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2094
The 21st century is the century that began on 1 January 2001 and will last to 31 December 2100. Frequently common usage regards the 21st century as spanning 2000 to 2099, though this method of counting ignores the fact that there was no year 0.
In 2000 the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) implicitly backed the common usage by defining a calendar that places the origin of the counting in a year zero.
Overview
The 21st century has had an influence on culture since well before it began. Speculation about future, social, cultural, and technological trends frequently centered on the year 2000, starting with late-19th century essays and novels (often of a utopian nature) such as Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward. It's been said that the event horizon of Western culture was steadily shrinking in this period, since as late as the 1990s people were still often focusing on the year 2000 in their discussions of the future.
Religious beliefs in a "millennial apocalypse" were supplemented by genuine concerns about the Y2k computer "bug" and about possible terrorist attacks centered on the year-2000 celebrations, but the actual turn of the millennium (both the popularly-celebrated one in 2000 and the "purist" one in 2001) went by in a fairly anticlimactic manner.
However, the years since have continued in the tumultuous manner people of the 20th century were accustomed to expect, with wars, terrorism, and other conflicts, as well as continued advances in science and technology including the continuing expansion of the use of computers and the Internet (despite the "tech bubble burst" where the overexuberance of early Internet companies was deflated).
So far in the 21st century, the main historical trends have been the violent conflict between Western Civilization and extremist Muslim Fundamentalism, the search for solutions to global warming, the continued growth of the European Community and the rapid emergence of China and India as global industrial powers.
More Y2k-style computer date failures are due before the end of the 21st century; the Unix datestamps, consisting of a count of the number of seconds since 1970, may overflow in 2038, while the family of operating systems descended from MS-DOS (including the various versions of Microsoft Windows) can't handle dates beyond 2099.
Important developments, events, achievements
Politics
- 2003 International Criminal Court opens
- 2004 EU Enlargement: 10 countries join
- 2005 UN Security Council decides war criminals in Darfur will be tried by the International Criminal Court (Resolution 1593) [http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/unsc_resolutions05.htm]
- 2003 - 2005 A series of non-violent revolutions known as the color revolutions overthrew authoritarian regimes in Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon.
Science and technology
- 2002 Mars Odyssey arrives in orbit around Mars.
- 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster February 1
- 2003 Dolly the sheep dies prematurely February 14
- 2003 Chinese space program launches its first manned space flight, Shenzhou 5 on October 15.
- 2003 Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) spreads around the globe.
- 2004 Mars rovers discover evidence of likely flowing water on Mars. Both are still in service as of 2005.
- 2004 Cassini-Huygens probe arrives at Saturn.
- 2004 SpaceShipOne makes first privately-funded human spaceflight, June 21
- 2005 Huygens probe lands on Titan, the largest of Saturn's moons, January 14
- 2005 Deep Impact probe impacts Comet Tempel 1 July 4.
Conflicts and civil unrest
- September 11, 2001 attacks
- 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan
- 12 October 2002 Bali bombing
- 2003 Invasion of Iraq
- 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings
- September 2004 Beslan hostage crisis
- 7 July 2005 London bombings
- 2005 civil unrest in France
Worldwide deaths from war and terror attacks
- Second Congo War, approximately 1.8 million deaths (3.8 million since 1998)
- Darfur conflict, approximately 200,000 deaths
- U.S. Invasion in Iraq, most estimates claim 30,000 – 50,000 Iraqi and 2,300 coalition deaths. The Lancet recently estimated 100,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion. [http://www.countthecasualties.org.uk/docs/robertsetal.pdf]
- Civil War in Côte d'Ivoire, 3,000 deaths
- September 11, 2001 attacks, 2,993 deaths
Furthermore, there are several wars and dictatorships continuing from the 20th century. In most cases, the death toll is unclear.
See also [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/wars21c.htm].
Natural disasters
- Earthquake in Bam, Iran on December 27, 2003 killed more than 26,000 people.
- 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. On December 26 an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean created a large tsunami, which impacted land across the region and caused approximately 310,000 deaths in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and other countries in the region.
- 2005 U.S Gulf Coast Hurricane Katrina - The Category 4 hurricane impacts the Gulf Coast, flooding New Orleans in Louisiana, most of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama. The current number of fatalities stands at 1,277. This hurricane surpassed Hurricane Andrew in cost of damage, becoming the costliest natural disaster in U.S history.
- Earthquake in Kashmir on October 8, 2005. An earthquake in Kashmir has so far claimed over 80,000 lives in India and Pakistan.
Sport
- 2000- 2000 Summer Olympics held in Sydney, Australia.
- 2001- NASCAR (American stock car) driver Dale Earnhardt dies after hitting the wall on the last lap of the Daytona 500. Earnhard's son- Dale Earnhardt Jr. claimed a tearful victory in the next race held at Daytona, less than four months later.
- 2001- In baseball, Barry Bonds breaks Mark McGwire's single-season home run record with 73.
