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Eniwetok

Eniwetok

Enewetak (or Eniwetok) is an atoll in the Marshall Islands of the central Pacific Ocean. Its land consists of about 40 small islets totalling less than 6 km², surrounding a lagoon, 80 km (50 mi) in circumference. It is located at , making the second westernmost atoll of the Ralik Chain. 1999 population was 820. Technically a Spanish colony, Enewetak was not known to Europeans until visited in 1794 by the British merchant sloop Walpole, who called it "Brown's Range" (thus the Japanese name "Brown Atoll"). It was visited by only a dozen or so ships before the establishment of the German colony of the Marshall Islands in 1885. Along with the rest of the Marshalls, Enewetak was captured by Japan in 1914 and mandated to them by the League of Nations in 1920. The Japanese mostly ignored the atoll until World War II. In November 1942, they built an airfield on Engebi Island, which was used for staging planes to the Carolines and the rest of the Marshalls. When the Gilberts fell to the US, the Japanese Army's 1st Amphibious Brigade came in to defend the atoll, January 4, 1944. They were unable to finish fortifying the place before the February invasion by the US, which captured all the islets in a week. invasion After the war, the residents were evacuated, often involuntarily, and the atoll was used for nuclear testing as part of the U.S. Pacific Proving Grounds. This went on from 1948 to 1962, when atmospheric testing ended. The first hydrogen bomb test, Ivy Mike, was conducted in 1952 at Enewetak. For examination of the explosion clouds of the nuclear bombs in 1957/58 several rockets (mostly from rockoons) were launched. The people began returning in the 1970s, and on May 15, 1977 the US government began removing contaminated soil and other material from the atoll, declaring it safe for habitation in 1980.

Media

Category:Geography of the Marshall Islands Category:Nuclear test sites Category:Pacific Ocean atolls ja:エニウェトク環礁

Atoll

. Its lagoon is shallower than is the case for most atolls (thus, the light blue color in this satellite image{

Pacific Ocean

:For other meanings of Pacific, see Pacific (disambiguation). The Pacific Ocean (from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan) is the world's largest body of water. It encompasses a third of the Earth's surface, having an area of 179.7 million km² (69.4 million sq miles). Extending approximately 15,500 km (9,600 miles) from the Bering Sea in the Arctic to the icy margins of Antarctica's Ross Sea in the south (although the Antarctic regions of the Pacific are sometimes described as part of the circumpolar Southern Ocean)the Pacific reaches its greatest east-west width at about 5°N latitude, where it stretches approximately 19,800 km (12,300 miles) from Indonesia to the coast of Colombia. The western limit of the ocean is often placed at the Strait of Malacca. The lowest point on earth—the Mariana Trench—lies some 10,911 m (35,797 ft) below sea level. The Pacific contains about 25,000 islands (more than the total number in the rest of the world's oceans combined), the majority of which are found south of the equator. (See: Pacific Islands.) Along the Pacific Ocean's irregular western margins lie many seas, the largest of which are the Celebes Sea, Coral Sea, East China Sea, Sea of Japan, South China Sea, Sulu Sea, Tasman Sea, and Yellow Sea. The Straits of Malacca joins the Pacific and the Indian Oceans on the west, and the Straits of Magellan links the Pacific with the Atlantic Ocean on the east. As the Pacific straddles the ±180° longitude where East becomes West, the Asian side of the ocean (where latitudes are E) is correctly referred to as East Pacific and the opposite side (eastwards) where latitudes are W is the West Pacific. To retain the popular "left is western" and "right is eastern" means of reference, the Western Pacific is thus the East Pacific and the Eastern Pacific the West Pacific. The International Date Line follows the ±180° longitude to the greater part of its North-South demarcation but veers far eastwards around Kiribati (Caroline Island, which, not coincidentally, was renamed Millennium Island) and westwards round the Aleutian Islands as can be seen on the map at International Date Line. For most of Ferdinand Magellan's voyage from the Straits of Magellan to the Philippines, the Portuguese explorer indeed found the ocean peaceful. However, the Pacific is not always peaceful. Many typhoons and hurricanes batter the islands of the Pacific and the lands around the Pacific rim are full of volcanoes and often rocked by earthquakes. Tsunamis, caused by underwater earthquakes, have devastated many islands and wiped out whole towns. Tsunami

Ocean bottom

The ocean floor of the central Pacific basin is relatively uniform, an abyssal plain with a mean depth of about 4270 m (14,000 ft). The major irregularities in the basin are the extremely steep-sided, flat-topped submarine peaks known as seamounts. The western part of the floor consists of mountain arcs that rise above the sea as island groups, such as the Solomon Islands and New Zealand, and deep oceanic trenches, such as the Mariana Trench, the Philippine Trench, and the Tonga Trench. Most of the trenches lie adjacent to the outer margins of the wide western Pacific continental shelf. Along the eastern margin of the Pacific Basin is the East Pacific Rise, which is a part of the worldwide mid-oceanic ridge. About 3000 km (1800 miles) across, the rise stands about 3 km (2 miles) above the adjacent ocean floor. Because a relatively small land area drains into the Pacific, and because of the ocean's immense size, most sediments are authigenic or pelagic in origin. Authigenic sediments include montmorillonite and phillipsite. Pelagic sediments derived from seawater include pelagic red clays and the skeletal remains of sea life. Terrigenous sediments eroded from land masses are confined to narrow marginal bands close to land.

Elevation extremes


- lowest point: -10,924 m (-35,840 ft). at the bottom of the Mariana Trench
- highest point: 0 m (0 ft), sea level.

