
makes surfing the World Wide WebThe World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a web browser, one can view Web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them using hyperlinks...
easier and more user friendlyUsability is a term used to denote the ease with which people can employ a particular tool or other human-made object in order to achieve a particular goal...
.
- The Java programming language
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
is developed by Sun MicrosystemsSun Microsystems, Inc. is a multinational vendor of computers, computer components, computer software, and information technology services, founded on February 24, 1982...
.
- Businesses start to build E-commerce
Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage...
websiteA website is a collection of related web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that are addressed with a common domain name or IP address in an Internet Protocol-based network...
s; E-commerce-only companies such as Amazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is an American-based multinational electronic commerce company. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, it is America's largest online retailer, with nearly three times the Internet sales revenue of the runner up, Staples, Inc....
, eBayeBay Inc. is an American Internet company that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide. A majority of the sales take place through a set-time auction format, but subsequent methods include...
, AOLAmerica Online, LLC is an American global Internet services and media company operated by Time Warner. It is headquartered at 770 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City...
, and Yahoo!Yahoo! Inc. is an American public corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, , that provides Internet services worldwide...
grow rapidly.
- E-mail
Electronic mail, often abbreviated as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages, designed primarily for human use...
becomes popular; as a result MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices...
acquires the popular HotmailWindows Live Hotmail, formerly known as MSN Hotmail and commonly referred to simply as Hotmail, is a free web-based email service operated by Microsoft as part of its Windows Live group. It is currently the largest web-based email service....
webmail service.
- Instant messaging
Instant messaging is a form of real-time communication between two or more people based on typed text. The text is conveyed via devices connected over a network such as the Internet.-Overview:...
and the Buddy listA contact list is a collection of screen names in an instant messaging or e-mail program or online game or mobile phone. It has various trademarked and proprietary names in different contexts....
becomes popular. AIMAOL Instant Messenger is an instant messaging and presence computer program which uses the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. It was released by AOL in May 1997...
and ICQICQ is a popular instant messaging computer program, which was first developed by the Israeli company Mirabilis, now owned by Time Warner's AOL subsidiary. The first version of the program was released in November 1996 and ICQ became one of the first Internet-wide instant messaging services. The...
are two early protocols.
- The Year 2000 problem
The Year 2000 problem was a notable problem for both digital and non-digital documentation and data storage situations which resulted from the practice of abbreviating a four-digit year to two digits.In computer program design, the practice of representing the year...
(commonly known as Y2K), the computer glitch disaster expected to happen on January 1, 2000 is recognized.
- Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces...
operating systems become virtually ubiquitous on IBM Personal Computers.
Computer and video games
- 3-D
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
graphics become the standard by end of decade. Although FPSsFirst-person shooter is a video game genre which centers the gameplay around gun- and projectile weapon-based combat through the first person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits...
had long since seen the transition to full 3D, other genres begin to copy this trend by the end of the decade.
- Lara Croft
Lara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of Eidos Interactive's Tomb Raider video game series. Created by Toby Gard, the character has also appeared in comic books, novels and a series of animated short films, and has been played by Angelina Jolie in two feature films...
became a video game sex symbol, becoming a recognizable figure in the entertainment industry throughout the late 1990s.
- The console wars
"Console wars" is a term used to refer to periods of intense competition for market share between video game console manufacturers. The winners of these "wars" may be debated based on different standards: market penetration and financial success, or the fierce loyalty and numbers of the fans of the...
, primarily between Segais a multinational video game software and hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan...
(Mega Drive, marketed as the Sega Genesis in North America, introduced in 1988) and Nintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel...
(Super NESThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
, introduced in 1990), sees the entrance of Sonyis a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world's largest media conglomerates with revenue exceeding ¥ 7.730.0 trillion, or $78.88 billion U.S. . Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game...
with the PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
in 1994, which becomes the first successful CD-based console (as opposed to cartridges}A ROM cartridge is a removable cartridge that contains read-only memory devices and, commonly, flash memory devices to allow some read-write capability. A video game ROM cartridge is sometimes informally known as a cart...
). By the end of the decade, Sega's hold on the market becomes tenuous after the end of the SaturnThe is a 32-bit video game console that was first released on November 22 1994 in Japan, May 11 1995 in North America, and July 8 1995 in Europe...
in 1998 and the Dreamcast in 2001.
- Mario
is a fictional character in his eponymous video game series, created by video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
as Nintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel...
's mascotThe term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
finds a rival in Segais a multinational video game software and hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan...
's Sonic the Hedgehog, trademarked Sonic The Hedgehog, is a video game character and the protagonist of the eponymous video game series released by Sega, as well as in numerous spin-off comics, cartoons and books. The first game in the franchise was released on June 23, 1991, in order to provide Sega with a mascot to...
with the release of the original game on the Genesis in 1991.
- Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, typically installed in businesses such as restaurants, public houses, video arcades, and Family Entertainment Centers...
s rapidly decrease in popularity.
- Fighting games like Capcom
is a leading international developer and publisher of video games headquartered in Osaka, Japan. It was founded in 1979 as Japan Capsule Computers, a company devoted to the manufacturing and distribution of electronic game machines...
's Street Fighter IIis a series in Capcom's Street Fighter saga of head-to-head fighting games, originally released as coin-operated arcade games. The Street Fighter II series started with the Street Fighter II game itself, released in as a sequel to Capcoms fighting game Street Fighter.Street Fighter II improved...
, Segais a multinational video game software and hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan...
's futuristic Virtua Fighter, and especially the more violent Mortal KombatMortal Kombat is a fighting game developed by Midway, released in arcades in 1992. After being published by Acclaim Entertainment for a home version, it was later returned to Midway. The game is the first title released in the Mortal Kombat series...
from AcclaimAcclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
prompted the video game industry to adopt a game rating system, and hundreds of knock-offs are widely popular in mid-to-late 1990s.
- Sony's PlayStation
The PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
becomes the top selling game console and changes the standard media storage type from cartridges}A ROM cartridge is a removable cartridge that contains read-only memory devices and, commonly, flash memory devices to allow some read-write capability. A video game ROM cartridge is sometimes informally known as a cart...
to compact discsA Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store sound recordings exclusively, but later it also allowed the preservation of other types of data. Audio CDs have been commercially available since October 1982...
in consoles.
- Doom (1993) bursts onto the world scene and instantly popularizes the FPS
First-person shooter is a video game genre which centers the gameplay around gun- and projectile weapon-based combat through the first person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits...
genre, and even how games are played, as Doom is among the first games to feature multiplayer capabilities. It is not until QuakeQuake is a first-person shooter video game that was released by id Software on June 22, 1996. It was the first game in the popular Quake series of video games....
(1996), however, that game developers begin to take multiplayer features into serious consideration when making games. Half-Life (1998) features the next evolutionary step in the genre with continual progression of the game (no levels in the traditional sense) and an entirely in-person view, and becomes one of the most popular computer games in history.
- The real-time strategy
Real-time strategy games are a genre of computer wargames which do not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
(RTS) genre is introduced in 1992 with the release of Dune IIDune II: The Building of a Dynasty is a Dune computer game released in 1992 by Westwood Studios...
. Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994) popularizes the genre, with Command & ConquerCommand & Conquer, is a 1995 real-time strategy video game produced by Westwood Studios for MS-DOS and released internationally by Virgin Interactive...
and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness in 1995 setting up the first major real-time strategy competition and popularizing multiplayer capabilities in RTS games. StarCraftStarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
in 1998 becomes the second best-selling computer game of all time. It remains among the most popular multiplayer RTS games to this day, especially in South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
. HomeworldHomeworld is a real-time strategy computer game released on September 28, 1999, developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment. It is best known for its full three-dimensional movement, engrossing storyline and unique soundtrack...
in 1999 becomes the first successful 3d RTS game. The rise of the RTS genre is often credited with the fall of the turn-based strategyA turn-based strategy game is a strategy game where players take turns when playing. This is distinguished from real time strategy where all players play simultanteously...
(TBS) genre, popularized with Civilization in 1991. The Civilization franchise is the only TBS franchise that remains popular.
- Final Fantasy
is a console role-playing game created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, developed and published in Japan by Square in 1987, and published in North America by Nintendo of America in 1990. It is the first game in Square's Final Fantasy series...
first debuted (in North America) in 1990 for the NES, and remains among the most popular video game franchisesis a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of science-fantasy console role-playing games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
, with 12 new titles to date, with another in development, plus numerous spin-offs, sequels, movies and related titles. Final Fantasy VIIis a console role-playing game developed by Square and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was released in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation, in 1998 for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers, and released on the PlayStation Network...
, released in 1997, especially popularized the series.
- Zelda continues its massive popularity with a series of groundbreaking releases, including A Link to the Past in 1991 and Ocarina of Time in 1998, both of which are considered some of the greatest and most influential games of all time.
- Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of computer role-playing games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
s (MMORPGs) see their entrance into the computer game world with Ultima OnlineUltima Online is a graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game , released on September 25, 1997, by Origin Systems. It was instrumental to the development of the genre, and is still running today...
in 1997, although they don't gain widespread popularity until EverQuestEverQuest, often shortened to EQ, is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game that was released on the 16th of March, 1999. The original design is credited to Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover, and Bill Trost. It was developed by Sony's 989 Studios and its early-1999 spin-off...
and Asheron's CallAsheron's Call is a fantasy MMORPG for Microsoft Windows-based PCs developed by Turbine Entertainment and published by Microsoft. It was released on November 2, 1999. Asheron's Call is set on the continent of Dereth and its surrounding islands on the fictional planet of Auberean...
in 1999. MMORPGs go on to become among the most popular genres in the 2000s.
- Pokémon
is a media franchise published by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video game-based media franchise in the world,...
entered the world scene with the release of the original Game BoyThe is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America on , and in Europe on . In Southern Asia, it is known as the "Tata Game Boy" It is the first handheld console in the Game Boy line...
Pokémon RedPokémon Red and Pokémon Blue are the first installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy. They were first released in Japan in 1996 and later released in North America, Europe and Australia over the following three...
and Pokémon Green games in Japan in 1996, later changed to Pokémon RedPokémon Red and Pokémon Blue are the first installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy. They were first released in Japan in 1996 and later released in North America, Europe and Australia over the following three...
and Pokémon BluePokémon Red and Pokémon Blue are the first installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy. They were first released in Japan in 1996 and later released in North America, Europe and Australia over the following three...
for worldwide release in 1998. It soon becomes popular in the U.S. spurring the term Pokémania and is adapted into a popular children's animeis animation originating in Japan. The world outside Japan regards anime as "Japanese animation". Anime originated about 1917.Anime, like manga , has a large audience in Japan and high recognition throughout the world...
series and trading cardA trading card is a small card, usually made out of cardboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person and a short description of the picture, along with other text...
game, among other media forms.
