fbpx
Wikipedia

1990s

January 06, 2023

For other uses, see The 1990s.

The 1990s (pronounced "nineteen-nineties", shortened to "the '90s" and often referred to as simply "the Nineties") was a decade that began on January 1, 1990, and ended on December 31, 1999.

Hubble Space TelescopeGulf WarOslo AccordsInternetDissolution of the Soviet UnionDolly the sheepDeath of Diana, Princess of WalesRwandan genocideSecond Congo War
From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; the signing of the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993; the World Wide Web gains a public face at the start of the decade and gains massive popularity worldwide; Boris Yeltsin greets crowds after the failed August Coup, which leads to the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991; Dolly the sheep is the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell; the funeral procession of Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in 1997 in a car crash in Paris, and was mourned by millions; hundreds of thousands of Tutsi people are killed in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. This would become a factor in initiating the Second Congo War of 1998.

Known as the Post-Cold War Decade, the 1990s are often culturally defined as the period from the Revolutions of 1989 that marked the end of the Cold War until the Global War on Terror ("GWOT"), which included the September 11 attacks, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.[1] In the United States, the decade saw greater attention to multiculturalism compared to the 1980s,[2] as well as the advance of alternative media. Music movements like grunge, Eurodance, and hip-hop became popular with young adults worldwide, aided by the rise in popularity of tiered-pricing cable television, and the Internet. The 1990s saw advances in technology, with the World Wide Web, the first gene therapy trial, and cloning all emerging and being improved upon throughout the decade.

A combination of factors led to a realignment and consolidation of economic and political power across the world, such as the continued mass-mobilization of capital markets through neoliberalism, the end of the Cold War caused by the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the beginning of the widespread proliferation of new media such as the Internet, and increasing skepticism towards the government. Many countries were economically prosperous during the 1990s. High-income countries experienced steady economic growth throughout the majority of the decade during the Great Moderation. In contrast, the GDP of the states formed from the former Soviet Union declined, often as a result of economic restructuring. International trade increased with the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 and formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995. The "dot-com frenzy" resulted in the dot-com bubble of 1997–2000 that brought great wealth to some entrepreneurs before its crash in 2000 and 2001.

New ethnic conflicts emerged, such as the Rwandan genocide in Africa, the Bosnian genocide in the Balkans, and several wars in the Chechen–Russian conflict in Caucasus. Signs of any resolution of tensions between Israel and the Arab world remained elusive, despite the progress of the Oslo Accords. However, in Northern Ireland, The Troubles came to a standstill in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement, putting to rest 30 years of violence.[3]

During this decade, the world population grew from 5.3 to 6.1 billion people. There were approximately 1.35 billion births and 525 million deaths.[4]

Politics and wars

Main article: List of wars 1990–2002
See also: List of sovereign states in the 1990s

International wars

 
Executive council building burns in Sarajevo after being hit by Bosnian Serb artillery in the Bosnian War.

Civil wars and guerrilla wars

 
Rwandan genocide: Genocide victims in Murambi Technical School. Estimates put the death toll of the Rwandan genocide as high as 800,000 people.

Coups

Main article: List of coups d'état and coup attempts § 1990–1999

Terrorist attacks

Main article: List of terrorist incidents § 1970–present
 
The federal building that was bombed in the Oklahoma City bombing two days after the bombing, viewed from across the adjacent parking lot.

Decolonization and independence

Political trends

Prominent political events

Africa

 
Nelson Mandela voting in 1994, after thirty years of imprisonment.
  • African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela was released from Robben Island Prison on 11 February 1990, after thirty years of imprisonment for opposing apartheid and white-minority rule in South Africa. Apartheid ended in South Africa in 1994.[15]
  • Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa in 1994, becoming the first democratically-elected president in South African history, and ending a long legacy of apartheid white rule in the country.[15]

North America

During the late 1990s, a move was made to remove American president Bill Clinton from power following the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. This impeachment attempt did not succeed, and Clinton continued to serve as president until the end of his term in January 2001.
  • The enactment of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on January 1, 1994, created a North American free-trade zone consisting of Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
  • Canadian politics was radically altered in the 1993 federal election with the collapse of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. A major political party in Canada since 1867, the party went from controlling the government to being left with only two seats. The New Democratic Party collapsed as well, with their sets declining from 44 to 9. The Liberal Party of Canada was the only genuinely 'national' political party left standing. Regionally-based parties, such as the Quebec-based Bloc Québécois and the almost entirely Western Canada-based Reform Party of Canada, rose from political insignificance to being major political parties.
  • After the collapse of the Meech Lake constitutional accord in 1990, the province of Quebec in Canada experienced a rekindled wave of separatism by Francophone Québécois nationalists, who sought for Quebec to become an independent country and forced a referendum on the question of independence in 1995.
    • The 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty was held in the predominantly francophone province of Quebec in Canada, a majority Anglophone country. If accepted, Quebec would have become an independent country with an economic association with Canada. Quebec's voters narrowly rejected the proposal.
  • Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former Haitian priest, became the first democratically elected President of Haiti in 1990. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a Roman Catholic parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies to become a priest of the Salesian order. Aristide was later forced into exile in the Central African Republic and South Africa and returned to Haiti after several years.
  • Ernesto Zedillo was elected President of Mexico in the 1994 presidential election, making him the last of an uninterrupted 71-year-long succession of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The original PRI candidate, Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta, was assassinated several months prior.
  • United States President Bill Clinton was a dominant political figure in international affairs during the 1990s, known primarily for his attempts to negotiate peace in the Middle East and end the ongoing wars occurring in the former Yugoslavia, his promotion of international action to decrease human-created climate change, and his endorsement of advancing free trade in the Americas.
  • Lewinsky scandal – US president Bill Clinton was caught in a media-frenzied scandal involving inappropriate relations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, which was first announced on January 21, 1998. After the United States House of Representatives impeached Bill Clinton on December 19, 1998, for perjury under oath, and following an investigation by federal prosecutor Kenneth Starr, the Senate acquitted Clinton of all charges on February 12, 1999. He served out the remainder of his second term.
  • California voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, which legalized cannabis for medicinal purposes.
  • The enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on January 1, 1994, created a North American free trade zone consisting of Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

Asia

Europe

  • The improvement in relations between NATO countries and the former members of the Warsaw Pact led to the end of the Cold War, both in Europe and other parts of the world.
  • German reunification – on 3 October 1990, East and West Germany reunified as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall. After reintegrating their economic structure and provincial governments, Germany focused on the modernization of the formerly communist East. People brought up in socialist East Germany became integrated with those living in capitalist West Germany.
  • Margaret Thatcher, who had been the United Kingdom's Prime Minister since 1979, resigned as Prime Minister on 22 November 1990 after being challenged for leadership of the Conservative Party by Michael Heseltine. This was because of widespread opposition to the introduction of the controversial Community Charge, and the fact that her key allies such as Nigel Lawson and Geoffrey Howe resigned over the deeply sensitive issues of the Maastricht Treaty and Margaret Thatcher's resistance to Britain joining the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. Less than two years later, on the infamous Black Wednesday of September 1992, the pound sterling crashed out of the system after the pound fell below the agreed exchange rate with the Deutsche Mark.
    • John Major replaced Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1990.
  • The Perestroika (restructuring) of the Soviet Union destabilized, leading to nationalist and separatist demagogues gaining popularity. Boris Yeltsin, then chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Russia, resigned from the Communist Party and became the opposition leader against Mikhail Gorbachev. The Communist Party lost its status as the governing force of the country and was banned after a coup attempt by Communist hardliners attempted to revert the effects of Gorbachev's policies. Yeltsin's counter-revolution was victorious, and on 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned from the presidency, which led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Yeltsin became president of the Soviet Union's successor, the Russian Federation, and presided over a period of political unrest, economic crisis, and social anarchy. On 31 December 1999, Yeltsin resigned, leaving Vladimir Putin as acting president.
  • The European Union was formed in 1992 under the Maastricht Treaty.
  • The Downing Street Declaration, signed on 15 December 1993 by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, John Major, and the Taoiseach of Ireland, Albert Reynolds at the British Prime Minister's office in 10 Downing Street, affirmed that (1) the right of the people of Ireland to self-determination, and (2) that Northern Ireland would be transferred to the Republic of Ireland from the United Kingdom only if a majority of its population was in favour of such a move. It included, as part of the perspective of the so-called "Irish dimension," the principle of consent that the people of the island of Ireland had the exclusive right to solve the issues between North and South by mutual consent.[16][17] The latter statement, which later would become one of the points of the Good Friday Agreement,[18] was key to producing a positive change of attitude by the Republicans towards a negotiated settlement. The joint declaration also pledged the governments to seek a peaceful constitutional settlement and promised that parties linked with paramilitaries (such as Sinn Féin) could take part in the talks so long as they abandoned violence.[19]
  • The IRA agreed to a truce in 1994. This marked the beginning of the end of 25 years of violence between the IRA and the United Kingdom and the start of political negotiations.
  • Tony Blair became Prime Minister in 1997 following a general election.
  • The Belfast Agreement (a.k.a. the Good Friday Agreement) was signed by the U.K. and Irish politicians on 10 April 1998, declaring a joint commitment to a peaceful resolution of the territorial dispute between Ireland and the United Kingdom over Northern Ireland. The 1998 Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement referendum was held on 22 May 1998, with majority approval.[20]
  • The National Assembly for Wales was established following the 1997 Welsh devolution referendum, in which a majority of voters approved the creation of the National Assembly for Wales.[21]
  • In September 1997, the 1997 Scottish devolution referendum was put to the Scottish electorate and secured a majority in favor of the establishment of a new Scottish Parliament.[22][23]

South America

Assassinations and attempted assassinations

Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include:

 
A Dassault Falcon 50 similar to the one shot down in the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira.
Date Description
September 9, 1990 Samuel Doe, 21st President of Liberia, was captured by rebels, tortured and murdered. His torture was videotaped and seen on news reports around the world.[24]
May 21, 1991 Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India, is assassinated in Sriperumbudur.[25]
August 7, 1991 Shapour Bakhtiar, former prime minister of Iran, is assassinated.[26]
June 29, 1992 Mohamed Boudiaf, 4th Head of State of Algeria, is assassinated by a bodyguard.[27]
April 13, 1993 George H. W. Bush, former president of the United States, is alleged to be the target of an assassination by Iraq per a report from the Kuwaiti government during a visit to the country.[28]
May 1, 1993 Ranasinghe Premadasa, 3rd President of Sri Lanka, is killed by a suicide bombing.[29]
October 21, 1993 Melchior Ndadaye, 4th President of Burundi, is killed during an attempted military coup.[30]
December 2, 1993 Pablo Escobar, leader of the Medellín drug cartel, is killed by special operations units of the National Police of Colombia.[31]
April 6, 1994 Juvénal Habyarimana, 2nd President of Rwanda, and Cyprien Ntaryamira, 5th President of Burundi, are both killed when their jet is shot down in what is considered the prelude to the Rwandan Genocide and the First Congo War.[32]
November 4, 1995 Yitzhak Rabin, 5th Prime Minister of Israel, is assassinated at a rally in Tel Aviv by a radical ultranationalist who opposed the Oslo Accords.[33]
April 21, 1996 Dzhokhar Dudayev, 1st President of Chechnya, is killed by two laser-guided missiles after his location was detected by a Russian reconnaissance aircraft.[34]
October 2, 1996 Andrey Lukanov, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria, is shot outside his apartment in Sofia.[35]
March 23, 1999 Luis María Argaña, Vice President of Paraguay, is assassinated by gunmen outside his home.[36]
April 9, 1999 Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, 5th President of Niger, is assassinated by members of his protective staff in Niamey.[37]

Disasters

Natural disasters

See also: Category:1990s natural disasters
 
The 1999 İzmit earthquake, which occurred in northwestern Turkey, killed 17,217 and injured 43,959.

The 1990s saw a trend in frequent and more devastating natural disasters, breaking many previous records. Although the 1990s was designated by the United Nations as an International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction as part of its program to prevent losses due to disasters, disasters would go on to cause a record-breaking US$608 billion worth of damage—more than the past four decades combined.[38]

 
Hurricane Georges downed trees in Key West along the old houseboat row on South Roosevelt Blvd.

Non-natural disasters

 
The crash site of El Al Flight 1862 in 1992.

Economics

Many countries, institutions, companies, and organizations were prosperous during the 1990s. High-income countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Western Europe experienced steady economic growth for much of the decade during the Great Moderation. However, in the former Soviet Union, GDP decreased as their economies restructured to produce goods they needed, and some capital flight occurred.

North America

 
The Dow Jones Index of the 1990s
  • The decade is seen as a time of great prosperity in the United States and Canada, largely because of the unexpected advent of the Internet and the explosion of technology industries. The U.S. and Canadian economies experienced their longest period of peacetime economic expansion, beginning in 1991. Personal incomes doubled from the recession in 1990, and there was higher productivity overall. The New York Stock Exchange stayed over the 10,500 mark from 1999 to 2001.
  • After the 1992 boom of the US stock market, Alan Greenspan coined the phrase "irrational exuberance", a reference to the overenthusiam of investors that typified the trading of this period, and warned of overvaluation of assets and the stock market generally..
  • The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which phases out the trade barriers between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

Asia

  • In the People's Republic of China, the government announced the major privatization of state-owned industries in September 1997. China entered the 1990s in a turbulent period due to the aftermath of both the Tiananmen Square Massacre and hardline politicians' efforts to rein in private enterprise and attempt to revive old-fashioned propaganda campaigns. Relations with the United States deteriorated sharply, and the Chinese leadership was further embarrassed by the disintegration of communism in Europe. In 1992 Deng Xiaoping travelled to southern China in his last major public appearance to revitalize faith in market economics and stop the country's slide back into Maoism. Afterward, China recovered and would experience explosive economic growth during the rest of the decade. Despite this, dissent continued to be suppressed, and Communist Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin launched a brutal crackdown against the Falun Gong religious sect in 1999. Deng Xiaoping died in 1997 at the age of 93. Relations with the US deteriorated again in 1999 after the bombing of the Chinese embassy during the bombing of Serbia by NATO forces, which caused three deaths, and allegations of Chinese espionage at the Los Alamos Nuclear Facility.
  • Financial crisis hits East and Southeast Asian countries between 1997 and 1998 after a long period of phenomenal economic development, which continues into 1999. This crisis begins to be felt by the end of the decade.
  • In Japan, after three decades of economic growth put them in second place in the world's economies, the county experienced an economic downturn after 1993. The recession went on into the early first decade of the 21st century, ending the seemingly unlimited prosperity that the country had previously enjoyed.
  • Less affluent nations such as India, Malaysia, and Vietnam also saw tremendous improvements in economic prosperity and quality of life during the 1990s. Restructuring following the end of the Cold War was beginning. However, there was also the continuation of terrorism in Third World regions that were once the "frontlines" for American and Soviet foreign politics, particularly in Asia.
 
Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton share a laugh in October 1995.

Europe

  • By 1990, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms were causing major inflation and economic chaos. A coup attempt by hardliners in August 1991 failed, marking the effective end of the Soviet Union. All its constituent republics declared their independence by 1991, and Gorbachev resigned from office on Christmas. After 73 years, the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. The new Russian Federation was headed by Boris Yeltsin, and would face severe economic difficulty. Oligarchs took over Russia's energy and industrial sectors, reducing almost half the country to poverty. With a 3% approval rating, Yeltsin had to buy the support of the oligarchs to win reelection in 1996. Economic turmoil and devaluation of the ruble continued, and with heart and alcohol troubles, Yeltsin stepped down from office on the last day of 1999, handing power to Vladimir Putin.
  • Russian financial crisis in the 1990s resulted in mass hyperinflation and prompted economic intervention from the International Monetary Fund and western countries to help Russia's economy recover.
  • The first McDonald's restaurant opened in Moscow in 1990 with then-President of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR and future Russian President Boris Yeltsin attending, symbolizing Russia's transition towards a capitalist free market economy and a move towards adopting elements of Western culture.
  • Oil and gas were discovered in many countries in the former Soviet bloc, leading to economic growth and broader adoption of trade between nations. These trends were also fueled by inexpensive fossil energy, with low petroleum prices caused by increased oil production. Political stability and decreased militarization due to the winding down of the Cold War led to economic development and higher living standards for many citizens.
  • Most of Europe enjoyed growing prosperity during the 1990s. However, problems including the massive 1995 general strikes in France following a recession and the difficulties associated with German reunification led to sluggish growth in these countries. However, the French and German economies improved in the latter half of the decade. Meanwhile, the economies of Spain, Scandinavia and former Eastern Bloc countries accelerated at rapid speed during the decade. Unemployment rates were low due to many having experienced a deep recession at the start of the decade.
  • After the early 1990s recession, the United Kingdom and Ireland experienced rapid economic growth and falling unemployment that continued throughout the decade. Economic growth would continue until the Late 2000s recession, marking the longest uninterrupted period of economic growth in history.
  • Some Eastern European economies struggled after the fall of communism, but Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania saw economic growth in the late 1990s.
  • With the creation of the European Union (EU), there is freedom of movement between member states, such as the 1992 and 1995 free trade agreements.
    • The Euro is adopted by the European Union on 1 January 1999, which begins a process of phasing out the former national currencies of EU countries.[40]

South America

  • The sluggish economies of Brazil, by a new emphasis on free markets for all their citizens, and Mexico, under economist president Ernesto Zedillo elected in 1994, were in their best shape by the late 1990s.

Technology and science

Main article: 1990s in science and technology

Technology

See also: Timeline of computing 1990–1999

The 1990s were a revolutionary decade for digital technology. Between 1990 and 1997, household personal computer ownership in the US rose from 15% to 35%.[41] Cell phones of the early-1990s and earlier ones were very large, lacked extra features, and were used by only a few percent of the population of even the wealthiest nations. Only a few million people used online services in 1990, and the World Wide Web, which would have a significant impact on technology for many decades, had only just been invented. The first web browser went online in 1993.[42] By 2001, more than 50% of some Western countries had Internet access, and more than 25% had cell phone access.

Electronics and communications

 
The logo created by The President's Council on the Year 2000 Conversion, for use on Y2K.gov
  • On 6 August 1991, CERN, a pan-European organization for particle research, publicized the new World Wide Web project.[43] Although the basic applications and guidelines that make the Internet possible had existed for almost two decades, the network did not gain a public face until the 1990s.
  • Driven by mass adoption, consumer personal computer specifications increased dramatically during the 1990s, from 512 KB RAM 12 MHz Turbo XTs in 1990,[44] to 25–66 MHz 80486-class processor at the start of the popularization of the World Wide Web mid-decade,[45] to over 1 GHz CPUs with close to a gigabyte of RAM by 2000.
  • Y2K spread fear throughout the United States and eventually the world in the last half of the decade, particularly in 1999, about possible massive computer malfunctions on 1 January 2000. As a result, many people stocked up on supplies for fear of a worldwide disaster. After significant effort to upgrade systems on the part of software engineers, no failures occurred when the clocks rolled over into 2000.
  • Advancements in computer modems, ISDN, cable modems, and DSL led to faster connections to the Internet.
  • The first Pentium microprocessor is introduced and developed by the Intel Corporation.
  • Email becomes popular; as a result, Microsoft acquires the popular Hotmail webmail service.
  • Instant messaging and the buddy list feature becomes popular. AIM and ICQ are two early protocols.
  • Businesses start to build e-commerce websites; e-commerce-only companies such as Amazon.com, eBay, AOL, and Yahoo! grow rapidly.
  • The introduction of affordable, smaller satellite dishes and the DVB-S standard in the mid-1990s expanded satellite television services that carried up to 500 television channels.
  • The first MP3 player, the MPMan, is released in the late spring of 1998. It came with 32 MB of flash memory expandable to 64 MB. By the mid-2000s, the MP3 player would overtake the CD player in popularity.
  • The first GSM network is launched in Finland in 1991.
  • Digital single-lens reflex cameras and regular digital cameras become commercially available. They would replace film cameras by the mid-2000s.
  • IBM introduces the 1-inch (25 mm) wide Microdrive hard drive in 170 MB and 340 MB capacities.
  • Apple Computer in 1998 introduces the iMac all-in-one computer, initiating a trend in computer design towards translucent plastics and multicolour case design, discontinuing many legacy technologies like serial ports, and beginning a resurgence in the company's fortunes that continues to this day.
  • CD burner drives are introduced.
  • The CD-ROM drive became standard for most personal computers during the decade.
  • The DVD media format is developed and popularized along with a plethora of Flash memory card standards in 1994.
  • Pagers are initially popular but ultimately are replaced by mobile phones by the early-2000s.
  • Hand-held satellite phones are introduced towards the end of the decade.
  • The 24-hour news cycle becomes popular alongside the outbreak of the Gulf War between late 1990 and early 1991, and is solidified with CNN's coverage of Desert Storm and Desert Shield. Though CNN had been running 24-hour newscasts since 1980, it was not until the Gulf War that the general public took notice, and others imitated CNN's non-stop news approach.[46]
  • Portable CD players, introduced during the late 1980s, became very popular and profoundly impacted the music industry and youth culture during the 1990s.
  •  

    A typical early 1990s Personal Computer.

  •  

    An early portable CD player, a Sony Discman model D121.

  •  

    Mobile phones gained massive popularity worldwide during the decade.

  •  

    Pagers became widely popular.

Software

Rail transportation

The opening of the Channel Tunnel between France and the United Kingdom saw the commencement by the three national railway companies of Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom, respectively SNCB/NMBS, SNCF and British Rail of the joint Eurostar service.

 
Eurostar logo 1994–2011
 
A pair of Eurostar trains at the former Waterloo International since moved to St Pancras International

On 14 November 1994 Eurostar services began between Waterloo International station in London, Gare du Nord in Paris and Brussels South in Brussels.[47][48][49] In 1995 Eurostar was achieving an average end-to-end speed of 171.5 km/h (106.6 mph) between London and Paris.[50] On 8 January 1996 Eurostar launched services from a second railway station in the UK when Ashford International was opened.[51] Journey times between London and Brussels were reduced by the opening of the High Speed 1 line on 14 December 1997.

Automobiles

The 1990s began with a recession that dampened car sales. General Motors suffered huge losses because of an inefficient structure, stale designs, and poor quality. Sales improved with the economy by the mid-1990s, but GM's US market share gradually declined to less than 40% (from a peak of 50% in the 1970s). While the new Saturn division fared well, Oldsmobile fell sharply, and attempts to remake the division as a European-style luxury car were unsuccessful.

Cars in the 1990s had a rounder, more streamlined shape than those from the 1970s and 1980s; this style would continue early into the 2000s and to a lesser extent later on.

Chrysler ran into financial troubles as it entered the 1990s. Like GM, the Chrysler too had a stale model lineup (except for the best-selling minivans) that were largely based on the aging K-car platform. In 1992, chairman Lee Iacocca retired, and the company began a remarkable revival, introducing the new LH platform and "Cab-Forward" styling, along with a highly successful redesign of the full-sized Dodge Ram in 1994. Chrysler's minivans continued to dominate the market despite increasing competition. In 1998, Daimler-Benz (the parent company of Mercedes-Benz) merged with Chrysler. The following year, it was decided to retire Plymouth, which had been on a long decline since the 1970s. Ford continued to fare well in the 1990s, with the second and third generations of the Ford Taurus being named the best-selling car in the United States from 1992 to 1996. However, the Taurus would be outsold and dethroned by the Toyota Camry starting in 1997, which became the best-selling car in the United States for the rest of the decade and into the 2000s. Ford also introduced the Ford Explorer, with the first model being sold in 1991. Ford's Explorer became the best-selling SUV on the market, outselling both the Chevy Blazer and Jeep Cherokee.