Water characteristics

Water temperatures in the Pacific vary from freezing in the poleward areas to about 29°C (84°F) near the equator. Salinity also varies latitudinally. Water near the equator is less salty than that found in the mid-latitudes because of abundant equatorial precipitation throughout the year. Poleward of the temperate latitudes salinity is also low, because little evaporation of seawater takes place in these frigid areas. The surface circulation of Pacific waters is generally clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere (the North Pacific Gyre) and anti-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. The North Equatorial Current, driven westward along latitude 15°N by the trade winds, turns north near the Philippines to become the warm Japan or Kuroshio Current. Turning eastward at about 45°N, the Kuroshio forks and some waters move northward as the Aleutian Current, while the rest turn southward to rejoin the North Equatorial Current. The Aleutian Current branches as it approaches North America and forms the base of an anti-clockwise circulation in the Bering Sea. Its southern arm becomes the chilled slow, south-flowing California Current. The South Equatorial Current, flowing west along the equator, swings southward east of New Guinea, turns east at about 50°S, and joins the main westerly circulation of the Southern Pacific, which includes the Earth-circling Antarctic Circumpolar Current. As it approaches the Chilean coast, the South Equatorial Current divides; one branch flows around Cape Horn and the other turns north to form the Peru or Humboldt Current.

Climate

Only the interiors of the large land masses of Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand escape the pervasive climatic influence of the Pacific. Within the area of the Pacific, five distinctively different climatic regions exist: the mid-latitude westerlies, the trades, the monsoon region, the typhoon region, and the doldrums. Mid-latitude westerly air streams occur in both northerly and southerly latitudes, bringing marked seasonal differences in temperature. Closer to the equator, where most of the islands lie, steadily blowing trade winds allow for relatively constant temperatures throughout the year of 21-27°C (70-81°F). The monsoon region lies in the far western Pacific between Japan and Australia. Characteristic of this climatic region are winds that blow from the continental interior to the ocean in winter and in the opposite direction in summer. Consequently, a marked seasonality of cloudiness and rainfall occurs. Typhoons often cause extensive damage in the west and southwest Pacific. The greatest typhoon frequency exists within the triangle from southern Japan to the central Philippines to eastern Micronesia. Although more poorly defined than the other climatic regions, two major doldrum areas lie within the ocean, one located off the western shores of Central America and the other within the equatorial waters of the western Pacific. Both areas are noted for their high humidity, considerable cloudiness, light fluctuating winds, and frequent calms.

Geology

The Andesite Line is the most significant regional distinction in the Pacific. It separates the deeper, basic igneous rock of the Central Pacific Basin from the partially submerged continental areas of acidic igneous rock on its margins. The Andesite Line follows the western edge of the islands off California and passes south of the Aleutian arc, along the eastern edge of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands, Japan, the Mariana Islands, the Solomon Islands, and New Zealand. The dissimilarity continues northeastward along the western edge of the Albatross Cordillera along South America to Mexico, returning then to the islands off California. Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, New Guinea, and New Zealand—all eastward extensions of the continental blocks of Australia and Asia—lie outside the Andesite Line. Within the closed loop of the Andesite Line are most of the deep troughs, submerged volcanic mountains, and oceanic volcanic islands that characterize the Central Pacific Basin. It is here that basaltic lavas gently flow out of rifts to build huge dome-shaped volcanic mountains whose eroded summits form island arcs, chains, and clusters. Outside the Andesite Line, volcanism is of the explosive type, and the Pacific Ring of Fire is the world's foremost belt of explosive volcanism.

Landmasses

The largest landmass entirely within the Pacific Ocean is the island of New Guinea— the second largest in the world. Almost all of the smaller islands of the Pacific lie between 30°N and 30°S, extending from South-east Asia to Easter Island; the rest of the Pacific Basin is almost entirely submerged. The great triangle of Polynesia, connecting Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand, encompasses the island arcs and clusters of the Cook, Marquesas, Samoa, Society, Tokelau, Tonga, and Tuamotu islands. North of the equator and west of the international date line are the numerous small islands of Micronesia, including the Caroline Islands, the Marshall Islands, and the Mariana Islands. In the southwestern corner of the Pacific lie the islands of Melanesia, dominated by New Guinea. Other important island groups of Melanesia include the Bismarck Archipelago, Fiji, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. Islands in the Pacific Ocean are of four basic types: continental islands, high islands, coral reefs, and uplifted coral platforms. Continental islands lie outside the Andesite Line and include New Guinea, the islands of New Zealand, and the Philippines. These islands are structurally associated with the nearby continents. High islands are of volcanic origin, and many contain active volcanoes. Among these are Bougainville, Hawaii, and the Solomon Islands. The third and fourth types of islands are both the result of coralline island building. Coral reefs are low-lying structures that have built up on basaltic lava flows under the ocean's surface. One of the most dramatic is the Great Barrier Reef off northeastern Australia. A second island type formed of coral is the uplifted coral platform, which is usually slightly larger than the low coral islands. Examples include Banaba (formerly Ocean Island) and Makatea in the Tuamotu group of French Polynesia.