- 2002- In soccer, Brazil win the Football World Cup becoming the first team to win the trophy 5 times.
- 2002- 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, Utah
- 2003- Vancouver, Canada elected host city for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games
- 2003- In baseball. Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman interferes with a foul ball during Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. Rather than the Cubs recording the out- and probably the win- the Florida Marlins won Game 6 and Game 7 en route to their second-ever World Series win.
- 2004- In American football, the Pittsburgh Steelers go 15-1 in the regular season, the first American Football Conference ("AFC") team to do so (The Steelers fell short of the Super Bowl with a loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC title game). This is also the first time a rookie National Football League quarterback (Ben Roethlisberger) has gone undefeated in his first season. Roethlisberger won Rookie of the Year.
- 2004- American Lance Armstrong wins his 6th consecutive Tour de France, becoming the first cyclist to win it six times.
- 2004- Greece wins the European Football (soccer) Championship for the first time.
- 2004- The Boston Red Sox baseball team win their first World Series in 86 years, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 0.
- 2004- 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens, Greece.
- 2005- England's Liverpool F.C. overcome a 3-0 halftime deficit to Italy's A.C. Milan to win soccer's 2004/2005 UEFA Champions League. Liverpool win 4-3 on penalties. It was Liverpool's fifth Champions League victory.
- 2005- American cyclist Lance Armstrong wins his 7th consecutive Tour de France and retires.
- 2005- the 100 meters sprint record is broken by Jamaican Asafa Powell with a time of 9.77 seconds.
- 2005- The Chicago White Sox baseball team win their first World Series in 88 years, defeating the Houston Astros 4 games to 0.
- 2005- The Sydney Swans win Australian (rules) Football League premiership after a 72-year "drought".
- 2005- London elected host city for the 2012 Summer Olympics
- 2006- 2006 Winter Olympics to be held in Torino, Italy
Issues and concerns
Some of the things that have dominated discussion and debate in this century include:
- Globalization. Advances in telecommunications and transportation, the expansion of capitalism and democracy, and free trade agreements have resulted in unprecedented global economic and cultural integration. This has caused (and is continuing to cause) huge economic and cultural shifts which have been the subject of considerable controversy.
- Overpopulation. The United Nations [http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/24/un.population/ estimates] that world population will reach 9.1 billion by mid-century. Such growth raises questions of ecological sustainability and creates many economic and political disruptions. In response, many countries have adopted policies which either force or encourage their citizens to have fewer children, and others have limited immigration. Considerable debate exists over what the ultimate carrying capacity of the planet may be; whether or not population growth containment policies are necessary; to what degree growth can safely occur thanks to increased economic and ecological efficiency; and how markets should accommodate demographic shifts. Evidence forms that developed countries (such as Japan) suffer population implosion, and the population debate is strongly tied with poverty.
- Poverty. Poverty remains the root cause of many of the world's other ills, including famine, disease, and insufficient education. Poverty contains many self-reinforcing elements (for instance, poverty can make education an unaffordable luxury, which tends to result in continuing poverty) that various aid groups hope to rectify in this century.
- Disease. AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria each kill over a million people annually. HIV remains without a cure or vaccine, and is growing rapidly in India and much of the African continent. Antibiotic resistance is a growing concern for organisms such as tuberculosis. Other diseases, such as SARS, ebola and flu variations, are also causes for concern. The World Health Organization has [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3524824.stm warned] of a possible coming flu pandemic resulting from bird flu mutations.
- War and Terrorism. Active conflicts continue around the world, including civil wars in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Chechnya, Côte d'Ivoire, Somalia, Nepal, Senegal, Colombia, and what some called a genocide in Darfur, Sudan. The 9/11 terrorist attacks triggered invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The War on Terrorism has seen controversies over civil liberties, accusations of torture, continued terrorist attacks and ongoing instability, violence and military occupation. Violence continues in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Considerable concern remains about nuclear proliferation, especially in Iran and North Korea, and the availability of weapons of mass destruction to rogue groups.
- Climate change. Some scientists expect that significant anthropogenic climate change will occur during the 21st century, resulting in unprecedented economic and ecological costs. Others dispute the severity of the problem. Trends such as global warming, pollution, biodiversity loss and resource depletion all are growing factors that will contribute to significant issues in this century. Resources in immediate danger of depletion include water, oil, and natural gas.
- Global power. Issues surrounding the cultural, economic, and military dominance of the United States and its role in the world community have become even more pointed given its recent military activities, problematic relations with the United Nations, disagreement over several international treaties, and its economic policies with regard to globalization. Integration of the European Union and the African Union have proceeded.
- Intellectual property. The increasing popularity of digital formats for entertainment media such as movies and music, and the ease of copying and distributing it via the Internet and peer-to-peer networks, has raised concerns in the media industry about copyright infringement. Much debate is proceeding about the proper bounds between protection of copyright, trademark and patent rights versus fair use and the public domain, where some argue that such laws have shifted greatly towards intellectual property owners and away from the interests of the general public in recent years, while others say that such legal change is needed to deal with the threat of new technologies against the rights of authors and artists (or, as others put it, against the outmoded business models of the current entertainment industry). Domain name "cybersquatting" and access to patented drugs to combat epidemics in third-world countries are other IP concerns.