- Resident Evil
Resident Evil, known in Japan as , is a survival horror video game by Capcom. The inaugural title and first installment in the Resident Evil series, it was originally released in 1996 for the PlayStation and has subsequently been ported to the Sega Saturn and PC.In 2002, a remake of the game was...
is released in 1996 and becomes the most popular survival-horror series in video gaming well into the next decade.
Automobiles
The 1990s began with another
recessionIn economics, a recession is a general slowdown in economic activity over a long period of time, or a business cycle contraction. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
that dampened car sales.
General MotorsGeneral Motors Company, often known as simply GM, is a United States based automaker with headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. GM was the world's 18th largest corporate entity and third largest automaker as ranked by 2008 revenues on the Fortune Global 500. Ranked by global unit sales for 2008, it...
continued to suffer huge losses thanks to an inefficient structure and stale designs. Sales improved with the economy by the mid-'90s, but GM's US market share gradually declined to less than 40% (from a peak of 53% in the '70s). While the new Saturn division fared well,
OldsmobileOldsmobile was a brand of automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...
declined sharply, and attempts to remake the division as a European-style luxury car were unsuccessful.
ChryslerChrysler Group, LLC is an American automobile manufacturer headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925. From 1998 to 2007, Chrysler and its subsidiaries were part of the German based DaimlerChrysler AG...
ran into financial troubles again as the '90s started. Like GM, it too had a stale model lineup (except for the best-selling
minivansChrysler minivans refers to a series of similar automobiles manufactured by Chrysler under various corporate names—first Chrysler Corporation, later DaimlerChrysler, still later Chrysler LLC, and now Chrysler Group, LLC:...
) that was largely based on the aging
K-car platformThe Chrysler Corporation's K-cars were compact-to-midsize cars designed to carry six adults on two bench seats and were aimed not only to replace Chrysler's nominally-compact F-body Aspen and Volaré, but also to compete with intermediates like the Chevrolet Malibu and Ford Fairmont...
. In 1992, chairman
Lee IacoccaLido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca is an American businessman known for his revival of the Chrysler Corporation in the 1980s, serving as President and CEO from 1978 and additionally as chairman from 1979, until his retirement at the end of 1992. One of the most famous business people in the world, he was...
retired, and the company began a remarkable revival, introducing the new
LH platformThe LH platform served as the basis for the Chrysler Concorde, Chrysler 300M, Dodge Intrepid, Eagle Vision, and other models. The platform pioneered Daimler Chrysler 's "cab-forward" design; featured on several Chrysler, Dodge, Eagle, and Plymouth cars in the 1990's and early 2000's.- Development...
and "Cab-Forward" styling, along with a highly successful redesign of the full-sized
Dodge RamThe Dodge Ram is a full-size pickup truck from Chrysler LLC's Dodge brand. The name was first used in 1981 on the redesigned Ram and Power Ram, though it came from the hood ornament used on 1930s and '40s Dodge vehicles....
in 1994. Chrysler's minivans continued to dominate the market despite increasing competition. In 1998,
Daimler-BenzDaimler-Benz AG was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motor vehicles, and engines which was founded in 1926. An Agreement of Mutual Interest—which was valid until year 2000—was signed on May 1 1924 between Karl Benz's Benz & Cie. and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, which had been founded by...
(the parent company of
Mercedes-BenzMercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of luxury automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. It is currently a division of the parent company, Daimler AG , after previously being owned by Daimler-Benz...
) merged with Chrysler. The following year, it was decided to retire
PlymouthPlymouth was a marque of automobile based in the United States, marketed by the Chrysler Corporation and DaimlerChrysler.-Origins:...
, which had been on a long decline since the '70s. Ford continued to fare well in the '90s, with the second and
thirdThe third-generation Ford Taurus is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company from 1996 to 1999.The third generation of Ford Taurus was the first to be completely redesigned from the ground up, and used a rounded, oval-derived design that was very controversial at the time, considered to...
generations of the
Ford TaurusThe Ford Taurus is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States. Originally introduced in the 1986 model year, it has remained in near continuous production for more than two decades, making it the fourth oldest nameplate that is currently sold in the North American...
being named the best selling car in the United States.
Japanese cars continued to be highly successful during the decade. The
Honda AccordThe Honda Accord is the series of mid-size automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1976, and sold in most automotive markets throughout the world. The Accord became the first Japanese car to be produced in the U.S in 1982, when production commenced in Marysville, Ohio at Honda's Marysville Auto Plant...
vied with the Taurus most years for being the best-selling car in the United States. SUVs and trucks became hugely popular during the economic boom in the second half of the decade. Many makes that had never built a truck before started selling SUVs. Car styling during the 1990s became gradually more round and ovoid, the
third-generation TaurusThe third-generation Ford Taurus is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company from 1996 to 1999.The third generation of Ford Taurus was the first to be completely redesigned from the ground up, and used a rounded, oval-derived design that was very controversial at the time, considered to...
and
Mercury SableThe Mercury Sable is a mid-size or full-size luxury sedan car model created by the Ford Motor Company and sold under the Mercury brand...
being some of the more extreme examples. Safety features such as
airbagAn airbag is a vehicle safety device. It is an occupant restraint consisting of a flexible envelope designed to inflate rapidly in an automobile collision, to prevent vehicle occupants from striking interior objects such as the steering wheel or window....
s and shoulder belts became mandatory equipment on new cars.
Culture
- The decade started out with Babyboomers
Baby boomer is a term used to describe a person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II baby boom. The term "baby boomer" is sometimes used in a cultural context, and sometimes used to describe someone who was born during the post-WWII baby boom. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve...
from the Sixties finally entering the middle-aged EstablishmentThe Establishment is a term used to refer to the traditional ruling class elite and the structures of society that they control. The term can be used to describe specific entrenched elite structures in specific institutions, but is usually informal in application...
with a progressive politico-economic message for youth ("save the earth"; "stop racism"; "greed is bad") mixed or paired with a mostly conservative or "cautious" socio-cultural one ("Believe"; "Jesus is the answer"; "just say no to drugs"; "don't drink, smoke, or do dope"...etc...)
- Youth culture
A youth subculture is a youth-based subculture with distinct styles, behaviors, and interests. According to subculture theorists such as Dick Hebdige, members of a subculture often signal their membership by making distinctive and symbolic tangible choices in, for example, clothing styles,...
in the 1990s responded to this by embracing both environmentalismEnvironmentalism is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the state of the environment...
and entrepreneurshipEntrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur which is a French word meaning one who undertakes an endeavor. Entrepreneurs assemble resources including innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods. This may result in new organizations...
. Western worldThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
fashions reflected this by often turning highly individualisticIndividualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses independence and self-reliance. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires, while opposing most external interference upon one's choices, whether by society, or any other group or...
and/or counter-culturalCounterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition...
: tattooA tattoo is a marking made by inserting ink into the layers of skin to change the pigment for decorative or other reasons. Tattoos on humans are a type of decorative body modification, while tattoos on animals are most commonly used for identification or branding.Tattooing has been practiced...
s and body piercingBody piercing is the practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewellery may be worn. Body piercing is a form of body modification. The word piercing can refer to the act or practice of body piercing, or to an opening in the body created by this act...
gained popularity, and "retro" styles inspired by fashions of the 1960s and 1970s were also prevalent. Some young people became increasingly involved in outdoor activities that combined embracing athletics with the appreciation of nature.
- The rave
Rave or rave party is a term first used in the 1980s and 90s to describe dance parties with fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties DJs and other performers play Electronic Dance Music...
movement and raverRaver is a word that has been used since the 1960s to describe people who are enthusiastic attendees of parties. For this purpose, the term is most common in the UK....
sub-culture emerge through the early to mid 1990s.
- TV shows
A television program , television programme , or television show is a segment of content broadcast on television...
, mostly sitcomsA situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms...
, were popular with the AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
audience. Series like FriendsFriends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which premiered on NBC on September 22, 1994. The series revolved around a group of friends in the area of Manhattan, New York City, who occasionally live together and share living expenses. The series was produced by...
and SeinfeldSeinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. The eponymous series was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, with the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
turned TV in new directions.
- Baywatch
Baywatch is an American television series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran from 1989 to 1999...
, a hugely popular TV show that dominated throughout nineties, became the most watched TV show in history and made huge impact on pop culture.
- Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a retired American professional basketball player and active businessman. His biography on the National Basketball Association website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed...
becomes a major sports and pop culture icon idolized by millions worldwide. He revolutionizes sports marketing through deals with companies such as Gatorade, Hanes, McDonalds and Nike.
- The first McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving nearly 47 million customers daily. At one time it was the largest global restaurant chain, but it has since been surpassed by multi-brand operator Yum! and sandwich chain Subway.In addition to its...
restaurant opens in MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
in 1990 with then-President of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR and future Russian President Boris YeltsinBoris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999....
attending, symbolizing Russia's transition towards a capitalistCapitalism is an economic and social system in which the means of production are privately controlled; labor, goods and capital are traded in a market; profits are distributed to owners or invested in technologies and industries; and wages are paid to labor...
free marketA free market describes a market without economic intervention and regulation by government except to regulate against force or fraud. The terminology is used by economists and in popular culture. A free market requires protection of property rights, but no regulation, no subsidization, no single...
economy and a move towards adopting elements of western culture.
- In 1990, the World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health...
removed homosexualityHomosexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex, situationally or as an enduring disposition. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is considered to lie within the heterosexual-homosexual continuum of human sexuality, and refers to an individual’s...
from its list of diseases. Increasing acceptance of homosexuality occurs in the western world throughout the 1990s.
- The ethnic tensions and violence in the former Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the second half of World War II until it was formally dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro,...
during the 1990s create a greater sense of ethnic identity of the nations in the new countries, especially involving increased popularity of nationalismNationalism is an ideology, a sentiment, a form of culture, or a social movement that focuses on the nation. It is a type of collectivism emphasizing the collective of a specific nation...
.
- The 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was a navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere...
' discovery of the Americas in 1992 was popularly observed, despite controversy and protests against the victimization of Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
by Columbus' expeditions. The holiday was labeled by some as racistRacism is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. In the case of institutional racism, certain racial groups may be denied rights or benefits, or get preferential treatment...
, in view of Native American experiences of colonialismColonialism is the building and maintaining of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. Sovereignty over the colony is claimed by the metropole...
, slaverySlavery is a form of forced labor in which people are considered to be the property of others. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation...
, genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of...
, and cultural destruction.
- The U.S. animated television comedy series The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its eponymous family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie...
becomes a huge domestic and international success in the 1990s as well as the longest-running American animated series.