History and economy

See the Oceania article for information on one set of the Pacific Island states listed below here. Important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times, most notably those of Polynesians from Tahiti to Hawaii and New Zealand. The ocean was sighted by Europeans early in the 16th century, first by Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1513) and then by Ferdinand Magellan, who crossed the Pacific during his circumnavigation (1519-1522). In 1564 conquistadors crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi who sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. For the remainder of the 16th century Spanish influence was paramount, with ships sailing from Spain to the Philippines, New Guinea, and the Solomons. The Manila Galleons linked Manila and Acapulco. During the 17th century the Dutch, sailing around southern Africa, dominated discovery and trade; Abel Janszoon Tasman discovered (1642) Tasmania and New Zealand. The 18th century marked a burst of exploration by the Russians in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, the French in Polynesia, and the British in the three voyages of James Cook (to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest). Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by Great Britain and France, followed by the United States. Significant contributions to oceanographic knowledge were made by the voyages of the HMS Beagle in the 1830s, with Charles Darwin aboard; the HMS Challenger during the 1870s; the U.S.S. Tuscarora (1873-76); and the German Gazelle (1874-1876). Although the United States took the Philippines in 1898, Japan controlled the western Pacific by 1914, and occupied many other islands during World War II. By the end of that war the U.S. Pacific Fleet was the virtual master of the ocean. Seventeen independent states are located in the Pacific: Australia, Fiji, Japan, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Republic of China (Taiwan), Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Eleven of these nations have achieved full independence since 1960. The Northern Mariana Islands are self-governing with external affairs handled by the United States, and Cook Islands and Niue are in similar relationships with New Zealand. Also within the Pacific are the U.S. state of Hawaii and several island territories and possessions of Australia, Chile, Ecuador, France, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The exploitation of the Pacific's mineral wealth is hampered by the ocean's great depths. In shallow waters of the continental shelves off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, petroleum and natural gas are extracted, and pearls are harvested along the coasts of Australia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Philippines, although in sharply declining volume. The Pacific's greatest asset is its fish. The shoreline waters of the continents and the more temperate islands yield herring, salmon, sardines, snapper, swordfish, and tuna, as well as shellfish. In 1986, the member nations of the South Pacific Forum declared the area a nuclear-free zone in an effort to halt nuclear testing and prevent the dumping of nuclear waste there.

Ports and harbours


- Acapulco (Mexico)
- Anchorage (United States)
- Auckland (New Zealand)
- Brisbane (Australia)
- Callao (Peru)
- Hong Kong (Hong Kong (China (PRC)))
- Honolulu (United States)
- Kobe (Japan)
- Long Beach (United States)
- Los Angeles (United States)
- Panama City (Panama)
- Portland (Oregon) (United States)
- Prince Rupert (Canada)
- San Diego (United States)
- San Francisco (United States)
- Sapporo (Japan)
- Seattle (United States)
- Shanghai (China (PRC))
- Sydney (Australia)
- Taipei (China (ROC))
- Vancouver (Canada)
- Victoria (Canada)
- Vladivostok (Russia)
- Yokohama (Japan)

Bibliography


- Barkley, R.A., Oceanographic Atlas of the Pacific Ocean (1969)
- Cameron, I., Lost Paradise (1987)
- Couper, A., Development in the Pacific Islands (1988)
- Crump, D.J., ed., Blue Horizons (1980)
- Gilbert, John, Charting the Vast Pacific (1971)
- Lower, J. Arthur, Ocean of Destiny: A Concise History of the North Pacific, 1500-1978 (1978)
- Oliver, D.L., The Pacific Islands, 3nd ed. (1989)
- Ridgell, R., Pacific Nations and Territories, 2nd ed. (1988)
- Soule, Gardner, The Greatest Depths (1970)
- Spate, O.H., Paradise Found and Lost (1988)
- Terrell, J.E., Prehistory in the Pacific Islands (1986). :Based on public domain text from US Naval Oceanographer

External links


- [http://www.epic.noaa.gov/epic/ewb/ EPIC Pacific Ocean Data Collection] Viewable on-line collection of observational data
- [http://dapper.pmel.noaa.gov/dchart/ NOAA In-situ Ocean Data Viewer] Plot and download ocean observations
- [http://www.mapsouthpacific.com/ Map South Pacific]
- [http://www.oscar.noaa.gov/datadisplay/ NOAA Ocean Surface Current Analyses - Realtime (OSCAR)] Near-realtime Pacific Ocean Surface Currents derived from satellite altimeter and scatterometer data
- [http://floats.pmel.noaa.gov/floats/ NOAA PMEL Argo profiling floats] Realtime Pacific Ocean data
- [http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/jsdisplay/ NOAA TAO El Nino data] Realtime Pacific Ocean El NIno buoy data
- [http://www.southpacific.org/ South Pacific Organizer] Category:Oceans
- zh-min-nan:Thài-pêng-iûⁿ ko:태평양 ja:太平洋 simple:Pacific Ocean th:มหาสมุทรแปซิฟิก

Lagoon

This article is about natural lagoons. For articial "lagoons" used to treat waste water, please see Anaerobic lagoons and Aerated lagoon. A lagoon is a body of comparatively shallow salt water separated from the deeper sea by a shallow or exposed sandbank, coral reef, or similar feature. Thus, the enclosed body of water behind a barrier reef or barrier islands or enclosed by an atoll reef is called a lagoon. This application of lagoon in English dates from 1769. It adapted and extended the sense of the Venetian laguna (cf Latin lacuna, 'empty space'), which specifically referred to Venice's shallow, island-studded stretch of salt water, protected from the Adriatic by the barrier beaches of the Lido (see Venetian Lagoon). Lagoon refers to both coastal lagoons formed by the buildup of sandbanks or reefs along shallow coastal waters, and the lagoons in atolls, formed by the grow of coral reefs on slowly sinking cental islands. Coastal lagoons are usually found on coasts with relatively small tidal ranges. They constitute approximately 13 percent of all coastlines. They generally extend parallel to the coastland, separated from the sea by barrier islands, sand and shingle bars or coral reefs. Non-reef lagoon barriers are formed by wave-action or longshore currents piling up coarser sediments off shore of the beach. Once a lagoon barrier has formed, finer sediments can settle out in the relatively quiet water behind the barrier, including sediments brought into the lagoon by rivers. Coastal lagoons typically have only constricted openings to the sea. As a result, water conditions in the lagoon can differ significantly from the open water of the sea in temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and sediment load. In many English-speaking countries, coastal lagoons often are called sounds, bays, rivers, or lakes. Albemarle Sound in North Carolina, Great South Bay, between Long Island and the barrier beaches of Fire Island in New York, Banana River in Florida and Lake Illawarra in New South Wales are all lagoons. In Mexico often the use of "laguna", which lagoon translates to, is used to describe a lake, such as Laguna Catemaco.