Japanese cars continued to be highly successful during the decade. The Honda Accord vied with the Taurus most years for being the best-selling car in the United States during the early decade. Although launched in 1989, the luxury brands Lexus and Infiniti began car sales of 1990 model year vehicles and saw great success. Lexus would go on to outsell Mercedes-Benz and BMW in the United States by 1991 and outsell Cadillac and Lincoln by the end of the decade. SUVs and trucks became hugely popular during the economic boom in the decade's second half. Many manufacturers that had never built a truck before started selling SUVs. Fabrication during the 1990s became gradually rounder and ovoid, the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable being some of the more extreme examples. Safety features such as airbags and shoulder belts became mandatory equipment on new cars.

Science

 
Dolly the sheep is the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell.

Environment

At the beginning of the decade, sustainable development and environmental protection became serious issues for governments and the international community. In 1987, the publication of the Brundtland Report by the United Nations paved the way to establish an environmental governance. In 1992, the Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro, in which several countries committed to protect the environment, signing a Convention on Biological Diversity.

The prevention of the destruction of the tropical rainforests of the world is a major environmental cause that first came into wide public concern in the early 1990s and has continued and accelerated in its prominence.

The Chernobyl disaster had significant impact on public opinion at the end of the 1980s, and the fallout was still causing cancer deaths well into the 1990s and possibly even into the 21st century.[53] Well into the 1990s, several environmental NGOs helped improve environmental awareness among public opinion and governments. The most famous of these organizations during this decade was Greenpeace, which did not hesitate to lead illegal actions in the name of environmental preservation. These organizations also drew attention to the large deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest during the period.

Global warming as an aspect of climate change also became a major concern, and the creation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) after the Earth Summit helped coordinate efforts to reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere. From 1995, the UNFCCC held annual summits on climate change, leading to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997, a binding agreement signed by several developed countries.[54]

Society

The 1990s represented continuing social liberalization in most countries, coupled with an increase in the influence of capitalism, which would continue until the Great Recession of the late 2000s/early 2010s.

Those born from 1990 to 1996 are generally considered part of the Millennial Generation, while those born from 1997 onward are often considered part of Generation Z, the post-Millennial generation.[55]

  • In 1990 the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of diseases.[56] Increasing acceptance of homosexuality occurred in the western world, slowly starting in the early 1990s.[57]

Third-wave feminism

 
Women's rights demonstration in Paris, November 1995

See also: Third-wave feminism

Additional significant events

  • Worldwide New Year's Eve celebrations on December 31, 1999, welcoming the year 2000.

Europe

  • 1991 – January Events (Lithuania) – Soviet Union military troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius, killing 14 people and wounding 1000.
  • In Paris, Diana, Princess of Wales and her friend, Dodi Al-Fayed, were killed in a car accident in August 1997, when their chauffeured, hired Mercedes-Benz S-Class crashed in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel. The chauffeur, Henri Paul, died at the scene, as did Al-Fayed. Diana and an Al-Fayed bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived the accident. The Princess of Wales died at a Paris hospital hours later. The bodyguard, Rees-Jones, is the sole survivor of the now infamous accident.[58]
  • Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic nun who won the Nobel Peace Prize, dies at age 87.[59]
  • The birth of the "Second Republic" in Italy, with the Mani Pulite investigations of 1994.
  • The Channel Tunnel across the English Channel opens in 1994, connecting France and England. As of 2022 it is the third-longest rail tunnel in the world, but with the undersea section of 37.9 km (23.5 mi) being the longest undersea tunnel in the world.
  • The resignation of President Boris Yeltsin on 31 December 1999 resulted in Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's succession to the position.

North America

  • Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and then themselves during the Columbine High School shooting in April 1999, which would inspire a number of future school shooters to commit similar offenses.
  • O. J. Simpson murder case – O.J. Simpson's trial, described in the American media as the "trial of the century", proceeds for nearly a year under intense media publicity. A majority of the trial was broadcast nightly during prime time television. On October 3, 1995, Simpson was found not guilty of the double-murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
  • With help from clinical fertility drugs, an Iowa mother, Bobbie McCaughey, gave birth to the first surviving septuplets in 1997. There followed a media frenzy and widespread support for the family.
  • John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette are killed when Kennedy's private plane crashes off the coast of Martha's Vineyard in July 1999.
  • Debate on assisted suicide, highly publicized by Michigan doctor Jack Kevorkian, surfaces when Kevorkian is charged with multiple counts of homicide of his terminally ill patients through the decade.
  • Beer keg registration becomes a popular public policy in the United States.
  • The 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' purported discovery of the Americas in 1992 was popularly observed in the United States, despite controversy and protests against the victimization of Native Americans by Columbus' expeditions. The holiday was labeled by some as racist, in view of Native American experiences of colonialism, slavery, genocide, and cultural destruction.
  • Matthew Shepard is murdered near the University of Wyoming for being gay. This sparks intense national and international media attention and outrage. Shepard becomes a major symbol in the LGBT rights movement and the fight against homophobia.
  • Shanda Sharer was murdered on January 11, 1992. She was lured away from her house and held captive by a group of teenage girls. She was tortured for hours and burned alive. She died from smoke inhalation. Those found guilty and sentenced to prison were Melinda Loveless, Laurie Tackett, Hope Rippey, and Toni Lawrence. According to Loveless, she was jealous of her former partner Amanda Heavrin's relationship with Sharer Sharer.[citation needed]
  • Karla Homolka was arrested with her husband, Paul Bernardo, in 1993. Both sexually tortured and killed their victims. Their first victim was Karla's 15-year-old sister, Tammy Homolka. The second and third victims were Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French. Karla told the investigators that she reluctantly did what Paul told her to do because he was abusive, and was given a plea deal. She was sentenced to 12 years in prison (10 years for Mahaffy and French, and two years for Tammy). Later, investigators discovered the crime videotapes, proving that Karla was a willing participant. But by that time the deal had already been made. In 1995, Paul was sentenced to life in prison. Karla was released from prison in 2005.
  • Polly Klaas (January 3, 1981 – October 1993) was kidnapped by Richard Allen Davis from her home during a slumber party. She was later strangled to death. After her death, her father, Marc Klaas, established the KlaasKids Foundation.
  • Jonbenet Ramsey (August 6, 1990 – December 25, 1996) was a child beauty pageant contestant who was missing and found dead in her Boulder, Colorado, home. The crime terrified the nation and the world. Her parents were initially considered to be suspects in her death but were cleared in 2003 when DNA from her clothes was tested. To this day, her murderer has not been found and brought to justice.
  • Lorena Bobbitt was charged with malicious wounding for severing her husband John Bobbitt's penis after she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Bobbitt, for which he was charged. Both parties were acquitted of their respective charges.
  • American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor John Denver died in a plane crash in Monterey Bay near Pacific Grove on October 12, 1997.
  • Scandal rocked the sport of figure skating when skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked during practice by an assailant hired by Jeff Gillooly, former husband of skater Tonya Harding. The attack was carried out in an attempt to injure Kerrigan's leg to the point of her being unable to compete in the upcoming 1994 Winter Olympics, thereby securing Harding a better spot to win a gold medal.
  • 1992 Los Angeles riots – resulted in 53 deaths and 5,500 property fires in a 100-square-mile (260 km2) riot zone. The riots were a result of the state court acquittal of three white and one Hispanic L.A. police officer by an all-white jury in a police brutality case involving motorist Rodney King. In 1993, all four officers were convicted in a federal civil rights case.

Asia

Popular culture

Film

Main article: 1990s in film

Dogme 95 became an important European artistic motion picture movement by the decade's end. Toy Story, the first full-length CGI movie, made by Pixar, was released in 1995 and revolutionized animated films. Pixar's parent company, Disney, was navigating the "Disney Renaissance", through both animated theatrical films and animated television series on the Disney Channel (owned by Walt Disney Television). The "Disney Renaissance" began with The Little Mermaid in 1989 and ended with Tarzan in 1999. Cartoons produced in the 1990s are sometimes referred to as the "Renaissance Age of Animation" for cartoons in general. Disney Channel's two main rivals were Nickelodeon (owned by Viacom, now Paramount Global) and Cartoon Network (owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). These three channels are considered the "Big Three", of children's entertainment, even today, but especially during the 1990s. In 1998, with the release of DreamWorks's Antz and Pixar's A Bug's Life, the rivalry between DreamWorks and Pixar began between the studios due to the similarities between both films. Also in 1998, Titanic (released in late 1997) became the highest-grossing film of all time, grossing over $1.8 billion worldwide. It would hold this record for over a decade until 2010 when director James Cameron had another one of his films, Avatar (released in late 2009), take the title.[61]

Family-centric animated feature films began to gain popularity through the late-1990s (1997, 1998, and 1999). Don Bluth's animation studio released a number of underperforming family animated films such as Rock-a-Doodle, Thumbelina and The Pebble and the Penguin and closed down in 1995. In 1994 former Disney employee Jeffrey Katzenberg founded DreamWorks SKG, which would produce its first two animated films: The Prince of Egypt and Antz which were both aimed more at adults than children and were both critically and commercially successful. Meanwhile, films by Walt Disney Feature Animation became popular once more when the studio returned to making family-oriented animated musical films; the most notable films of this era were Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Lion King. Other significant animated films have also gained cult status, such as The Jetsons Movie, The Princess and the Goblin, Happily Ever After, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, The Thief and the Cobbler, Once Upon a Forest, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Felidae, The Swan Princess, Balto, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, Cats Don't Dance, Anastasia, Quest for Camelot, The Rugrats Movie, Kirikou and the Sorceress, The King and I, South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut and The Iron Giant.

Live-action films also featuring computer-animated characters became popular, with films such as Casper, James and the Giant Peach, 101 Dalmatians, Men in Black, Small Soldiers and Stuart Little proving financially successful. Live-action/traditional cel animated film featuring traditional characters like Cool World, The Pagemaster and Space Jam were also prevalent.

Japanese anime films continued in the 1990s as Studio Ghibli continued to dominate with films such as Only Yesterday, Porco Rosso, Pom Poko, Whisper of the Heart, Princess Mononoke (which became the highest-grossing anime film at the time) and My Neighbors the Yamadas. Other significant anime films which gained cult status include Roujin Z, Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama, Patlabor 2: The Movie, Ninja Scroll, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, Ghost in the Shell, Memories, The End of Evangelion, Perfect Blue, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, and the Pokémon film series which started with the first two entries Pokémon: The First Movie and Pokémon: The Movie 2000.

Award winners

Award 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Academy Award for Best Picture winners Dances with Wolves[62] The Silence of the Lambs[63] Unforgiven[64] Schindler's List[65] Forrest Gump[66] Braveheart[67] The English Patient[68] Titanic[69] Shakespeare in Love[70] American Beauty[71]
Palme d'Or winners at the Cannes Film Festival Wild at Heart[72] Barton Fink[73] The Best Intentions[74] Farewell My Concubine and The Piano[75] Pulp Fiction[76] Underground[77] Secrets & Lies[78] Taste of Cherry and The Eel[79] Eternity and a Day[80] Rosetta[81]
César Award for Best Film winners Cyrano de Bergerac Tous les matin du monde Savage Nights Smoking/No Smoking Wild Reeds La haine Ridicule Same Old Song The Dreamlife of Angels Venus Beauty Institute
Golden Lion winners at the Venice Film Festival Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead Close to Eden The Story of Qiu Ju Short Cuts and Three Colours: Blue Vive L'Amour and Before the Rain Cyclo Michael Collins Fireworks The Way We Laughed Not One Less

Highest-grossing

The 25 highest-grossing films of the decade are:[82]

Films by worldwide box office
No. Title Year Box office
1 Titanic 1997 $1,850,197,130
2 Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace 1999 $924,305,084
3 Jurassic Park 1993 $912,667,947
4 Independence Day 1996 $817,400,891
5 The Lion King 1994 $763,455,561
6 Forrest Gump 1994 $677,387,716
7 The Sixth Sense 1999 $672,806,292
8 The Lost World: Jurassic Park 1997 $618,638,999
9 Men in Black 1997 $589,390,539
10 Armageddon 1998 $553,709,788
11 Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991 $516,950,043
12 Ghost 1990 $505,702,588
13 Aladdin 1992 $504,050,219
14 Twister 1996 $494,471,524
15 Toy Story 2 1999 $487,059,677
16 Saving Private Ryan 1998 $481,840,909
17 Home Alone 1990 $476,684,675
18 The Matrix 1999 $463,517,383
19 Pretty Woman 1990 $463,406,268
20 Mission: Impossible 1996 $457,696,391
21 Tarzan 1999 $448,191,819
22 Mrs. Doubtfire 1993 $441,286,195
23 Dances with Wolves 1990 $424,208,848
24 The Mummy 1999 $415,933,406
25 The Bodyguard 1992 $410,945,720

Music

Main article: 1990s in music
 
 
Whitney Houston (left) and Mariah Carey were two of the highest-selling musical artists of the decade, pictured here in 1991 and 1998, respectively.

Music marketing became more segmented in the 1990s, as MTV gradually shifted away from music videos and radio splintered into narrower formats aimed at various niches.[83][84][85][86] However, the 1990s are perhaps best known for grunge, gangsta rap, R&B, teen pop; Eurodance, electronic dance music, the renewed popularity of punk rock from the band Green Day (which would also help create a new genre pop punk), and for the entrance of alternative rock into the mainstream. U2 was one of the most popular 1990s bands; their groundbreaking Zoo TV and PopMart tours were the top-selling tours of 1992 and 1997, respectively. Glam metal died out in the music mainstream by 1991.[87] Grunge became popular in the early 1990s due to the success of Nirvana's Nevermind, Pearl Jam's Ten, Alice in Chain's Dirt, Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger and Stone Temple Pilot's Core.[88] Pop punk also becomes popular with such artists as Green Day, Blink-182, Weezer, Social Distortion, The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX and Rancid.[89] Other successful alternative acts included Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M., Nickelback, Creed, Radiohead, Gin Blossoms, Soul Asylum, Third Eye Blind, Faith No More, The Smashing Pumpkins, Live, Everclear, Bush, Screaming Trees and Ween.[90]

 
 
Graffiti murals of Tupac Shakur (left) and The Notorious B.I.G., two significant cultural figures throughout the 1990s who helped popularize the genre of gangsta rap.

Dr. Dre's 1992 album The Chronic provided a template for modern gangsta rap, and gave rise to other emerging artists of the genre, including Snoop Dogg.[91] Due to the success of Death Row Records and Tupac Shakur, West Coast gangsta rap commercially dominated hip hop during the early-to-mid 1990s, along with Bad Boy Records and the Notorious B.I.G. on the East Coast.[92] Hip hop became the best-selling music genre by the mid-1990s.[93][94]

In the United Kingdom, the alternative rock Britpop genre emerged as part of the more general Cool Britannia culture, with Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Suede, Supergrass and Elastica serving as popular examples of this emergence. The impact of boy band pop sensation Take That lead to the formation of other boy bands in the UK and Ireland, such as East 17 and Boyzone. Female pop icons Spice Girls took the world by storm, becoming the most commercially successful British group since the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.[95][96] Also, R&B artists Des'Ree, Mark Morrison and Sade became quite popular during this decade. Their global success brought about a widespread scene of teen pop acts around the world[97][98] such as All Saints, Backstreet Boys, Hanson, NSYNC, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera who came to prominence into the new millennium.[99] 1991 also saw the death of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury from AIDS-related pneumonia.

 
Spice Girls, pictured here in 1997, became one of the biggest global pop acts of the decade.

Many musicians from Canada (Snow, Celine Dion, The Barenaked Ladies, Shania Twain, Len, Sarah McLachlan, and Alanis Morissette) became known worldwide.

Contemporary R&B and quiet storm continued to be quite popular among adult audiences, which began during the 1980s. Popular African-American contemporary R&B artists included Mariah Carey, D'Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Whitney Houston, Brandy, En Vogue, TLC, Destiny's Child, Toni Braxton, Boyz II Men, Dru Hill and Vanessa Williams.

The Tibetan Freedom Concert brought 120,000 people together in the interest of increased human rights and autonomy for Tibet from China. Freddie Mercury, Kurt Cobain, Selena, Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. were the most publicized music-related deaths of the decade, in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 respectively.

Richey Edwards of Manic Street Preachers was publicized in the media in 1991 following an incident involving Steve Lamacq backstage after a live show, in which Edwards carved '4 Real' into his arm. Edwards' disappearance in 1995 was highly publicized. He is still missing but was presumed dead in 2008.

Controversy surrounded the Prodigy with the release of the track "Smack My Bitch Up". The National Organization for Women (NOW) claimed that the track was "advocating violence against women" due to the song's lyrics, which are themselves sampled from Ultramagnetic MCss' Give the Drummer Some. The music video (directed by Jonas Åkerlund) featured a first-person POV of someone going clubbing, indulging in drugs and alcohol, getting into fist fights, abusing women and picking up a prostitute. At the end of the video, the camera pans over to a mirror, revealing the subject to be a woman.

 
Blink-182 performing in 1995.

1994 became a breakthrough year for punk rock in California, with the success of bands like Bad Religion, Social Distortion, Blink-182, Green Day, the Offspring, Rancid and similar groups following. This success would continue to grow over the next decade. The 1990s also became the most important decade for ska punk/reggae rock, with the success of many bands like Smash Mouth, Buck-O-Nine, Goldfinger, Less Than Jake, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Murphy's Law, No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, Save Ferris, Sublime and Sugar Ray.

The rave movement that emerged in the late 1980s continued to grow in popularity. This movement spawned genres such as Intelligent dance music and Drum and bass. The latter is an offshoot of jungle techno and breakbeat. Popular artists included Moby, Fatboy Slim, Björk, Aphex Twin, Orbital, the Orb, the Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx, Todd Terry, 808 State, Primal Scream, the Shamen, the KLF and the Prodigy.

The rise of industrial music, somewhat a fusion of synthpop and heavy metal, rose to worldwide popularity with bands like Godflesh, Nine Inch Nails, Rammstein, Ministry and Marilyn Manson. Groove metal was born through the efforts of Pantera, whose seventh studio album Far Beyond Driven (1994) was notable for going number one on Billboard 200. Another heavy metal subgenre called nu metal, which mixed metal with hip hop influences, became popular with bands like Korn, Slipknot and Limp Bizkit selling millions of albums worldwide. Metallica's 1991 eponymous album Metallica is the best-selling album of the SoundScan era, while extreme metal acts such as Death, Mayhem, Darkthrone, Emperor, Cannibal Corpse and others experienced popularity throughout the decade.

In the 1990s, country music became a worldwide phenomenon thanks to Billy Ray Cyrus, Shania Twain and Garth Brooks.[100][101][102] The latter enjoyed one of the most successful careers in popular music history, breaking records for both sales and concert attendance throughout the decade. The RIAA has certified his recordings at a combined (128× platinum), denoting roughly 113 million United States shipments.[103] Other artists that experienced success during this time included Clint Black, Sammy Kershaw, Aaron Tippin, Travis Tritt, Suzy Bogguss, Alan Jackson, Lorrie Morgan and the newly formed duo of Brooks & Dunn. George Strait, whose career began in the 1980s, also continued to have widespread success in this decade and beyond. Female artists such as Reba McEntire, Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Deana Carter, LeAnn Rimes and Mary Chapin Carpenter all released platinum-selling albums in the 1990s. Rimes, a teenager at the time, spawned a "teen movement" in country music; with fellow teen artists Lila McCann, Jessica Andrews, Billy Gillman, and others following suit; a feat that hasn't been duplicated since Tanya Tucker and Marie Osmond in the early 1970s. The Dixie Chicks became one of the most popular country bands in the 1990s and early 2000s. Their 1998 debut album Wide Open Spaces went on to become certified 12× platinum, while their 1999 album Fly went on to become 10× platinum.

Television

Main article: 1990s in television
 
Seinfeld, which premiered on NBC in 1989, became a commercial success and cultural phenomenon by 1993.

TV shows, mostly sitcoms, were popular with American audiences. Series such as Roseanne, Coach, Empty Nest, Mr. Belvedere, 227, Cheers, The Cosby Show, Growing Pains, Night Court, The Hogan Family, A Different World, Amen, ALF, Perfect Strangers, Family Matters, Charles in Charge, Saved by the Bell, My Two Dads, Newhart, Dear John, Designing Women, The Golden Girls, Who's the Boss?, Head of the Class, and Seinfeld, which premiered in the eighties, and Frasier, a spin-off of the 1980s hit Cheers were viewed throughout the 1990s. These sitcoms, along with Friends, That '70s Show, Ellen, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Full House, Nurses, Murphy Brown, The Wonder Years, Living Single, Step by Step, NewsRadio, Blossom, The King of Queens, Major Dad, Fired Up, Jesse, Parker Lewis Can't Lose, For Your Love, The Steve Harvey Show, The Larry Sanders Show, Sex and the City, Arliss, Dream On, Grace Under Fire, Mad About You, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Naked Truth, The Jeff Foxworthy Show, The Jamie Foxx Show, Smart Guy, The Wayans Bros., Malcolm & Eddie, Clueless, Moesha, The Parent 'Hood, Unhappily Ever After, Roc, Martin, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, In Living Color, Sister, Sister, Boy Meets World, Ned and Stacey, Becker, Veronica's Closet, Two Guys and a Girl, The Drew Carey Show, Wings, The John Larroquette Show, Caroline in the City, Sports Night, Home Improvement, Will & Grace, Married... with Children, Evening Shade, Cosby, Spin City, The Nanny, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Suddenly Susan, Cybill, Just Shoot Me!, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Dharma and Greg turned TV in new directions and defined the humor of the decade. Furthermore, Saturday Night Live experienced a new era of success during the 1990s, launching the careers of popular comedians and actors such as Chris Farley, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon, Mike Myers, Chris Rock, Norm McDonald, David Spade, Cheri Oteri and others.

 
Friends, which premiered on NBC in 1994 became one of the most popular sitcoms of all time. From left, clockwise: Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer, the six main actors of Friends.

In 1993, one of the last westerns to air on television was Walker, Texas Ranger, a crime drama starring Chuck Norris as the title character. Running for nine seasons, the show tackled a wide variety of subjects and was one of few shows to feature an actor performing karate stunts at that time.

1993 also saw the debut of the medical–mystery drama, Diagnosis Murder, a comeback vehicle for Dick Van Dyke, who guest-starred on an episode of its sequel, Jake and The Fatman, where the show got off to a rocky start and became one of television's long-running mysteries, that lasted until its cancellation in 2001.

Medical dramas started to come into television in the 1990s. In 1994, ER, which originally starred Anthony Edwards, Noah Wyle and George Clooney, was a domestic and international success, lasting until 2009 and spawned similar series such as Grey's Anatomy (2005–present). It made NBC the most-watched channel in the United States. This show launched the career of George Clooney. That same year, Chicago Hope, that starred Héctor Elizondo, Mandy Patinkin and Adam Arkin, was also a popular series for CBS, lasting between 1994 and 2000.