- With the election of Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in a fully representative democratic election, who held office from 1994–99. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of the African National Congress's armed wing Umkhonto...
as South Africa's first black president. South Africa drastically moves away from the previous society of white-minority Apartheid rule to becoming a multiculturalMulticulturalism is the acceptance of multiple ethnic cultures, for practical reasons and/or for the sake of diversity and applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g. schools, businesses, neighborhoods, cities or nations...
society.
- U2
U2 are a rock band that formed in Dublin, Ireland. The band consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr...
's groundbreaking Zoo TVThe Zoo TV Tour was an elaborately-staged worldwide concert tour by Irish rock band U2. Launched in support of the album Achtung Baby, the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 1992 through 1993...
and PopMartThe PopMart Tour, often referred to as simply PopMart, was a worldwide concert tour by the Irish rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 1997 album, Pop, the tour's concerts were performed in stadiums and parks from 1997 through 1998...
tours were the top selling tours of 1992 and 1997.
- Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors...
began on MTVMTV is a cable television network based in New York City and launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs...
; this would grow in importance in the western world into the 2000s.
- Video games became more popular and advanced, with Sony
is a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world's largest media conglomerates with revenue exceeding ¥ 7.730.0 trillion, or $78.88 billion U.S. . Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game...
's PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
popularizing three dimensional games as well as helping expand video games' target markets.
- Dogme 95
Dogme 95 is an avant-garde filmmaking movement started in 1995 by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg with the signing of the Dogme 95 Manifesto and the "Vow of Chastity". They were later joined by fellow Danish directors Kristian Levring and Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, to form a...
becomes an important European artistic film movement by the end of the decade.
- Eurodance
Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music originated in the early 1990s. It combines many elements from House, Hi-NRG, Italo-Disco. Starting in the early 1990s and continuing these days, Eurodance production continues to evolve with a more modernized style that incorporates elements from...
music dominates discothèqueA discothèque, , is an entertainment venue or club with recorded music played by Disc jockeys through a PA system, rather than an on-stage band.Prior to the discothèque, most bars and nightclubs used live bands as entertainment.- Etymology :...
s and has numerous major mainstream hits in European (and to a lesser extent, North American) music charts.
- Media consolidation
Concentration of media ownership refers to the degree to which media ownership is .It is also a commonly used term that refers to view that the majority of the media outlets are owned by a small number of conglomerates and corporations...
leads to increased segmentation in styles of music.
- 24-hour CNN
Cable News Network, almost always referred to by its initialism CNN, is an U.S. cable news network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first network to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television network in the United States...
coverage during the Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
leads to increased awareness and coverage of world events and InfotainmentInfotainment is "information-based media content or programming that also includes entertainment content in an effort to enhance popularity with audiences and consumers." It is a neologistic portmanteau of information and entertainment, referring to a type of media which provides a combination...
shows.
- Grunge culture grows in Northwestern societies; Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was a popular grunge song in the 90s.
- In the UK the uniquely British alternative rock Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...
genre emerged as part of the more general Cool BritanniaCool Britannia is a media term that was used during the mid-to-late 20th century to describe the contemporary culture of the United Kingdom. The term was prevalent during the 1990s, and was closely associated with the early years of "New Labour" under Tony Blair...
culture.
- Female icons of Cool Britannia
Cool Britannia is a media term that was used during the mid-to-late 20th century to describe the contemporary culture of the United Kingdom. The term was prevalent during the 1990s, and was closely associated with the early years of "New Labour" under Tony Blair...
, The Spice GirlsThe Spice Girls were an English pop girl group formed in 1994. They consist of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They are the most successful girl group of all time....
, manage to do what the britpop boys couldn't manage and break America, taking the world by storm and becoming the most commercially successful British Group since the Beatles. Their impact brings about a widespread invasion of teen pop acts around the world such as Britney SpearsBritney Jean Spears is an American singer and entertainer. Born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana, Spears first appeared on national television in 1992 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to...
, Backstreet BoysThe Backstreet Boys are a Grammy-nominated American vocal group. They were launched by boy band producer Lou Pearlman, and have been together since April 20, 1993...
and HansonHanson is an American rock and roll band formed in Tulsa, Oklahoma by brothers Isaac, Taylor, and Zac Hanson. They are best known for the 1997 hit song "MMMBop" from their major label debut album Middle of Nowhere that earned three Grammy nominations...
who come to prominence into the new millennium.
International issues
Politically, the 1990s was an era of spreading democracy. The former countries of the
Warsaw PactThe Warsaw Pact is the informal name for the mutual defense Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance subscribed by eight Communist states in Eastern Europe, that was established at the USSR’s initiative and realised on 14 May 1955, in Warsaw, Poland...
moved from totalitarian regimes to democratically elected governments. The same happened in other non-communist countries, such as
TaiwanTaiwan , also known as Formosa , is the largest island of the Republic of China in East Asia. Taiwan is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China...
,
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, South Africa, and
IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. Capitalism made great changes to the economies of communist countries like China and
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
.
The improvement in relations between the countries of
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
and the former members of the
Warsaw PactThe Warsaw Pact is the informal name for the mutual defense Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance subscribed by eight Communist states in Eastern Europe, that was established at the USSR’s initiative and realised on 14 May 1955, in Warsaw, Poland...
ended the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
both in Europe and other parts of the world.
YugoslaviaYugoslavia is a term that describes three political entities that existed successively on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century.The first country to be known by this...
violently broke up along republic and ethnic lines during the 1990s. In 1993, the Prime Minister of
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
,
Yitzhak Rabin' was an Israeli politician and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995. In 1994, Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat...
, and
PLOThe Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization founded in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," by over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed observer status at the United...
leader
Yasser ArafatMohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority, and leader of the Fatah political...
shook hands in agreement for peace, at the conclusion of peace talks sponsored by US president
Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
. The outcome of these talks, known as the
Oslo AccordsThe Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles became a milestone toward the resolution of the Palestinian - Israeli conflict, one of the major continuing issues within the wider Arab-Israeli conflict...
, was an agreement by
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
to allow
PalestinianThe Palestinian territories are composed of two discontiguous regions, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, whose final status has yet to be determined. The territories, which were originally contained within the British Mandate of Palestine, were captured and occupied by Jordan and by Egypt in the...
self-government.
Conflicts like the
Balkan WarsThe Yugoslav Wars were a series of violent conflicts fought in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the 1990s and 2001...
, the
Rwandan GenocideThe Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda's Tutsis and Hutu political moderates by Hutus under the Hutu Power ideology. Over the course of approximately 100 days, from the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana on 6 April through mid-July, at least 500,000...
, the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia, and the first
Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
, as well as the continuation of
terrorismTerrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.At present, there is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism...
, led some to hypothesize a Clash of Civilizations, but the decade was also a time of peace in terror-ridden
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
when the
IRAThe Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation which sought to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
agreed to a truce in 1994. This marked the beginning of the end of 25 years of violence between the two sectarian groups, Protestant and Catholic, and the start of political negotiations.
Africa
- The Ethiopian Civil War
The Ethiopian Civil War began on September 12, 1974 when the Marxist Derg staged a coup d'état against Emperor Haile Selassie, and lasted until the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front , a coalition of rebel groups, overthrew the government in 1991.The war overlapped other Cold War...
ends in 1991, ending over twenty years of internal conflict. The end of the war coincides with the collapse of the communist government of Mengistu Haile MariamMengistu Haile Mariam was the most prominent officer of the Derg, the Communist military junta that governed Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987, and the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991...
and the establishment of a coalition government of various factions.
- Somali president Mohamed Siad Barre
Mohamed Siad Barre was the President of Somalia from 1969 to 1991, and has been described as a dictator. Prior to his presidency, he was an army commander under the then young democratic government of Somalia...
, who had ruled since 1969, was overthrown in 1991 and the country fell into a state of anarchy and civil war which has not ended as of 2009.
- End of apartheid in South Africa (1994) and election of ANC
The African National Congress has been South Africa's governing party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a "disciplined...
government of Nelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in a fully representative democratic election, who held office from 1994–99. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of the African National Congress's armed wing Umkhonto...
.
- In Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
a long period of violence in the north African country starts by the cancellation of the first ever held democratic elections by a group of high ranking army officers.
- Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The east and northeast of the country have an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen...
gains independence from EthiopiaEthiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an...
(1993).
- Military actions by the United States in Somalia
Somalia , officially the Republic of Somalia and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is a country located in the Horn of Africa...
in 1993 and the Battle of Mogadishu.
- Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda's Tutsis and Hutu political moderates by Hutus under the Hutu Power ideology. Over the course of approximately 100 days, from the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana on 6 April through mid-July, at least 500,000...
, a conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi, kills one million people in 1994.
- The Congo Wars break out in the 1990s. The First Congo War
The First Congo War ended when Zairean President Mobutu Sésé Seko was overthrown by rebel forces backed by foreign powers such as Uganda and Rwanda. Rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila declared himself president and changed the name of the nation back to Democratic Republic of the Congo...
takes place in ZaireThe Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971, and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".Known as the Belgian Congo up until its...
from 1996 to 1997, resulting in Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese SekoMobutu Sésé Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga , commonly known as Mobutu or Mobutu Sésé Seko , born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, became the President of Zaire after deposing Joseph Kasavubu. He remained in office for 31.5 years...
being overthrown from power on May 16, 1997, ending 32 years of his rule. ZaireThe Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971, and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".Known as the Belgian Congo up until its...
is renamed the Democratic Republic of the CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country located in Central Africa, with a small length of Atlantic coastline. It is the third largest country in Africa...
. The Second Congo WarThe Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War and the Great War of Africa, began in August 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo , and officially ended in July 2003 when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power...
starts in 1998 in central Africa and includes 5 different cultures and 7 different nations. It goes on until 2003.
Americas
- Oka Crisis
The Oka Crisis was a land dispute between the Mohawk nation and the town of Oka, Quebec which began on July 11, 1990, and lasted until September 26, 1990...
takes place in 1990 involving an armed standoff between people of the Mohawk nationMohawk" are an indigenous people of North America originally from the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York to southern Quebec and eastern Ontario. Their current settlements include areas around Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River in Canada...
(North American indigenous peoplesThe term indigenous peoples can be used to describe any ethnic group of people who inhabit a geographic region with which they have the earliest known historical connection, alongside more recent immigrants who have populated the region and may be greater in number...
in Canada), and the Canadian military over a dispute involving land held via treaty to the Mohawk people.
- Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian politician and former Roman Catholic priest. He was briefly President of Haiti in 1991, prior to a September 1991 military coup, and was President again from 1994 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2004. He was then ousted in a February 2004 rebellion in which former...
becomes the first democratically elected President of HaitiHaiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Creole- and French-speaking Caribbean country. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago...
in 1990.