See also


- Atoll
- :Category:Atolls
- :Category:Lagoons

References


- Encyclopedia Britannica. 2005. Lagoon. Encyclopedia Britannica Premium Service. [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9046833] - accessed December 7, 2005.

External links


- [http://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/Whatsa_lagoon.htm What is a lagoon?] - accessed December 7, 2005. Category:Landforms ja:ラグーン

1999

1999 (MCMXCIX) is a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations.

Events


- Kosovo War
- Y2K preparation was a major event in 1999 both in actual events and in media over-reporting.
- The human population of the world surpassed six billion. The United Nations Population Fund designated October 12 as the approximate date for this event.

January


- January 1 - Euro currency introduced.
- January 1 - An avalanche destroys a school gymnasium during New Year celebrations in Kangiqsualujjuaq in far northern Quebec, killing nine.
- January 2 - A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern USA, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and 19 inches (487 mm) at Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, temperatures plunge to -13°F (-25°C), and 68 deaths are reported.
- January 4 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque killing 16 people and injuring 25.
- January 12 - The remains of Christina Marie Williams were found three miles (5 km) from her home on the old Fort Ord military base.
- January 20 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet cafes.
- January 21 - War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 9,500 pounds (4.3 t) of cocaine aboard. The ship was headed for Houston, Texas.
- January 25 - A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000

February


- February 4 - Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
- February 5 - Mike Tyson is sentenced to a year's imprisonment, fined $5,000, and ordered to serve 2 years probation and perform 200 hours of community service for the August 31, 1998 assault on two people after a car accident.
- February 7 - King of Jordan, Hussein of Jordan, dies from cancer. His son Abdullah II then inherits the throne, and becomes King of Jordan.
- February 10 - Avalanches in the French Alps near Geneva kill at least ten.
- February 11 - Pluto, a planet with an irregular orbit, changes from the eighth to ninth planet furthest from the Sun. It had been the eighth furthest since 1979, and will become again in 2231.
- February 12 - President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial
- February 12 - John Myatt and John Drewe are sentenced for art forgery for one and six years, respectively.
- February 16 - In Uzbekistan a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov.
- February 16 - Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.
- February 16 - In Jasper, Texas, testimony begins in the trial of John William King who is accused of dragging African American James Byrd Jr. to death in an apparent hate crime. King was later convicted and sentenced to the death penalty.
- February 22 - Moderate Iraqi Shiite cleric Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr is assassinated.
- February 23 - Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
- February 23 - White supremacist John William King is found guilty of kidnapping and killing African American James Byrd Jr by dragging him behind a truck for two miles (3 km).
- February 23 - An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.
- February 24 - LaGrand Case: The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery that led to a death. Karl's brother Walter is executed a week later, in spite of Germany's legal action in the International Court of Justice to attempt to save him.
- February 27 - While trying to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon, Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new endurance record after being in a hot air balloon for 233 hours and 55 minutes.
- February 27 - Olusegun Obasanjo becomes Nigeria's first elected president since mid-1983.

March


- March 1 - One of four bombs detonated in Lusaka, Zambia, destroys the Angolan Embassy.
- March 1 - Rwandan Hutu rebels kill and hack to pieces eight foreign tourists at the Buhoma homestead, Uganda
- March 1 - The Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines comes into force.
- March 3 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones begin their attempt to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon without stopping. Their journey ended in success on March 21.
- March 4 - Monica Lewinsky's book detailing her affair with Bill Clinton goes on sale in the United States
- March 4 - In a military court, Captain Richard Ashby of the United States Marines is acquitted of the charge of reckless flying which resulted in the deaths of 20 skiers in the Italian Alps when his low-flying jet hit a gondola cable.
- March 12 - Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic join NATO.
- March 15 - The European Commission under the presidency of Jacques Santer resigns over allegations of corruption.
- March 17 - The [http://www.roth-401k-forum.com/ Roth 401k] is introduced by Sen Roth Jr., William V.
- March 20 - Serbs launch an offensive in Bosnia
- March 21 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.
- March 22 - US pro-euthanasia doctor Jack Kevorkian goes on trial for murder in Pontiac, Michigan. He is later convicted of second-degree murder
- March 23 - Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña
- March 24 - NATO launches air strikes in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which was refusing to sign a peace treaty. This marks the first time NATO attacked a sovereign country
- March 24 - Fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel kills 39 people, closing the tunnel for nearly 3 years.
- March 26 - The Melissa worm attacks the Internet.
- March 26 - A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man (the incident was videotaped and aired on September 17, 1998 edition of 60 Minutes)
- March 29 - For the first time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10000 mark at 10006.78.

April


- April 1 - Nunavut, an Inuit homeland, part of the Northwest Territories becomes Canada's third territory.
- April 5 - Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 are handed over to Scottish authorities for eventual trial in the Netherlands. The United Nations suspends sanctions against Libya
- April 5 - In Laramie, Wyoming, Russell Henderson pleads guilty to kidnapping and felony murder in order to avoid a possible death penalty conviction for the apparent hate crime killing of Matthew Shepard
- April 7 - Kosovo War: Kosovo's main border crossings are closed by Serbian forces to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving
- April 7 - Bomb explodes in the Valley of the Fallen church in Spain - GRAPO claims responsibility
- April 9 - Ibrahim Baré Maînassara, president of Nigeria, is assassinated
- April 17 - A nail bomb explodes in the middle of a busy market in Brixton, South London
- April 18 - "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky plays his final game in the NHL.
- April 20 - Two Littleton, Colorado teenagers named Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold open fire on their teachers and fellow students. The teenagers killed 12 students and 1 teacher, and then killed themselves. See Columbine High School massacre.
- April 25 - End of term for Tuanku Jaafar ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman as the 10th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- April 26 - Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah Al-Haj, Sultan of Selangor becomes the 11th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- April 28 - The first comic of Sexy Losers (then called "The Thin H Line") goes online. This webcomic would go on to be one of the most popular webcomics ever made, with a sustained level of unique IP address hits of approximately 1 million a week. It would also popularize the word "fap" as an onomatopoeia for masturbation, a sound effect widely used in anime-themed comics since.
- April 30 - Cambodia joins the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bringing the total members to 10.
- April 30 - A third nail bomb (see April 17) explodes in the Admiral Duncan pub in Old Compton Street, Soho, London, killing a pregnant woman and two friends and injuring 70 others, including her husband. This was part of a hate campaign against ethnic minorities and gay people by David Copeland