Beverly Hills, 90210 ran on Fox from 1990 to 2000. It established the teen soap genre, paving the way for Dawson's Creek, Felicity, Party of Five, and other shows airing later in the decade. The show was then remade and renamed simply 90210 and premiered in 2008. Beverly Hills, 90210, and its spin-off Melrose Place also became a popular TV show throughout the 1990s. Baywatch became the most-watched TV show in history[citation needed] and influenced pop culture.

Sex and the City's portrayal of relationships and sexuality caused controversy and acclaim, leading to a new generation of sexually progressive television shows in the 2000s.

Fantasy and science fiction shows were popular on television, with NBC airing seaQuest DSV beginning in 1993, which made Jonathan Brandis a popular teen idol, but was cancelled after three seasons. The 1990s saw a multitude of Star Trek content: in 1993, following the success of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Paramount released the follow up shows Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999), starring Avery Brooks, and Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001), starring Kate Mulgrew. Touched By an Angel, broadcast by CBS in 1994, was intended as the comeback vehicle of Della Reese, and also launched the career of Roma Downey. It wasn't an immediate success and was cancelled, but was revived the following year due to a fan letter-writing campaign, and ran for eight more seasons. At the end of the decade, the fantasy drama series Charmed gained a cult following and helped popularize the WB.

Crime drama and police detective shows returned to the spotlight after soap operas died down. After the successful debuts of Law & Order, NYPD Blue, Homicide: Life on the Street, Fox debuted New York Undercover, which starred Malik Yoba and Micheal DeLorenzo, is notable for featuring two people of color in the main roles. Nash Bridges, a comeback vehicle for Don Johnson, lasting six seasons (1996–2001), dealt with escapist entertainment instead of tackling social issues.[104]

Reality television began on MTV; this would grow in importance in the Western world into the next decade.

During the mid-1990s, two of the biggest professional wrestling companies: World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Federation were in a ratings battle that was called the Monday Night Wars (1995–2001). Each company fought to draw more viewers to their respective Monday night wrestling show. The "War" ended in 2001 when WWE bought WCW. In November 2001, there was a Winner Takes All match with both companies in a Pay-Per-View called Survivor Series. WWF won the match, putting an end to WCW.

An animated sitcom, The Simpsons, premiered on Fox in December 1989 and became a domestic and international success in the 1990s. The show has since aired more than 600 episodes and has become an institution of pop culture. In addition, it has spawned the adult-oriented animated sitcom genre, inspiring more adult-oriented animated shows such as Beavis and Butt-Head (1993–1997), Daria (1997–2001), along with South Park and Family Guy, the latter two of which began in 1997 and 1999, respectively, and continue to air new episodes through the 2000s and into the 2020s.

Japanese anime was popular in the 1980s and expanded to a worldwide audience by the 1990s for its expansive spectrum of story subjects and themes not limited to comedy and superhero action found in the US. It featured well-produced, well-written, visual, and story content that came to showcase animation's potential for emotional and intellectual depth and integrity on par with live action media to its viewers. Anime expanded to older and adult ages in the medium of animation. TV shows such as Sailor Moon, Digimon, Pokémon, Tenchi Muyo!, Detective Conan, Dragon Ball Z, Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Wing, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ranma ½, Yu Yu Hakusho, Slayers, Rurouni Kenshin, Initial D, Gunsmith Cats, Outlaw Star, to anime movies such as Akira, Vampire Hunter D, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky, The Castle of Cagliostro, and imports by various distributors such as Viz, AnimEigo, Central Park Media, A.D. Vision, Pioneer Entertainment, Media Blasters, Manga Entertainment, and Celebrity, helped begin the mid to late 1990s and turn of the millennium introductory anime craze in the US, and the Cartoon Network anime block Toonami in 1997.

American animated children's programs went through a renaissance during the decade, with studios producing many critically acclaimed shows. Specifically, Warner Bros-animated shows like Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and the start of the DC Animated Universe with shows such as Batman: The Animated Series, and Superman: The Animated Series, as well as syndicated shows like Phantom 2040. Nickelodeon's first three animated series (Doug, Rugrats, The Ren & Stimpy Show) all premiered in 1991. 1993 saw the debut of children's live-action series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which became a pop culture phenomenon along with a line of action figures and other toys by merchandise manufacturer Bandai. This can also be said for the British pre-school series Teletubbies, which was a massive hit loved by very young children. The late 1990s also saw the evolution of a new TV genre: primetime game shows, popularized by the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, hosted originally by Chris Tarrant on ITV and Regis Philbin on ABC, as well as other first-run game shows aired in prime time on the newly launched Game Show Network.

Fashion and body modification

Main article: 1990s in fashion
 
Grunge-style flannel shirt and curtained hair
 
Will Smith donning a Hi-top fade in 1993

Significant fashion trends of the 1990s include:

  • Earth and jewel tones, as well as an array of minimalist style and design influences, characterize the 1990s, a stark contrast to the camp and bombast seen in the brightly colored fashion and design trends of the 1980s.
  • The Rachel, Jennifer Aniston's hairstyle on the hit TV show Friends, became a cultural phenomenon, with millions of women copying it worldwide.
  • The Hi-top fade was trendy among African-Americans in the early 1990s.
  • The Curtained Haircut increased in popularity in fashion and culture among teenage boys and young men in the 1990s, mainly after it was popularized in the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day by the actor Edward Furlong.
  • The model 1300 Wonderbra style has a resurgence of popularity in Europe in 1992, which kicks off an international media sensation, the 1994 return of "The Wonderbra" brand, and a spike in the push-up, plunge bras around the world.
  • Additional fashion trends of the 1990s include the Tamagotchi, Rollerblades, Pogs and Dr. Martens shoes.
  • Bleached-blond hair became very popular in the late 1990s, as were men with short hair with the bangs "flipped up."
  • The 1990s also saw the return of the 1970s teenage female fashion with long, straight hair and denim hot pants.
  • Beverly Hills, 90210 sideburns also became popular in the early and mid-1990s.
  • Slap bracelets were a popular fad among children, preteens, and teenagers in the early 1990s and were available in a wide variety of patterns and colors. Also popular among children were light-up sneakers, jelly shoes, and shoelace hair clips.
  • The Grunge hype at the beginning of the decade popularized flannel shirts among both genders during the 1990s.
  • Grunge- and hip-hop-inspired anti-fashion saw an expansion of the slouchy, casual styles of past decades, mostly seen in baggy and distressed jeans, cargo shorts and pants, baseball caps (often worn backward), chunky sneakers, oversized sweatshirts, and loose-fitting tees with grandiloquent graphics and logos.
  • Y2K fashion became popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as the new millennium began. This was marked by darker, slinkier, and more futuristic-looking clothing in the late 1990s.
  • Tattoos and piercings became part of the mainstream aesthetic. American model Christy Turlington revealed her belly button piercing at a fashion show in London in 1993. In the late 1990s, some females got lower back tattoos and men opted for tribal style arm bands or back pieces.
  •  

    The handheld digital pet device Tamagotchi became an especially popular game among children around the world during the decade, also in the 2000s

  •  

    Pogs was an especially popular street game among children around the world during the decade

  •  

    In the 1990s, Dr. Martens shoes became a popular fashion item heavily influenced by the grunge scene and the prominent grunge musicians who wore them

Video games

Main article: 1990s in video gaming

Video game consoles released in this decade include the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Neo Geo, Atari Jaguar, 3DO, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast. Portable video game consoles include the Game Gear, Atari Lynx and Game Boy Color. Super Mario World was the decade's best-selling home console video game, while Pokémon Red and Blue was the decade's best-selling portable video game; Super Mario 64 was the decade's best-selling fifth-generation video game, while Street Fighter II was the decade's highest-grossing arcade video game.

Mario as Nintendo's mascot finds a rival in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in 1991. Sonic the Hedgehog would go on to become one of the most successful video game franchises of the decade and of all time.

Notable video games of the 1990s include: Super Metroid, Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario World, Doom, Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong 64, Pokémon Red and Blue Versions, Pokémon Yellow Version, GoldenEye 007, Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Gran Turismo, Mario Kart 64, Half-Life, Super Mario Kart, Radiant Silvergun, Rayman, Gunstar Heroes, Banjo-Kazooie, Soulcalibur, Star Fox series, Tomb Raider series, Final Fantasy, Sonic the Hedgehog series, Story of Seasons series, Tony Hawk's series, Crash Bandicoot series, Metal Slug series, Resident Evil series, Street Fighter II, Spyro the Dragon series, Commander Keen series, Test Drive series, Dance Dance Revolution series, Monkey Island series, Dune series, Mortal Kombat series, Warcraft series, Duke Nukem 3D, Tekken series, EarthBound, Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game, and StarCraft.

Sony's PlayStation becomes the top-selling video game console and changes the standard media storage type from cartridges to compact discs (CDs) in home consoles. Crash Bandicoot is released on September 9, 1996, becoming one of the most successful platforming series for the Sony PlayStation. Spyro The Dragon, released on September 9, 1998, also became a successful platforming series. Tomb Raider's Lara Croft became a video game sex symbol, becoming one of the most recognizable figures in the entertainment industry throughout the late 1990s.

3D graphics become the standard by the decade's end. Although FPS games had long since seen the transition to full 3D, other genres began to copy this trend by the end of the decade. The most notable first shooter games in the 1990s are GoldenEye 007 and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six.

The console wars, primarily between Sega (Mega Drive, marketed as the Sega Genesis in North America, introduced in 1988) and Nintendo (Super NES, introduced in 1990), sees the entrance of Sony with the PlayStation in 1994, which becomes the first successful CD-based console (as opposed to cartridges). By the end of the decade, Sega's hold on the market becomes tenuous after the end of the Saturn in 1999 and the Dreamcast in 2002.

Arcade games rapidly decreased in popularity, mainly due to the dominance of handheld and home consoles.[105]

Fighting games like Capcom's Street Fighter II, Sega's Virtua Fighter, and Midway's Mortal Kombat prompted the video game industry to accept a game rating system. Hundreds of knockoffs are widely popular in the mid-to-late 1990s. Doom (1993) bursts onto the world scene, and instantly popularizes the FPS genre. Half-Life (1998) builds upon this, using gameplay without levels and an immersive first-person perspective. Half-Life became one of the most popular FPS games in history.

The real-time strategy (RTS) genre is introduced in 1992 with the release of Dune II. Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994) popularizing the genre, and Command & Conquer and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness in 1995, setting up the first major real-time strategy competition and popularizing multiplayer capabilities in RTS games. StarCraft in 1998 becomes the second best-selling computer game of all time. It remains among the most popular multiplayer RTS games today, especially in South Korea.[citation needed] Homeworld in 1999 becomes the first successful 3D RTS game. The rise of the RTS genre is often credited with the fall of the turn-based strategy (TBS) genre, popularized with Civilization in 1991. Final Fantasy was introduced (in North America) in 1990 for the NES and remains among the most popular video game franchises, with many new titles to date and more in development, plus numerous spin-offs, sequels, films and related titles. Final Fantasy VII, released in 1997, especially popularized the series.

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) see their entrance with Ultima Online in 1997. However, they do not gain widespread popularity until EverQuest and Asheron's Call in 1999. MMORPGs become among the most popular video game genres until the 2010s.

Pokémon enters the world scene with the release of the original Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green for Game Boy in Japan in 1996, later changed to Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue for worldwide release in 1998. It soon becomes popular in the United States and Canada, creating the term Pokémonia, and is adapted into a popular anime series and trading card game, among other media forms.

Resident Evil is released in 1996. It will become the most popular survival-horror series in video gaming into the next decades.

The best-selling games of the 1990s are listed below (note that some sources disagree on particular years):

  •  

    The Super Nintendo was a hit in the 1990s.

  •  

    The European PAL version of the Mega Drive launched in 1990, later becoming the highest-selling fourth-gen console in Europe.

  •  

    Nintendo's Game Boy was a popular handheld game console during the 1990s.

  •  

    The Nintendo 64 was released in 1996. Super Mario 64 was the best-selling game of the decade.

  •  

    The PlayStation was released in the mid-1990s and became the best-selling gaming console of its time.

  •  

    The game Tomb Raider, launched in 1996, became particularly popular during the decade and as a result Lara Croft's character eventually became a cultural icon in the video game industry

  •  

    Private LAN parties were at the peak of their popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s when broadband Internet access was unavailable or too expensive for most people

Internet

Prominent websites launched during the decade include IMDb (1993), eBay (1995), Amazon (1994), GeoCities (1994), Netscape (1994), Yahoo! (1995), AltaVista (1995), AIM (1997), ICQ (1996), Hotmail (1996), Google (1998), Napster (1999). The pioneering peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing internet service Napster, which launched in Fall 1999, was the first peer-to-peer software to become massively popular. While at the time it was possible to share files in other ways via the Internet (such as IRC and USENET), Napster was the first software to focus exclusively on sharing MP3 files for music. Napster was eventually forced to shut down in July 2001 after legal disputes over copyright infringement and digital piracy, though it would eventually be relaunched as a music streaming service in 2016.

Architecture

Further information: Category:1990s architecture

Sports

 
Michael Jordan, the most popular NBA player of the 1990s.

Literature

People

Actors & Entertainers

[111][112]

Athletes

Musicians

See also

Timeline

The following articles contain timelines that list the most prominent events of the decade:

1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999

References

  1. ^ The Nineties, A Book by Chuck Klosterman, pg. 132
  2. ^ Levrau, François; Loobuyck, Patrick (2018). "Introduction: mapping the multiculturalism-interculturalism debate". Comparative Migration Studies. 6 (1): 13. doi:10.1186/s40878-018-0080-8. ISSN 2214-594X. PMC 5956058. PMID 29780695.
  3. ^ Stiglitz, Joseph E. (2004). The Roaring Nineties. W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-32618-5.
  4. ^ "World Population Growth Rate 1950-2022".
  5. ^ Fritsch, Helmut (2008). EUFOR RD Congo: A Misunderstood Operation?. Martello Papers. Vol. 33. Queen's University at Kingston. pp. 5–6, 8. ISBN 978-1-55339-101-2.
  6. ^ GlobalSecurity.org, Second Chechnya War – 1999–??? 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "International commission: Eritrea triggered the border war with Ethiopia". BBC News. 21 December 2005. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  8. ^ Tens of thousands Eritrea: Final deal with Ethiopia 24 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine BBC 4 December 2000
  9. ^ "Horn peace deal: Full text". 11 December 2000. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  10. ^ Noh, Yuree (October 2018). "Politics and education in post-war Algeria". Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  11. ^ Des Forges, Alison (1999). Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda. Human Rights Watch. ISBN 978-1-56432-171-8. Retrieved 12 January 2007.
  12. ^ See, e.g. Rwanda: How the genocide happened 21 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine, BBC, 1 April 2004, which gives an estimate of 800,000, and OAU sets inquiry into Rwanda genocide 25 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Africa Recovery, Vol. 12 1#1 (August 1998), page 4, which estimates the number at between 500,000 and 1,000,000. 7 out of every 10 Tutsis were killed.
  13. ^ Pruitt, Sarah (2 April 2020). "How Ruby Ridge and Waco Led to the Oklahoma City Bombing". History. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  14. ^ a b Antohi, Sorin; Tismăneanu, Vladimir (January 2000). "Independence Reborn and the Demons of the Velvet Revolution". Between Past and Future: The Revolutions of 1989 and Their Aftermath. Central European University Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-963-9116-71-9.
  15. ^ a b Evans, Martha (February 2012). Transmitting the Transition: Media Events and Post-Apartheid South African National Identity. University of Cape Town. pp. ix. hdl:11427/10475. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  16. ^ Peatling, Gary (2004). The failure of the Northern Ireland peace process. Irish Academic Press, p. 58. ISBN 0-7165-3336-7
  17. ^ Cox, Michael, Guelke, Adrian and Stephen, Fiona (2006). A farewell to arms?: beyond the Good Friday Agreement. Manchester University Press, p. 486. ISBN 0-7190-7115-1
  18. ^ Clark, Desmond, and Jones, Charles (1999). The rights of nations: nations and nationalism in a changing world. Palgrave Macmillan, p. 168. ISBN 0-312-22595-4
  19. ^ Cox & Guelke, pp. 487–488
  20. ^ ARK: Northern Ireland Elections, The 1998 Referendums 9 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ Politics 97 25 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine by Joshua Rozenberg: BBC website. Retrieved 9 July 2006.
  22. ^ . The Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 7 December 2006.
  23. ^ Morgan, Bryn (8 October 1999). "House of Commons Research Paper – Scottish Parliament Elections: 6 May 1999" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Retrieved 17 November 2006.
  24. ^ "Liberia : Samuel Doe, death washed down with a Budweiser". 10 November 2021. from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  25. ^ "1991: Bomb kills India's former leader Rajiv Gandhi". 21 May 1991. from the original on 21 June 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  26. ^ "Ali Vakili Rad: The perfect murder and an imperfect getaway". 18 May 2010. from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  27. ^ "The killing of Algeria's Mohamed Boudiaf: A 'parricide' on live television". 9 November 2021. from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  28. ^ Hersh, Seymour M (1 November 1993). . The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 14 October 2002. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  29. ^ "SRI LANKA: A NATION 'DIVIDED' - the Washington Post". The Washington Post. from the original on 13 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  30. ^ Krueger, Robert; Krueger, Kathleen Tobin (2007). From Bloodshed to Hope in Burundi: Our Embassy Years During Genocide (PDF). University of Texas Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 9780292714861.
  31. ^ "Biography of Pablo Escobar, Colombian Drug Kingpin". from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  32. ^ "ASN Aircraft accident Dassault Falcon 50 9XR-NN Kigali Airport (KGL)". from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  33. ^ "570: The Night in Question". 14 December 2017. from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  34. ^ "BBC News | Europe | 'Dual attack' killed president". from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  35. ^ "Obituary: Andrei Lukanov". Independent.co.uk. 3 October 1996. from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  36. ^ "Arrested gunman implactes Oviedo, Cubas in Argaña". from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  37. ^ "1999: President of Niger 'killed in ambush'". 9 April 1999. from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  38. ^ Abramovitz, Janet N. (2001). "Averting Natural Disasters". State of the World 2001. Worldwatch Institute. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 123, 126. ISBN 0-393-04866-7. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  39. ^ "Inflation in the 1990s". InflationData.com. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  40. ^ Boschker, Karen; Sieberson, Eric (2007). "The Euro: Money Changes Everything" (PDF). University of Washington. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  41. ^ "Computer Ownership Up Sharply in the 1990s" (PDF).
  42. ^ "Did 1993 Change Everything? -- New York Magazine". nymag.com.
  43. ^ Grossman, Lev (31 March 2003). . Time Magazine. Archived from the original on 25 June 2009. Retrieved 19 July 2009. Berners-Lee's computer faithfully logged the exact second the site was launched: 2:56:20 pm, 6 August 1991.
  44. ^ InfoWorld Jan 8 1990. InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. 8 January 1990.
  45. ^ . 27 December 2011. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  46. ^ . Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  47. ^ . Eurotunnel. Archived from the original on 3 January 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
  48. ^ "Official Waterloo 'Goodbye' video, useful statistics and numbers shown". YouTube.com. 20 December 2007. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  49. ^ "Waterloo International: 1994–2007". The Guardian. London. 13 November 2007.
  50. ^ Takagi, Ryo (March 2005). (PDF). Japan Railway & Transport Review (40): 4–7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 June 2009.
  51. ^ (Press release). Eurostar. 9 January 2006. Archived from the original on 22 May 2012.
  52. ^ Callaway, Ewen (30 June 2016). "Dolly at 20: The Inside Story on the World's Most Famous Sheep". Scientific American. Nature. from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  53. ^ Perrineau, Aude; Hairy, Guillaume; Serra, Marina Martin (2016). The Chernobyl Disaster: The Nuclear Catastrophe and Its Devastating Effects. ISBN 9782806279200.
  54. ^ Breidenich, Clare; Magraw, Daniel; Rowley, Anne; Rubin, James W. (April 1998). "The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change". American Journal of International Law. Cambridge University Press. 92 (2): 315–331. doi:10.2307/2998044. JSTOR 2998044. S2CID 144578117. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  55. ^ "Now, more than half of Americans are millennials or younger". 30 July 2020. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  56. ^ "Stop discrimination against homosexual men and women". The WHO Regional Office for Europe. 17 May 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  57. ^ Dish, The Daily (7 July 2009). "What Happened In 1990?". The Atlantic.
  58. ^ Dahlburg, John-Thor (20 September 1997). "Survivor Can't Recall Paris Crash". Los Angeles Times. from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  59. ^ Dahlburg, John-Thor (6 September 1997). "Mother Teresa, 87, Dies; Devoted Her Life to Poor". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  60. ^ . web.archive.org. 27 October 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  61. ^ "Titanic (1997)". from the original on 12 May 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
  62. ^ "1991". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  63. ^ "1992". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  64. ^ "1993". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  65. ^ "1994". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  66. ^ "1995". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  67. ^ "1996". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  68. ^ "1997". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  69. ^ "1998". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  70. ^ "1999". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  71. ^ "2000". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  72. ^ Maslin, Janet (22 May 1990). "David Lynch Film Takes the Top Prize at Cannes Festival". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  73. ^ Canby, Vincent (21 May 1991). "'Barton Fink' Wins the Top Prize And 2 Others at Cannes Festival". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  74. ^ Maslin, Janet (19 May 1992). "Swedish Film Is No. 1 at Cannes; Tim Robbins Wins Acting Prize". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  75. ^ Canby, Vincent (25 May 1993). "Top Prize at Cannes Is Shared". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  76. ^ Maslin, Janet (24 May 1994). "A Dark Comedy Wins at Cannes". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  77. ^ Maslin, Janet (29 May 1995). "2 Films on Strife in Balkans Win Top Prizes at Cannes". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  78. ^ Maslin, Janet (21 May 1996). "Secrets and Lies' Wins the Top Prize at Cannes". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  79. ^ Maslin, Janet (19 May 1997). "Pensiveness, Not Glitz, Gets The Gold at Cannes Festival". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  80. ^ Maslin, Janet (25 May 1998). "Greek Director Wins Top Prize at Cannes Festival". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  81. ^ Maslin, Janet (24 May 1998). "A Belgian Film Wins Top Prize at the Cannes Festival". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  82. ^ "Worldwide Box Office". Box Office Mojo. pp. 1990–1994, 1996–1999. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  83. ^ Leopold, Todd (22 August 2002). . The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013.
  84. ^ Leopold, Todd (21 July 2005). . Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  85. ^ DeCurtis, Anthony (5 October 1999). "The Ball Drops on the Music Industry". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  86. ^ Leeds, Jeff (13 February 2005). "We Hate the 80s". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  87. ^ Eddy, Chuch (10 November 2009). "MYTH No. 2: Nirvana Killed Hair Metal". Spin. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  88. ^ Pareles, Jon (14 June 1992). "POP VIEW; Nirvana-bes Awaiting Fame's Call". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  89. ^ "Music Genres". AllMusic.
  90. ^ Wilson, Carl (4 August 2011). "My So Called Adulthood". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  91. ^ McGee, Allan (3 January 2008). "The missing link of hip-hop's golden age". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  92. ^ Caramanica, Jon (9 November 2009). "MYTH No. 4: Biggie & Tupac Are Hip-Hop's Pillars". Spin. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  93. ^ Batey, Angus (7 October 2010). "The hip-hop heritage society". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  94. ^ Martinez, Michael (9 February 2011). . CNN. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011.
  95. ^ "BBC - Press Office - New Spice Girls documentary on BBC One". www.bbc.co.uk.
  96. ^ "1998: Ginger leaves the Spice Girls". BBC News. 31 May 1998. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  97. ^ "Teen Pop Music: A Guide". from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
  98. ^ "Teen Pop". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  99. ^ Ashthana, Anushka (25 May 2008). "They don't live for work ... they work to live". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  100. ^ "Country is No. 1 musical style". Reading Eagle. 19 August 1992. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
  101. ^ "Country music reflects the time". Herald-Journal. 27 September 1992. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
  102. ^ Hurst, Jack (25 November 1993). "Country music is making waves across the seas". The Star. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
  103. ^ . RIAA.com. Archived from the original on 26 June 2007. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  104. ^ McCABE, HEATHER (25 April 1996). "With a New Beat and Attitude, the 'Vice' Man Cometh". Los Angeles Times.
  105. ^ Wolf, Mark J.P. (2008). "Arcade Games of the 1990s and Beyond". The video game explosion: a history from PONG to PlayStation and beyond. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-313-33868-7. OCLC 154776597. Retrieved 19 July 2009. The decline of arcade video games would come back in the 1990s, despite attempts to redefine the arcade experience and attract players back to the arcade.
  106. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Welch, Hanuman (23 April 2013). "The Best Selling Video Game Of Every Year Since 1977". Complex. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  107. ^ a b c d e Webb, Kevin (12 September 2019). "The best-selling video game of every year, from 1995 to 2018". Business Insider. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  108. ^ "College Football's 12 Greatest Dynasties". Sports Illustrated. 25 December 2005. Retrieved 1 May 2010. At the height of Bobby Bowden's dominance, the Florida State Seminoles won two national championships (1993 and 1999), played for three others (1996, 1998 and 2000) and never finished outside the AP top four. Quarterbacks Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke won Heisman Trophies.
  109. ^ "Football Traditions".
  110. ^ a b "Grisham ranks as top-selling author of decade". CNN. 31 December 1999. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  111. ^ "Top Actors – Actresses of the 90's". imdb.com. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  112. ^ "The 90 Best TV Shows of the 1990s". Paste Magazine. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2020.