- United States president Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
was a dominant political figure in international affairs during the 1990s especially with his attempts to negotiate peace in the Middle East and end the ongoing wars occurring in the former Yugoslavia; his promotion of international action to decrease human-created climate changeClimate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can be a change in the average weather or a change in the distribution of weather events around an average...
; and his endorsement of advancing free tradeFree trade is a type of trade policy that allows traders to act and transact without interference from government. According to the law of comparative advantage the policy permits trading partners mutual gains from trade of goods and services....
in the Americas.
- The bombings of the World Trade Center
The World Trade Center was a complex in Lower Manhattan in New York City whose seven buildings were destroyed in 2001 in the September 11 terrorist attacks...
and the Oklahoma City bombingThe Oklahoma City bombing occurred on April 19, 1995 when American militia movement sympathizer Timothy McVeigh, with the assistance of Terry Nichols, destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma...
leads to awareness in U.S. of domestic and international terrorismTerrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.At present, there is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism...
as a potential threat.
- Canadian politics is radically altered in the 1993 federal election with the collapse of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and a centrist stance on social issues....
, (a major political party in Canada since 1867) from being government to only 2 seats and the New Democratic PartyThe New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a social democratic political party in Canada. In the Canadian House of Commons, it holds a centre-left position in the Canadian political spectrum. The leader of the federal NDP is Jack Layton...
collapsing from 44 seats to 9. The Liberal Party of CanadaThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is a major political party in Canada. The party sits between the centre-left and centre of the Canadian political spectrum. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in the Parliament of Canada since the 2006 federal election...
is the only genuine national political party that remains while the regionally based parties such as the Quebec-based Bloc QuébécoisThe Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada that defines itself as devoted to both the protection of Quebec's interests on a federal level as well as the promotion of its sovereignty...
and the almost entirely Western CanadaWestern Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada generally including all parts of Canada west of the province of Ontario. The West is considered by many to be a cultural region with an identity separate from that of the rest of Canada...
-based Reform Party of CanadaThe Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a conservative and populist party...
rise from political insignificance to being major political parties.
- A large number of the Zapatista indigenous people of Mexico join the Zapatista Army of National Liberation
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is an armed revolutionary group based in Chiapas, the southernmost, and one of the poorest, states of Mexico...
that begins armed conflict with the Mexican government in 1994 and continues through the 1990s.
- After the collapse of the Meech Lake constitutional accord
The Meech Lake Accord was a set of failed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the provincial premiers, including Premier of Quebec Robert Bourassa. It was intended to persuade the government of the Province of Quebec to endorse the 1982...
in 1990, the province of QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
in Canada experienced a rekindled wave of separatism by francophoneThe adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
Québécois nationalists, who sought for Quebec to become an independent country. In 1995, during a referendum on Quebec sovereignty, Quebec voters narrowly reject the vote for independence.
- Due to the internal conflict in Peru
It has been estimated that nearly 70,000 people died in the internal conflict in Peru that started in 1980 and, although still ongoing, had greatly wound down by 2000. The principal actors in the war were the Shining Path , the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement and the government of Peru.A great...
and the economic crisis, Alberto FujimoriAlberto Ken'ya Fujimori served as President of Peru from July 28, 1990, to November 17, 2000. A controversial figure, Fujimori has been credited with uprooting terrorism in Peru and restoring its macroeconomic stability, though his methods have drawn charges of authoritarianism and human rights...
rises to power in PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
and remains in office for eleven years. His administration is marked by economic development but also by numerous human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
violations (La Cantuta massacreThe La Cantuta massacre, in which a university professor and nine students from Lima's La Cantuta University were abducted by a military death squad and "disappeared", took place in Peru on 18 July 1992 during the presidency of Alberto Fujimori...
, Barrios Altos massacreThe Barrios Altos massacre took place on 3 November, 1991, in the Barrios Altos neighborhood of Lima, Peru. Fifteen people, including an eight-year-old child, were killed, and four more injured, by assailants who were later determined to be members of Grupo Colina, a death squad made up of members...
), and a rampant corruption network set up by Vladimiro MontesinosVladimiro Lenin Montesinos Torres was the long-standing head of Peru's intelligence service, Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional , under President Alberto Fujimori...
.
Asia
- With the end of the Soviet Union, Israel faced a mass influx of Russian Jews, many of whom had high expectations the country was unable to meet. Israel was also barred from participating in the Gulf War, so as to not disrupt the US-Arab alliance.
- Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi AC , born 19 June 1945, is an opposition politician and general secretary of the National League for Democracy in Burma . Aung San Suu Kyi was the third child in her family. Her name is derived from three relatives; "Aung San" from her father, "Kyi" from her mother and "Suu" from...
's National League for DemocracyThe National League for Democracy is a Burmese political party founded on 27 September 1988. It is led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who acts as General Secretary.-Overview:The party was formed in the aftermath of the 8888 Uprising...
in Burma wins a majority of seats in the first free elections in 30 years in 1990, yet the Burmese military juntaA military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...
refuses to relinquish power, beginning an ongoing peaceful struggle throughout the 1990s to the present by Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters to demand the end of military rule in Burma.
- Iraq
Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
was left in severe debt after the 1980s war with Iran. President Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
accused KuwaitThe State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab emirate bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west. The greatest distance from north to south is 200 km and from east to west 170 km . The name is a diminutive of an Arabic word meaning "fortress built near water." It has a...
of flooding the market with oil and driving down prices. On August 2, 1990, Iraqi forces invaded and conquered Kuwait. The UN immediately condemned the action, and a coalition force led by the United States was sent to the Persian Gulf. Aerial bombing of Iraq began in January 1991, and a month later, the UN forces drove the Iraqi army from Kuwait in just four days. In the aftermath of the war, the Kurds in the north of Iraq and the Shiites in the south rose up in revolt, and Saddam Hussein barely managed to hold onto power. Until the US invasion in 2003, Iraq was cut off from much of the world.
- North Yemen and South Yemen merge to form Yemen
Yemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is a country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia...
(1991).
- Israel
Israel officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful political figure in Israel . The prime minister is the country's chief executive. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem...
Yitzhak Rabin' was an Israeli politician and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995. In 1994, Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat...
and PalestinianThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine...
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of Pakistan , is the Head of Government of Pakistan.The Prime Minister is elected by the National Assembly, members of which are elected by popular vote. Most commonly, the leader of the party or coalition with the most votes becomes the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is...
Yasser ArafatMohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority, and leader of the Fatah political...
agree to the Peace Process at the culmination of the Oslo AccordsThe Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles became a milestone toward the resolution of the Palestinian - Israeli conflict, one of the major continuing issues within the wider Arab-Israeli conflict...
, negotiated by the United States PresidentThe President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
on September 13, 1993.
- In Japan, after three decades of economic growth put them in second place in the world's economies, the situation worsened after 1993. The recession went on into the early 2000s, bringing an end to the seemingly unlimited prosperity that the country had hitherto enjoyed.
- Less affluent nations such as India, Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
, and VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
also saw tremendous improvements in economic prosperity and quality of life during the 1990s. Restructuring following the end of the Cold War was beginning. However, there was also the continuation of terrorism in Third WorldThe term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned or neutral with either capitalism and NATO or communism and the Soviet Union...
regions that were once the "frontlines" for American and Soviet foreign politics, particularly in Asia.
- The Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian National Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip....
is created in 1994 in accordance with the Oslo Accords, giving Palestinian Arab people official autonomy over the Gaza StripThe Gaza Strip lies on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometers wide, with a total area of . The area is recognized internationally as part of the Palestinian territories...
and West BankThe West Bank is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories; on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel, which maintains the security of this area. To the east,...
, though not official independence from IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
.
- In 1994, a peace treaty is signed between Israel
Israel officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
and JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest,...
.
- Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated in 1995 by a radical Jewish militant who opposed the Oslo accords.
- The Taliban seize control of Afghanistan
The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East...
in 1996.
- South-East Asia economic crisis starting from 1997.
- The Spratly Islands
The Spratly Islands are a group of more than 650 reefs, islets, atolls, cays and islands in the South China Sea between the Philippines, China, Malaysia and Vietnam. They comprise less than five square kilometers of land area, spread over more than 400,000 square kilometers of sea...
issue became one of the most controversial in Southeast Asia.
- The Tibetan Freedom Concert
Tibetan Freedom Concert is the name given to a series of rock festivals held in North America, Europe and Asia between 1996 and 2001 to support the cause of Tibetan independence. The concerts were organized by the Beastie Boys and the Milarepa Fund...
brings 120,000 people together in the interest of increased human rights and autonomy for TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
from China.
- Great Britain hands sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China on July 1, 1997.
- China started the '90s in a bad way, shunned by much of the world after the Tiananmen Square
Tian'anmen Square is the large plaza near the centre of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen which sits to its north, separating it from the Forbidden City...
MassacreThe Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, referred to in most of the Western world as the Tiananmen Square massacre and in the People's Republic of China as the June Fourth Incident , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the PRC beginning on 14 April...
and controlled by hard line politicians who reigned in private enterprise and attempted to revive old-fashioned propaganda campaigns. Relations with the United States deteriorated sharply, and the Chinese leadership was further embarrassed by the disintegration of communism in Europe. In 1992, Deng XiaopingDeng Xiaoping was a prominent Chinese politician, statesman, theorist, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng became a reformer who led China towards market economics...
travelled to southern China in his last major public appearance to revitalize faith in market economics and stop the country's slide back into MaoismMaoism, variably and officially known as Mao Zedong Thought , is a variant of Marxism derived from the teachings of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong , widely applied as the political and military guiding ideology in the Communist Party of China from Mao's ascendancy to its leadership until the...
. Afterwards, China recovered, and would experience explosive economic growth during the rest of the decade. In spite of this, dissent continued to be suppressed, and President Jiang ZeminJiang Zemin is the "core of the third generation" of Communist Party of China leaders, serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002, as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003, and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to...
launched a brutal crackdown against the Falun GongFalun Gong is a system of beliefs and practices founded in China by Li Hongzhi in 1992. The practice emerged at the end of China's "qigong boom" as a form of qigong practice. Its teachings are influenced by both Taoism and Buddhism.The number of Falun Gong practitioners is unknown, and the group...
religious sect in 1999. Deng Xiaoping himself died in 1997 at the age of 93. Relations with the US deteriorated again in 1999 after the death of a Chinese journalist during the bombing of Serbia by NATO forces, and allegations of Chinese espionage at the Los Alamos Nuclear Facility.
- Both India and Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
reveal their acquiring of nuclear weaponA nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion...
s in two separate missile tests in both countries in 1998.