May

David Copeland
- May 2 - Oliver Reed, British actor famous for starring in The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers, and The Assassination Bureau, dies of a heart attack in Malta while filming Gladiator.
- May 2 - Norman J. Sirnic and Karen Sirnic are murdered by Angel Maturino Resendiz in a parsonage in Weimar, Texas. They were his fourth and fifth victims in his fourth incident.
- May 3 - Photo driver licences and banknotes made out of polymer substrate are introduced to New Zealand.
- May 3 - A F5 tornado slams in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma killing 38 people. This was the strongest tornado ever. (See Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak)
- May 3 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 11,000 for the first time. It closes at 11,014.70.
- May 6 - Elections are held in Scotland and Wales for the new Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales
- May 7 - A jury finds The Jenny Jones Show and Warner Bros liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure after the show purposely deceived Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a secret same-sex crush episode.
- May 7 - Kosovo War: In Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, three Chinese embassy workers are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft mistakenly bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade
- May 7 - In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup
- May 8 - Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to graduate from The Military College of South Carolina.
- May 12 - David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament
- May 13 - in Italy Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is elected President of the republic
- May 17 - Ehud Barak is elected prime minister of Israel.
- May 19 - Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is released in theaters.
- May 20 - Bluetooth announced.
- May 23 - In Kansas City, Missouri, Owen Hart (Blue Blazer) falls 90 feet (30 m) to his death while being lowered into a World Wrestling Federation ring
- May 26 - Indian Air Force launches attack on intruding Pakistan backed militants in Kashmir sparking the Kargil War.
- May 26 - Manchester United win the UEFA Champions League at the Nou Camp stadium, Barcelona, beating Bayern Munich to lift their third major trophy in their unprecedented Treble, after winning the English Premier League and FA Cup.
- May 26 - Madejczyk Massacre Averted, Bridgman, Michigan school shooting plot
- May 26 - first Welsh Assembly for over 600 years opens in Cardiff
- May 27 - The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo
- May 28 - In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo de Vinci's newly-restored masterpiece "The Last Supper" is put back on display.

June


- 'solid - the socialist youth is formed in Hannover, Germany
- June 2 - After decades of fighting off outside technological influences like television, the King of Bhutan allows television transmissions to commence in the Kingdom for the first time, coinciding with the King's silver jubilee (see Bhutan Broadcasting Service).
- June 5 - The AIS, the armed wing of FIS, agrees in principle to disband in Algeria.
- June 6 - In Brazil, 345 prisoners escape from Putim prison through the front gate
- June 7 - Garfield daily strips in colour.
- June 8 - The government of Colombia announces it will include the estimated value of the country's illegal drug crops, exceeding half a billion US dollars, in its gross national product.
- June 9 - Kosovo War: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty.
- June 10 - Kosovo War: NATO suspends its air strikes after Slobodan Milošević agrees to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo.
- June 12 - Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian begins - NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping force KFor enter the province of Kosovo in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Texas Governor George W. Bush announces his intention to seek the Republican Party's nomination for President of the United States.
- June 15 - George Morber Senior and Carolyn Frederick are murdered by Angel Maturino Resendiz in Gorham, Illinois. They are his eighth and ninth victims, in his seventh and final incident.
- June 19 - Torino is picked as the host city of the 2006 Winter Olympics.

July


- July 4 - David Beckham and Victoria Adams are married.
- July 11 - India recaptures Kargil as Pakistan pulls out its troops and militants after international condemnation. India claim victory in the two-month conflict.
- July 16 - Off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, a plane piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr. crashes with his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her sister Lauren Bessette on board. All three are killed in the crash
- July 20 - Mercury program: Liberty Bell 7 is raised from the Atlantic Ocean.
- July 23 - Mohammed VI becomes King of Morocco.
- July 23 to July 25 - Woodstock 99 festival held in New York.
- July 23 - Hijack of ANA Flight 61 in Tokyo.
- July 25 - Lance Armstrong wins first Tour de France.
- July 27 - 21 die in a canyoning disaster near Interlaken, Switzerland.
- July 31 - Mark O. Barton kills 9 in Atlanta, Georgia
- July 31 - NASA intentionally crashes the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface.

August


- August 8 - The first edition of the Callatis Festival, the largest music &culture festival in Romania.
- August 9 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet
- August 10 - Buford O. Furrow, Jr. attempts a mass murder in Los Angeles
- August 10 - Atlantique Incident occurs as an intruding Pakistan navy plane is shot down in India. The incident sparks tensions between the two nations, coming just a month after the end of the Kargil War.
- August 11 - Total eclipse in Europe and Asia
- August 11 - An F-2 tornado rips through downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, killing one person and injuring over 100.
- August 17 - A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes Istanbul and northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000. This earthquake was the first of a long series of unrelated but frequent earthquakes throughout the world during the years 1999 and 2000. Some connected the earthquake to the fact that the Umbra of the solar eclipse of August 11, was right above Istanbul.
- August 19 - In Belgrade, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević

September


- September 7 - Earthquake strikes Athens resulting to more than 100 dead and 672 homes destroyed. It was not clear if it was related to the earlier earthquake of Turkey. That earthquake was the worst in Athens after 20 years. Both disasters were noted for resulting to a mutual assistance and better climate between the two 'rivalling' countries.
- September 8 - first of the series of Russian apartment bombings. The subsequent occurred on September 13, 16, and 22 (failed).
- September 9 - Sega released the Dreamcast worldwide. Breaking video game and other entertainment sales record in its first 24 hours of availability.
- September 21 - Chi-Chi earthquake occurred in central Taiwan, caused about 2,400 people dead.