Further reading

  • Ash, Timothy Garton. History of the Present: Essays, Sketches, and Dispatches from Europe in the 1990s (2009) excerpts
  • Bender, Thomas. "'Venturesome and Cautious': American History in the 1990s." Journal of American History (1994): 992–1003. in JSTOR
  • Bentley, Nick, ed. British Fiction of the 1990s (Routledge, 2007).
  • Berman, Milton. The Nineties in America (2009).
  • Brügger, Niels, ed, Web25: Histories from the first 25 years of the World Wide Web (Peter Lang, 2017).
  • Cornia, Giovanni Andrea, Ralph van der Hoeven, and Thandika Mkandawire. Africa's recovery in the 1990s: from stagnation and adjustment to human development (St. Martin's Press, 1992)
  • Harrison, Thomas (2011). Music of the 1990s. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313379437.
  • O'Neill, William. A Bubble in Time: America During the Interwar Years, 1989-2001 (2009) Excerpt, popular history
  • Parratt, Catriona M. "About Turns: Reflecting on Sport History in the 1990s." Sport History Review (1998) 29#1 pp: 4–17.
  • Rubin, Robert, and Jacob Weisberg. In an uncertain world: tough choices from Wall Street to Washington (2015), economic history.
  • Sierz, Aleks. Modern British Playwriting: The 1990s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations (A&C Black, 2012)
  • Stiglitz, Joseph E. The roaring nineties: A new history of the world's most prosperous decade (Norton, 2004), economic history
  • Turner, Alwyn. A Classless Society: Britain in the 1990s Aurum Press (2013)
  • van der Hoeven, Arno. "Remembering the popular music of the 1990s: dance music and the cultural meanings of decade-based nostalgia." International Journal of heritage studies (2014) 20#3 pp: 316–330.
  • Yoda, Tomiko, and Harry Harootunian, eds. Japan After Japan: Social and Cultural Life from the Recessionary 1990s to the Present (2006)