- After the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya
The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. Lying along the Indian Ocean, at the equator, Kenya is bordered by Ethiopia , Somalia , Tanzania , Uganda plus Lake Victoria , and Sudan . The capital city is Nairobi. Kenya spans an area about 85% the size of France or Texas...
and TanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in central East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.The United...
by Al-QaedaAl-Qaeda , alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida, is an Islamist group founded sometime between August 1988 and late 1989 and early 1990...
militants, U.S. naval military forces launch cruise missile attacks against Al-Qaeda bases in AfghanistanThe Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East...
in 1998.
- In May 1999, Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
sends troops covertly to occupy strategic peaks in KashmirKashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent...
. A month later the Kargil WarThe Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control...
with India results in a political fiasco for Nawaz SharifMian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, also known as Nawaz Sharif, is a Pakistani politician and businessman. He was twice elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan, serving two non-consecutive terms, the first from November 1, 1990 to July 18, 1993 and the second from February 17, 1997 to October 12, 1999...
, followed by a military withdrawal to the Line of ControlSpecifically, the term Line of Control refers to the military control line between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir - a line which, still to this day, does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary but is the de-facto...
. The incident leads to a military coupA coup d'état , or coup for short, is the sudden unconstitutional deposition of a legitimate government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another, either civil or military...
in October in which the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is ousted by Army Chief Pervez MusharrafGeneral Pervez Musharraf , NI, TBt, was the 10th President of Pakistan and the Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army,....
.
- Portugal hands sovereignty of Macau
The Macau Special Administrative Region , commonly known as Macau or Macao , is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong...
to the People's Republic of China on December 20, 1999.
- East Timor
East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecussi-Ambeno, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
breaks away from IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n control in 1999, merely a year after the fall of Suharto from power, ending a twenty-four year guerrilla warGuerrilla warfare is the irregular warfare warfare and combat in which a small group of combatants use mobile military tactics in the form of ambushes and raids to combat a larger and less mobile formal army....
with more than 200,000 casualties. The UNThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
deploys a peace keeping force, spearheaded by the Australian and New Zealand armed forces. The United States deploys police officers to serve with the International PoliceThe International Police is the title used for an organization of police officers representing various countries throughout the world, brought together to assist in the training, organization, stabilization of a destabilized region, or creation of indigenous police forces primarily in war-torn...
element, to help train and equip an East Timorese police force.
- In July 1994, North Korean leader Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led North Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death. He was also the General Secretary of the Workers Party of Korea, exercising autocratic power...
died, having ruled the country since its founding in 1948. His son Kim Jong-ilKim Jong-il is the paramount leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...
succeeded him, taking over a nation on the brink of complete economic collapse. Famine caused a great number of deaths in the late '90s, and North KoreaNorth Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer area between North Korea and South Korea...
would gain a reputation for being a major source of money laundering, counterfeiting, and weapons proliferation. The country's ability to produce and sell nuclear weapons became a focus of concern in the international community.
Europe
- Germany reunified on October 3, 1990 and, after integrating the economic structure and provincial governments, focused on modernization of the former communist East. People who were brought up in a communist culture became integrated with those living in democratic western Germany.
- Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post....
who had been the United Kingdom's Prime Minister since 1979 resigned as Prime Minister on November 22 1990 after been challenged for the leadership of the Conservative Party by Michael HeseltineMichael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, CH, PC is a British businessman, Conservative politician and patron of the Tory Reform Group....
because of widespread opposition to the introduction of the controversial Community ChargeThe Community Charge, popularly known as the "poll tax", was a system of taxation introduced in replacement of the rates to part fund local government in Scotland from 1989, and England and Wales from 1990. It provided for a single flat-rate per-capita tax on every adult, at a rate set by the...
and the fact that her key allies such as Nigel LawsonNigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby, PC , is a British Conservative politician and journalist who was Chancellor of the Exchequer between June 1983 and October 1989...
and Geoffrey HoweRichard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, CH, QC, PC , previously known as Sir Geoffrey Howe, is a British Conservative politician...
resigned over the deeply sensitive issues of the Maastricht TreatyThe Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 in Maastricht, the Netherlands after final negotiations on 9 December 1991 between the members of the European Community and entered into force on 1 November 1993 during the Delors Commission. It created the European Union and led to the creation...
and Margaret Thatcher's resistance to Britain joining the European Exchange Rate MechanismThe European Exchange Rate Mechanism, ERM, was a system introduced by the European Community in March 1979, as part of the European Monetary System , to reduce exchange rate variability and achieve monetary stability in Europe, in preparation for Economic and Monetary Union and the introduction of...
. Less than two years later on the infamous Black WednesdayIn British politics and economics, Black Wednesday refers to the events of 16 September 1992 when the Conservative government was forced to withdraw the pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism after they were unable to keep sterling above its agreed lower limit...
of September 1992, the pound sterlingThe pound sterling , often simply called the pound, is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and British Antarctic Territory...
crashed out of the system after the pound fell below the agreed exchange rate with the Deutsche Mark.
- The collapse of Yugoslavia begins in 1991 with the secession of the republics of Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a country in southeast Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Zagreb...
, SloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north...
, and the Republic of MacedoniaMacedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country in the central Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
from the federation. The Yugoslav warsThe Yugoslav Wars were a series of violent conflicts fought in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the 1990s and 2001...
begin with the short Ten-Day WarThe Ten-Day War , sometimes called the Slovenian Independence War , was a brief military conflict between Slovenian TO and the Yugoslav People's Army in 1991 following Slovenia's declaration of independence....
in SloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north...
and the longer and more brutal Croatian WarThe Croatian War of Independence was a war fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995. It was fought between the Croatian government, having declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and both the Yugoslav People's Army and Serb forces, who established the self-proclaimed...
between CroatCroats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 5 million Croats living in the southern Central Europe region, along the east bank of the Adriatic Sea and an estimated 9 million throughout the world...
and SerbSerbs are a South Slavic people living in the Central Europe and the Balkans , between the Balkan- and Carpathian mountains in the east and the Adriatic sea in the west. They are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in Croatia...
military and paramilitary forces.
- By 1990, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was the second-to-last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 until 1991, and the last head of state of the USSR, serving from 1988 until its collapse in 1991...
reforms were causing major inflation and economic chaos. A coup attempt by hard-liners in August 1991 failed, marking the effective end of the Soviet Union. All its constituent republics declared their independence in 1991, and on Christmas, Gorbachev resigned from office. After 73 years, the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. The new Russian Federation was headed by Boris YeltsinBoris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999....
, and would face severe economic difficulty. Oligarchs took over Russia's energy and industrial sectors, reducing almost half the country to poverty. With a 3% approval rating, Yeltsin had to buy the support of the oligarchs to win reelection in 1996. Economic turmoil and devaluation of the ruble continued, and with heart and alcohol troubles, he stepped down from office on the last day of 1999, handing power to Vladimir Putin.
- The republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( or (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian Latin: Bosna i Hercegovina; Serbian Cyrillic: Босна и Херцеговина) is a country in Southeast Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula...
secedes from Yugoslavia in 1992. The Bosnian WarThe Bosnian War, also known as the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was an international armed conflict that took place between March 1992 and November 1995. The war involved several sides...
immediately erupts amongst the BosniakThe Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller autochthonous population also present in the Sandžak, Croatia, and the Republic of Macedonia. Bosniaks are typically characterized by their tie to the Bosnian historical region,...
, CroatCroats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 5 million Croats living in the southern Central Europe region, along the east bank of the Adriatic Sea and an estimated 9 million throughout the world...
, and SerbSerbs are a South Slavic people living in the Central Europe and the Balkans , between the Balkan- and Carpathian mountains in the east and the Adriatic sea in the west. They are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in Croatia...
ethnic factions. The war would become known for numerous war crimes and human rights violations such as ethnic cleansingEthnic cleansing is a term that has come to be used broadly to describe all forms of ethnically inspired violence, ranging from murder, rape, and torture to the forcible removal of populations...
and genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of...
.
- The European Community
The European Community is the first of the three pillars of the European Union created under the Maastricht Treaty . It is based upon the principle of supranationalism and has its origins in the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union. If the Treaty of Lisbon comes into...
becomes the European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
on January 1, 1993.
- Severe political deadlock between Russian President Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999....
and the Supreme SovietSupreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR / Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation - in 1938-1990 highest organ of state power in Russia; in 1990 - 1993 - permanent Parliament, elected by Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian...
(Russia's parliament at this time) result in Yeltsin ordering the controversial shelling of the Russian parliament building by tanks in 1993.
- Dissolution of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
into Czech Republic and SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
(1993).
- The birth of the "Second Republic" in Italy, with the Mani Pulite
Mani pulite was a nationwide Italian judicial investigation into political corruption held in the 1990s. Mani pulite led to the demise of the so-called First Republic, resulting in the disappearance of many parties. Some politicians and industry leaders committed suicide after their crimes were...
investigations of 1994.
- Russian financial crisis in the 1990s results in mass hyperinflation and prompts economic intervention from the International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, in particular those with an impact on exchange rates and the balance of payments...
and western countries to help Russia's economy recover.
- The First Chechen War
The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996...
1994 – 1996;
- The final fighting in Croatian and Bosnian wars ends in 1995 with the success of Croatian military offensives against Serb forces and the mass exodus of Serbs
Serbs are a South Slavic people living in the Central Europe and the Balkans , between the Balkan- and Carpathian mountains in the east and the Adriatic sea in the west. They are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in Croatia...
from Croatia in 1995; Serb losses to Croat and Bosniak forces; and finally the signing of the Dayton AgreementThe General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement, Dayton Accords, Paris Protocol or Dayton-Paris Agreement, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on...
which internally partitioned Bosnia and Herzegovina into a Serb republicRepublika Srpska is one of two main political-territorial divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
and a Bosniak-Croat federationThe Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the two political entities that compose the sovereign country of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
.
- Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo Conflict is used to describe two sequential and at times parallel armed conflicts in Kosovo:#Early 1998–1999: War between Yugoslav police forces, Yugoslav paramilitaries, and the Kosovo Albanian insurgents....
between ethnic-Albanian separatists and Yugoslav military and Serb paramilitary forces in KosovoKosovo is a disputed territory in the Balkans. Its majority is governed by the partially-recognised Republic of Kosovo , a self-declared independent state which has de facto control over the territory; the exceptions are some Serb enclaves...
begin in 1996 and escalates in 1998 with increasing reports of atrocities taking place. In 1999, the North Atlantic Treaty OrganizationThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
(NATO) led by the United States launches air attacks against Yugoslavia. The war ends when the Yugoslav government submits to allow NATO and later UN peacekeeping forces to take control of Kosovo.