October


- October - NASA loses one of its Mars probes, the Climate Orbiter
- October 5 - Thirty-one people die in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash, west of London, England.
- October 12 - Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attempts to dismiss Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf and install ISI director Khwaja Ziauddin in his place. Senior Army generals refuse to accept the dismissal. Musharraf, who was out of the country, attempts to return in a commercial airliner. Sharif orders the Karachi airport to not allow the plane to land. The generals lead a coup, ousting Sharif's administration and taking over the airport. The plane lands with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and Musharraf takes control of the government.
- October 12 - The 6 billionth person in the world, according to the UN is born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- October 13 - The United States Senate rejects ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
- October 15 ? National Geographic Society reveals the fossil of Archaeoraptor in a press conference (the fossil is later found to be a forgery)
- October 18 ? Michael Pawluk Michigan attorney sails solo-single-handed over 2,500 nautical miles (4600 km) on a 30 foot (10 m) boat when his wife demands "some space".
- October 25 - Golfer Payne Stewart, 42, dies in an aircraft accident.
- October 27 - Gunmen open fire in the Armenian parliament killing Prime Minister Vazgan Sarkisian, Parliament Chairman Karen Demirchian and 6 other members.
- October 27 - The New York Yankees complete a 4 game sweep of the Atlanta Braves to win their second consecutive World Series.
- October 31 - EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board
- October 31 - Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran Church leaders sign the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, ending a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.

November


- November 5 - United States v. Microsoft: US District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issues a preliminary ruling that the software company Microsoft had "monopoly power" (on April 3, 2000 Jackson found that Microsoft violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act).
- November 6 - Australians vote to keep the British queen as their head of state
- November 18 - In College Station, Texas, 12 are killed and 28 injured at Texas A&M University when a huge bonfire under construction collapses.
- November 19 - In Istanbul, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ends a two-day summit by calling for a political settlement in Chechnya and adopting a Charter for European Security
- November 20 - The People's Republic of China launches the first Shenzhou spacecraft
- November 26 - Earthquake and Tsunami in Vanuatu
- November 27 - Labour Party elected in New Zealand general election. Helen Clark first Elected Woman Prime Minster in New Zealand History.
- November 28 - A man wielding a samurai sword enters St Andrews Catholic Church in Thornton Heath and injures 11
- November 28 - Jorge Batlle for the Colorado Party is elected president of Uruguay
- November 30 - In Seattle, Washington, the first major mobilization of the anti-globalization movement catches police unprepared and forces the cancellation of the opening ceremonies of the WTO Meeting of 1999 (protests end on December 3).

December

December 3
- December 2 - The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.
- December 3 - After rowing for 81 days and 2,962 nautical miles (5486 km), Tori Murden becomes the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by rowboat alone when she reaches Guadeloupe from the Canary Islands
- December 3 - NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
- December 12 - President Lt. General Umar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir of Sudan dismisses the National Assembly during an internal power struggle between him and speaker of the Parliament Hasan al-Turabi.
- December 14 - Algerian Ahmed Ressam was arrested while crossing the United States-Canada border at Port Angeles, Washington when United States Customs found explosives in the trunk of his automobile. The arrest caused fears of a terrorist attack in the United States and was a major factor in the cancellation of a public New Year's celebration in Seattle. Ressam was later convicted in a plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve.
- December 17 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (Unmovic) is created to replace UNSCOM. The U.N. Security council once again orders Iraq to allow inspections teams immediate and unconditional access to any weapons sites and facilities. Iraq rejects the resolution.
- December 20 - Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.
- December 21 and December 22 - The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts near Calatayud (Zaragoza) a Madrid-bound van driven by ETA and loaded with 950 kg of explosives. The next day, another van loaded with 750 kg is found not far from there. The incident is known as "la caravana de la muerte" (the caravan of death). Shortly after 9/11, ETA confirmed their plan had been to blow down Torre Picasso.
- December 24 - Indian Airlines Flight 814, which was en route from Kathmandu, Nepal to Delhi, India was hijacked and taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan
- December 29 - Former Beatle George Harrison is stabbed several times in the chest by Michael Anram, who had broken into his home. Harrison's wife wrestles the knife out the assailant's hand before the police arrives. The man apparently believed that Harrison was the devil. He was later charged with attempted murder
- December 31 - Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, to be replaced by Vladimir Putin
- December 31 - Five hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed.
- December 31 - Start Of Millennium celebrations and countdown.
- December 31 - HM Queen Elizabeth II opens the Millennium Dome at Greenwich, London.
- December 31 - The Panama Canal is transferred to Panamanian control.

Unknown date


- Honda Insight is the first hybrid-fuel automobile imported into the United States.
- Naruto (manga) is created by Masashi Kishimoto.