External links

  •   Media related to 1990s at Wikimedia Commons

January 06, 2023
1990s, other, uses, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, april, . For other uses see The 1990s This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources 1990s news newspapers books scholar JSTOR April 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message The 1990s pronounced nineteen nineties shortened to the 90s and often referred to as simply the Nineties was a decade that began on January 1 1990 and ended on December 31 1999 From top left clockwise The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990 American F 16s and F 15s fly over burning oil fields in Operation Desert Storm also known as the 1991 Gulf War the signing of the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993 the World Wide Web gains a public face at the start of the decade and gains massive popularity worldwide Boris Yeltsin greets crowds after the failed August Coup which leads to the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991 Dolly the sheep is the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell the funeral procession of Diana Princess of Wales who died in 1997 in a car crash in Paris and was mourned by millions hundreds of thousands of Tutsi people are killed in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 This would become a factor in initiating the Second Congo War of 1998 Known as the Post Cold War Decade the 1990s are often culturally defined as the period from the Revolutions of 1989 that marked the end of the Cold War until the Global War on Terror GWOT which included the September 11 attacks the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War 1 In the United States the decade saw greater attention to multiculturalism compared to the 1980s 2 as well as the advance of alternative media Music movements like grunge Eurodance and hip hop became popular with young adults worldwide aided by the rise in popularity of tiered pricing cable television and the Internet The 1990s saw advances in technology with the World Wide Web the first gene therapy trial and cloning all emerging and being improved upon throughout the decade A combination of factors led to a realignment and consolidation of economic and political power across the world such as the continued mass mobilization of capital markets through neoliberalism the end of the Cold War caused by the dissolution of the Soviet Union the beginning of the widespread proliferation of new media such as the Internet and increasing skepticism towards the government Many countries were economically prosperous during the 1990s High income countries experienced steady economic growth throughout the majority of the decade during the Great Moderation In contrast the GDP of the states formed from the former Soviet Union declined often as a result of economic restructuring International trade increased with the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA in 1994 and formation of the World Trade Organization WTO in 1995 The dot com frenzy resulted in the dot com bubble of 1997 2000 that brought great wealth to some entrepreneurs before its crash in 2000 and 2001 New ethnic conflicts emerged such as the Rwandan genocide in Africa the Bosnian genocide in the Balkans and several wars in the Chechen Russian conflict in Caucasus Signs of any resolution of tensions between Israel and the Arab world remained elusive despite the progress of the Oslo Accords However in Northern Ireland The Troubles came to a standstill in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement putting to rest 30 years of violence 3 During this decade the world population grew from 5 3 to 6 1 billion people There were approximately 1 35 billion births and 525 million deaths 4 Contents 1 Politics and wars 1 1 International wars 1 2 Civil wars and guerrilla wars 1 3 Coups 1 4 Terrorist attacks 1 5 Decolonization and independence 1 6 Political trends 1 7 Prominent political events 1 7 1 Africa 1 7 2 North America 1 7 3 Asia 1 7 4 Europe 1 7 5 South America 2 Assassinations and attempted assassinations 3 Disasters 3 1 Natural disasters 3 2 Non natural disasters 4 Economics 5 Technology and science 5 1 Technology 5 1 1 Electronics and communications 5 1 2 Software 5 1 3 Rail transportation 5 1 4 Automobiles 5 2 Science 6 Environment 7 Society 7 1 Third wave feminism 8 Additional significant events 9 Popular culture 9 1 Film 9 1 1 Award winners 9 1 2 Highest grossing 9 2 Music 9 3 Television 9 4 Fashion and body modification 9 5 Video games 9 6 Internet 9 7 Architecture 9 8 Sports 9 9 Literature 10 People 10 1 Actors amp Entertainers 10 2 Athletes 10 3 Musicians 11 See also 11 1 Timeline 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External linksPolitics and wars EditMain article List of wars 1990 2002 See also List of sovereign states in the 1990s International wars Edit The Congo Wars began in the late 1990s 5 The First Congo War October 24 1996 May 16 1997 resulted in the overthrow of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko his 32 rule of Zaire which was then renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Second Congo War August 1998 July 2003 started in Central Africa and involved multiple nearby nations The Gulf War August 2 1990 February 28 1991 Iraq was left in severe debt after the Iran Iraq War in the 1980s President Saddam Hussein accused Kuwait of flooding the oil market therefore driving down prices As a result Iraqi forces invaded and conquered Kuwait The UN United Nations immediately condemned the action and a coalition force led by the United States was sent to the Persian Gulf Aerial bombing of Iraq began in January 1991 and one month later the UN forces drove the Iraqi army from Kuwait in four days Two wars were fought in the region of Chechnya The First Chechen War 1994 1996 was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria After the initial campaign of 1994 1995 culminating in the devastating Battle of Grozny Russian federal forces attempted to seize control of the mountainous area of Chechnya Despite Russia s overwhelming manpower weaponry and air support they were set back by Chechen guerrillas and raids on the flatlands The resulting widespread demoralization of Russian federal forces and the universal citation needed opposition of the Russian public to the conflict led Boris Yeltsin s government to declare a ceasefire in 1996 and sign a peace treaty a year later The Second Chechen War 1999 2009 was started by the Russian Federation in response to the 1999 invasion of Dagestan and the Russian apartment bombings which were blamed on the Chechens In this military campaign Russian forces largely recaptured the separatist region of Chechnya 6 and the outcome of the First Chechen War in which the region gained de facto independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria was essentially reversed The Eritrean Ethiopian War 1998 2000 was commenced by the invasion of Ethiopia by Eritrea due to a territorial dispute 7 The conflict resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides 8 and a peace agreement in December 2000 9 The Kargil War 1999 began in May when Pakistan covertly sent troops to occupy strategic peaks in Kashmir A month later the Kargil War with India resulted in a political fiasco for Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif followed by a Pakistani military withdrawal to the Line of Control The incident led to a Pakistani military coup in October in which Sharif was ousted by Army Chief Pervez Musharraf This conflict remains the only war fought between the two declared nuclear powers Executive council building burns in Sarajevo after being hit by Bosnian Serb artillery in the Bosnian War The Yugoslav Wars 1991 1995 followed the breakup of Yugoslavia beginning on June 25 1991 after the republics of Croatia and Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia These wars were notorious for war crimes and human rights violations including ethnic cleansing and genocide with the overwhelming majority of casualties being Muslim Bosniaks The Ten Day War 1991 was a brief military conflict between Slovenian TO Slovenian Territorial Defence and the Yugoslav People s Army JNA following Slovenia s declaration of independence The Croatian War of Independence 1991 1995 was fought in modern day Croatia between the Croatian government having declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and both the Yugoslav People s Army JNA and Serb forces who established the self proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina RSK within Croatia The Bosnian War 1992 1995 involved several ethnically defined factions within Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosniaks Serbs and Croats as well as a smaller Bosniak faction led by Fikret Abdic The Siege of Sarajevo 1992 1995 marked the most violent urban warfare in Europe since World War II at that time as Serb forces bombarded and attacked Bosnian controlled and populated areas of the city War crimes occurred including ethnic cleansing and the destruction of civilian property The final fighting in the Croatian and Bosnian wars ended in 1995 with the success of Croatian military offensives against Serb forces This led to the mass exodus of Serbs from Croatia Serb losses to Croat and Bosniak forces and the signing of the Dayton Agreement which internally partitioned Bosnia and Herzegovina into a Republika Srpska and a Bosniak Croat Federation The Kosovo War 1998 1999 was a war between Albanian separatists and Yugoslav military and Serb paramilitary forces in Kosovo That conflict began in 1996 and escalated in 1998 with increasing reports of atrocities In 1999 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO led by the United States launched air attacks against Yugoslavia then composed of only Serbia and Montenegro to pressure the Yugoslav government to end its military operations against Albanian separatists in Kosovo The intervention lacked UN approval yet was justified by NATO based on accusations of war crimes committed by Yugoslav military forces working alongside nationalist Serb paramilitary groups Finally after months of bombing Yugoslavia conceded to NATO s demands and NATO forces later UN peacekeeping forces occupied Kosovo The South African Border War 1990 was a border war between Zambia Angola and Namibia that began in 1966 and ended in 1990 Civil wars and guerrilla wars Edit Rwandan genocide Genocide victims in Murambi Technical School Estimates put the death toll of the Rwandan genocide as high as 800 000 people The First Liberian Civil War occurred from 1989 until 1997 and led to the death of around 200 000 people The Ethiopian Civil War 1991 was an internal conflict that had been raging for over twenty years Its end coincided with the establishment of a coalition government of various factions The Algerian Civil War 1991 2002 was caused by a group of high ranking army officers canceling the first multi party elections in Algeria 10 The Somali Civil War 1991 present included the Battle of Mogadishu The Rwandan genocide 1994 occurred from April 6 to mid July 1994 when hundreds of thousands of Rwanda s Tutsis and Hutu political moderates were killed by the Hutu dominated government under the Hutu Power ideology For approximately 100 days between 500 000 11 and 1 000 000 12 people were killed The United Nations and major states came under criticism for failing to stop the genocide 1993 Russian constitutional crisis resulted from a severe political deadlock between Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet Russia s parliament at this time resulting in Yeltsin ordering the controversial shelling of the Russian parliament building by tanks The Tajikistani Civil War 1992 1997 occurred when the Tajikistan government was pitted against the United Tajik Opposition resulting in the death of between 50 000 and 100 000 people The Zapatista uprising 1994 occurred when a large number of the Zapatista indigenous people of Mexico formed the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and began an armed conflict with the Mexican government to protest against NAFTA The uprising lasted 12 days bringing worldwide attention to the Zapatistas and continued through the rest of the 1990s The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan 1996 2001 was formed at the end of the Afghan Civil War when the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in 1996 They ruled during the later Afghan Civil War until their ousting 2001 The Troubles in Northern Ireland 1998 involved 30 years of conflict that ended on 10 April 1998 when the Good Friday Agreement was signed 1999 East Timorese crisis Coups Edit Main article List of coups d etat and coup attempts 1990 1999 Terrorist attacks Edit Main article List of terrorist incidents 1970 present The federal building that was bombed in the Oklahoma City bombing two days after the bombing viewed from across the adjacent parking lot The 1993 World Trade Center bombing in the United States 1993 led to broader public awareness in the U S of domestic terrorism and international terrorism as a potential threat Markale market massacres in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1994 soldiers of the Army of Republika Srpska deliberately targeted Bosniak then known as Bosnian Muslims civilians AMIA bombing 1994 on 18 July 1994 an unknown terrorist targeting Argentina s Jewish community planted a car bomb in the Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina headquarters in Buenos Aires killing 85 people and injuring hundreds making it the first ethnically targeted bombing and deadliest bombing in Argentine history Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1995 soldiers of the Army of Republika Srpska and members of Serbia s Scorpions paramilitary group committed mass murder of Bosniak civilians citation needed Oklahoma City bombing 1995 in the United States the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City Oklahoma killed 168 people becoming the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States at that time Suspect Timothy McVeigh claimed he bombed the building in retaliation for the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff and the Waco siege a year later 13 The 1996 Manchester bombing 1996 on 15 June 1996 the IRA set off a bomb in Manchester England The bomb placed in a van on Corporation Street in the city center targeted the city s infrastructure and economy and caused widespread damage estimated by insurers at 700 million 1 billion as of 2011 update Two hundred and twelve people were injured but there were no fatalities The 1998 United States embassy bombings Al Qaeda militants carried out bomb attacks on United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania In retaliation U S naval military forces launched cruise missile attacks against Al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan The Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland 1998 a bombing in Omagh County Tyrone that killed 29 civilians and injured hundreds more LAX bombing plot 1999 Ahmed Ressam an Islamist militant associated with Al Qaeda was arrested when attempting to cross from Canada into the United States at the Canada U S border on 14 December 1999 It was later discovered that he intended to bomb Los Angeles International Airport LAX during millennium celebrations This was the first major attempted terrorist attack by Al Qaeda on United States soil since the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and marked the beginning of a series of attempted terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda against the United States that would continue into the 21st century Decolonization and independence Edit Independence of Namibia 1990 the Republic of Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990 Walvis Bay initially retained by South Africa joined Namibia in 1994 Breakup of Yugoslavia 1991 1992 the republics of Croatia Slovenia Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia Independence of Eritrea 1993 Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia Dissolution of Czechoslovakia 1993 the Slovak Republic adopts the Declaration of Independence from the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic Czechoslovakia Independence of Palau 1994 Palau gained independence from the United Nations Trusteeship Council Handover of Hong Kong 1997 The United Kingdom handed sovereignty of Hong Kong then British Hong Kong to the People s Republic of China on 1 July 1997 Independence of East Timorese 1999 East Timor broke away from Indonesian occupation only a year after the fall of Suharto from power ending a 24 year guerrilla war and genocide with more than 200 000 casualties The UN deployed a peacekeeping force spearheaded by Australia s armed forces The United States deployed police officers to serve with the International Police element to help train and equip an East Timorese police force Handover of Macau 1999 Portugal handed sovereignty of Macau Portuguese Macau to the People s Republic of China on 20 December 1999 Dissolution of the Soviet Union 1991 multiple Soviet Socialist Republics SSRs declared independence from the USSR Armenia the Armenian SSR became the Republic of Armenia following the Declaration of Independence of Armenia Azerbaijan the Azerbaijan SSR became the Republic of Azerbaijan Belarus the Byelorussian SSR became the Republic of Belarus following its Declaration of State Sovereignty Estonia Estonian SSR became the Republic of Estonia Georgia The Georgian SSR became the Republic of Georgia Kazakhstan the Kazakh SSR became the Republic of Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan the Kirghiz SSR became the Republic of Kyrgyzstan Latvia the Latvian SSR became the Republic of Latvia Lithuania the Lithuanian SSR became the Republic of Lithuania Moldova the Moldavian SSR became the Republic of Moldova Tajikistan the Tajik SSR became the Republic of Tajikistan Turkmenistan the Turkmen SSR became the Republic of Turkmenistan Ukraine the Ukrainian SSR became the Republic of Ukraine Uzbekistan the Uzbek SSR became the Republic of Uzbekistan Political trends Edit The 1990s saw an increased spread of capitalism and third way policies 14 The former countries of the Warsaw Pact moved from single party socialist states to multi party states with private sector economies 14 The same wave of political liberalization occurred in the capitalist and newly industrialized countries including First and Third World countries such as Argentina Brazil Chile India Indonesia Malaysia Mexico the Philippines South Africa South Korea Taiwan and Thailand Market reforms made incredible changes to the economies of Second World socialist countries such as China and Vietnam Ethnic tensions and violence in former Yugoslavia during the 1990s created a greater sense of ethnic identity among nations in newly independent countries and a marked increase in the popularity of nationalism Prominent political events Edit Africa Edit Nelson Mandela voting in 1994 after thirty years of imprisonment African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela was released from Robben Island Prison on 11 February 1990 after thirty years of imprisonment for opposing apartheid and white minority rule in South Africa Apartheid ended in South Africa in 1994 15 Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa in 1994 becoming the first democratically elected president in South African history and ending a long legacy of apartheid white rule in the country 15 North America Edit source source source source source source source source source source track track During the late 1990s a move was made to remove American president Bill Clinton from power following the Clinton Lewinsky scandal This impeachment attempt did not succeed and Clinton continued to serve as president until the end of his term in January 2001 The enactment of North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA on January 1 1994 created a North American free trade zone consisting of Canada Mexico and the United States Canadian politics was radically altered in the 1993 federal election with the collapse of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada A major political party in Canada since 1867 the party went from controlling the government to being left with only two seats The New Democratic Party collapsed as well with their sets declining from 44 to 9 The Liberal Party of Canada was the only genuinely national political party left standing Regionally based parties such as the Quebec based Bloc Quebecois and the almost entirely Western Canada based Reform Party of Canada rose from political insignificance to being major political parties After the collapse of the Meech Lake constitutional accord in 1990 the province of Quebec in Canada experienced a rekindled wave of separatism by Francophone Quebecois nationalists who sought for Quebec to become an independent country and forced a referendum on the question of independence in 1995 The 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty was held in the predominantly francophone province of Quebec in Canada a majority Anglophone country If accepted Quebec would have become an independent country with an economic association with Canada Quebec s voters narrowly rejected the proposal Jean Bertrand Aristide a former Haitian priest became the first democratically elected President of Haiti in 1990 A proponent of liberation theology Aristide was appointed to a Roman Catholic parish in Port au Prince in 1982 after completing his studies to become a priest of the Salesian order Aristide was later forced into exile in the Central African Republic and South Africa and returned to Haiti after several years Ernesto Zedillo was elected President of Mexico in the 1994 presidential election making him the last of an uninterrupted 71 year long succession of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Revolutionary Party PRI The original PRI candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta was assassinated several months prior United States President Bill Clinton was a dominant political figure in international affairs during the 1990s known primarily for his attempts to negotiate peace in the Middle East and end the ongoing wars occurring in the former Yugoslavia his promotion of international action to decrease human created climate change and his endorsement of advancing free trade in the Americas Lewinsky scandal US president Bill Clinton was caught in a media frenzied scandal involving inappropriate relations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky which was first announced on January 21 1998 After the United States House of Representatives impeached Bill Clinton on December 19 1998 for perjury under oath and following an investigation by federal prosecutor Kenneth Starr the Senate acquitted Clinton of all charges on February 12 1999 He served out the remainder of his second term California voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996 which legalized cannabis for medicinal purposes The enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA on January 1 1994 created a North American free trade zone consisting of Canada Mexico and the United States Asia Edit Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin United States President Bill Clinton and Palestine Liberation Organization PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat during the signing of the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993 In 1990 the Lebanese Civil War came to a close and a return to political normalcy in Lebanon began With peace among all factions in Lebanon the rebuilding of the country and its capital Beirut began 1990 Nepalese revolution a multiparty movement against the one party Panchayat rule in Nepal It led to the end of absolute monarchy in Nepal and the restoration of democracy Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Prime Minister Yasser Arafat agree to the Israeli Palestinian peace process at the culmination of the Oslo Accords negotiated by the United States President Bill Clinton on 13 September 1993 By signing the Oslo accords the Palestine Liberation Organization recognized Israel s right to exist At the same time Israel permitted the creation of an autonomous Palestinian National Authority consisting of the Gaza Strip and West Bank which was implemented in 1994 Israeli military forces withdrew from these Palestinian territories in compliance with the accord which marked the end of the First Intifada a period of violence between Palestinian Arab militants and Israeli armed forces from 1987 to 1993 The Palestinian National Authority was created in 1994 following the Oslo Accords giving Palestinian Arab people official autonomy over the Gaza Strip and West Bank though not official independence from Israel On 4 November 1995 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right wing extremist who opposed the signing of the Oslo Accords North Yemen and South Yemen merged to form Yemen in 1991 Lee Kuan Yew relinquished the prime ministership of Singapore on 28 November 1990 a position he had held since 1959 to Goh Chok Tong Lee remained in the cabinet as Senior Minister In July 1994 North Korean leader Kim Il sung died having ruled the country since its founding in 1948 His son Kim Jong il who succeeded him took over a nation on the brink of complete economic collapse Famine had caused a significant number of deaths in the late 1990s and North Korea gained a reputation for being an important hub of money laundering counterfeiting and weapons proliferation The country s ability to produce and sell nuclear weapons became a prominent concern in the international community In 1990 Aung San Suu Kyi s National League for Democracy in Burma won a majority of seats in the first free election conducted in 30 years But the SPDC refused to relinquish power beginning a peaceful citation needed struggle that began in the 1990s and continued for several decades primarily fueled by Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters to demand the end of military rule In the Philippines following the People Power Revolution of 1986 two Presidents were elected Fidel V Ramos in 1992 and Joseph Estrada in 1998 Indonesian president Suharto resigned after ruling for 32 years 1966 1998 following the fall of Suharto and the reform era In India the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on 21 May 1991 by the Tamil Tigers beginning a period of economic liberalization led by new prime minister P V Narasimha Rao South Korea and Taiwan became developed countries and two of the Four Asian Tigers in the 1990s Following democratic reforms in 1988 neoliberal policies were implemented by President Kim Young sam South Korea and President Lee Teng hui Taiwan who led their countries during the 1997 Asian financial crisis Japan saw eight different prime ministers serve during the 1990s in what was at first called the Lost Decade but later became referred to as the Lost Decades of the Heisei Era These included Morihiro Hosokawa who won the 1993 Japanese general election and formed an opposition coalition until 1996 Europe Edit The improvement in relations between NATO countries and the former members of the Warsaw Pact led to the end of the Cold War both in Europe and other parts of the world German reunification on 3 October 1990 East and West Germany reunified as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall After reintegrating their economic structure and provincial governments Germany focused on the modernization of the formerly communist East People brought up in socialist East Germany became integrated with those living in capitalist West Germany Margaret Thatcher who had been the United Kingdom s Prime Minister since 1979 resigned as Prime Minister on 22 November 1990 after being challenged for leadership of the Conservative Party by Michael Heseltine This was because of widespread opposition to the introduction of the controversial Community Charge and the fact that her key allies such as Nigel Lawson and Geoffrey Howe resigned over the deeply sensitive issues of the Maastricht Treaty and Margaret Thatcher s resistance to Britain joining the European Exchange Rate Mechanism Less than two years later on the infamous Black Wednesday of September 1992 the pound sterling crashed out of the system after the pound fell below the agreed exchange rate with the Deutsche Mark John Major replaced Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1990 The Perestroika restructuring of the Soviet Union destabilized leading to nationalist and separatist demagogues gaining popularity Boris Yeltsin then chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Russia resigned from the Communist Party and became the opposition leader against Mikhail Gorbachev The Communist Party lost its status as the governing force of the country and was banned after a coup attempt by Communist hardliners attempted to revert the effects of Gorbachev s policies Yeltsin s counter revolution was victorious and on 25 December 1991 Gorbachev resigned from the presidency which led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union Yeltsin became president of the Soviet Union s successor the Russian Federation and presided over a period of political unrest economic crisis and social anarchy On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned leaving Vladimir Putin as acting president The European Union was formed in 1992 under the Maastricht Treaty The Downing Street Declaration signed on 15 December 1993 by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom John Major and the Taoiseach of Ireland Albert Reynolds at the British Prime Minister s office in 10 Downing Street affirmed that 1 the right of the people of Ireland to self determination and 2 that Northern Ireland would be transferred to the Republic of Ireland from the United Kingdom only if a majority of its population was in favour of such a move It included as part of the perspective of the so called Irish dimension the principle of consent that the people of the island of Ireland had the exclusive right to solve the issues between North and South by mutual consent 16 17 The latter statement which later would become one of the points of the Good Friday Agreement 18 was key to producing a positive change of attitude by the Republicans towards a negotiated settlement The joint declaration also pledged the governments to seek a peaceful constitutional settlement and promised that parties linked with paramilitaries such as Sinn Fein could take part in the talks so long as they abandoned violence 19 The IRA agreed to a truce in 1994 This marked the beginning of the end of 25 years of violence between the IRA and the United Kingdom and the start of political negotiations Tony Blair became Prime Minister in 1997 following a general election The Belfast Agreement a k a the Good Friday Agreement was signed by the U K and Irish politicians on 10 April 1998 declaring a joint commitment to a peaceful resolution of the territorial dispute between Ireland and the United Kingdom over Northern Ireland The 1998 Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement referendum was held on 22 May 1998 with majority approval 20 The National Assembly for Wales was established following the 1997 Welsh devolution referendum in which a majority of voters approved the creation of the National Assembly for Wales 21 In September 1997 the 1997 Scottish devolution referendum was put to the Scottish electorate and secured a majority in favor of the establishment of a new Scottish Parliament 22 23 South America Edit Due to internal conflict and an economic crisis Alberto Fujimori rose to power in Peru and remained in office for eleven years His administration was marked by economic development but also by numerous human rights violations La Cantuta massacre Barrios Altos massacre and a rampant corruption network set up by Vladimiro Montesinos Carlos Saul Menem ruled Argentina for the entire decade implementing a free market liberalization program to attempt to stabilize Argentina which political and economic crises had chronically plagued Assassinations and attempted assassinations EditProminent assassinations targeted killings and assassination attempts include Yitzhak Rabin A Dassault Falcon 50 similar to the one shot down in the assassination of Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira Date DescriptionSeptember 9 1990 Samuel Doe 21st President of Liberia was captured by rebels tortured and murdered His torture was videotaped and seen on news reports around the world 24 May 21 1991 Rajiv Gandhi former Prime Minister of India is assassinated in Sriperumbudur 25 August 7 1991 Shapour Bakhtiar former prime minister of Iran is assassinated 26 June 29 1992 Mohamed Boudiaf 4th Head of State of Algeria is assassinated by a bodyguard 27 April 13 1993 George H W Bush former president of the United States is alleged to be the target of an assassination by Iraq per a report from the Kuwaiti government during a visit to the country 28 May 1 1993 Ranasinghe Premadasa 3rd President of Sri Lanka is killed by a suicide bombing 29 October 21 1993 Melchior Ndadaye 4th President of Burundi is killed during an attempted military