- Technology developments show no sign of ending. Communications and control technology continues to augment the intelligence of individual humans, collections of humans, and machines. Cultures are forced into the position of sharply defining humanity and determining boundaries on desire, thought, communication, behavior, and manufacturing. It is predicted that by the middle of this century there will be a Technological Singularity when artificial intelligences are created that are smarter than humans. As these then create even smarter AI's technological change will accelerate in ways that are impossible for us to foresee.
- Energy is becoming scarce and more expensive, due to the esclating demand for petroleum ("oil") and oil-based products such as gasoline and kerosene, unmatched by production. Discovery of new oil fields has not been sufficient to sustain current levels of production, and some fear that the earth may be running out of economically viable oil. While complete depletion will not happen in the near future, some fear that a peak in production will cause an end to the trend of economic expansion in modern society, perhaps resulting in a collapse of modern civilization itself. Others believe that alternative sources of energy will prevent this disaster.
- Civilization is subject to increasing pressures due to overpopulation and culture clash. Samuel Huntington has spoken of a crash that may lead to extended wars and global instability. At the same time, there is increasing concern of decadence in Western arts and sciences among the leading intelects of the time, from Jacques Barzun to John Horgan´s "End of Science" to the columnist Spengler of Asia Times (who took his pseudonym from Oswald Spengler).
The United Nations lists global issues on its agenda [http://www.un.org/issues/ here] and lists a set of [http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ Millennium Goals] to attempt to address some of these issues.
Significant people
Influential people in politics as of 2005
(in alphabetical order)
- Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian President
- King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
- Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations
- Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission
- Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister
- Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- George W. Bush, President of the United States of America
- Fidel Castro, President of Cuba
- Jacques Chirac, President of France
- Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela
- Jean Chrétien, former Prime Minister of Canada
- Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of Italy
- Luigi R. Einaudi, Secretary-General of the Organization of American States
- Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish Prime Minister
- Vicente Fox, President of Mexico
- Lawrence Gonzi, Maltese Prime Minister
- John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia
- Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China
- Abdul Kalam, President of India
- Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan
- Mohammad Khatami, President of Iran
- Kim Jong-il, General Secretary of the Korean Workers' Party and chairman of the National Defense Commission of North Korea
- Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan
- Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland
- Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada
- Thabo Mbeki, South African president and current leader of the African Union
- Angela Merkel, German Bundeskanzler (chancellor)
- Pervez Musharraf Pakistani President
- Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda leader
- Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, President of the Russian Federation
- Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark
- Condoleezza Rice, United States Secretary of State
- Karl Rove, President Bush's senior advisor, chief political strategist, and deputy chief of staff in charge of policy.
- Saddam Hussein, deposed President of Iraq, currently held by US forces
- Gerhard Schröder, former German Bundeskanzler (chancellor)
- Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel
- Luis Inácio da Silva, President of Brazil
- Dr. Manmohan Singh, Indian Prime Minister
- Javier Solana, Foreign policy chief of the European Union
- Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, President of Latvia
- Ong Keng Yong, Secretary-General of ASEAN
- Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine
- José María Aznar, Former President of Spain
- José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, President of Spain
Influential people in religion as of 2005
- Pope John Paul II (now deceased)
- Pope Benedict XVI
- The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso
- Founder of Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi
- Ayatollah Khamenei
- Stanley Hauerwas, proclaimed in 2001 "America's Best Theologian"
- Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement.
Influential people in technology as of 2005
- Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corporation
- Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation
- Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Corporation
- Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computer
- Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of the Google search engine
- Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel
Influential people in science as of 2005
- Stephen Hawking
- Richard Dawkins
- Brian Greene
Influential people in mathematics as of 2005
- Laurent Lafforgue
- Grigori Perelman
Astronomical events and predictions
- Tuesday, June 8, 2004: Transit of Venus occurs after 122 years
- Full eclipse of moon during World Series, 2004
- November 8, 2006: Transit of Mercury
- 2009: Triple conjunction Jupiter-Neptune
- 2010/2011: Triple conjunction Jupiter-Uranus
- Wednesday, June 6, 2012: Transit of Venus to occur a second time this century
- May 9, 2016: Transit of Mercury
- Monday, August 21, 2017: First total solar eclipse of the 21st century for the United States, and the first visible in the continental US since February 26, 1979.
- November 11: Transit of Mercury
- 2024 (plus or minus 5 years): Next predicted return of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks.
- 2025/2026: Triple conjunction Saturn-Neptune
- Friday, April 13, 2029: The asteroid 99942 Apophis (previously better known by its provisional designation 2004 MN4) will pass within 30,000 km (18,600 mi) of the Earth.