Births


- February 3 - Brett & Jon Wirta, American actors
- April 7 - Conner Rayburn, American actor

Deaths

January-April


- January 14 - Jerzy Grotowski, Polish theatre director (b. 1933)
- January 25 - Robert Shaw, American conductor (b. 1916)
- January 31 - Norm Zauchin, baseball player (b. 1929)
- February 1 - Paul Mellon, American philanthropist (b. 1907)
- February 5 - Wassily Leontief, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
- February 7 - King Hussein of Jordan (b. 1935)
- February 8 - Iris Murdoch, Anglo-Irish author (b. 1919)
- February 15 - Henry Way Kendall, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1926)
- February 18 - Noam Pitlik, American actor and director (b. 1932)
- February 20 - Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)
- February 20 - Gene Siskel, American film critic (b. 1946)
- February 21 - Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1918)
- February 22 - William Bronk, American poet (b. 1918)
- February 25 - Glenn Seaborg, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
- March 2 - Dusty Springfield, English singer, (b. 1939)
- March 3 - Gerhard Herzberg, German-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
- March 4 - Harry Blackmun, American judge (b. 1908)
- March 5 - Richard Kiley, American actor (b. 1922)
- March 7 - Sidney Gottlieb, American Central Intelligence Agency official (b. 1918)
- March 7 - Stanley Kubrick, American film director and producer (b. 1928)
- March 8 - Joe DiMaggio, baseball player (b. 1914)
- March 12 - Yehudi Menuhin, American-born violinist (b. 1916)
- March 18 - Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentinian writer (b. 1914)
- March 20 - David Strickland, American actor (suicide) (b. 1969)
- March 24 - Birdie Tebbetts, baseball player and manager (b. 1912)
- March 29 - Joe Williams, American jazz singer (b. 1918)
- March 31 - Yuri Knorosov, Russian linguist and epigrapher (b. 1922)
- April 20 - Richard Rood, American professional wrestler (b. 1958)
- April 25 - Lord Killanin, Irish journalist and president of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1914)
- April 25 - Herman Miller, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1919)
- April 26 - Jill Dando, British journalist and TV presenter
- April 28 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1921)

May-August


- May 2 - Oliver Reed, English actor (b. 1938)
- May 3 - Steve Chiasson, Canadi

Spain

The Kingdom of Spain (Spanish and Galician: Reino de España or España; Catalan: Regne d'Espanya; Basque: Espainiako Erresuma). To west (and, in Galicia, south), it borders Portugal. To south, it borders Gibraltar and Morocco. To the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principality of Andorra. It includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, the cities of Ceuta and Melilla in north Africa, and a number of uninhabited islands on the Mediterranean side of the strait of Gibraltar, known as Plazas de soberanía, such as the Chafarine islands, the "rocks" (peñones) of Vélez and Alhucemas, and the tiny Isla Perejil (disputed). In the Northeast along the Pyrenees, a small exclave town called Llívia in Catalonia is surrounded by French territory.

History

Main article: History of Spain

Prehistory

The aboriginal peoples of the Iberian peninsula, consisting of a number of separate tribes, are given the generic name of Iberians. This may have included the Basques, the only pre-Celtic people in Iberia surviving to the present day as a separate ethnic group. The most important culture of this period is that of the city of Tartessos. Beginning in the 9th century BC, Celtic tribes entered the Iberian peninsula through the Pyrenees and settled throughout the peninsula, becoming the Celtiberians. The seafaring Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians successively settled along the Mediterranean coast and founded trading colonies there over a period of several centuries. Around 1,100 BC Phoenician merchants founded the trading colony of Gadir or Gades (modern day Cádiz) near Tartessos. In the 8th century BC the first Greek colonies, such as Emporion (modern Empúries), were founded along the Mediterranean coast on the East, leaving the south coast to the Phoenicians. The Greeks are responsible for the name Iberia, after the river Iber (Ebro in Spanish). In the 6th century BC the Carthaginians arrived in Iberia while struggling with the Greeks for control of the Western Mediterranean. Their most important colony was Carthago Nova (Latin name of modern day Cartagena).

Roman Empire

The Romans arrived in the Iberian peninsula during the Second Punic war in the 2nd century BC, and annexed it under Augustus after two centuries of war with the Celtic and Iberian tribes and the Phoenician, Greek and Carthaginian colonies becoming the province of Hispania. It was divided in Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior during the late Roman Republic; and, during the Roman Empire, Hispania Taraconensis in the northeast, Hispania Baetica in the south and Lusitania in the southwest. Hispania supplied the Roman Empire with food, olive oil, wine and metal. The emperors Trajan, Hadrian and Theodosius I, the philosopher Seneca and the poets Martial and Lucan were born in Spain. The Spanish Bishops held the Council at Elvira in 306. Many of Spain's present languages, religion, and laws originate from this period.