coup 30 December 2 1993 Pablo Escobar leader of the Medellin drug cartel is killed by special operations units of the National Police of Colombia 31 April 6 1994 Juvenal Habyarimana 2nd President of Rwanda and Cyprien Ntaryamira 5th President of Burundi are both killed when their jet is shot down in what is considered the prelude to the Rwandan Genocide and the First Congo War 32 November 4 1995 Yitzhak Rabin 5th Prime Minister of Israel is assassinated at a rally in Tel Aviv by a radical ultranationalist who opposed the Oslo Accords 33 April 21 1996 Dzhokhar Dudayev 1st President of Chechnya is killed by two laser guided missiles after his location was detected by a Russian reconnaissance aircraft 34 October 2 1996 Andrey Lukanov former Prime Minister of Bulgaria is shot outside his apartment in Sofia 35 March 23 1999 Luis Maria Argana Vice President of Paraguay is assassinated by gunmen outside his home 36 April 9 1999 Ibrahim Bare Mainassara 5th President of Niger is assassinated by members of his protective staff in Niamey 37 Disasters EditNatural disasters Edit See also Category 1990s natural disasters The 1999 Izmit earthquake which occurred in northwestern Turkey killed 17 217 and injured 43 959 The 1990s saw a trend in frequent and more devastating natural disasters breaking many previous records Although the 1990s was designated by the United Nations as an International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction as part of its program to prevent losses due to disasters disasters would go on to cause a record breaking US 608 billion worth of damage more than the past four decades combined 38 The most prominent natural disasters of the decade include Hurricane Andrew striking South Florida in August 1992 the crippling super storm of March 1993 along the Eastern Seaboard the devastating 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles the Great Hanshin earthquake in Kobe Japan in January 1995 the Blizzard of 1996 in the eastern United States the US drought of 1999 the deadly Hurricane Mitch which struck Central America in October 1998 the destructive Oklahoma tornado outbreak in May 1999 the August 1999 Izmit earthquake in Turkey and the September 1999 Chi Chi earthquake in Taiwan A magnitude 7 8 earthquake hit the Philippines on 16 July 1990 and killed around 1000 people in Baguio After 600 years of inactivity Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted and devastated Zambales and Pampanga in June 1991 July 1995 Midwestern United States heat wave An unprecedented heat wave strikes the Midwestern United States for most of the month Temperatures peak at 106 F 41 C and remain above 94 F 34 C in the afternoon for 5 straight days At least 739 people died in Chicago alone Hurricane Georges downed trees in Key West along the old houseboat row on South Roosevelt Blvd Hurricane Georges made landfall in at least seven different countries Antigua and Barbuda St Kitts and Nevis Haiti the Dominican Republic Cuba the United States and Puerto Rico a Commonwealth of the United States more than any other hurricane since Hurricane Inez of the 1966 season The total estimated costs were 60 billion about 110 billion in 2022 September 1996 Hurricane Fran made landfall in North Carolina causing significant damage throughout the entire state Hurricane Iniki hit the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands on 11 September 1992 making it one of the costliest hurricanes on record in the eastern Pacific A flood hits the Red River Valley in 1997 becoming the most severe flood since 1826 In December 1999 torrential rains and flash floods killed tens of thousands of Venezuelans living in the state of Vargas in a natural disaster known as the Vargas tragedy Non natural disasters Edit The crash site of El Al Flight 1862 in 1992 Gulf War oil spill Resulting from actions taken during the Gulf War in 1991 by the Iraq military the oil spill caused considerable damage to wildlife in the Persian Gulf especially in areas surrounding Kuwait and Iraq July 11 1991 A Nationair Douglas DC 8 chartered by Nigeria Airways caught fire and crashed in Jeddah Saudi Arabia killing 261 people December 15 1991 The Egyptian ferry Salem Express sinks in the Red Sea killing more than 450 people October 4 1992 El Al Flight 1862 a Boeing 747 cargo airplane heading to Tel Aviv suffered physical engine separation of both right wing engines 3 and 4 just after taking off from Schiphol and crashed into an apartment building in the Bijlmer neighbourhood of Amsterdam while attempting to return to the airport A total of 43 people were killed including the plane s crew of three and a non revenue passenger Several others were injured July 26 1993 Asiana Airlines Flight 733 crashed into Mt Ungeo in Haenam South Korea killing 68 people April 26 1994 China Airlines Flight 140 an Airbus A300 crashed just as it was about to land at Nagoya Airfield Japan killing 264 and leaving only seven survivors September 8 1994 USAir Flight 427 crashed near Pittsburgh Pennsylvania killing 132 people September 28 1994 The car ferry MS Estonia sinks in the Baltic Sea killing 852 people June 29 1995 The Sampoong Department Store collapses in Seoul South Korea killing 502 people December 20 1995 American Airlines Flight 965 a Boeing 757 hit a mountain in Colombia at night killing 159 people July 17 1996 Trans World Airlines Flight 800 a Boeing 747 131 exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches New York killing 230 November 12 1996 A Saudia Boeing 747 and a Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin Il 76 collided over the town of Charkhi Dadri outside New Delhi India killing 349 August 6 1997 Korean Air Flight 801 a Boeing 747 300 crashed into a hill on the island of Guam killing 228 people September 26 1997 Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 crashed in bad weather killing 234 September 2 1998 Swissair Flight 111 a McDonnell Douglas MD 11 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Nova Scotia near the towns of Peggy s Cove and Bayswater killing 229 October 31 1999 EgyptAir Flight 990 a Boeing 767 crashed off the coast of Nantucket Massachusetts killing 217 Economics EditMany countries institutions companies and organizations were prosperous during the 1990s High income countries such as the United States Canada Australia New Zealand Japan Singapore Hong Kong Taiwan South Korea and Western Europe experienced steady economic growth for much of the decade during the Great Moderation However in the former Soviet Union GDP decreased as their economies restructured to produce goods they needed and some capital flight occurred In 1993 the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GATT was updated to include the creation of the World Trade Organization with the 76 existing GATT members and European Communities becoming the founding members of the World Trade Organization on 1 January 1995 Opposition by anti globalization activists showed up in nearly every GATT summit like the demonstrations in Seattle in December 1999 The anti globalization protests at the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 in Seattle began on 30 November 1999 This marked the beginning of a steady increase in anti globalization protests in the first decade of the 21st century and increasing hostility to neoliberalism U S inflation moderated beginning in 1990 at 5 39 falling to a low of 1 55 in 1998 and rising slightly to 2 19 in 1999 39 North America The Dow Jones Index of the 1990s The decade is seen as a time of great prosperity in the United States and Canada largely because of the unexpected advent of the Internet and the explosion of technology industries The U S and Canadian economies experienced their longest period of peacetime economic expansion beginning in 1991 Personal incomes doubled from the recession in 1990 and there was higher productivity overall The New York Stock Exchange stayed over the 10 500 mark from 1999 to 2001 After the 1992 boom of the US stock market Alan Greenspan coined the phrase irrational exuberance a reference to the overenthusiam of investors that typified the trading of this period and warned of overvaluation of assets and the stock market generally The North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA which phases out the trade barriers between the United States Mexico and Canada was signed into law by President Bill Clinton Asia In the People s Republic of China the government announced the major privatization of state owned industries in September 1997 China entered the 1990s in a turbulent period due to the aftermath of both the Tiananmen Square Massacre and hardline politicians efforts to rein in private enterprise and attempt to revive old fashioned propaganda campaigns Relations with the United States deteriorated sharply and the Chinese leadership was further embarrassed by the disintegration of communism in Europe In 1992 Deng Xiaoping travelled to southern China in his last major public appearance to revitalize faith in market economics and stop the country s slide back into Maoism Afterward China recovered and would experience explosive economic growth during the rest of the decade Despite this dissent continued to be suppressed and Communist Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin launched a brutal crackdown against the Falun Gong religious sect in 1999 Deng Xiaoping died in 1997 at the age of 93 Relations with the US deteriorated again in 1999 after the bombing of the Chinese embassy during the bombing of Serbia by NATO forces which caused three deaths and allegations of Chinese espionage at the Los Alamos Nuclear Facility Financial crisis hits East and Southeast Asian countries between 1997 and 1998 after a long period of phenomenal economic development which continues into 1999 This crisis begins to be felt by the end of the decade In Japan after three decades of economic growth put them in second place in the world s economies the county experienced an economic downturn after 1993 The recession went on into the early first decade of the 21st century ending the seemingly unlimited prosperity that the country had previously enjoyed Less affluent nations such as India Malaysia and Vietnam also saw tremendous improvements in economic prosperity and quality of life during the 1990s Restructuring following the end of the Cold War was beginning However there was also the continuation of terrorism in Third World regions that were once the frontlines for American and Soviet foreign politics particularly in Asia Bush and Gorbachev at the 1990 Helsinki summit Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton share a laugh in October 1995 Europe By 1990 Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev s reforms were causing major inflation and economic chaos A coup attempt by hardliners in August 1991 failed marking the effective end of the Soviet Union All its constituent republics declared their independence by 1991 and Gorbachev resigned from office on Christmas After 73 years the Soviet Union had ceased to exist The new Russian Federation was headed by Boris Yeltsin and would face severe economic difficulty Oligarchs took over Russia s energy and industrial sectors reducing almost half the country to poverty With a 3 approval rating Yeltsin had to buy the support of the oligarchs to win reelection in 1996 Economic turmoil and devaluation of the ruble continued and with heart and alcohol troubles Yeltsin stepped down from office on the last day of 1999 handing power to Vladimir Putin Russian financial crisis in the 1990s resulted in mass hyperinflation and prompted economic intervention from the International Monetary Fund and western countries to help Russia s economy recover The first McDonald s restaurant opened in Moscow in 1990 with then President of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR and future Russian President Boris Yeltsin attending symbolizing Russia s transition towards a capitalist free market economy and a move towards adopting elements of Western culture Oil and gas were discovered in many countries in the former Soviet bloc leading to economic growth and broader adoption of trade between nations These trends were also fueled by inexpensive fossil energy with low petroleum prices caused by increased oil production Political stability and decreased militarization due to the winding down of the Cold War led to economic development and higher living standards for many citizens Most of Europe enjoyed growing prosperity during the 1990s However problems including the massive 1995 general strikes in France following a recession and the difficulties associated with German reunification led to sluggish growth in these countries However the French and German economies improved in the latter half of the decade Meanwhile the economies of Spain Scandinavia and former Eastern Bloc countries accelerated at rapid speed during the decade Unemployment rates were low due to many having experienced a deep recession at the start of the decade After the early 1990s recession the United Kingdom and Ireland experienced rapid economic growth and falling unemployment that continued throughout the decade Economic growth would continue until the Late 2000s recession marking the longest uninterrupted period of economic growth in history Some Eastern European economies struggled after the fall of communism but Poland Hungary Czech Republic Estonia Latvia and Lithuania saw economic growth in the late 1990s With the creation of the European Union EU there is freedom of movement between member states such as the 1992 and 1995 free trade agreements The Euro is adopted by the European Union on 1 January 1999 which begins a process of phasing out the former national currencies of EU countries 40 South America The sluggish economies of Brazil by a new emphasis on free markets for all their citizens and Mexico under economist president Ernesto Zedillo elected in 1994 were in their best shape by the late 1990s Technology and science EditMain article 1990s in science and technology Technology Edit See also Timeline of computing 1990 1999 The 1990s were a revolutionary decade for digital technology Between 1990 and 1997 household personal computer ownership in the US rose from 15 to 35 41 Cell phones of the early 1990s and earlier ones were very large lacked extra features and were used by only a few percent of the population of even the wealthiest nations Only a few million people used online services in 1990 and the World Wide Web which would have a significant impact on technology for many decades had only just been invented The first web browser went online in 1993 42 By 2001 more than 50 of some Western countries had Internet access and more than 25 had cell phone access Electronics and communications Edit The logo created by The President s Council on the Year 2000 Conversion for use on Y2K gov On 6 August 1991 CERN a pan European organization for particle research publicized the new World Wide Web project 43 Although the basic applications and guidelines that make the Internet possible had existed for almost two decades the network did not gain a public face until the 1990s Driven by mass adoption consumer personal computer specifications increased dramatically during the 1990s from 512 KB RAM 12 MHz Turbo XTs in 1990 44 to 25 66 MHz 80486 class processor at the start of the popularization of the World Wide Web mid decade 45 to over 1 GHz CPUs with close to a gigabyte of RAM by 2000 Y2K spread fear throughout the United States and eventually the world in the last half of the decade particularly in 1999 about possible massive computer malfunctions on 1 January 2000 As a result many people stocked up on supplies for fear of a worldwide disaster After significant effort to upgrade systems on the part of software engineers no failures occurred when the clocks rolled over into 2000 Advancements in computer modems ISDN cable modems and DSL led to faster connections to the Internet The first Pentium microprocessor is introduced and developed by the Intel Corporation Email becomes popular as a result Microsoft acquires the popular Hotmail webmail service Instant messaging and the buddy list feature becomes popular AIM and ICQ are two early protocols Businesses start to build e commerce websites e commerce only companies such as Amazon com eBay AOL and Yahoo grow rapidly The introduction of affordable smaller satellite dishes and the DVB S standard in the mid 1990s expanded satellite television services that carried up to 500 television channels The first MP3 player the MPMan is released in the late spring of 1998 It came with 32 MB of flash memory expandable to 64 MB By the mid 2000s the MP3 player would overtake the CD player in popularity The first GSM network is launched in Finland in 1991 Digital single lens reflex cameras and regular digital cameras become commercially available They would replace film cameras by the mid 2000s IBM introduces the 1 inch 25 mm wide Microdrive hard drive in 170 MB and 340 MB capacities Apple Computer in 1998 introduces the iMac all in one computer initiating a trend in computer design towards translucent plastics and multicolour case design discontinuing many legacy technologies like serial ports and beginning a resurgence in the company s fortunes that continues to this day CD burner drives are introduced The CD ROM drive became standard for most personal computers during the decade The DVD media format is developed and popularized along with a plethora of Flash memory card standards in 1994 Pagers are initially popular but ultimately are replaced by mobile phones by the early 2000s Hand held satellite phones are introduced towards the end of the decade The 24 hour news cycle becomes popular alongside the outbreak of the Gulf War between late 1990 and early 1991 and is solidified with CNN s coverage of Desert Storm and Desert Shield Though CNN had been running 24 hour newscasts since 1980 it was not until the Gulf War that the general public took notice and others imitated CNN s non stop news approach 46 Portable CD players introduced during the late 1980s became very popular and profoundly impacted the music industry and youth culture during the 1990s A typical early 1990s Personal Computer An early portable CD player a Sony Discman model D121 Mobile phones gained massive popularity worldwide during the decade Pagers became widely popular Software Edit Microsoft Windows operating systems become virtually ubiquitous on IBM PC compatibles Microsoft introduces Windows 3 1 Windows 95 and Windows 98 to the market which gain immediate popularity Macintosh System 7 was released in 1991 For much of the decade Apple would struggle to develop a next generation graphical operating system starting with Copland and culminating in its December 1996 buyout of NeXT and the 1999 release of Mac OS X Server 1 0 The development of web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer makes surfing the World Wide Web easier and more user friendly The Java programming language is developed by Sun Microsystems later acquired by Oracle in 2009 2010 In 1991 development of the free Linux kernel is started by 21 year old Linus Torvalds in Finland Rail transportation Edit The opening of the Channel Tunnel between France and the United Kingdom saw the commencement by the three national railway companies of Belgium France and the United Kingdom respectively SNCB NMBS SNCF and British Rail of the joint Eurostar service Eurostar logo 1994 2011 A pair of Eurostar trains at the former Waterloo International since moved to St Pancras International On 14 November 1994 Eurostar services began between Waterloo International station in London Gare du Nord in Paris and Brussels South in Brussels 47 48 49 In 1995 Eurostar was achieving an average end to end speed of 171 5 km h 106 6 mph between London and Paris 50 On 8 January 1996 Eurostar launched services from a second railway station in the UK when Ashford International was opened 51 Journey times between London and Brussels were reduced by the opening of the High Speed 1 line on 14 December 1997 Automobiles Edit The 1990s began with a recession that dampened car sales General Motors suffered huge losses because of an inefficient structure stale designs and poor quality Sales improved with the economy by the mid 1990s but GM s US market share gradually declined to less than 40 from a peak of 50 in the 1970s While the new Saturn division fared well Oldsmobile fell sharply and attempts to remake the division as a European style luxury car were unsuccessful Cars in the 1990s had a rounder more streamlined shape than those from the 1970s and 1980s this style would continue early into the 2000s and to a lesser extent later on Chrysler ran into financial troubles as it entered the 1990s Like GM the Chrysler too had a stale model lineup except for the best selling minivans that were largely based on the aging K car platform In 1992 chairman Lee Iacocca retired and the company began a remarkable revival introducing the new LH platform and Cab Forward styling along with a highly successful redesign of the full sized Dodge Ram in 1994 Chrysler s minivans continued to dominate the market despite increasing competition In 1998 Daimler Benz the parent company of Mercedes Benz merged with Chrysler The following year it was decided to retire Plymouth which had been on a long decline since the 1970s Ford continued to fare well in the 1990s with the second and third generations of the Ford Taurus being named the best selling car in the United States from 1992 to 1996 However the Taurus would be outsold and dethroned by the Toyota Camry starting in 1997 which became the best selling car in the United States for the rest of the decade and into the 2000s Ford also introduced the Ford Explorer with the first model being sold in 1991 Ford s Explorer became the best selling SUV on the market outselling both the Chevy Blazer and Jeep Cherokee Japanese cars continued to be highly successful during the decade The Honda Accord vied with the Taurus most years for being the best selling car in the United States during the early decade Although launched in 1989 the luxury brands Lexus and Infiniti began car sales of 1990 model year vehicles and saw great success Lexus would go on to outsell Mercedes Benz and BMW in the United States by 1991 and outsell Cadillac and Lincoln by the end of the decade SUVs and trucks became hugely popular during the economic boom in the decade s second half Many manufacturers that had never built a truck before started selling SUVs Fabrication during the 1990s became gradually rounder and ovoid the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable being some of the more extreme examples Safety features such as airbags and shoulder belts became mandatory equipment on new cars Science Edit Dolly the sheep is the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell Hubble Space Telescope Physicists develop M theory Detection of extrasolar planets orbiting stars other than the sun In the United Kingdom the first cloned mammal Dolly the sheep was confirmed by the Roslin Institute and was reported by global media on 26 February 1997 Dolly would trigger a raging controversy on cloning and bioethical concerns regarding possible human cloning continue to this day 52 Human Genome Project begins under the leadership of Francis Collins DNA identification of individuals finds wide application in criminal law Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 and revolutionized astronomy Unfortunately a flaw in its main mirror caused it to produce fuzzy distorted images This was corrected by a shuttle repair mission in 1993 Protease inhibitors introduced allowing HAART therapy against HIV drastically reduces AIDS mortality NASA s spacecraft Pathfinder lands on Mars and deploys a small roving vehicle Sojourner which analyzes the planet s geology and atmosphere The Hale Bopp comet swings past the sun for the first time in 4 200 years in April 1997 Development of biodegradable products replacing products made from polystyrene foam advances in methods for recycling of waste products such as paper glass and aluminum Genetically engineered crops are developed for commercial use Discovery of dark matter dark energy brown dwarfs and first confirmation of black holes The Galileo probe orbits Jupiter studying the planet and its moons extensively Comet Shoemaker Levy 9 formally designated D 1993 F2 nicknamed String of Pearls for its appearance was a comet that broke apart and collided with Jupiter in July 1994 providing the first direct observation of an extraterrestrial collision of solar system objects The Global Positioning System GPS becomes fully operational Proof of Fermat s Last Theorem is discovered by Andrew Wiles Construction started in 1998 on the International Space Station Environment EditAt the beginning of the decade sustainable development and environmental protection became serious issues for governments and the international community In 1987 the publication of the Brundtland Report by the United Nations paved the way to establish an environmental governance In 1992 the Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro in which several countries committed to protect the environment signing a Convention on Biological Diversity The prevention of the destruction of the tropical rainforests of the world is a major environmental cause that first came into wide public concern in the early 1990s and has continued and accelerated in its prominence The Chernobyl disaster had significant impact on public opinion at the end of the 1980s and the fallout was still causing cancer deaths well into the 1990s and possibly even into the 21st century 53 Well into the 1990s several environmental NGOs helped improve environmental awareness among public opinion and governments The most famous of these organizations during this decade was Greenpeace which did not hesitate to lead illegal actions in the name of environmental preservation These organizations also drew attention to the large deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest during the period Global warming as an aspect of climate change also became a major concern and the creation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC after the Earth Summit helped coordinate efforts to reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere From 1995 the UNFCCC held annual summits on climate change leading to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997 a binding agreement signed by several developed countries 54 Society EditThe 1990s represented continuing social liberalization in most countries coupled with an increase in the influence of capitalism which would continue until the Great Recession of the late 2000s early 2010s Youth culture in the 1990s responded to this by embracing both environmentalism and entrepreneurship Fashion of the Western world reflected this by often turning highly individualistic and or counter cultural which was influenced by Generation X and early millennials tattoos and body piercings gained popularity and retro styles inspired by fashions of the 1960s and 1970s were also prevalent Some young people became increasingly involved in extreme sports and outdoor activities that combined embracing athletics with the appreciation of nature Those born from 1990 to 1996 are generally considered part of the Millennial Generation while those born from 1997 onward are often considered part of Generation Z the post Millennial generation 55 In 1990 the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of diseases 56 Increasing acceptance of homosexuality occurred in the western world slowly starting in the early 1990s 57 Third wave feminism Edit Women s rights demonstration in Paris November 1995See also Third wave feminismAnita Hill and other women testify before the United States Congress on being sexually harassed by Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas Thomas was narrowly confirmed by the United States Senate but Hill s testimony and the testimony of other harassed women begins a national debate on the issue Record numbers of women are elected to high office in the United States in 1992 the Year of the Woman Violence against women takes centre stage as an essential issue internationally The Violence Against Women Act was passed in the United States which greatly affected the world community through the United Nations The law s author Joe Biden UN Ambassador and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton see below have become vocal advocates of action against violence against women Women reach great heights of power in the United States government Hillary Clinton leading policy proposals traveling abroad as a State Department representative to 82 nations advising her husband and being elected a Senator in 2000 is the most openly empowered and politically powerful First Lady in American history Madeleine Albright and Janet Reno take two of the cabinet s top jobs as United States Secretary of State 1 and United States Attorney General 4 respectively Sheila Widnall becomes head and Secretary of the Air Force and Ruth Bader Ginsburg joins Sandra Day O Connor as the second woman on the U S Supreme Court More nations than ever before are led by elected women Presidents and Prime Ministers Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto s 1988 victory in Pakistan makes great strides for women leaders in Muslim states In Turkey Tansu Ciller became the first female prime minister in 1993 In popular culture British pop group the Spice Girls also played a part in the feminist movement boosting popularity with their slogan Girl Power while country music superstar Shania Twain declared female supremacy in her 1995 hit song Any Man of Mine Additional significant events EditWorldwide New Year s Eve celebrations on December 31 1999 welcoming the year 2000 Europe 1991 January Events Lithuania Soviet Union military troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius killing 14 people and wounding 1000 In Paris Diana Princess of Wales and her friend Dodi Al Fayed were killed in a car accident in August 1997 when their chauffeured hired Mercedes Benz S Class crashed in the Pont de l Alma tunnel The chauffeur Henri Paul died at the scene as did Al Fayed Diana and an Al Fayed bodyguard Trevor Rees Jones survived the accident The Princess of Wales died at a Paris hospital hours later The bodyguard Rees Jones is the sole survivor of the now infamous accident 58 Mother Teresa the Roman Catholic nun who won the Nobel Peace Prize dies at age 87 59 The birth of the Second Republic in Italy with the Mani Pulite investigations of 1994 The Channel Tunnel across the English Channel opens in 1994 connecting France and England As of 2022 update it is the third longest rail tunnel in the world but with the undersea section of 37 9 km 23 5 mi being the longest undersea tunnel in the world The resignation of President Boris Yeltsin on 31 December 1999 resulted in Prime Minister Vladimir Putin s succession to the position North America Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and then themselves during the Columbine High School shooting in April 1999 which would inspire a number of future school shooters to commit similar offenses O J Simpson murder case O J Simpson s trial described in the American media as the trial of the century proceeds for nearly a year under intense media publicity A majority of the trial was broadcast nightly during prime time television On October 3 1995 Simpson was found not guilty of the double murder of ex wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman With help from clinical fertility drugs an Iowa mother Bobbie McCaughey gave birth to the first surviving septuplets in 1997 There followed a media frenzy and widespread support for the family John F Kennedy Jr his wife Carolyn Bessette and sister in law Lauren Bessette are killed when Kennedy s private plane crashes off the coast of Martha s Vineyard in July 1999 Debate on assisted suicide highly publicized by Michigan doctor Jack Kevorkian surfaces when Kevorkian is charged with multiple counts of homicide of his terminally ill patients through the decade Beer keg registration becomes a popular public policy in the United States The 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus purported discovery of the Americas in 1992 was popularly observed in the United States despite controversy and protests against the victimization of Native Americans by Columbus expeditions The holiday was labeled by some as racist in view of Native American experiences of colonialism slavery genocide and cultural destruction Matthew Shepard is murdered near the University of Wyoming for being gay This sparks intense national and international media attention and outrage Shepard becomes a major symbol in the LGBT rights movement and the fight against homophobia Shanda Sharer was murdered on January 11 1992 She was lured away from her house and held captive by a group of teenage girls She was tortured for hours and burned alive She died from smoke inhalation Those found guilty and sentenced to prison were Melinda Loveless Laurie Tackett Hope Rippey and Toni Lawrence According to Loveless she was jealous of her former partner Amanda Heavrin s relationship with Sharer