- Second Chechen War
The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus began on 2 August, 1999, when Chechen militants launched an armed invasion of Dagestan. Russian federal military forces supported Dagestani units to repel the invasion...
starts in 1999, and is ongoing.
Significant events
- A magnitude 7.8 earthquake
The 1990 Luzon earthquake occurred on Monday, July 16, 1990, at 4:26 PM local time in the Philippines. The densely populated island of Luzon was struck by an earthquake with a 7.8 Ms...
hit the Philippines on July 16, 1990 and killed around 1000 people in Baguio CityThe City of Baguio is a highly urbanized city in northern Luzon in the Philippines. Baguio City was established by Americans in 1900 at the site of an Ibaloi village known as Kafagway...
.
- In 1990 the process of dismantlement of apartheid political system in South Africa begins with the release of bans on political parties supported by black South Africans as well as the release of African National Congress
The African National Congress has been South Africa's governing party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a "disciplined...
leader Nelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in a fully representative democratic election, who held office from 1994–99. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of the African National Congress's armed wing Umkhonto...
from jail.
- The European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
forms in 1992 under the Maastricht TreatyThe Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 in Maastricht, the Netherlands after final negotiations on 9 December 1991 between the members of the European Community and entered into force on 1 November 1993 during the Delors Commission. It created the European Union and led to the creation...
.
- The Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing occurred on April 19, 1995 when American militia movement sympathizer Timothy McVeigh, with the assistance of Terry Nichols, destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma...
in 1995, the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City, OklahomaOklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's estimated population as of 2008 was 551,789, with an estimated metro-area population of 1,206,142...
, killed 168. Bombing suspect Timothy McVeighTimothy James McVeigh was a United States Army veteran and security guard who was convicted of bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, the second anniversary of the Waco Siege, as revenge or to inspire a revolt against what he considered a tyrannical federal...
claimed he bombed the building in retaliation for the 1993 Waco massacreThe Waco Siege began on February 28, 1993 when the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms attempted to execute a search warrant at the Branch Davidian ranch at Mount Carmel, a property located nine miles east-northeast of Waco, Texas. An exchange of gunfire resulted in the deaths...
.
- In France, Princess Diana
Diana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. Their sons, Princes William and Harry, are second and third in line to the thrones of the United Kingdom and fifteen other Commonwealth Realms.A public figure from the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles, Diana...
dies in a car accident in 1997. Debates of accidentAn accident is a specific, identifiable, unexpected, unusual and unintended external action which occurs in a particular time and place, without apparent or deliberate cause but with marked effects...
vs. assassinationAn Assassination is the targeted killing of a public figure.Assassinations may be prompted by ideological, political, or military reasons. Additionally, assassins may be motivated by financial gain, revenge, personal public recognition, or mental illness....
rage well into the 2000s.
- Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in a fully representative democratic election, who held office from 1994–99. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of the African National Congress's armed wing Umkhonto...
is elected President of South Africa in 1994, becoming the first black-President in South African history ending a long-legacy of apartheid white-rule in the country.
- The 1992 Los Angeles riots occurred, with 53 deaths and 5,500 property fires in a riot zone. The riots were a result of the state court acquittal of three White and one Hispanic L.A. police officers by an all-white jury in a police brutality case involving motorist Rodney King
Rodney Glen King is a Black American who, on March 3, 1991, was the victim of police brutality, committed by Los Angeles police officers. A bystander, George Holliday, videotaped much of the incident from a distance.The footage showed LAPD officers repeatedly striking King with their batons...
, but in 1993, all four officers were convicted in a federal civil rights case.
- The Siege of Sarajevo
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the self-proclaimed Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from April 5, 1992 to February 29, 1996 during the...
from 1992 to 1994 in the city of SarajevoSarajevo is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 304,614 people in the four municipalities that make up the city proper, and an estimated urban area population of 421,289 people in the Sarajevo Canton . It is also the capital of the Federation of Bosnia and...
, Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( or (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian Latin: Bosna i Hercegovina; Serbian Cyrillic: Босна и Херцеговина) is a country in Southeast Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula...
marks the most violent urban warfare in Europe since World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
at that time as SerbSerbs are a South Slavic people living in the Central Europe and the Balkans , between the Balkan- and Carpathian mountains in the east and the Adriatic sea in the west. They are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in Croatia...
forces bombard and attack BosniakThe Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller autochthonous population also present in the Sandžak, Croatia, and the Republic of Macedonia. Bosniaks are typically characterized by their tie to the Bosnian historical region,...
controlled and populated areas of the city. War crimes occur including ethnic cleansingEthnic cleansing is a term that has come to be used broadly to describe all forms of ethnically inspired violence, ranging from murder, rape, and torture to the forcible removal of populations...
and destruction of civilian property.
- The Omagh bombing
The Omagh bombing was a paramilitary car bomb attack carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army , a splinter group of former Provisional Irish Republican Army members opposed to the Belfast Agreement, on Saturday 15 August 1998, in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Twenty-nine people died...
in OmaghOmagh is the county town of County Tyrone in Ireland, it is on the outskirts of the largest city in Tyrone,Gortin. situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. The town, which is the largest in the county, has an estimated population of 22,182...
, County TyroneCounty Tyrone is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster and is part of Northern Ireland....
, Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
which kills 29 civilians and injures hundreds more.
- The signing of the Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles became a milestone toward the resolution of the Palestinian - Israeli conflict, one of the major continuing issues within the wider Arab-Israeli conflict...
by Israeli and Palestinian representatives in Oslois the capital and largest city in Norway. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the town was largely destroyed by a fire in 1624. The Danish–Norwegian king Christian IV rebuilt the city as Christiania . Oslo, then an alternative name, became official again in 1925...
, Norway on August 20, 1993. By signing the accord, Yasser ArafatMohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority, and leader of the Fatah political...
of the Palestinian Liberation Organization recognizes Israel's right to statehood, while Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin allowed for the creation of an autonomous Palestinian National AuthorityThe Palestinian National Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip....
consisting of the Gaza StripThe Gaza Strip lies on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometers wide, with a total area of . The area is recognized internationally as part of the Palestinian territories...
and West BankThe West Bank is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories; on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel, which maintains the security of this area. To the east,...
which was implemented in 1994. Israeli military forces withdraw from the Palestinian territories in compliance with the accord, which marked the end of the First IntifadaThe First Intifada was a Palestinian Uprising against Israeli rule in the Palestinian Territories. The uprising began in the Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem....
(a period of violence between Palestinian Arab militants and Israeli armed forces from 1987 to 1993).
- The Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel , also known as the Chunnel, is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the UK with Coquelles, near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point it is deep...
across the English ChannelThe English Channel is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest, to only in the Strait of Dover...
opens in 1994, connecting France and England. As of 2007 it is the second-longest rail tunnel in the world, but with the undersea section of 37.9 km (23.55 miles) being the longest undersea tunnel in the world.
- Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin is assassinated by a radical Zionist who opposed the Oslo Accords.
- O. J. Simpson
Orenthal James "O. J." Simpson , nicknamed "The Juice", is a retired American football player, football broadcaster, actor, and spokesman. He originally attained fame in sports as a running back at the collegiate and professional levels and was the first NFL player to rush for more than 2,000 yards...
's trial, described in the U.S. media as the "trial of the centuryTrial of the century is an idiomatic phrase used to describe certain well-known court cases, especially of the twentieth century. It is often used popularly as a rhetorical device to attach importance to a trial and as such is not an objective observation but is the opinion of whoever uses it. As...
" and enormous U.S. media attention is focused on the trial. On October 3, 1995, Simpson was found "not guilty" of double-murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown SimpsonNicole Brown Simpson was an ex-wife of former American football player O. J. Simpson. She was murdered at her home in Los Angeles, California, U.S., along with her friend Ronald Goldman. Her ex-husband, O. J...
and her friend, Ronald GoldmanRonald Lyle "Ron" Goldman was an American aspiring model and waiter. He was murdered in 1994 along with Nicole Brown Simpson, former wife of O. J. Simpson, an actor and retired American football player. The subsequent criminal investigation and trial against O. J...
.
- The 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty is held in the predominantly francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
province of QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
in Canada, a majority anglophone-Definitions:According to a post on Word Spy, a blog on unusual words, the term was first used by author Neal Stephenson in his 1995 novel The Diamond Age. Stephenson did not use the term in any specific geopolitical sense but rather to describe a fictional race called the Atlantans who, when...
country. If accepted Quebec would become an independent country with an economic association with Canada. The proposal is narrowly rejected by Quebec's voters by 50.4% no, and 49.6% yes.
- In the United Kingdom, the first cloned
Cloning in biology is the process of producing populations of genetically-identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or organisms...
mammal, Dolly the sheep was confirmed by the Roslin InstituteThe Roslin Institute is an animal sciences research institute at Roslin, a village in Midlothian, Scotland, that is sponsored by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council...
, and was reported by global media on February 26, 1997. Dolly would trigger a raging controversy on cloning and bioethicalBioethics is the philosophical study of the ethical controversies brought about by advances in biology and medicine. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, philosophy, and theology.- History...
concerns regarding possible human cloning continue to this day.
- US president Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
was caught in a media-frenzied sex scandal over his intern Monica LewinskyMonica Samille Lewinsky is an American woman with whom then-United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an "improper relationship" while Lewinsky worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996...
, first announced on January 21, 1998. After the U.S. House of Representatives impeached ClintonBill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998, and acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. The charges, perjury, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power arose from the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the Paula Jones lawsuit...
on December 19, 1998 for perjury under oath, following an investigation by federal prosecutor Kenneth StarrKenneth Winston Starr is an American lawyer, a former federal Court of Appeals judge and Solicitor General who is most notable for his tenure as Independent Counsel while Bill Clinton was U. S. President...
, the Senate acquitted Clinton of the charges on February 12, 1999 and he finished his second term.
- The Columbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton...
occurred on April 20, 1999, in Littleton, ColoradoLittleton is a Home Rule Municipality in Arapahoe County and Jefferson County in the U.S. state of Colorado. Littleton is a suburb of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and the 17th most populous city in the State of Colorado...
when two student gunmen killed 12 students and a teacher before committing suicide, making it the deadliest high school shooting in United States history.
- The Euro
The euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
is adopted by the European Union on January 1, 1999, which begins a process of phasing out national currencies of EU countries.
- In 1999, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) launched air raids against Yugoslavia
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or FRY was a federal state consisting of the republics of Serbia and Montenegro from the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , created after the other four republics broke away from Yugoslavia amid rising ethnic tensions...
(then composed of only SerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country located in both Central and Southeastern Europe. Its territory covers the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and central part of the Balkans...
and MontenegroMontenegro , is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast, Kosovo to the east and Albania to the south...