Muslim Spain

Main articles: Al-Andalus and Reconquista In the 8th century, nearly all the Iberian peninsula, which had been under Visigothic rule, was quickly conquered (from 711), by Muslims (the Moors), who had crossed over from North Africa, as part of the conquests of the Christian kingdoms there by the religiously inspired Umayyad empire. Only three small counties in the north of Spain kept their independence: Asturias, Navarra and Aragon, which eventually became kingdoms. Very soon the Muslim emirate split into small kingdoms. Christian and Muslim kingdoms fought and allied among themselves, with the Christians driving the Moorish forces out of the northern most parts of the peninsula within a few decades. The Muslim taifa kings competed in patronage of the arts, and the Jewish population of Iberia set the basis of Sephardic culture. Much of Spain's distinctive art originates from this seven-hundred-year period, and many Arabic words made their way into Castilian (Spanish) and Catalan, and from them to other European languages. The Moorish capital was Córdoba, in the southern portion of Spain known as Andalucía. During the time of Arab occupation, large populations of Jews, Christians and Muslims living in close quarters, and at its peak some non-Muslims were appointed to high offices. Though its tolerance has been exaggerated and romanticised by 19th century scholars it did produce some real achievements. At its best it produced great architecture, art, and Muslim and Jewish scholars played a great part in reviving the study of ancient western culture and philosophy, making their own important contributions to it, and becoming one of the most important ways by which these studies were revived in Europe. However there were also restrictions and imposts on non-Muslims, which tended to grow after the death of Al-Hakam II in 976, and worsened after the fall of Al-Andalus in 1031. Later invasions of stricter Muslim groups from north Africa even led to persecutions of non-Muslims, forcing some (including some Muslim scholars) to seek safety in the then still relatively tolerant city of Toledo after its Christian reconquest in 1085. 1085] The long, convoluted period of expansion of the Christian kingdoms, beginning in 722, only eleven years after the Moorish invasion, is called the Reconquista. As early as 739, the northwestern region of Galicia, which became one of the most important centres of western medieval Christian pilgrimage, Santiago de Compostela, had been liberated from Moorish occupation by forces from neighbouring Asturias. The 1085 conquest of the central city of Toledo had largely brought to an end the reconquest of the northern half of Iberia. The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 heralded the collapse, within a few decades, of the great Moorish strongholds, such as Seville and Córdoba, in the south-west. By the middle of the thirteenth century most of the Iberian peninsula had been reconquered, leaving only Granada as a small tributary state in the south. It ended in 1492, when Isabella and Ferdinand captured the southern city of Granada, the last Moorish city in Spain. The Treaty of Granada [http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/treaty1492.html] guaranteed religious toleration toward Muslims while Jews were expelled that year. At Ferdinand's insistance the Spanish Inquisition had been established and Tomás de Torquemada was appointed as its first Inquisitor General in 1482. Behind much of the real religious intolerance was always the ever present fear that the Muslims might assist another Muslim invasion. Furthermore Aragonese labourers were angered by the use of Moorish workers by landlords to undercut them. A 1499 Muslim uprising was crushed and was followed by the first of the expulsions of Muslims, in 1502. The year 1492 was also marked by the discovery of the New World. Isabel I funded the voyages of Columbus. In their contests with the French army, Spanish forces relied more on well trained, highly mobile, regular soldiers and eventually achieved success with the organised tactical use of hand guns against armoured French knights, in the Italian Wars from 1494. Already considerable powers, these wars saw the emergence of the new combined Spanish kingdoms of Castile and Aragon as a European great power.

From the Renaissance to the 19th Century

Until the late of the 15th century, Castile and Léon, Aragon and Navarre were independent states, with independent languages, monarchs, armies and, in the case of Aragon and Castile, two empires: the former with one in the Mediterranean and the latter with a new, rapidly growing, one in the Americas. The process of political unification continued into the early sixteenth century. It was the unification of these separate Iberian empires that became the base of what is in now referred to as the Spanish Empire. By 1512, most of the kingdoms of present-day Spain were politically unified, although not as a modern, centralized state (in contemporary minds, "Spain" was a geographic term meaning Iberian Peninsula, which includes Portugal, not the present-day state called Spain). The grandson of Isabella and Ferdinand, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor but called in Spain Carlos I, extended his crown to other places in Europe and the rest of the world. The unification of Iberia was complete when Charles V's son, Philip II, became King of Portugal in 1580, as well as of the other Iberian Kingdoms (collectively known as "Spain" at that time). During the 16th century, under the reigns of Charles V and Philip II, Spain became the most powerful nation in Europe. The Spanish Empire covered most territories of South and Central America, Mexico, some of Eastern Asia (including The Philippines), the Iberian peninsula (including the Portuguese empire from 1580), southern Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. It was the first empire about which it was said that the sun did not set. It was a time of daring explorations by sea and by land, the opening up of new trade routes across oceans, conquests and the beginning of European colonization. Not only did this lead to the arrival of ever increasing quantities of precious metals, spices and luxuries, and new agricultural plants, that had a great influence on the development of Europe, but the explorers, soldiers, traders and missionaries also brought back with them a flood of knowledge that radically transformed the European understanding of the world, ending conceptions inherited from medieval times. The treasure fleet across the Atlantic and the Manila galleons across the Pacific made it the wealthiest and most powerful nation in Europe, but the rapidly rising influx of silver and gold from the colonies in the Americas throughout the 16th century ultimately resulted in economically damaging rampant inflation and led to economic depression by the 17th century. Religious and dynastic wars supported by the Spanish crown, especially in the Netherlands, also greatly burdened the empire's economy. 17th century] In 1640, under Philip IV, the centralist policy of the Count-Duke of Olivares provoked wars in Portugal and Catalonia. Portugal became an independent kingdom again, taking with it its empire, and Catalonia enjoyed some years of French-supported independence but was quickly returned to the Spanish Crown, except Roussillon. A series of long and costly wars and revolts followed in the early 17th century, and began a steady decline of Spanish power in Europe from the 1640s. Controversy over succession to the throne consumed the country and much of Europe during the first years of the 18th century (see War of the Spanish Succession). It was only after this war ended and a new dynasty—the French Bourbons—was installed that a true Spanish state was established when the absolutist first Bourbon king Philip V of Spain in 1707 dissolved the parliamentarist Aragon court and unified the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon into a single, unified Kingdom of Spain, abolishing many of the regional privileges and autonomies (fueros) that had hampered Habsburg rule. The British abandoned the conflict after Utrecht (1713), which led to Barcelona's easy defeat by the absolutists in 1714. The National Day of Catalonia still commemorates this defeat. Of note during the 17th century was the cultural efflorescence now known as the Spanish Golden Age. Historically, the period of the mid 17th century to the mid 20th century was a failure for Spain compared to north western Europe. The extended, lingering decline of the Spanish empire was due in large part, ironically, to its spectacular successes in the 15th and 16th centuries that led to the centuries of the treasure fleets bringing back silver and gold into the country from the American mines. These shipments engendered inflation (a fact noticed by the School of Salamanca) that ate away at Spanish trades and commerce by causing local goods to be uncompetitive, and eventually making the country almost totally dependant upon imports by the mid seventeenth century, which proved disasterous as the silver mines became exhausted. Greatly worsening matters were the constant wars defending the world empire against envious European rivals, internal successions and the European wars (Eighty Years War and Thirty Years War), where Spain's resources were constantly drained defending the Habsburg's dynastic and religious interests, including the