- November 13, 2032: Transit of Mercury
- 2037/2038: Triple conjunction Jupiter-Uranus
- November 7, 2039: Transit of Mercury
- 2041/2042: Triple conjunction Mars-Uranus
- October 1, 2044: Occultation of Regulus by Venus. The last was on July 7, 1959. After 2044 the next occultation of Regulus by Venus will occur on October 21, 3187, although some sources claim it will occur again on October 6, 2271.
- 2047/2048: Triple conjunction Jupiter-Neptune
- May 7, 2049: Transit of Mercury
- November 9, 2052: Transit of Mercury
- 2061: Next return of Comet Halley.
- 2063: Triple conjunction Mars-Uranus
- November 11, 2065: Transit of Mercury
- November 22, 2065: At 12:45 UTC, Venus will occult Jupiter. This event will be the first occultation of a planet by another since January 3, 1818. Unfortunately this event will be very difficult to observe, because the elongation of Venus and Jupiter from the Sun on that date will be only 7 degrees.
- 2066: Triple conjunction Jupiter-Uranus
- July 15, 2067: At 11:56 UTC, Mercury will occult Neptune. Unfortunately this rare event will be very difficult to observe.
- 2071/2072: Triple conjunction Mars-Neptune
- November 14, 2078: Transit of Mercury
- 2079: Triple conjunction Saturn-Uranus
- August 11, 2079: At 01:30 UTC, Mercury will occult Mars
- Friday, November 10, 2084: Transit of Earth as seen from Mars
- November 7, 2085: Transit of Mercury
- 2085/2086: Triple conjunction Jupiter-Neptune
- October 27, 2088: At 13:43 UTC, Mercury will occult Jupiter
- 2088/2089: Triple conjunction Mars-Neptune
- 2093: Triple conjunction Jupiter-Uranus
- April 7, 2094: At 10:48 UTC, Mercury will occult Jupiter
- May 8, 2095: Transit of Mercury
- November 10, 2098: Transit of Mercury
Scientific Predictions
- Human Genetic Engineering becomes possible.
- Development of Artificial Intelligence.
- Technological Singularity
- Every human body part capable of being either cloned or replaced with an artificial replacement, or both.
- Global Warming accelerates
- Development of anti-matter propulsion rockets and travel close to the speed of light, leading to the colonization of the Tau Ceti system using space habitats fabricated by nanites from asteroidal and comet material.
Socio-Political Predictions
- A woman once told Winston Churchill: "By the year 2100, women will rule the world." Churchill asked: "Still?"
- Several leaders in politics, religion, etc., have set goals for the elimination of anti-Semitism, dictatorship, disease, homosexuality, hunger, illiteracy, lack of drinkable water, over-population, poverty, racism, tyranny and war in the 21st century.
- Near the end of the 21st century, people will still be arguing whether 2100 is the last year of the 21st century or the first of the 22nd.
Science Fiction set in the remaining years of the 21st Century
Television and film
- The events of Stargate SG-1 continue into the early 21st century.
- Stargate Atlantis is set in the early 21st century.
- Transformers: The Movie: is set in the year 2005. The subsequent Generation 2 Transformers series takes place after the events of the movie.
- The Japanese anime show The Super Dimension Fortress Macross spans the years 1999 to 2012 (its final episode takes place in January of 2012, and a direct to video epilogue featurette takes place in September 2012). Its prequel and sequels take place in 2008 (Macross Zero), 2040 (Macross Plus) and 2045 (Macross 7). A dramatized historical fiction movie about the First Space War, The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?, premieres in 2031.
- The American cartoon show Robotech, composed from the footage of three unrelated anime series (including Macross, above) spans the years 1999 to 2015, 2030-2031 and 2044-2045.
- Part of Back to the Future Part II is set in 2015.
- The Japanese anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion is also set in 2015.
- The modern classic film Blade Runner takes place in November, 2019.
- Both parts of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Past Tense" take place in 2024.
- The anime universe of Ghost in the Shell, its sequel Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, and anime television series based on the same premise (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GiG), are centered somewhere around 2029.
- The Terminator is set up during the early years of the 21st century in terms of the wars between humans & Skynet. Some of the interveing years are dealt with by the, at the moment 2, sequels, Terminator 2: Judgment Day & Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines with the whole franchise building to a conclusion of the War in 2029.
- Demolition Man is set in 2032.
- I, Robot was set in 2035.
- Minority Report was set in 2054.
- The 1998 remake of Lost in Space was set in 2058.
- Most of Star Trek: First Contact takes place in 2063. In Star Trek canon, the human Zefram Cochrane develops faster-than-light travel and makes first contact with an alien race during this year.
- Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Is set in 2068.
- The Japanese anime show Cowboy Bebop is set in 2071.
- The Nickelodeon cartoon My Life as a Teenage Robot is set in 2072.
- Equilibrium is set in 2072.
- Total Recall is set in 2084.
- In Star Trek: Insurrection, it is discovered that the Ba'ku moved to the Briar Patch at some point in this century.
- The Jetsons is supposed to take place in the late 21st century.