) to pressure the Yugoslav government to end its military operations against ethnic Albanian separatists in KosovoKosovo is a disputed territory in the Balkans. Its majority is governed by the partially-recognised Republic of Kosovo , a self-declared independent state which has de facto control over the territory; the exceptions are some Serb enclaves...
due to accusations of war crimes being committed by Yugoslav military forces working alongside nationalist Serb paramilitary groups. After weeks of bombing Yugoslavia submits to NATO's demands and NATO forces occupy Kosovo and form a UN administration over the territory. The NATO action is seen as highly controversial at the time due to repeated reports of NATO attacks on non-military facilities, including destruction of civilian property and civilian deaths. NATO is criticized for working alongside the Kosovo Liberation ArmyThe Kosovo Liberation Army or KLA was a Kosovar Albanian guerilla group which sought the independence of Kosovo from Yugoslavia in the 1990s....
which was accused of committing atrocities against Serbs.
- Y2K
The Year 2000 problem was a notable problem for both digital and non-digital documentation and data storage situations which resulted from the practice of abbreviating a four-digit year to two digits.In computer program design, the practice of representing the year...
spread fear throughout the United States and eventually the world in the last half of the decade particularly 1999. Many feared that it would cause a massive computer crash on January 1, 2000. It became huge in popular culture and many people stocked up on supplies for fear of a disaster. One year later, January 1, 2001 was the beginning of the 3rd millenniumIn contemporary history, the third millennium is a period of time that commenced on January 1, 2001, and will end on December 31, 3000, of the Gregorian calendar. This is the third period of one thousand years in the Common Era....
, as well the 21st century and the official end of the 20th century.
Other significant events
- Third-wave feminism
Third-wave feminism is a term identified with several diverse strains of feminist activity and study from 1990 to the present.The movement arose as a response to perceived possible failures and backlash against initiatives and movements created by second-wave feminism of c. 1960s through the...
- Anita Hill
Anita Faye Hill is a professor of social policy, law, and women's studies at Brandeis University at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management and a former colleague of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas...
and other women testify before the United States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election....
on being sexually harassedSexual harassment is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment may be illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
by Supreme Court nominee Clarence ThomasClarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, having served since 1991. Justice Thomas is the second African American to serve on the nation's highest court, after Justice Thurgood Marshall, whom he succeeded.Thomas grew up in Georgia, and graduated from...
. Thomas was narrowly confirmed by the United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
, but Hill's testimony, and the testimony of other harassed women, begins a national debate on the issue.
- Record numbers of women are elected to high office in the U.S. in 1992, the "Year of the Woman
The Year of the Woman was a popular label attached to 1992 after the election of a number of female Senators in the United States.The hotly contested Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas involving the allegations of Anita Hill raised the question of the dominance...
".
- Violence against women
Violence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. Similar to a hate crime, this type of violence targets a specific group with the victim's gender as a primary motive...
takes center stage as an important issue internationally. In the U.S. the Violence Against Women ActThe Violence Against Women Act of 1994 is a United States federal law. It was passed as Title IV, sec. 40001-40703 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 HR 3355 and signed as Public Law 103-322 by President Bill Clinton on September 13 1994...
was passed, which greatly affected the world community through the United Nations. The law's author, Joe BidenJoseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. , is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States under the administration of President Barack Obama. He was a United States Senator from Delaware from January 3, 1973 until his resignation on January 15, 2009, following his election to the Vice...
, and UN Ambassador and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Hillary Clinton (see below) become vocal advocates of action against violence against women.
- Women reach great heights of power in the U.S. government. Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving within the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she served as First Lady of...
, leading policy proposals, traveling abroad as a State Department representative to 82 nations, advising her husband, and being elected a SenatorThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
(in 2000), is the most openly empowered and politically powerful First LadyFirst Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the President of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president...
in American history; Madeleine AlbrightMadeleine Korbel Albright is the first woman to become a United States Secretary of State. She was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996, and was unanimously confirmed by a U.S. Senate vote of 99-0...
and Janet RenoJanet Wood Reno is the former Attorney General of the United States . She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on February 11, 1993, and confirmed on March 11...
take two of the cabinet'sThe United States Cabinet is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States...
top jobs as United States Secretary of StateThe United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence. The current Secretary of...
(#1), and United States Attorney GeneralThe United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The Attorney General is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
(#4), respectively. Sheila Widnall becomes head and SecretaryThe Secretary of the Air Force is the civilian head of the United States Department of the Air Force, a component organization of the Department of Defense. He reports directly to the Secretary of Defense and is responsible for running the day-to-day affairs of the United States Air Force...
of the Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare branch of the U.S. armed forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947 - 80 P.L....
and Ruth Bader GinsburgRuth Joan Bader Ginsburg is an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. Ginsburg was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton with the support of Republican Judiciary Chairman Senator Orrin Hatch in 1993 and generally votes with the liberal wing of the court...
joins Sandra Day O'ConnorSandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist and was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006...
as the second woman on the U.S. Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate...
.
- Record numbers of women become tops CEOs worldwide.
- More nations than ever before are led by elected women Presidents and Prime Ministers. Prime Minister
The Prime Minister of Pakistan , is the Head of Government of Pakistan.The Prime Minister is elected by the National Assembly, members of which are elected by popular vote. Most commonly, the leader of the party or coalition with the most votes becomes the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is...
Benazir BhuttoBenazir Bhutto was a Pakistani politician who chaired the Pakistan Peoples Party , a centre-left political party in Pakistan. Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state, having twice been Prime Minister of Pakistan . She was Pakistan's first and to date only female prime minister...
's 1988 victory in PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
makes women leaders in Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
states unextraordinary.
- You go, girl! becomes a popular phrase in the media as feminism is more widely accepted and publicized with The Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were an English pop girl group formed in 1994. They consist of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They are the most successful girl group of all time....
, the WNBAThe Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of thirteen teams. The league was founded in 1996 as the women's counterpart to the NBA...
, women's boxingWomen's boxing first appeared in the Olympic Games at a demonstration bout in 1904. For most of the 20th century, however, it was banned in most nations. Its revival was pioneered by the Swedish Amateur Boxing Association, which sanctioned events for women in 1988. The British Amateur Boxing...
, Girl PowerThe phrase "Girl Power" is a term of empowerment, expressed a cultural phenomenon of the mid-late 1990s to the early 2000s, and is also linked to third-wave feminism...
, Sex and the CitySex and the City is an American cable television series. The original run of the show was broadcast on HBO from 1998 until 2004, for a total of six seasons....
, and others showcasing modern femininity and challenged the problem of sexismSexism, a term coined in the mid-20th century, is the belief or attitude that one gender or sex is inferior to, less competent, or less valuable than the other. It can also refer to hatred of, or prejudice towards, either sex as a whole , or the application of stereotypes of masculinity in relation...
.
- With help from clinical fertility drugs
Fertility medication is a drug that enhances fertility. For women, fertility medication is used to stimulate follicle development of the ovary...
, an IowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of...
mother, Bobbie McCaughey, gave birth to the first surviving septuplets in 1997. There followed a media frenzy and widespread support for the family.
- In August 1995, NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for...
scientists announced, then debunked a big "discovery" of "martian" microscopic life on an asteroid originated from MarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the "Red Planet" because of its reddish appearance, due to iron oxide prevalent on its surface....
, found in Antarctica and examined to only find mineral formation, not alienExtraterrestrial life is defined as life which does not originate from planet Earth. The existence of life outside the planet is theoretical and all assertions of such life remain disputed....
bacteriaThe bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
.
- UK radio DJ and television entertainer Kenny Everett
Kenny Everett was an English comedian, radio DJ and television entertainer...
dies (in April 1995) shortly after confirming that he has AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus ....
.
- Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, best known as the frontman of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his vocal prowess and flamboyant performances...
, Kurt CobainKurt Donald Cobain was an American musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of the rock band Nirvana....
, Tupac ShakurTupac Amaru Shakur , also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He has sold 75 million albums to date and is one of the best-selling music artists in the world. In addition to his status as a top-selling recording artist, Shakur was a promising actor and a social...
, and The Notorious B.I.G.Christopher George Latore Wallace , popularly known as Biggie Smalls , Frank White , and by his primary stage name The Notorious B.I.G., was an American rapper.Raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, Wallace grew up during...
are the most publicized music-related deaths of the decade, in 1991, 1994, 1996, and 1997 respectively.
- Divorce and scandal rocked the British Royal House
A royal house or royal dynasty is a familial designation, or family name of sorts, used by royalty. It generally represents the members of a family in various senior and junior or cadet branches, who are loosely related but not necessarily of the same immediate kin...
of WindsorThe House of Windsor is the current Royal House of the United Kingdom and each of the other Commonwealth realms. It is a branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , which adopted the name Windsor by a royal proclamation of George V in 1917...
. Princess Diana and her Arab fiancee were killed in August 1997, when under mysterious circumstances, their car crashed in a tunnel in France.
- The murder of Selena Quintanilla, Tejano superstar from Texas.
- Sex and violence in the media increase, especially in the late part of the decade. Profanity
The original meaning of the adjective profane referred to items not belonging to the church, e.g...
in music reaches peak in the late 1990s.
- Models Pamela Anderson
thumb|rightPamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian/American actress, sex symbol, glamour model, producer, author, activist, and former Showgirl....
, Silvia SaintSilvia Saint is a Czech pornographic actress. In 1996, she was Penthouse Pet of the Year in the Czech edition of the magazine, and between 1997 and 2001, she appeared in over 200 pornographic movies....
, and Anna Nicole SmithVickie Lynn Marshall , better known under the stage name of Anna Nicole Smith, was an American model, sex symbol, actress and television personality. She first gained popularity in Playboy, becoming the 1993 Playmate of the Year. She modeled for clothing companies, including Guess jeans and Lane...
become major sex symbolA sex symbol is a famous person of either gender, typically an actor, musician, model, teen idol, or sports star. The celebrity "star system"—the tabloid papers, paparazzi, and gossip talk shows—play an important role in creating and sustaining the public perception of which stars are viewed as...
s during the 1990s.
- Cindy Crawford
Cindy Crawford is a former American model. Known for her trademark mole just above her lip, Crawford has adorned hundreds of magazine covers throughout her career. She was named #3 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the 90s...
becomes the most successful supermodel of the decade.
- The movie Titanic
Titanic is a 1997 American romantic drama film directed, written, co-produced and co-edited by James Cameron about the sinking of the RMS Titanic. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson and Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater, two members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the...
becomes a cultural phenomenon throughout the world, and eventually becomes the highest grossing movie of all time grossing over $1.8 billion, worldwide.
- Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
players went on strike in August 12, 1994, thus ended the season, canceled the World SeriesThe World Series has been the annual championship series of the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada since 1903, concluding the postseason of Major League Baseball...
the first time in 90 years, and went on until March 29, 1995 when players and team owners in agreement.
- The Vieques
Vieques , in full Isla de Vieques, is an island-municipality of Puerto Rico in the northeastern Caribbean. Although Puerto Rico is a U.S. Commonwealth, Vieques, like the rest of Puerto Rico, retains strong Spanish influences from 400 years of Spanish ownership.Vieques lies about to the east of the...
controversyThe Navy-Vieques protests is the name given by the English-speaking media to a series of protests starting in 1999 on the Puerto Rican island-municipality of Vieques, against the use of the island by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps for bombing target practice. The protests led...
.
- Crime
Crime is the breach of one or more rules or laws for which some governing authority, via mechanisms such as police power, may ultimately prescribe a conviction...
levels in the U.S. peak in 1991, begin to fall afterwards, reaching the lowest levels since the late 1960s by end of decade.
- In the U.S. drug use reaches an all-time low in 1992 before increasing, reaching its peak in 1997 before declining again.
- Examples of the decade's worst natural disasters: Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was the last and third most powerful of three Category 5 hurricanes to make landfall in the United States during the 20th century, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Andrew caused 65 deaths....
strikes South FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
in August 1992, the crippling super stormA super storm is an extremely large and powerful storm that forms when conditions of the atmosphere are right to support a storm of its magnitude. This usually happens when two or more storm systems merge, then are strengthened by a jet stream. These storms are rare and usually occur during winter...
of March 1993 along the Eastern SeaboardAn Eastern seaboard can mean any easternmost part of a continent, or its countries, states and/or cities.Eastern seaboard may also refer to:*East Coast of the United States*East Coast of Australia*Eastern Seaboard of Thailand...
, the devastating 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles, the Great Hanshin earthquakeThe , or Kobe earthquake as it is more commonly known outside Japan, was an earthquake that occurred on Tuesday, January 17, 1995, at 05:46 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It measured 6.8 on the Moment magnitude scale , and Mj7.3 on the revised JMA magnitude scale. The tremors...
in Kobeis the sixth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture and a prominent port city in Japan with a population of about 1.5 million. The city is located in the Kansai region of Japan and is part of the metropolitan area...
, Japan in January 1995, the Blizzard of 1996The Blizzard of 1996 was a nor'easter that paralyzed the U.S. East Coast with up to four feet of wind-driven snow over a three-day period from January 6-8 in 1996.-Washington D.C. and Baltimore:...
in the eastern U.S., the March Superstorm of 1993 in the eastern U.S., the US drought of 1999, the deadly Hurricane MitchHurricane Mitch was the most powerful hurricane of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season, with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph . The storm was the thirteenth tropical storm, ninth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the season...
which struck Central America in October 1998, and the destructive F-5 Oklahoma City tornado in May 1999, the August 1999 İzmit earthquakeThe 1999 İzmit earthquake was a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck northwestern Turkey on August 17, 1999, at about 3:01am local time. The event lasted for 37 seconds, killing around 17 thousand people and leaving approximately half a million people homeless.-Damage and casualties:Casualty...
in TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
, and the September 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake in TaiwanTaiwan , also known as Formosa , is the largest island of the Republic of China in East Asia. Taiwan is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China...
.
- People are evacuated
Emergency evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hazard. Examples range from the small scale evacuation of a building due to a bomb threat or fire to the large scale evacuation of a district because of a flood, bombardment or...
from the volcanic CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
island of MontserratMontserrat is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. It measures approximately 16 km long and 11 km wide, giving of coastline...
, a British overseas territoryThe British overseas territories are fourteen territories that are under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, but which do not form part of the United Kingdom itself....
. The Soufirre Hills erupt in 1995 and continued on until 2002.
- Mount Pinatubo
Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano located on the island of Luzon, at the intersection of the borders of the Philippine provinces of Zambales, Tarlac, and Pampanga...
, a dormant volcano in the island of LuzonLuzon is the largest and most economically and politically important island in the Philippines and one of the three island groups in the country, with Visayas and Mindanao being the other two...
in the PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
erupted in 1991 to decimate nearby towns and an American air force base permanently abandoned by hot ash fall and under mudslides.
- Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa , born Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu , was an Albanian Roman Catholic nun with Indian citizenship who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata , India in 1950...
, the Roman Catholic nunA Nun, or also known as a Sister in some cases, is a woman who has taken special vows committing her to a religious life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
who won the Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:...
, dies at age 87.
- 21-year-old golfer
In golf the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who plays for money even once usually loses his or her amateur status permanently and is banned from all amateur tournaments. A professional may not play in amateur tournaments...
Tiger WoodsEldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Currently the World No...
wins the Masters Tournament by a record 12 strokes; becoming both the youngest and the first American of multiracialThe terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple races.-Definitions of multiraciality:While defining race is controversial and rejected by some specialists in human genetics,...
descent to win the Masters.
- The Olympic Park Bombing
The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a terrorist bombing on July 27, 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States during the 1996 Summer Olympics, the first of four committed by Eric Robert Rudolph, former explosives expert for the United States Army...
on July 27, 1996 at that year's Summer OlympicsThe 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
in Atlanta, GeorgiaGeorgia is a state in the United States. One of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, it had been the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established, in 1733. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January...
which kills 1 (who later dies from a heartattack) and injures 111.
- School violence in the US is brought into the national spotlight with numerous incidents, such as the Columbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton...
.
- John F. Kennedy, Jr.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr. , often referred to as John F. Kennedy, Jr., JFK Jr., John Jr., John Kennedy or John-John, was an American journalist, lawyer, magazine publisher, and pilot. The son of U.S. President John F...
, his wife Carolyn BessetteCarolyn Jeanne Bessette Kennedy was the wife of John F. Kennedy, Jr., the son of assassinated U.S. President John F. Kennedy.-Background:...
and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette are killed when Kennedy's private plane crashes off the coast of Martha's VineyardMartha's Vineyard is an island off the south of Cape Cod in New England. The islands both forming a part of the Outer Lands region....
in July 1999.
- American cyclist
Cycling is an activity most commonly performed on a bicycle - when it is it is also referred to as bicycling or simply biking. It is the use of the bicycle, unicycle , tricycles , quadracycles , and other similar wheeled human-powered vehicles for the purpose of transport, as a form of...
Lance ArmstrongLance Edward Armstrong is an American professional road racing cyclist who rides for UCI ProTeam . He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support....
wins his first Tour de FranceThe Tour de France is an annual bicycle race that covers approximately throughout France and bordering countries. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages. Individual times to finish each stage are totalled to...
in 1999, less than two years after battling testicular cancerTesticular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system.In the United States, between 7,500 and 8,000 diagnoses of testicular cancer are made each year. Over his lifetime, a man's risk of testicular cancer is roughly 1 in 250 . It is most common among...
.
- Debate on assisted suicide
Assisted suicide is the process by which an individual, who may otherwise be incapable, is provided with the means to commit suicide. In some cases, the terms aid in dying or death with dignity are preferred...
highly publicized by MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
doctor Jack KevorkianJack Kevorkian is a former pathologist. He is most noted for publicly championing a terminal patient's right to die via physician-assisted suicide; he claims to have assisted at least 130 patients to that end...
, charged with multiple counts of homicideHomicide refers to the act of a human killing a human being. A common form of homicide, for example, would be murder. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
of his terminally ill patients through the decade.
- Beer keg registration
Beer keg registration is a legal requirement in some U.S. states and localities that identification tags or labels be affixed to beer kegs upon retail sale. They often consist of requirements that tags and records retained by the retailer list the name and address of the purchaser, the date and...
becomes popular public policy in U.S.
- California
California is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
voters passed Proposition 215Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, was a California ballot proposition on the November 5, 1996 ballot regarding medical use of marijuana...
in 1996, to legalize cannabisCannabisalso known as marijuana or marihuana, and ganja , among many other namesrefers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug...
only for medical purposes, the debate over legalization of marijuana in the U.S. goes on today.
- The Rachel, Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress. She became famous in the 1990s for her role as Rachel Green in the US sitcom Friends, a role for which she won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award....
's hairstyle on the hit show FriendsFriends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which premiered on NBC on September 22, 1994. The series revolved around a group of friends in the area of Manhattan, New York City, who occasionally live together and share living expenses. The series was produced by...
, becomes a cultural phenomenon with millions of women copying it worldwide.
- Controversy surrounded The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex, England. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers and The Crystal Method, as well as other acts they are pioneers of the big beat electronic dance genre which achieved mainstream popularity in...
with the release of the track 'Smack My Bitch Up'. The National organization for Women(NOW) claimed that the track was "advocating violence against women" due to the lyrics of that song. The music video (directed by Jonas Åkerlund) featured a first-person POV of someone going clubbing, indulging in large amounts of drugs and alcohol, getting into fist fights with men, abusing women and picking up a prostitute. At the end of the video the camera pans over to a mirror, revealing the subject to be a woman.
- The model 1300 Wonderbra
The Wonderbra is a type of push-up underwire brassiere that gained worldwide prominence in the 1990s. Although the Wonderbra name was first trademarked in the U.S. in 1935, the brand was developed in Canada. Moses Nadler, founder and majority owner of the Canadian Lady Corset Company, licensed the...
style has a resurgence of popularity in Europe in 1992 which kicks off a multinational media sensation, the 1994 re-introduction of "The Wonderbra" brand, and a spike in push-up, plunge bras around the world.
See also
- 1990s in music
For music from a year in the 1990s, go to 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 991990s in music were music performed in the 1990s. This decade saw the continuation of teen pop of the 1980s and the emergence of grunge music and alternative rock in pop culture replacing glam metal by 1992 and...
- 1990s in fashion
Fashion in the 1990s was characterized by minimalist styles, some of which were dubbed "anti-fashion". Retro clothing was popular in the 1990s, which continues onto the 2000s, which led to minimalist takes on styles from previous decades, notably the 1920s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s...
- 1990s in television
- 1990s in science and technology
- 1990s in video gaming
- 1990s in literature
- Culture of the 1990s
- Generation X
Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is a term used to refer to the generation born after the baby boom ended, extending from the early 1960s to late 1970s. The term Generation X has been used in demography, the social sciences, and marketing, though it is most often used in popular...
were young adults or teenagers during this decade.
- The Millennial Generation
Generation Y, also known as the Millennial Generation or Generation Next or Net Generation, is a term used to describe the demographic cohort following Generation X. Its members are often referred to as Millennials or Echo Boomers...
were children, preteens, teenagers, young adults, or those born in this decade.
- 20th century
- 21st century