Sharer citation needed Karla Homolka was arrested with her husband Paul Bernardo in 1993 Both sexually tortured and killed their victims Their first victim was Karla s 15 year old sister Tammy Homolka The second and third victims were Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French Karla told the investigators that she reluctantly did what Paul told her to do because he was abusive and was given a plea deal She was sentenced to 12 years in prison 10 years for Mahaffy and French and two years for Tammy Later investigators discovered the crime videotapes proving that Karla was a willing participant But by that time the deal had already been made In 1995 Paul was sentenced to life in prison Karla was released from prison in 2005 Polly Klaas January 3 1981 October 1993 was kidnapped by Richard Allen Davis from her home during a slumber party She was later strangled to death After her death her father Marc Klaas established the KlaasKids Foundation Jonbenet Ramsey August 6 1990 December 25 1996 was a child beauty pageant contestant who was missing and found dead in her Boulder Colorado home The crime terrified the nation and the world Her parents were initially considered to be suspects in her death but were cleared in 2003 when DNA from her clothes was tested To this day her murderer has not been found and brought to justice Lorena Bobbitt was charged with malicious wounding for severing her husband John Bobbitt s penis after she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Bobbitt for which he was charged Both parties were acquitted of their respective charges American singer songwriter guitarist and actor John Denver died in a plane crash in Monterey Bay near Pacific Grove on October 12 1997 Scandal rocked the sport of figure skating when skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked during practice by an assailant hired by Jeff Gillooly former husband of skater Tonya Harding The attack was carried out in an attempt to injure Kerrigan s leg to the point of her being unable to compete in the upcoming 1994 Winter Olympics thereby securing Harding a better spot to win a gold medal 1992 Los Angeles riots resulted in 53 deaths and 5 500 property fires in a 100 square mile 260 km2 riot zone The riots were a result of the state court acquittal of three white and one Hispanic L A police officer by an all white jury in a police brutality case involving motorist Rodney King In 1993 all four officers were convicted in a federal civil rights case Asia Massive immigration wave of Jews from the Commonwealth of Independent States to Israel With the end of the Soviet Union Israel faced a mass influx of Russian Jews many of whom had high expectations the country was unable to meet Israel also came under an Iraqi missile attack during the Gulf War but acquiesced to US pressure not to retaliate militarily which could have disrupted the US Arab alliance The US and Netherlands then rushed anti missile batteries to Israel to defend the country against missile attacks Vizconde massacre On 30 June 1991 three members of the Vizconde Family Estrellita Carmela and Jennifer were found dead inside their house in BF Homes Paranaque Metro Manila Philippines It was described in the Philippines as the trial of the century In 2010 Hubert Webb and his men were later acquitted by the Supreme Court for the failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt The Spratly Islands issue became one of the most controversial in Southeast Asia The closing Mass of the X World Youth Day 1995 was held in Rizal Park on 15 January 1995 attended by more than 5 million people This is the record gathering of the Roman Catholic Church The Philippines celebrates the 100th anniversary of Philippine Independence in 1998 with its theme Kalayaan Kayamanan ng Bayan Popular culture Edit Seinfeld was the most popular show of the 1990s Grunge was a genre of music and subculture popular in the 1990s as modeled here by Krist Novoselic left and Kurt Cobain of the band Nirvana one of the most influential bands of the decade The internet was created and in its infancy in the 1990s Crystal Pepsi was a popular drink in the 1990s which was re released for a limited run in the summer of 2016 Rugrats and other cartoons like Beavis and Butt Head The Simpsons and Ren amp Stimpy were popular in the 1990s A VHS C tape as would be used in the 1990s One of the sets used in the television show Star Trek The Next Generation which was popular in the 1990s The highest grossing film of the decade was James Cameron s Titanic 1997 which remains one of the highest grossing films of all time 60 Film Edit Main article 1990s in film Dogme 95 became an important European artistic motion picture movement by the decade s end Toy Story the first full length CGI movie made by Pixar was released in 1995 and revolutionized animated films Pixar s parent company Disney was navigating the Disney Renaissance through both animated theatrical films and animated television series on the Disney Channel owned by Walt Disney Television The Disney Renaissance began with The Little Mermaid in 1989 and ended with Tarzan in 1999 Cartoons produced in the 1990s are sometimes referred to as the Renaissance Age of Animation for cartoons in general Disney Channel s two main rivals were Nickelodeon owned by Viacom now Paramount Global and Cartoon Network owned by Warner Bros Discovery These three channels are considered the Big Three of children s entertainment even today but especially during the 1990s In 1998 with the release of DreamWorks s Antz and Pixar s A Bug s Life the rivalry between DreamWorks and Pixar began between the studios due to the similarities between both films Also in 1998 Titanic released in late 1997 became the highest grossing film of all time grossing over 1 8 billion worldwide It would hold this record for over a decade until 2010 when director James Cameron had another one of his films Avatar released in late 2009 take the title 61 Family centric animated feature films began to gain popularity through the late 1990s 1997 1998 and 1999 Don Bluth s animation studio released a number of underperforming family animated films such as Rock a Doodle Thumbelina and The Pebble and the Penguin and closed down in 1995 In 1994 former Disney employee Jeffrey Katzenberg founded DreamWorks SKG which would produce its first two animated films The Prince of Egypt and Antz which were both aimed more at adults than children and were both critically and commercially successful Meanwhile films by Walt Disney Feature Animation became popular once more when the studio returned to making family oriented animated musical films the most notable films of this era were Beauty and the Beast Aladdin The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Lion King Other significant animated films have also gained cult status such as The Jetsons Movie The Princess and the Goblin Happily Ever After An American Tail Fievel Goes West Ferngully The Last Rainforest Tom and Jerry The Movie The Thief and the Cobbler Once Upon a Forest We re Back A Dinosaur s Story Batman Mask of the Phantasm Felidae The Swan Princess Balto Beavis and Butt Head Do America Cats Don t Dance Anastasia Quest for Camelot The Rugrats Movie Kirikou and the Sorceress The King and I South Park Bigger Longer Uncut and The Iron Giant Live action films also featuring computer animated characters became popular with films such as Casper James and the Giant Peach 101 Dalmatians Men in Black Small Soldiers and Stuart Little proving financially successful Live action traditional cel animated film featuring traditional characters like Cool World The Pagemaster and Space Jam were also prevalent Japanese anime films continued in the 1990s as Studio Ghibli continued to dominate with films such as Only Yesterday Porco Rosso Pom Poko Whisper of the Heart Princess Mononoke which became the highest grossing anime film at the time and My Neighbors the Yamadas Other significant anime films which gained cult status include Roujin Z Ramayana The Legend of Prince Rama Patlabor 2 The Movie Ninja Scroll Street Fighter II The Animated Movie Ghost in the Shell Memories The End of Evangelion Perfect Blue Jin Roh The Wolf Brigade and the Pokemon film series which started with the first two entries Pokemon The First Movie and Pokemon The Movie 2000 Award winners Edit Award 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999Academy Award for Best Picture winners Dances with Wolves 62 The Silence of the Lambs 63 Unforgiven 64 Schindler s List 65 Forrest Gump 66 Braveheart 67 The English Patient 68 Titanic 69 Shakespeare in Love 70 American Beauty 71 Palme d Or winners at the Cannes Film Festival Wild at Heart 72 Barton Fink 73 The Best Intentions 74 Farewell My Concubine and The Piano 75 Pulp Fiction 76 Underground 77 Secrets amp Lies 78 Taste of Cherry and The Eel 79 Eternity and a Day 80 Rosetta 81 Cesar Award for Best Film winners Cyrano de Bergerac Tous les matin du monde Savage Nights Smoking No Smoking Wild Reeds La haine Ridicule Same Old Song The Dreamlife of Angels Venus Beauty InstituteGolden Lion winners at the Venice Film Festival Rosencrantz amp Guildenstern Are Dead Close to Eden The Story of Qiu Ju Short Cuts and Three Colours Blue Vive L Amour and Before the Rain Cyclo Michael Collins Fireworks The Way We Laughed Not One LessHighest grossing Edit The 25 highest grossing films of the decade are 82 Films by worldwide box office No Title Year Box office1 Titanic 1997 1 850 197 1302 Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace 1999 924 305 0843 Jurassic Park 1993 912 667 9474 Independence Day 1996 817 400 8915 The Lion King 1994 763 455 5616 Forrest Gump 1994 677 387 7167 The Sixth Sense 1999 672 806 2928 The Lost World Jurassic Park 1997 618 638 9999 Men in Black 1997 589 390 53910 Armageddon 1998 553 709 78811 Terminator 2 Judgment Day 1991 516 950 04312 Ghost 1990 505 702 58813 Aladdin 1992 504 050 21914 Twister 1996 494 471 52415 Toy Story 2 1999 487 059 67716 Saving Private Ryan 1998 481 840 90917 Home Alone 1990 476 684 67518 The Matrix 1999 463 517 38319 Pretty Woman 1990 463 406 26820 Mission Impossible 1996 457 696 39121 Tarzan 1999 448 191 81922 Mrs Doubtfire 1993 441 286 19523 Dances with Wolves 1990 424 208 84824 The Mummy 1999 415 933 40625 The Bodyguard 1992 410 945 720Music Edit Main article 1990s in music Whitney Houston left and Mariah Carey were two of the highest selling musical artists of the decade pictured here in 1991 and 1998 respectively Music marketing became more segmented in the 1990s as MTV gradually shifted away from music videos and radio splintered into narrower formats aimed at various niches 83 84 85 86 However the 1990s are perhaps best known for grunge gangsta rap R amp B teen pop Eurodance electronic dance music the renewed popularity of punk rock from the band Green Day which would also help create a new genre pop punk and for the entrance of alternative rock into the mainstream U2 was one of the most popular 1990s bands their groundbreaking Zoo TV and PopMart tours were the top selling tours of 1992 and 1997 respectively Glam metal died out in the music mainstream by 1991 87 Grunge became popular in the early 1990s due to the success of Nirvana s Nevermind Pearl Jam s Ten Alice in Chain s Dirt Soundgarden s Badmotorfinger and Stone Temple Pilot s Core 88 Pop punk also becomes popular with such artists as Green Day Blink 182 Weezer Social Distortion The Offspring Bad Religion NOFX and Rancid 89 Other successful alternative acts included Red Hot Chili Peppers R E M Nickelback Creed Radiohead Gin Blossoms Soul Asylum Third Eye Blind Faith No More The Smashing Pumpkins Live Everclear Bush Screaming Trees and Ween 90 Graffiti murals of Tupac Shakur left and The Notorious B I G two significant cultural figures throughout the 1990s who helped popularize the genre of gangsta rap Dr Dre s 1992 album The Chronic provided a template for modern gangsta rap and gave rise to other emerging artists of the genre including Snoop Dogg 91 Due to the success of Death Row Records and Tupac Shakur West Coast gangsta rap commercially dominated hip hop during the early to mid 1990s along with Bad Boy Records and the Notorious B I G on the East Coast 92 Hip hop became the best selling music genre by the mid 1990s 93 94 In the United Kingdom the alternative rock Britpop genre emerged as part of the more general Cool Britannia culture with Oasis Blur Pulp Suede Supergrass and Elastica serving as popular examples of this emergence The impact of boy band pop sensation Take That lead to the formation of other boy bands in the UK and Ireland such as East 17 and Boyzone Female pop icons Spice Girls took the world by storm becoming the most commercially successful British group since the Beatles the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin 95 96 Also R amp B artists Des Ree Mark Morrison and Sade became quite popular during this decade Their global success brought about a widespread scene of teen pop acts around the world 97 98 such as All Saints Backstreet Boys Hanson NSYNC Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera who came to prominence into the new millennium 99 1991 also saw the death of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury from AIDS related pneumonia Spice Girls pictured here in 1997 became one of the biggest global pop acts of the decade Many musicians from Canada Snow Celine Dion The Barenaked Ladies Shania Twain Len Sarah McLachlan and Alanis Morissette became known worldwide Contemporary R amp B and quiet storm continued to be quite popular among adult audiences which began during the 1980s Popular African American contemporary R amp B artists included Mariah Carey D Angelo Lauryn Hill Whitney Houston Brandy En Vogue TLC Destiny s Child Toni Braxton Boyz II Men Dru Hill and Vanessa Williams The Tibetan Freedom Concert brought 120 000 people together in the interest of increased human rights and autonomy for Tibet from China Freddie Mercury Kurt Cobain Selena Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B I G were the most publicized music related deaths of the decade in 1991 1994 1995 1996 and 1997 respectively Richey Edwards of Manic Street Preachers was publicized in the media in 1991 following an incident involving Steve Lamacq backstage after a live show in which Edwards carved 4 Real into his arm Edwards disappearance in 1995 was highly publicized He is still missing but was presumed dead in 2008 Controversy surrounded the Prodigy with the release of the track Smack My Bitch Up The National Organization for Women NOW claimed that the track was advocating violence against women due to the song s lyrics which are themselves sampled from Ultramagnetic MCss Give the Drummer Some The music video directed by Jonas Akerlund featured a first person POV of someone going clubbing indulging in drugs and alcohol getting into fist fights abusing women and picking up a prostitute At the end of the video the camera pans over to a mirror revealing the subject to be a woman Blink 182 performing in 1995 1994 became a breakthrough year for punk rock in California with the success of bands like Bad Religion Social Distortion Blink 182 Green Day the Offspring Rancid and similar groups following This success would continue to grow over the next decade The 1990s also became the most important decade for ska punk reggae rock with the success of many bands like Smash Mouth Buck O Nine Goldfinger Less Than Jake the Mighty Mighty Bosstones Murphy s Law No Doubt Reel Big Fish Save Ferris Sublime and Sugar Ray The rave movement that emerged in the late 1980s continued to grow in popularity This movement spawned genres such as Intelligent dance music and Drum and bass The latter is an offshoot of jungle techno and breakbeat Popular artists included Moby Fatboy Slim Bjork Aphex Twin Orbital the Orb the Chemical Brothers Basement Jaxx Todd Terry 808 State Primal Scream the Shamen the KLF and the Prodigy The rise of industrial music somewhat a fusion of synthpop and heavy metal rose to worldwide popularity with bands like Godflesh Nine Inch Nails Rammstein Ministry and Marilyn Manson Groove metal was born through the efforts of Pantera whose seventh studio album Far Beyond Driven 1994 was notable for going number one on Billboard 200 Another heavy metal subgenre called nu metal which mixed metal with hip hop influences became popular with bands like Korn Slipknot and Limp Bizkit selling millions of albums worldwide Metallica s 1991 eponymous album Metallica is the best selling album of the SoundScan era while extreme metal acts such as Death Mayhem Darkthrone Emperor Cannibal Corpse and others experienced popularity throughout the decade In the 1990s country music became a worldwide phenomenon thanks to Billy Ray Cyrus Shania Twain and Garth Brooks 100 101 102 The latter enjoyed one of the most successful careers in popular music history breaking records for both sales and concert attendance throughout the decade The RIAA has certified his recordings at a combined 128 platinum denoting roughly 113 million United States shipments 103 Other artists that experienced success during this time included Clint Black Sammy Kershaw Aaron Tippin Travis Tritt Suzy Bogguss Alan Jackson Lorrie Morgan and the newly formed duo of Brooks amp Dunn George Strait whose career began in the 1980s also continued to have widespread success in this decade and beyond Female artists such as Reba McEntire Faith Hill Martina McBride Deana Carter LeAnn Rimes and Mary Chapin Carpenter all released platinum selling albums in the 1990s Rimes a teenager at the time spawned a teen movement in country music with fellow teen artists Lila McCann Jessica Andrews Billy Gillman and others following suit a feat that hasn t been duplicated since Tanya Tucker and Marie Osmond in the early 1970s The Dixie Chicks became one of the most popular country bands in the 1990s and early 2000s Their 1998 debut album Wide Open Spaces went on to become certified 12 platinum while their 1999 album Fly went on to become 10 platinum Television Edit Main article 1990s in television Seinfeld which premiered on NBC in 1989 became a commercial success and cultural phenomenon by 1993 TV shows mostly sitcoms were popular with American audiences Series such as Roseanne Coach Empty Nest Mr Belvedere 227 Cheers The Cosby Show Growing Pains Night Court The Hogan Family A Different World Amen ALF Perfect Strangers Family Matters Charles in Charge Saved by the Bell My Two Dads Newhart Dear John Designing Women The Golden Girls Who s the Boss Head of the Class and Seinfeld which premiered in the eighties and Frasier a spin off of the 1980s hit Cheers were viewed throughout the 1990s These sitcoms along with Friends That 70s Show Ellen The Fresh Prince of Bel Air Full House Nurses Murphy Brown The Wonder Years Living Single Step by Step NewsRadio Blossom The King of Queens Major Dad Fired Up Jesse Parker Lewis Can t Lose For Your Love The Steve Harvey Show The Larry Sanders Show Sex and the City Arliss Dream On Grace Under Fire Mad About You Sabrina the Teenage Witch The Naked Truth The Jeff Foxworthy Show The Jamie Foxx Show Smart Guy The Wayans Bros Malcolm amp Eddie Clueless Moesha The Parent Hood Unhappily Ever After Roc Martin Hangin with Mr Cooper In Living Color Sister Sister Boy Meets World Ned and Stacey Becker Veronica s Closet Two Guys and a Girl The Drew Carey Show Wings The John Larroquette Show Caroline in the City Sports Night Home Improvement Will amp Grace Married with Children Evening Shade Cosby Spin City The Nanny 3rd Rock from the Sun Suddenly Susan Cybill Just Shoot Me Everybody Loves Raymond and Dharma and Greg turned TV in new directions and defined the humor of the decade Furthermore Saturday Night Live experienced a new era of success during the 1990s launching the careers of popular comedians and actors such as Chris Farley Dana Carvey Phil Hartman Adam Sandler Will Ferrell Molly Shannon Mike Myers Chris Rock Norm McDonald David Spade Cheri Oteri and others Friends which premiered on NBC in 1994 became one of the most popular sitcoms of all time From left clockwise Lisa Kudrow Jennifer Aniston Courteney Cox Matthew Perry Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer the six main actors of Friends In 1993 one of the last westerns to air on television was Walker Texas Ranger a crime drama starring Chuck Norris as the title character Running for nine seasons the show tackled a wide variety of subjects and was one of few shows to feature an actor performing karate stunts at that time 1993 also saw the debut of the medical mystery drama Diagnosis Murder a comeback vehicle for Dick Van Dyke who guest starred on an episode of its sequel Jake and The Fatman where the show got off to a rocky start and became one of television s long running mysteries that lasted until its cancellation in 2001 Medical dramas started to come into television in the 1990s In 1994 ER which originally starred Anthony Edwards Noah Wyle and George Clooney was a domestic and international success lasting until 2009 and spawned similar series such as Grey s Anatomy 2005 present It made NBC the most watched channel in the United States This show launched the career of George Clooney That same year Chicago Hope that starred Hector Elizondo Mandy Patinkin and Adam Arkin was also a popular series for CBS lasting between 1994 and 2000 Beverly Hills 90210 ran on Fox from 1990 to 2000 It established the teen soap genre paving the way for Dawson s Creek Felicity Party of Five and other shows airing later in the decade The show was then remade and renamed simply 90210 and premiered in 2008 Beverly Hills 90210 and its spin off Melrose Place also became a popular TV show throughout the 1990s Baywatch became the most watched TV show in history citation needed and influenced pop culture Sex and the City s portrayal of relationships and sexuality caused controversy and acclaim leading to a new generation of sexually progressive television shows in the 2000s Fantasy and science fiction shows were popular on television with NBC airing seaQuest DSV beginning in 1993 which made Jonathan Brandis a popular teen idol but was cancelled after three seasons The 1990s saw a multitude of Star Trek content in 1993 following the success of Star Trek The Next Generation Paramount released the follow up shows Star Trek Deep Space Nine 1993 1999 starring Avery Brooks and Star Trek Voyager 1995 2001 starring Kate Mulgrew Touched By an Angel broadcast by CBS in 1994 was intended as the comeback vehicle of Della Reese and also launched the career of Roma Downey It wasn t an immediate success and was cancelled but was revived the following year due to a fan letter writing campaign and ran for eight more seasons At the end of the decade the fantasy drama series Charmed gained a cult following and helped popularize the WB Crime drama and police detective shows returned to the spotlight after soap operas died down After the successful debuts of Law amp Order NYPD Blue Homicide Life on the Street Fox debuted New York Undercover which starred Malik Yoba and Micheal DeLorenzo is notable for featuring two people of color in the main roles Nash Bridges a comeback vehicle for Don Johnson lasting six seasons 1996 2001 dealt with escapist entertainment instead of tackling social issues 104 Reality television began on MTV this would grow in importance in the Western world into the next decade During the mid 1990s two of the biggest professional wrestling companies World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Federation were in a ratings battle that was called the Monday Night Wars 1995 2001 Each company fought to draw more viewers to their respective Monday night wrestling show The War ended in 2001 when WWE bought WCW In November 2001 there was a Winner Takes All match with both companies in a Pay Per View called Survivor Series WWF won the match putting an end to WCW An animated sitcom The Simpsons premiered on Fox in December 1989 and became a domestic and international success in the 1990s The show has since aired more than 600 episodes and has become an institution of pop culture In addition it has spawned the adult oriented animated sitcom genre inspiring more adult oriented animated shows such as Beavis and Butt Head 1993 1997 Daria 1997 2001 along with South Park and Family Guy the latter two of which began in 1997 and 1999 respectively and continue to air new episodes through the 2000s and into the 2020s Japanese anime was popular in the 1980s and expanded to a worldwide audience by the 1990s for its expansive spectrum of story subjects and themes not limited to comedy and superhero action found in the US It featured well produced well written visual and story content that came to showcase animation s potential for emotional and intellectual depth and integrity on par with live action media to its viewers Anime expanded to older and adult ages in the medium of animation TV shows such as Sailor Moon Digimon Pokemon Tenchi Muyo Detective Conan Dragon Ball Z Cowboy Bebop Gundam Wing Neon Genesis Evangelion Ranma Yu Yu Hakusho Slayers Rurouni Kenshin Initial D Gunsmith Cats Outlaw Star to anime movies such as Akira Vampire Hunter D My Neighbor Totoro Princess Mononoke Castle in the Sky The Castle of Cagliostro and imports by various distributors such as Viz AnimEigo Central Park Media A D Vision Pioneer Entertainment Media Blasters Manga Entertainment and Celebrity helped begin the mid to late 1990s and turn of the millennium introductory anime craze in the US and the Cartoon Network anime block Toonami in 1997 American animated children s programs went through a renaissance during the decade with studios producing many critically acclaimed shows Specifically Warner Bros animated shows like Tiny Toon Adventures Animaniacs and the start of the DC Animated Universe with shows such as Batman The Animated Series and Superman The Animated Series as well as syndicated shows like Phantom 2040 Nickelodeon s first three animated series Doug Rugrats The Ren amp Stimpy Show all premiered in 1991 1993 saw the debut of children s live action series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers which became a pop culture phenomenon along with a line of action figures and other toys by merchandise manufacturer Bandai This can also be said for the British pre school series Teletubbies which was a massive hit loved by very young children The late 1990s also saw the evolution of a new TV genre primetime game shows popularized by the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire hosted originally by Chris Tarrant on ITV and Regis Philbin on ABC as well as other first run game shows aired in prime time on the newly launched Game Show Network Fashion and body modification Edit Main article 1990s in fashion Grunge style flannel shirt and curtained hair Will Smith donning a Hi top fade in 1993 Significant fashion trends of the 1990s include Earth and jewel tones as well as an array of minimalist style and design influences characterize the 1990s a stark contrast to the camp and bombast seen in the brightly colored fashion and design trends of the 1980s The Rachel Jennifer Aniston s hairstyle on the hit TV show Friends became a cultural phenomenon with millions of women copying it worldwide The Hi top fade was trendy among African Americans in the early 1990s The Curtained Haircut increased in popularity in fashion and culture among teenage boys and young men in the 1990s mainly after it was popularized in the film Terminator 2 Judgment Day by the actor Edward Furlong The model 1300 Wonderbra style has a resurgence of popularity in Europe in 1992 which kicks off an international media sensation the 1994 return of The Wonderbra brand and a spike in the push up plunge bras around the world Additional fashion trends of the 1990s include the Tamagotchi Rollerblades Pogs and Dr Martens shoes Bleached blond hair became very popular in the late 1990s as were men with short hair with the bangs flipped up The 1990s also saw the return of the 1970s teenage female fashion with long straight hair and denim hot pants Beverly Hills 90210 sideburns also became popular in the early and mid 1990s Slap bracelets were a popular fad among children preteens and teenagers in the early 1990s and were available in a wide variety of patterns and colors Also popular among children were light up sneakers jelly shoes and shoelace hair clips The Grunge hype at the beginning of the decade popularized flannel shirts among both genders during the 1990s Grunge and hip hop inspired anti fashion saw an expansion of the slouchy casual styles of past decades mostly seen in baggy and distressed jeans cargo shorts and pants baseball caps often worn backward chunky sneakers oversized sweatshirts and loose fitting tees with grandiloquent graphics and logos Y2K fashion became popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s as the new millennium began This was marked by darker slinkier and more futuristic looking clothing in the late 1990s Tattoos and piercings became part of the mainstream aesthetic American model Christy Turlington revealed her belly button piercing at a fashion show in London in 1993 In the late 1990s some females got lower back tattoos and men opted for tribal style arm bands or back pieces The handheld digital pet device Tamagotchi became an especially popular game among children around the world during the decade also in the 2000s Pogs was an especially popular street game among children around the world during the decade In the 1990s Dr Martens shoes became a popular fashion item heavily influenced by the grunge scene and the prominent grunge musicians who wore themVideo games Edit Main article 1990s in video gaming Video game consoles released in this decade include the Super Nintendo Entertainment System Neo Geo Atari Jaguar 3DO Sega Saturn PlayStation Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast Portable video game consoles include the Game Gear Atari Lynx and Game Boy Color Super Mario World was the decade s best selling home console video game while Pokemon Red and Blue was the decade s best selling portable video game Super Mario 64 was the decade s best selling fifth generation video game while Street Fighter II was the decade s highest grossing arcade video game Mario as Nintendo s mascot finds a rival in Sega s Sonic the Hedgehog with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Mega Drive Genesis in 1991 Sonic the Hedgehog would go on to become one of the most successful video game franchises of the decade and of all time Notable video games of the 1990s include Super Metroid Metal Gear Solid Super Mario World Doom Donkey Kong Country Donkey Kong 64 Pokemon Red and Blue Versions Pokemon Yellow Version GoldenEye 007 Super Mario 64 The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Gran Turismo Mario Kart 64 Half Life Super Mario Kart Radiant Silvergun Rayman Gunstar Heroes Banjo Kazooie Soulcalibur Star Fox series Tomb Raider series Final Fantasy Sonic the Hedgehog series Story of Seasons series Tony Hawk s series Crash Bandicoot series Metal Slug series Resident Evil series Street Fighter II Spyro the Dragon series Commander Keen series Test Drive series Dance Dance Revolution series Monkey Island series Dune series Mortal Kombat series Warcraft series Duke Nukem 3D Tekken series EarthBound Fallout A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game and StarCraft Sony s PlayStation becomes the top selling video game console and changes the standard media storage type from cartridges to compact discs CDs in home consoles Crash Bandicoot is released on September 9 1996 becoming one of the most successful platforming series for the Sony PlayStation Spyro The Dragon released on September 9 1998 also became a successful platforming series Tomb Raider s Lara Croft became a video game sex symbol becoming one of the most recognizable figures in the entertainment industry throughout the late 1990s 3D graphics become the standard by the decade s end Although FPS games had long since seen the transition to full 3D other genres began to copy this trend by the end of the decade The most notable first shooter games in the 1990s are GoldenEye 007 and Tom Clancy s Rainbow Six The console wars primarily between Sega Mega Drive marketed as the Sega Genesis in North America introduced in 1988 and Nintendo Super NES introduced in 1990 sees the entrance of Sony with the PlayStation in 1994 which becomes the first successful CD based console as opposed to cartridges By the end of the decade Sega s hold on the market becomes tenuous after the end of the Saturn in 1999 and the Dreamcast in 2002 Arcade games rapidly decreased in popularity mainly due to the dominance of handheld and home consoles 105 Fighting games like Capcom s Street Fighter II Sega s Virtua Fighter and Midway s Mortal Kombat prompted the video game industry to accept a game rating system Hundreds of knockoffs are widely popular in the mid to late 1990s Doom 1993 bursts onto the world scene and instantly popularizes the FPS genre Half Life 1998 builds upon this using gameplay without levels and an immersive first person perspective Half Life became one of the most popular FPS games in history The real time strategy RTS genre is introduced in 1992 with the release of Dune II Warcraft Orcs amp