- Due to the time-travel nature of its stories, Doctor Who has taken place at various points during the 21st century.
Computer and video games
- Uplink is set on the internet of the year 2010.
- Perfect Dark is set in 2023.
- The races in San Francisco Rush 2049 take place in 2049.
- The events of Deus Ex take place in 2052.
- The levels "Breaking and Entering" and "You Genius, U-Genix" in TimeSplitters: Future Perfect take place in 2052.
- System Shock is set in 2072.
- Future Cop: LAPD takes place in the year 2098.
- The discovery of the Zohar in Xenosaga takes place in 20XX.
- The Great War of the Fallout universe starts on October 23, 2077; nuclear bombs are launched, nobody knows who the aggressor was.
- The Classic Mega Man franchise supposedly begins in 200X (circa 2008?). Megaman 3 introduces the 20XX numbering scheme (circa 2010?)
- The events of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne occur in 20XX.
- In Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, the 2nd Korean War starts early in this century
Novels
- Tad Williams' Otherland series is set at some undefined point in the 21st century
- Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age is also set in the 21st century, after some disaster befell the centralized telephone network. This led people to build a decentralized network, which they used to transfer money, thus destroying normal methods of taxation and bringing down most large governments.
- Red Mars of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy begins in 2027.
- Some books by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky are set in 21st century
Decades and years
External links
- [http://www.longbets.org/ Long Bets] Foundation to promote long-term thinking
- [http://www.longnow.org/ Long Now] Long-term cultural institution
Category:Centuries
Category:Postmodernism
als:21. Jahrhundert
ko:21세기
ja:21世紀
nb:21. århundre
simple:21st century
th:คริสต์ศตวรรษที่ 21
1 January
January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Here a calendar year refers to the order in which the months are displayed, January to December. The first day of the medieval Julian year was usually a day other than January 1. This day was adopted as the first day of the Julian year by all Western European countries except England between about 1450 and 1600. The Gregorian calendar as promulgated in 1582 did not specify that January 1 was to be either New Year's Day or the first day of its numbered year. Although England began its numbered year on March 25 (Lady Day or Annunciation Day), between the 13th century and 1752, January 1 was called New Year's Day, and was, with Christmas and occasionally Twelfth Night, a holiday when gifts were exchanged. 364 days (365 in leap years) remain in the year after this day.
Events
- 45 BC - The Julian calendar first takes effect.
- 404 - Last known gladiator competition in Rome takes place.
- 630 - Prophet Muhammad sets out toward Mecca with the army that will capture it bloodlessly.
- 990 - Kievan Rus' adopts the Julian calendar.
- 1438 - Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary.
- 1600 - Scotland begins using the Julian calendar.
- 1651 - Charles II crowned King of Scotland
- 1673 - Regular mail delivery begins between New York and Boston.
- 1700 - Russia begins using the Julian calendar.
- 1707 - John V is crowned King of Portugal
- 1738 - Bouvet Island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.
- 1788 - First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.
- 1797 - Albany replaces New York City as the capital on New York.
- 1801 - Legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed to form United Kingdom.
- 1801 - The first known asteroid, 1 Ceres, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.
- 1804 - French rule ends in Haiti.
- 1808 - Importation of slaves into the United States is banned.
- 1818 - Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus is published.
- 1855 - London, Ontario is incorporated as a city.
- 1861 - Porfirio Diaz conquers Mexico City.
- 1863 - American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect.
- 1863 - The first claim under the Homestead Act is made by Daniel Freeman for a farm in Nebraska.
- 1880 - Ferdinand de Lesseps begins French construction of the Panama Canal.
- 1887 - Queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of India in Delhi.
- 1892 - Ellis Island opens to begin accepting immigrants to the United States.
- 1893 - Japan begins using the Gregorian calendar.
- 1894 - The Manchester Ship Canal, England, was officially opened to traffic.
- 1898 - New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25th by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.
- 1899 - Spanish rule ends in Cuba.
- 1901 - Nigeria becomes a British protectorate.
- 1901 - The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton becomes first Prime Minister.
- 1901 - The first official Mummers Parade is held.
- 1902 - The first Rose Bowl game is played in Pasadena, California.
- 1908 - For the first time, a ball is dropped in New York City's Times Square to signify the start of the New Year.
- 1911 - Northern Territory is separated from South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control.
- 1912 - The Republic of China is established.
- 1916 - German troops abandon Yaoundé and their Kamerun colony to British forces and begin the long march to Spanish Guinea.
- 1934 - Alcatraz Island becomes a U.S. federal prison.
- 1934 - Nazi Germany passes the "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring".
- 1935 - Bucknell University wins the first Orange Bowl 26-0 over the University of Miami.
- 1937 - Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua.
- 1937 - The first Cotton Bowl game is played in Dallas, Texas.
- 1939 - The Vienna New Year's Concert is first held.
- 1942 - The Declaration by the United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations.
- 1948 - British railways are nationalised to form British Rail.
- 1948 - After partition, India declines to pay the agreed share of Rs.550 million in cash balances to Pakistan.
- 1948 - Enrico De Nicola formally becomes President of the Italian Republic, but refuses to be a candidate for the first constitutional election the following May.
- 1949 - UN Cease-fire orders to operate in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stops accordingly.
- 1956 - The Republic of the Sudan achieves independence from the Egyptian Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
- 1958 - The European Community is established.
- 1959 - Fulgencio Batista, President of the Republic of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces.
- 1960 - The Republic of Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
- 1962 - Western Samoa achieves independence from New Zealand; its name is changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa.
- 1964 - The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia.
- 1969 - Marien Ngouabi formally becomes the President of the Republic of Congo.
- 1970 - The Unix epoch begins at 00:00:00 UTC.
- 1971 - Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.
- 1973 - The Kingdom of Denmark, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland are admitted into the European Community.
- 1976 - NBC introduces its new logo: an abstract N, similar to the Nebraska Educational Television Network logo.
- 1978 - Air India Flight 855 Boeing 747 explodes and crashes into the sea off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
- 1979 - Formal diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America.
- 1981 - The Republic of Greece is admitted into the European Community.
- 1981 - The Republic of Palau achieves self-government; it is not yet independent from the United States of America.
- 1983 - The ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.
- 1984 - AT&T is broken up into twenty-two independent units.
- 1984 - The Sultanate of Brunei becomes independent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
- 1985 - The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
- 1985 - The first British mobile phone call is made by Ernie Wise to Vodafone.
- 1986 - Aruba becomes independent of Curaçao, though it remains in free association with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
- 1986 - Spain and Portugal are admitted into the European Community.
- 1988 - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States of America.
- 1993 - Velvet Divorce: Czechoslovakia is divided into the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic.
- 1993 - A single market within the European Community is introduced.
- 1993 - Pakistan is elected member of the 15-nation UN Security Council.
- 1994 - The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican State of Chiapas.
- 1994 - The North American Free Trade Agreement comes into effect.
- 1995 - The World Trade Organization comes into effect.
- 1995 - The Kingdom of Sweden and the republics of Austria and Finland are admitted into the European Union.
- 1995 - The Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe becomes the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
- 1996 - Curaçao gains limited self-government, though it remains within free association with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
- 1997 - The Republic of Zaïre officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Zaïre.
- 1998 - Smoking is banned in all bars and restaurants in the State of California.
- 1999 - The Euro currency is introduced.
- 2002 - Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in twelve of the European Union's member states.
- 2002 - The Republic of China officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Chinese Taipei.
- 2002 - The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially enters into force.
- 2003 - Luís Inácio Lula da Silva becomes president of the Federative Republic of Brazil.
- 2004 - Pervez Musharraf receives a vote of confidence to continue as the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan from Parliament and the provincial assemblies.
Births
- 766 - Ali ar-Rida, Shia Imam (d. 818)
- 1431 - Pope Alexander VI (d. 1503)
- 1449 - Lorenzo de Medici, Italian statesman (d. 1492)
- 1484 - Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss Protestant leader (d. 1531)
- 1516 - Margareta Leijonhufvud, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (d. 1551)
- 1557 - Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania (d. 1606)
- 1600 - Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian (d. 1649)
- 1614 - John Wilkins, English Bishop of Chester (d. 1672)
- 1618 - Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish painter (d. 1682)
- 1638 - Emperor Go-Sai of Japan (d. 1685)
- 1648 - Elkanah Settle, English writer (d. 1724)
- 1655 - Christian Thomasius, German jurist (d. 1728)
- 1684 - Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch classical scholar (d. 1748)
- 1704 - Soame Jenyns, English writer (d. 1787)
- 1711 - Franz Freiherr von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (d. 1749)
- 1714 - Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian poet (d. 1780)
- 1735 - Paul Revere, American silversmith and patriot (d. 1818)
- 1750 - Frederick Muhlenberg, first speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1801)
- 1752 - Betsy Ross, American seamstress (d. 1836)
- 1774 - André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist (d. 1860)
- 1793 - Francesco Guardi, Italian artist (b. 1712)
- 1823 - Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet and revolutionary (d. 1849)
- 1833 - Robert Lawson, New Zealand architect (d. 1902)
- 1839 - Ouida, English writer (d. 1908)
- 1854 - Sir James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist (d. 1941)
- 1860 - George Washington Carver, American educator, inventor, and botanist (d. 1943)
- 1863 - Pierre de Coubertin, French initiator of the modern Olympic Games (d. 1937)
- 1864 - Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer (d. 1946)
- 1873 - Mariano Azuela, Mexican novelist (d. 1952)