Humans 1994 popularizing the genre and Command amp Conquer and Warcraft II Tides of Darkness in 1995 setting up the first major real time strategy competition and popularizing multiplayer capabilities in RTS games StarCraft in 1998 becomes the second best selling computer game of all time It remains among the most popular multiplayer RTS games today especially in South Korea citation needed Homeworld in 1999 becomes the first successful 3D RTS game The rise of the RTS genre is often credited with the fall of the turn based strategy TBS genre popularized with Civilization in 1991 Final Fantasy was introduced in North America in 1990 for the NES and remains among the most popular video game franchises with many new titles to date and more in development plus numerous spin offs sequels films and related titles Final Fantasy VII released in 1997 especially popularized the series Massively multiplayer online role playing games MMORPGs see their entrance with Ultima Online in 1997 However they do not gain widespread popularity until EverQuest and Asheron s Call in 1999 MMORPGs become among the most popular video game genres until the 2010s Pokemon enters the world scene with the release of the original Pokemon Red and Pokemon Green for Game Boy in Japan in 1996 later changed to Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue for worldwide release in 1998 It soon becomes popular in the United States and Canada creating the term Pokemonia and is adapted into a popular anime series and trading card game among other media forms Resident Evil is released in 1996 It will become the most popular survival horror series in video gaming into the next decades The best selling games of the 1990s are listed below note that some sources disagree on particular years 1990 Super Mario World 106 1991 Sonic the Hedgehog 106 1992 Super Mario Land 2 6 Golden Coins 106 1993 Super Mario All Stars 106 1994 Donkey Kong Country 106 1995 Super Mario World 2 Yoshi s Island 106 or Mortal Kombat 3 107 1996 Pokemon Red and Blue 106 or Super Mario 64 107 1997 Gran Turismo 106 or Mario Kart 64 107 1998 Pokemon Yellow 106 or The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 107 1999 Pokemon Gold and Silver 106 or Donkey Kong 64 107 The Super Nintendo was a hit in the 1990s The European PAL version of the Mega Drive launched in 1990 later becoming the highest selling fourth gen console in Europe Nintendo s Game Boy was a popular handheld game console during the 1990s The Nintendo 64 was released in 1996 Super Mario 64 was the best selling game of the decade The PlayStation was released in the mid 1990s and became the best selling gaming console of its time The game Tomb Raider launched in 1996 became particularly popular during the decade and as a result Lara Croft s character eventually became a cultural icon in the video game industry Private LAN parties were at the peak of their popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s when broadband Internet access was unavailable or too expensive for most peopleInternet Edit Prominent websites launched during the decade include IMDb 1993 eBay 1995 Amazon 1994 GeoCities 1994 Netscape 1994 Yahoo 1995 AltaVista 1995 AIM 1997 ICQ 1996 Hotmail 1996 Google 1998 Napster 1999 The pioneering peer to peer P2P file sharing internet service Napster which launched in Fall 1999 was the first peer to peer software to become massively popular While at the time it was possible to share files in other ways via the Internet such as IRC and USENET Napster was the first software to focus exclusively on sharing MP3 files for music Napster was eventually forced to shut down in July 2001 after legal disputes over copyright infringement and digital piracy though it would eventually be relaunched as a music streaming service in 2016 Architecture Edit Further information Category 1990s architecture The Petronas Twin Towers became two of the tallest man made structures ever built after they officially opened on August 31 1999 Sports Edit Michael Jordan the most popular NBA player of the 1990s In college football the Inaugural 1992 SEC Championship Game occurred at Legion Field in Birmingham Alabama The Alabama Crimson Tide football team under then Coach Gene Stallings went 11 0 and defeated the Florida Gators under then Coach Steve Spurrier The Tide would later finish 13 0 to win the National Championship and beat the Miami Hurricanes in the 1993 Sugar Bowl However Spurrier and the Gators would later win Four SEC Championships from 1993 to 1996 They went on to win their first National Championship in the 1997 Nokia Sugar Bowl by defeating the Florida State Seminoles The 1992 Summer Olympics are held in Barcelona Spain and the 1996 Summer Olympics are held in Atlanta United States Major League Baseball players went on strike on August 12 1994 thus ending the season and canceling the World Series for the first time in 90 years The players strike ended on March 29 1995 when players and team owners agreed The 1991 World Series pitted the Atlanta Braves and the Minnesota Twins two teams who finished last place in their respective divisions the previous season The series would go all seven games won by the home teams concluding dramatically with the Minnesota Twins claiming their second World Series title American NBA basketball player Michael Jordan became a major sports and pop culture icon idolized by millions worldwide He revolutionized sports marketing through deals with companies such as Gatorade Hanes McDonald s and Nike His Chicago Bulls team won six NBA titles during the decade 1991 1992 1993 1996 1997 and 1998 He was also notable outside of basketball thanks to his self portrayal in the film Space Jam with the Looney Tunes characters The National Hockey League would expand from 21 to 30 teams During the expansion years several teams would relocate to new cities the Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix Arizona and became the Phoenix Coyotes the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver and became the Colorado Avalanche the Hartford Whalers moved to Raleigh North Carolina and became the Carolina Hurricanes and the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas and became the Dallas Stars The NHL s 1990s expansion saw new teams in cities that previously never had NHL hockey San Jose San Jose Sharks Anaheim Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Nashville Nashville Predators Miami Florida Panthers and Tampa Tampa Bay Lightning The NHL also returned to Atlanta with the expansion Atlanta Thrashers Two of the NHL s Original Six teams the New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings would end long Stanley Cup championship droughts the Rangers in 1994 after 54 years and the Red Wings would win back to back Cups in 1997 and 1998 after 42 years Canadian hockey star Mario Lemieux led the Pittsburgh Penguins one of the original NHL expansion teams to back to back Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and 1992 In addition to the Pittsburgh Penguins three other NHL expansion teams went on to earn their first Stanley Cup championships the New Jersey Devils in 1995 the Colorado Avalanche in 1996 and the Dallas Stars in 1999 Canadian hockey star Wayne Gretzky announced his retirement from the NHL in 1999 Upon his final game on April 18 he held 40 regular season records 15 playoff records and six All Star records He is the leading point scorer in NHL history and the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season a feat he accomplished four times In addition he tallied over 100 points in 16 professional seasons 14 of them consecutive He played for four teams during his NHL career the Edmonton Oilers the Los Angeles Kings the St Louis Blues and the New York Rangers American cyclist Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France in 1999 less than two years after battling testicular cancer Armstrong would later become embattled in a major doping investigation stripping him of this and all of his major cycling titles In professional wrestling the boom period of the WWF from the late 1980s continued until 1993 led by such stars as Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior A second boom period of the decade was introduced during the Monday Night Wars between the WWF and WCW from the middle of the decade to spawn the WWF s Attitude Era home to some of the biggest names in wrestling history such as The Undertaker who would go on to have an undefeated streak at WrestleMania that would go on until WrestleMania XXX in April 2014 Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock and the highly popular nWo group along with Sting and Goldberg who brought WCW major success Manchester United won an unprecedented treble of the Premier League FA Cup and Champions League after defeating Bayern Munich 2 1 in May 1999 The United States hosted the 15th staging of the World Cup in 1994 It holds the record for the largest attendance per game during the World Cup finals even after the tournament s expansion to 32 teams and 64 matches Additionally this led to the creation of the MLS In motor racing triple Formula One World Champion Ayrton Senna is fatally injured in a crash at San Marino in 1994 Michael Schumacher enters into the sport winning his first two championships in 1994 and 1995 Dale Earnhardt wins the 1998 Daytona 500 and the NASCAR Winston Cup championship in 1990 1991 1993 and 1994 Indy Car racing delves into an organizational Split In the NFL the San Francisco 49ers and the Washington Redskins showed promise of continuing their 80s glory by each team winning another Super Bowl at the beginning of the decade However it was the Dallas Cowboys who made a gradual return to dynasty status winning three Super Bowls 1992 1993 and 1995 in four years after a 14 year NFL championship drought The Denver Broncos also won their first two Super Bowls after having lost four winning consecutive championships of the 1997 and 1998 seasons Florida State 1987 2000 At the height of Bobby Bowden s dominance the Florida State Seminoles went 152 19 1 won nine ACC championships 1992 2000 two national championships 1993 and 1999 played for three more national championships 1996 1998 and 2000 were ranked 1 in the preseason AP poll five times 1988 1991 1993 1995 and 1999 never lost the 1 AP ranking during 1999 produced 20 1st round NFL draft picks including the 1997 offensive and defensive rookies of the year won at least ten games every year and never finished a season ranked lower than fourth in the AP poll Quarterbacks Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke won Heisman Trophies 108 The Nebraska Cornhuskers led by head coach Tom Osborne won three national championships in college football in four years 1994 1995 1997 Led by head coach Jim Tressel The Youngstown State Penguins claimed to be the team of the 90s by winning four national championships 1991 1993 1994 1997 in division I AA college football 109 The Ultimate Fighting Championship 1993 and Pride Fighting Championship 1997 debut and evolve into the modern sport of Mixed Martial Arts Major League Baseball added four teams Miami Marlins as Florida Marlins Colorado Rockies Tampa Bay Rays as Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks and moved one Milwaukee Brewers into the National League The Florida Marlins would win the World Series in 1997 and 2003 the Arizona Diamondbacks would win the World Series in 2001 becoming the fastest expansion team to win a major championship for any major sport the Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Rays would appear in the World Series in 2007 and 2008 respectively In 1998 Canada wins gold medals for the first time in Disc ultimate at the WFDF World Ultimate Championship in Open Mixed and Masters In the 1996 Summer Olympics the Women s Gymnastics team won the first team gold medal for the US in Olympic Gymnastics history In 1997 eight Australian Rugby League Premiership clubs defect to the News Corporation backed Super League before a resolution sees the two parties form the National Rugby League in 1998 The British competition is bought out by News Corporation and renamed Super League which it is still currently named although it was sold by News Corporation Literature Edit The hugely successful Harry Potter series by J K Rowling was introduced in 1997 The series with seven main novels would go on to become the best selling book series in world history and adapted into a film series in 2001 John Grisham was the bestselling author in the United States in the 1990s with over 60 million copies sold of novels such as The Pelican Brief The Client and The Firm 110 Other successful authors of the 1990s include Stephen King Danielle Steel Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy 110 Goosebumps by R L Stine the second highest grossing book series in the world was introduced in 1992 and remained a dominant player in children s literature throughout and after the decade A television series released on Fox Kids alongside a film version that released in 2015 People EditActors amp Entertainers Edit Ben Affleck Jason Alexander Tim Allen Gillian Anderson Pamela Anderson Jennifer Aniston Christina Applegate Richard Attenborough Kevin Bacon Alec Baldwin Antonio Banderas Roseanne Barr Drew Barrymore Kim Basinger Sean Bean Candice Bergen Elizabeth Berkley Sandra Bernhard Halle Berry Pierce Brosnan Sandra Bullock Brett Butler Nicolas Cage Dean Cain Neve Campbell Drew Carey George Carlin Jim Carrey Dana Carvey Jackie Chan Dave Chappelle George Clooney Kevin Costner Courteney Cox Marcia Cross Tom Cruise Billy Crystal Macaulay Culkin Matt Damon Ellen DeGeneres Robert De Niro Johnny Depp Leonardo DiCaprio Shannen Doherty Fran Drescher David Duchovny Kirsten Dunst Anthony Edwards Chris Farley David Faustino Will Ferrell Laurence Fishburne Calista Flockhart Harrison Ford Jodie Foster Dennis Franz Brendan Fraser Morgan Freeman James Gandolfini Janeane Garofalo Jennie Garth Sarah Michelle Gellar Mel Gibson Kathie Lee Gifford Peri Gilpin Danny Glover Whoopi Goldberg John Goodman Joseph Gordon Levitt Mark Paul Gosselaar Kelsey Grammer Brian Austin Green Arsenio Hall Tom Hanks Woody Harrelson David Hasselhoff Teri Hatcher Ethan Hawke Mitch Hedberg Bill Hicks Anthony Hopkins Helen Hunt Samuel L Jackson Angelina Jolie Tommy Lee Jones Michael Keaton Nicole Kidman Val Kilmer Greg Kinnear Lisa Kudrow Eriq La Salle Angela Lansbury Martin Lawrence Matt LeBlanc Jason Lee Jane Leeves Jay Leno Jared Leto David Letterman Heather Locklear Mario Lopez Julia Louis Dreyfus Bill Maher John Mahoney Julianna Margulies Demi Moore Eddie Murphy Mike Myers Liam Neeson Craig T Nelson Chuck Norris Conan O Brien Ed O Neill Gary Oldman Jerry Orbach Al Pacino Gwyneth Paltrow Sean Penn Luke Perry Matthew Perry Joe Pesci Michelle Pfeiffer Regis Philbin David Hyde Pierce Brad Pitt Jason Priestley Dennis Quaid Keanu Reeves Paul Reiser Michael Richards Julia Roberts Chris Rock RuPaul Rene Russo Meg Ryan Winona Ryder Katey Sagal Bob Saget Adam Sandler Susan Sarandon Arnold Schwarzenegger David Schwimmer Steven Seagal Jerry Seinfeld Garry Shandling Elisabeth Shue Sarah Silverman Christian Slater Will Smith Jimmy Smits Wesley Snipes David Spade Tori Spelling John Stamos Jon Stewart Patrick Stewart Sharon Stone Meryl Streep Jeffrey Tambor Tiffani Amber Thiessen Uma Thurman John Travolta Jean Claude Van Damme Denzel Washington Sam Waterston Hugo Weaving Forest Whitaker Robin Williams Bruce Willis Oprah Winfrey James Woods Noah Wyle Ian Ziering 111 112 Johnny Depp Jodie Foster Morgan Freeman Sean Penn Robin WilliamsAthletes Edit Andre Agassi Troy Aikman Roberto Baggio Charles Barkley Barry Bonds Martin Brodeur Roger Clemens Dale Earnhardt John Elway Patrick Ewing Brett Favre Tom Glavine Steffi Graf Wayne Gretzky Ken Griffey Jr Tony Hawk Grant Hill Michael Irvin Jaromir Jagr Derek Jeter Randy Johnson Chipper Jones Michael Jordan Jurgen Klinsmann Michelle Kwan Mario Lemieux Greg LeMond Greg Maddux Karl Malone Mark Messier Reggie Miller Alonzo Mourning Hakeem Olajuwon Shaquille O Neal Gary Payton Scottie Pippen Jerry Rice Cal Ripken Jr David Robinson Dennis Rodman Romario Ronaldo Patrick Roy Joe Sakic Pete Sampras Barry Sanders Deion Sanders Alan Shearer Peter Schmeichel Brendan Shanahan Kelly Slater Emmitt Smith John Smoltz John Stockton Steve Yzerman Zinedine Zidane Michael Jordan Wayne Gretzky Barry Bonds Dale EarnhardtMusicians Edit Aaliyah Aerosmith Alan Jackson Alanis Morissette Alice In Chains A Tribe Called Quest Backstreet Boys Beck Blind Melon Blur Bon Jovi Boyz II Men Britney Spears Bryan Adams Busta Rhymes Cat Power Celine Dion Clint Black Cocteau Twins Collective Soul The Cranberries Daft Punk Dave Matthews Band Deftones Depeche Mode Destiny s Child DMX Dr Dre Eazy E Elliott Smith Elton John Eminem Everclear Fiona Apple Foo Fighters Fugees Garth Brooks Gloria Estefan Goo Goo Dolls Green Day Hootie and the Blowfish Ice Cube Incubus Janet Jackson Jay Z Korn Lenny Kravitz Lil Kim Madonna Mariah Carey Marilyn Manson Melissa Etheridge Metallica Michael Jackson The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Nas Nightwish Nine Inch Nails Nirvana No Doubt The Notorious B I G NSYNC Oasis Outkast Pantera Pearl Jam Phish R Kelly R E M Radiohead Rage Against the Machine Red Hot Chili Peppers Sean Combs Shania Twain Sheryl Crow Smashing Pumpkins Snoop Dogg Soundgarden Spice Girls Sting Stone Temple Pilots Sublime TLC Toni Braxton Tori Amos Tupac Shakur U2 Whitney Houston Wu Tang Clan Nine Inch Nails The Cranberries Red Hot Chili PeppersSee also Edit 1990s portal1990s in music 1990s in fashion 1990s in television 1990s in science and technology 1990s in video gaming 1990s in literatureTimeline Edit The following articles contain timelines that list the most prominent events of the decade 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999References Edit The Nineties A Book by Chuck Klosterman pg 132 Levrau Francois Loobuyck Patrick 2018 Introduction mapping the multiculturalism interculturalism debate Comparative Migration Studies 6 1 13 doi 10 1186 s40878 018 0080 8 ISSN 2214 594X PMC 5956058 PMID 29780695 Stiglitz Joseph E 2004 The Roaring Nineties W W Norton ISBN 978 0 393 32618 5 World Population Growth Rate 1950 2022 Fritsch Helmut 2008 EUFOR RD Congo A Misunderstood Operation Martello Papers Vol 33 Queen s University at Kingston pp 5 6 8 ISBN 978 1 55339 101 2 GlobalSecurity org Second Chechnya War 1999 Archived 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine International commission Eritrea triggered the border war with Ethiopia BBC News 21 December 2005 Retrieved 29 March 2017 Tens of thousands Eritrea Final deal with Ethiopia Archived 24 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine BBC 4 December 2000 Eritrea orders Westerners in UN mission out in 10 days Archived 19 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine International Herald Tribune 7 December 2005 Horn peace deal Full text 11 December 2000 Retrieved 30 December 2021 Noh Yuree October 2018 Politics and education in post war Algeria Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Archived from the original on 21 January 2019 Retrieved 26 October 2021 Des Forges Alison 1999 Leave None to Tell the Story Genocide in Rwanda Human Rights Watch ISBN 978 1 56432 171 8 Retrieved 12 January 2007 See e g Rwanda How the genocide happened Archived 21 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine BBC 1 April 2004 which gives an estimate of 800 000 and OAU sets inquiry into Rwanda genocide Archived 25 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine Africa Recovery Vol 12 1 1 August 1998 page 4 which estimates the number at between 500 000 and 1 000 000 7 out of every 10 Tutsis were killed Pruitt Sarah 2 April 2020 How Ruby Ridge and Waco Led to the Oklahoma City Bombing History Retrieved 9 April 2020 a b Antohi Sorin Tismăneanu Vladimir January 2000 Independence Reborn and the Demons of the Velvet Revolution Between Past and Future The Revolutions of 1989 and Their Aftermath Central European University Press p 85 ISBN 978 963 9116 71 9 a b Evans Martha February 2012 Transmitting the Transition Media Events and Post Apartheid South African National Identity University of Cape Town pp ix hdl 11427 10475 Retrieved 11 April 2020 Peatling Gary 2004 The failure of the Northern Ireland peace process Irish Academic Press p 58 ISBN 0 7165 3336 7 Cox Michael Guelke Adrian and Stephen Fiona 2006 A farewell to arms beyond the Good Friday Agreement Manchester University Press p 486 ISBN 0 7190 7115 1 Clark Desmond and Jones Charles 1999 The rights of nations nations and nationalism in a changing world Palgrave Macmillan p 168 ISBN 0 312 22595 4 Cox amp Guelke pp 487 488 ARK Northern Ireland Elections The 1998 Referendums Archived 9 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine Politics 97 Archived 25 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine by Joshua Rozenberg BBC website Retrieved 9 July 2006 Past Referendums Scotland 1997 The Electoral Commission Archived from the original on 7 December 2006 Morgan Bryn 8 October 1999 House of Commons Research Paper Scottish Parliament Elections 6 May 1999 PDF House of Commons Library Retrieved 17 November 2006 Liberia Samuel Doe death washed down with a Budweiser 10 November 2021 Archived from the original on 26 October 2022 Retrieved 26 October 2022 1991 Bomb kills India s former leader Rajiv Gandhi 21 May 1991 Archived from the original on 21 June 2016 Retrieved 26 October 2022 Ali Vakili Rad The perfect murder and an imperfect getaway 18 May 2010 Archived from the original on 22 October 2020 Retrieved 26 October 2022 The killing of Algeria s Mohamed Boudiaf A parricide on live television 9 November 2021 Archived from the original on 26 October 2022 Retrieved 26 October 2022 Hersh Seymour M 1 November 1993 A Case Not Closed The New Yorker Archived from the original on 14 October 2002 Retrieved 7 February 2016 SRI LANKA A NATION DIVIDED the Washington Post The Washington Post Archived from the original on 13 October 2020 Retrieved 26 October 2022 Krueger Robert Krueger Kathleen Tobin 2007 From Bloodshed to Hope in Burundi Our Embassy Years During Genocide PDF University of Texas Press pp 18 19 ISBN 9780292714861 Biography of Pablo Escobar Colombian Drug Kingpin Archived from the original on 14 April 2019 Retrieved 26 October 2022 ASN Aircraft accident Dassault Falcon 50 9XR NN Kigali Airport KGL Archived from the original on 26 October 2022 Retrieved 26 October 2022 570 The Night in Question 14 December 2017 Archived from the original on 26 October 2022 Retrieved 26 October 2022 BBC News Europe Dual attack killed president Archived from the original on 27 July 2020 Retrieved 26 October 2022 Obituary Andrei Lukanov Independent co uk 3 October 1996 Archived from the original on 26 October 2022 Retrieved 26 October 2022 Arrested gunman implactes Oviedo Cubas in Argana Archived from the original on 26 October 2022 Retrieved 26 October 2022 1999 President of Niger killed in ambush 9 April 1999 Archived from the original on 15 April 2015 Retrieved 26 October 2022 Abramovitz Janet N 2001 Averting Natural Disasters State of the World 2001 Worldwatch Institute W W Norton amp Company pp 123 126 ISBN 0 393 04866 7 Retrieved 13 April 2020 Inflation in the 1990s InflationData com Retrieved 28 December 2021 Boschker Karen Sieberson Eric 2007 The Euro Money Changes Everything PDF University of Washington Retrieved 9 April 2020 Computer Ownership Up Sharply in the 1990s PDF Did 1993 Change Everything New York Magazine nymag com Grossman Lev 31 March 2003 How the Web Was Spun Time Magazine Archived from the original on 25 June 2009 Retrieved 19 July 2009 Berners Lee s computer faithfully logged the exact second the site was launched 2 56 20 pm 6 August 1991 InfoWorld Jan 8 1990 InfoWorld Media Group Inc 8 January 1990 Blast from the Past Buying a Computer in 1995 27 December 2011 Archived from the original on 18 May 2015 Retrieved 8 May 2015 This truly is our story Archived from the original on 24 March 2012 Retrieved 3 June 2011 Our history Eurotunnel Archived from the original on 3 January 2010 Retrieved 10 May 2009 Official Waterloo Goodbye video useful statistics and numbers shown YouTube com 20 December 2007 Archived from the original on 11 December 2021 Retrieved 27 April 2010 Waterloo International 1994 2007 The Guardian London 13 November 2007 Takagi Ryo March 2005 High speed Railways The last ten years PDF Japan Railway amp Transport Review 40 4 7 Archived from the original PDF on 20 June 2009 Eurostar celebrates 10 years at Ashford International Press release Eurostar 9 January 2006 Archived from the original on 22 May 2012 Callaway Ewen 30 June 2016 Dolly at 20 The Inside Story on the World s Most Famous Sheep Scientific American Nature Archived from the original on 30 December 2019 Retrieved 10 April 2020 Perrineau Aude Hairy Guillaume Serra Marina Martin 2016 The Chernobyl Disaster The Nuclear Catastrophe and Its Devastating Effects ISBN 9782806279200 Breidenich Clare Magraw Daniel Rowley Anne Rubin James W April 1998 The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change American Journal of International Law Cambridge University Press 92 2 315 331 doi 10 2307 2998044 JSTOR 2998044 S2CID 144578117 Retrieved 9 April 2020 Now more than half of Americans are millennials or younger 30 July 2020 Retrieved 17 April 2021 Stop discrimination against homosexual men and women The WHO Regional Office for Europe 17 May 2011 Retrieved 10 February 2021 Dish The Daily 7 July 2009 What Happened In 1990 The Atlantic Dahlburg John Thor 20 September 1997 Survivor Can t Recall Paris Crash Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on 9 April 2020 Retrieved 9 April 2020 Dahlburg John Thor 6 September 1997 Mother Teresa 87 Dies Devoted Her Life to Poor Los Angeles Times Retrieved 9 April 2020 Titanic Box Office Mojo web archive org 27 October 2019 Retrieved 13 December 2022 Titanic 1997 Archived from the original on 12 May 2009 Retrieved 22 May 2009 1991 Oscars org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Retrieved 5 July 2018 1992 Oscars org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Retrieved 5 July 2018 1993 Oscars org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Retrieved 5 July 2018 1994 Oscars org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Retrieved 5 July 2018 1995 Oscars org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Retrieved 5 July 2018 1996 Oscars org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Retrieved 5 July 2018 1997 Oscars org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Retrieved 5 July 2018 1998 Oscars org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Retrieved 5 July 2018 1999 Oscars org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Retrieved 5 July 2018 2000 Oscars org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Retrieved 5 July 2018 Maslin Janet 22 May 1990 David Lynch Film Takes the Top Prize at Cannes Festival The New York Times Retrieved 5 July 2018 Canby Vincent 21 May 1991 Barton Fink Wins the Top Prize And 2 Others at Cannes Festival The New York Times Retrieved 5 July 2018 Maslin Janet 19 May 1992 Swedish Film Is No 1 at Cannes Tim Robbins Wins Acting Prize The New York Times Retrieved 5 July 2018 Canby Vincent 25 May 1993 Top Prize at Cannes Is Shared The New York Times Retrieved 5 July 2018 Maslin Janet 24 May 1994 A Dark Comedy Wins at Cannes The New York Times Retrieved 5 July 2018 Maslin Janet 29 May 1995 2 Films on Strife in Balkans Win Top Prizes at Cannes The New York Times Retrieved 5 July 2018 Maslin Janet 21 May 1996 Secrets and Lies Wins the Top Prize at Cannes The New York Times Retrieved 5 July 2018 Maslin Janet 19 May 1997 Pensiveness Not Glitz Gets The Gold at Cannes Festival The New York Times Retrieved 5 July 2018 Maslin Janet 25 May 1998 Greek Director Wins Top Prize at Cannes Festival The New York Times Retrieved 5 July 2018 Maslin Janet 24 May 1998 A Belgian Film Wins Top Prize at the Cannes Festival The New York Times Retrieved 5 July 2018 Worldwide Box Office Box Office Mojo pp 1990 1994 1996 1999 Retrieved 10 April 2020 Leopold Todd 22 August 2002 Like Omigod It s the return of the 80s The New York Times Archived from the original on 4 November 2013 Leopold Todd 21 July 2005 Return of the 90s Archived from the original on 16 March 2012 Retrieved 22 March 2013 DeCurtis Anthony 5 October 1999 The Ball Drops on the Music Industry Rolling Stone Retrieved 10 December 2012 Leeds Jeff 13 February 2005 We Hate the 80s The New York Times Retrieved 28 April 2013 Eddy Chuch 10 November 2009 MYTH No 2 Nirvana Killed Hair Metal Spin Retrieved 17 September 2011 Pareles Jon 14 June 1992 POP VIEW Nirvana bes Awaiting Fame s Call The New York Times Retrieved 23 November 2011 Music Genres AllMusic Wilson Carl 4 August 2011 My So Called Adulthood The New York Times Retrieved 25 August 2011 McGee Allan 3 January 2008 The missing link of hip hop s golden age The Guardian UK Retrieved 17 September 2011 Caramanica Jon 9 November 2009 MYTH No 4 Biggie amp Tupac Are Hip Hop s Pillars Spin Retrieved 4 September 2011 Batey Angus 7 October 2010 The hip hop heritage society The Guardian UK Retrieved 8 November 2011 Martinez Michael 9 February 2011 The music dies for once popular Guitar Hero video game CNN Archived from the original on 11 August 2011 BBC Press Office New Spice Girls documentary on BBC One www bbc co uk 1998 Ginger leaves the Spice Girls BBC News 31 May 1998 Retrieved 29 March 2010 Teen Pop Music A Guide Archived from the original on 11 February 2009 Retrieved 26 August 2009 Teen Pop AllMusic Retrieved 17 February 2017 Ashthana Anushka 25 May 2008 They don t live for work they work to live The Guardian UK Retrieved 21 July 2011 Country is No 1 musical style Reading Eagle 19 August 1992 Retrieved 26 July 2010 Country music reflects the time Herald Journal 27 September 1992 Retrieved 26 July 2010 Hurst Jack 25 November 1993 Country music is making waves across the seas The Star Retrieved 26 July 2010 RIAA com RIAA com Archived from the original on 26 June 2007 Retrieved 1 February 2011 McCABE HEATHER 25 April 1996 With a New Beat and Attitude the Vice Man Cometh Los Angeles Times Wolf Mark J P 2008 Arcade Games of the 1990s and Beyond The video game explosion a history from PONG to PlayStation and beyond Westport Connecticut Greenwood Press p 135 ISBN 978 0 313 33868 7 OCLC 154776597 Retrieved 19 July 2009 The decline of arcade video games would come back in the 1990s despite attempts to redefine the arcade experience and attract players back to the arcade a b c d e f g h i j Welch Hanuman 23 April 2013 The Best Selling Video Game Of Every Year Since 1977 Complex Retrieved 29 June 2021 a b c d e Webb Kevin 12 September 2019 The best selling video game of every year from 1995 to 2018 Business Insider Retrieved 29 June 2021 College Football s 12 Greatest Dynasties Sports Illustrated 25 December 2005 Retrieved 1 May 2010 At the height of Bobby Bowden s dominance the Florida State Seminoles won two national championships 1993 and 1999 played for three others 1996 1998 and 2000 and never finished outside the AP top four Quarterbacks Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke won Heisman Trophies Football Traditions a b Grisham ranks as top selling author of decade CNN 31 December 1999 Retrieved 8 May 2015 Top Actors Actresses of the 90 s imdb com Retrieved 7 December 2020 The 90 Best TV Shows of the 1990s Paste Magazine 20 August 2014 Retrieved 7 December 2020 Further reading EditAsh Timothy Garton History of the Present Essays Sketches and Dispatches from Europe in the 1990s 2009 excerpts Bender Thomas Venturesome and Cautious American History in the 1990s Journal of American History 1994 992 1003 in JSTOR Bentley Nick ed British Fiction of the 1990s Routledge 2007 Berman Milton The Nineties in America 2009 Brugger Niels ed Web25 Histories from the first 25 years of the World Wide Web Peter Lang 2017 Cornia Giovanni Andrea Ralph van der Hoeven and Thandika Mkandawire Africa s recovery in the 1990s from stagnation and adjustment to human development St Martin s Press 1992 Harrison Thomas 2011 Music of the 1990s ABC CLIO ISBN 9780313379437 O Neill William A Bubble in Time America During the Interwar Years 1989 2001 2009 Excerpt popular history Parratt Catriona M About Turns Reflecting on Sport History in the 1990s Sport History Review 1998 29 1 pp 4 17 Rubin Robert and Jacob Weisberg In an uncertain world tough choices from Wall Street to Washington 2015 economic history Sierz Aleks Modern British Playwriting The 1990s Voices Documents New Interpretations A amp C Black 2012 Stiglitz Joseph E The roaring nineties A new history of the world s most prosperous decade Norton 2004 economic history Turner Alwyn A Classless Society Britain in the 1990s Aurum Press 2013 van der Hoeven Arno Remembering the popular music of the 1990s dance music and the cultural meanings of decade based nostalgia International Journal of heritage studies 2014 20 3 pp 316 330 Yoda Tomiko and Harry Harootunian eds Japan After Japan Social and Cultural Life from the Recessionary 1990s to the Present 2006 External links Edit Media related to 1990s at Wikimedia Commons Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1990s amp oldid 1131801890, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.