- 1874 - Gustave Whitehead, German-American inventor (d. 1927)
- 1876 - Harriet Brooks, Canadian physicist (d. 1933)
- 1879 - E. M. Forster, English novelist (d. 1970)
- 1887 - Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (d. 1945)
- 1890 - Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer (d. 1966)
- 1892 - Artur Rodzinski, Croatian conductor (d. 1958)
- 1894 - Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian mathematician (d. 1974)
- 1895 - J. Edgar Hoover, American Federal Bureau of Investigation director (d. 1972)
- 1900 - Xavier Cugat, Catalan-Cuban musician, bandleader (d. 1990)
- 1902 - Buster Nupen, South African cricketer (d. 1977)
- 1904 - Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani politician (d. 1982)
- 1906 - Giovanni D'Anzi, Italian songwriter (d. 1974)
- 1909 - Dana Andrews, American actor (d. 1992)
- 1909 - Barry M. Goldwater, U.S. Senator from Arizona and Presidential candidate (d. 1998)
- 1911 - Hank Greenberg, baseball player (d. 1986)
- 1912 - Kim Philby, British spy (d. 1988)
- 1917 - Jule Gregory Charney, meteorologist (d. 1981)
- 1917 - Albert Mol, Dutch actor (d. 2004)
- 1919 - J. D. Salinger, American novelist
- 1920 - Virgilio Savona, Italian singer and songwriter (Quartetto Cetra)
- 1921 - Isma'il Raji' al-Faruqi, Palestinian-born philosopher and comparative religion scholar (d. 1986)
- 1922 - Rocky Graziano, American boxer (d. 1990)
- 1925 - Stymie Beard, American actor (d. 1981)
- 1927 - Vernon L. Smith, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1927 - Doak Walker, American football star (d 1998)
- 1928 - Ernest Tidyman, American writer (d. 1984)
- 1933 - Frederick Lowy, Canadian medical educator, ethicist, and university president
- 1933 - Joe Orton, English writer (d. 1967)
- 1940 - Frank Langella American actor
- 1942 - Martin Frost, American politician
- 1942 - Country Joe McDonald, American musician (Country Joe and the Fish)
- 1942 - Gennadi Sarafanov, cosmonaut
- 1943 - Don Novello, American actor, comedian, and writer
- 1945 - Jacky Ickx, Belgian race car driver
- 1946 - Rivelino, Brazilian football player
- 1953 - Greg Carmichael, British guitarist
- 1957 - Luis Guzmán, Puerto Rican actor
- 1958 - Grandmaster Flash, West Indian-born singer
- 1959 - Azali Assoumani, Comorese president
- 1961 - Mark Wingett, British actor
- 1964 - Dedee Pfeiffer, American actress
- 1966 - Embeth Davidtz, American actress
- 1968 - Davor Šuker, Croatian footballer
- 1969 - Verne Troyer - American actor
- 1970 - Gabriel Jarret, American actor
- 1972 - Neve McIntosh, Scottish actress
- 1975 - Joe Cannon, American soccer player
- 1977 - Hasan Salihamidžić, Bosnian footballer
- 1978 - Erica Durance, Canadian actress
- 1978 - Jared Fogle, American calibate
- 1978 - Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda, Indian spiritual guru
- 1978 - Nina Bott, German actress
- 1979 - Brody Dalle, Australian singer (The Distillers)
- 1979 - Koichi Domoto, Japanese artist
- 1980 - Elin Nordegren, Swedish model
- 1981 - Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian race car driver
- 1981 - Abdulkadir Kocak, Turkish boxer
- 1982 - David Nalbandian, Argentinian tennis player
- 1985 - Steve Davis, Irish footballer
Deaths
- 379 - Saint Basil of Caesarea (b. 330)
- 404 - Saint Telemachus
- 874 - Hasan al-Askari, eleventh Shia Imam (b. 846)
- 898 - Odo, Count of Paris (b. 860)
- 1204 - King Haakon III of Norway
- 1384 - King Charles II of Navarre (b. 1332)
- 1515 - King Louis XII of France (b. 1462)
- 1554 - Pedro de Valdivia, Spanish conquistador
- 1559 - Christian III of Denmark and Norway (b. 1503)
- 1560 - Joachim Du Bellay, French poet
- 1617 - Hendrik Goltzius, Dutch painter (b. 1558)
- 1679 - Jan Steen, Dutch painter
- 1716 - William Wycherley, English dramatist
- 1730 - Samuel Sewall, English-born judge (b. 1652)
- 1742 - Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (b. 1686)
- 1748 - Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1667)
- 1766 - James Francis Edward Stuart, "The Old Pretender" (b. 1688)
- 1782 - Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b. 1735)
- 1789 - Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English politician (b. 1716)
- 1793 - Francesco Guardi, Venetian painter (b. 1712)
- 1800 - Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, French naturalist (b. 1716)
- 1817 - Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist (b. 1743)
- 1892 - Roswell B. Mason, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
- 1894 - Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (b. 1857)
- 1933 - Harriet Brooks, Canadian physicist (b. 1876)
- 1944 - Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (b. 1862)
- 1953 - Hank Williams, American singer (b. 1923)
- 1958 - Edward Weston, American photographer (b. 1886)
- 1960 - Margaret Sullavan, American actress (b. 1911)
- 1964 - Bechara El Khoury, President of Lebanon (b. 1890)
- 1972 - Maurice Chevalier, French actor and singer (b. 1888)
- 1981 - Beulah Bondi, American actress (b. 1888)
- 1986 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (b. 1902)
- 1992 - Grace Hopper, American computer pioneer (b. 1906)
- 1994 - Lord Arthur Espie Porritt, Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1900)
- 1994 - Cesar Romero, American actor (b. 1907)
- 1995 - Fred West, British serial killer (suicide) (b. 1941)
- 1995 - Eugene Wigner, Hungarian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- 1996 - Arleigh Burke, U.S. admiral (b. 1901)
- 1997 - Townes Van Zandt, American musician (b. 1944)
- 1998 - Helen Wills Moody, American tennis player (b. 1905)
- 2001 - Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)
- 2003 - Joe Foss, American politician and fighter pilot (b. 1915)
- 2005 - Shirley Chisholm, first black U.S. Congresswoman (b. 1924)
- 2005 - Hugh John Frederick Lawson, 6th Baron Burnham, British newspaperman and politician (b. 1931)
- 2005 - Bob Matsui, U.S. Congressman (b. 1941)
Holidays and observances
- The seventh day and eighth night of Christmas in Western Christianity.
- Many countries around the world using Gregorian Calendar - New Year's Day; often celebrated at 0:00 with fireworks.
- Catholicism - Holy Day of Obligation Octave of Christmas, Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God (New calendar).
- Catholicism - Feast of the Circumcision (Old calendar).
- Catholicism - National Migration Week begins (varying official support by the office of U.S. President, not strictly religious)
- Haiti Independence Day
- Taiwan Founding of Republic of China.
- Sudan Independence Day
- Cuba Liberation Day
- Slovakia: Establishment of Slovak Republic.
- Last day of Kwanzaa
- Vienna New Year's Concert
- Pasadena, California - The Tournament of Roses parade and, traditionally, the Rose Bowl football championship
- World Day for Prayer for Peace
External links
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/1 BBC: On This Day]
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December 31 - January 2 - December 1 - February 1 — listing of all days
ko:1월 1일
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ja:1月1日
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th:1 มกราคม
2001
:This article is about the year 2001. For information on the movie, see 2001: A Space Odyssey. For the Dr. Dre album, see 2001.
2001 (MMI) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. By strict interpretation of the Gregorian Calendar, 2001 is also the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium. Popular culture, however, often views the year 2000 as holding this distinction.
2001 is also the year which marks:
- Australia's Centenary of Federation
- The International Year of the Volunteer
- The United Nations Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations
See also Wikipedia's almanac of events for this year.
Events
January
- January 1 - A black monolith measuring approximately nine feet tall appears in Seattle's Magnuson Park, placed by an anonymous artist in reference to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- January 6 - The U.S. Congress, presided over by Vice President Al Gore as President of the Senate, certifies George W. Bush's Electoral College victory and thus as the winner of 2000 presidential election.
- January 11 - The Federal Trade Commission approved the merger of AOL and Time Warner to form AOL Time Warner.
- January 13 - Major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 hits all El Salvador.
- January 15 - Wikipedia, a Wiki free content encyclopedia, goes online (Wikipedia Day).
- January 20 - George W. Bush succeeds Bill Clinton as President of the United States after prevailing over Al Gore in the disputed U.S. presidential election, 2000.
- January 22 - Four of the "Texas 7" are caught at a convenience store in Woodland Park, Colorado and a fifth killed himself inside a motor home.
- January 23-25 - UN war crimes prosecutor Del Ponte demands that Serbia hand over Slobodan Milošević.
- January 24 - The last two of the "Texas 7" are taken into custody in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
- January 24 - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Mandelson resigns from the British cabinet for the second time.
- January 26 - A 50-year-old DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela killing 24.
- January 26 - An earthquake hits Gujarat, India. More than 20,000 deaths and most of the historical city is destroyed.
- January 29 - Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.
- January 31 - The Scottish Court in the Netherlands convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
February hits the UK.]]
- February - Iraq disarmament crisis: British and U.S. forces carry out bombing raids attempting to disable Iraq's air defense network.
- February 5 - Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman announce that they have separated
- February 6 - Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon wins election as Prime Minister of Israel
- February 9 - American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally strikes and sinks Japanese fishing vessel Ehime-Maru.
- February 12 - NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touchdown in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
- February 13 - An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 hits El Salvador, killing at least 400
- February 16 - Baghdad suburb bombed by US and UK war planes, 3 people killed.
- February 18 - NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt is killed on the last lap of the Daytona 500 while blocking for his DEI cars driven by his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Michael Waltrip, who won the race.
- February 19 - A Oklahoma City bombing museum is dedicated at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
- February 20 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia for 15 years.
- February 20 - 2001 UK foot and mouth crisis begins.
- February 24-27 - Patient Tony Collins spends 77 hours and 30 minutes on a hospital trolley outside the toilets in the Princess Margaret Hospital, Swindon, United Kingdom
- February 28 | | |
