1990s

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s - 1990s - 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s

Years: 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Table of contents

1 Events and Trends 2 World Leaders 3 Entertainers 4 Sports figures 5 Music

Events and Trends

• Reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990
• Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other technology
• Genocide in Rwanda kills one million people, in 1994.
• Development of GATT, the World Trade Organization and other global economic institutions
• Cloning (of Dolly, the sheep) achieved
• Break up of the Soviet Union in 1991 -- the end of the Cold War, United States as sole world superpower
• Human Genome Project begun
• Global human impact on the environment widely accepted
• Peace process begins in Northern Ireland.
• Balkan war in former Yugoslavia
• Gulf War and embargo on Iraq
• After 1992 the booming of the stock market, which stretched into the dot-com boom/dot-com bubble
• Bill Clinton's sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky and his Impeachment trial
• Grunge music
• Year 2000 problem (commonly known as Y2K)
• Eritrea gains independence from Ethiopia
• End of apartheid in South Africa and election of ANC government of Nelson Mandela
• North Yemen and South Yemen merge to form Yemen
• A decade of women presidents in the Republic of Ireland
• Divorce and scandal rocks the British Royal House of Windsor
• Assasination of Selena Quintanilla
• O.J's trial, called by many the trial of the century
• You go, girl! becomes a popular phrase as the media gives feminist movements a boost with The Spice Girls, the WNBA, women's boxing, Sex and the City and others showcasing feminine talent.
• The Vieques controversy

• Prime Minister Bob Hawke (Australia)
• Prime Minister Paul Keating (Australia)
• Prime Minister John Howard (Australia)
• Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (Canada)
• Prime Minister Jean Chretien (Canada)
• Deng Xiaoping (People's Republic of China)
• President Jiang Zemin (People's Republic of China)
• President Lee Teng-hui (Republic of China on Taiwan)
• President Hosni Mubarak (Egypt)
• President François Mitterrand (France)
• President Jacques Chirac (France)
• Chancellor Helmut Kohl (Germany)
• Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (Germany)
• Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (India)
• President Mohammad Khatami (Iran)
• President Saddam Hussein (Iraq)
• Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (Israel)
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel)
• Emperor Akihito (Japan)
• President Yasser Arafat (Palestinian Authority)
• Pope John Paul II
• President Boris Yeltsin (Russia)
• President Frederik Willem de Klerk (South Africa)
• President Nelson Mandela (South Africa)
• Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet Union)
• Queen Elizabeth II (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister John Major (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister Tony Blair (United Kingdom)
• President George H. W. Bush (United States)
• President Bill Clinton (United States)
• Taoiseach Charles Haughey (Republic of Ireland)
• Taoiseach Albert Reynolds (Republic of Ireland)
• Taoiseach John Bruton (Republic of Ireland)
• Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (Republic of Ireland)

• Sandra Bullock
• Tim Burton
• Bush
• Jim Carrey
• Phil Collins
• Kevin Costner
• Harrison Ford
• Mel Gibson
• Green Day
• Tom Hanks
• Helen Hunt
• Samuel L. Jackson
• Ashley Judd
• Nicole Kidman
• Demi Moore
• Shawn Mullins
• Mike Myers and Dana Carvey (Wayne's World)
• Jack Nicholson
• Nirvana
• The Offspring (Smash)
• Michelle Pfeiffer
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Julia Roberts
• Meg Ryan
• Adam Sandler
• M. Night Shyamalan
• Mira Sorvino
• Quentin Tarantino
• Billy Bob Thornton
• Uma Thurman
• Bruce Willis

• Cal Ripken Jr
• Mark McGwire
• Roger Clemens
• Barry Sanders
• Emmitt Smith
• Brett Favre
• Michael Jordan
• Karl Malone
• David Robinson
• Wayne Gretzky
• Mario Lemieux
• Patrick Roy
• Pete Sampras
• Andre Agassi
• Dale Earnhardt
• Evander Holyfield
• Miguel Induraín

• Ace of Base (The Sign)
• Aerosmith (Get a Grip)
• Alan Jackson (A Lot About Livin' (And a Little About Love))
• Alanis Morissette (Jagged Little Pill)
• Alice in Chains (Dirt)
• Anthrax (Persistence of Time)
• Aphex Twin (Selected Ambient Works 85-92)
• Ash (1977)
• Backstreet Boys (Backstreet's Back)
• Beck (Mellow Gold)
• Beenie Man (Blessed)
• Billy Ray Cyrus (Some Gave All)
• blink-182 (Enema of the State)
• Blur (Parklife)
• Boyzone (Where We Belong)
• Buju Banton (Till Shiloh)
• Bush (Sixteen Stone)
• The Cardigans (First Band on the Moon)
• Celine Dion (Let's Talk About Love)
• Christina Aguilera (Christina Aguilera)
• Clint Black (The Hard Way)
• Cradle of Filth (Dusk & Her Embrace)
• D'Angelo (Brown Sugar)
• Da Brat (Funkdafied)
• Dixie Chicks (Wide Open Spaces)
• DMX (It's Dark and Hell Is Hot)
• Dr. Dre (The Chronic)
• Dr. Octagon (Dr. Octagonecologyst)
• Eminem (The Slim Shady LP)
• Emperor (In the Nightside Eclipse)
• Erykah Badu (Baduizm)
• Fugazi (Repeater)
• Garth Brooks (Ropin' the Wind)
• Get Up Kids (Something to Write Home About)
• Green Day (Dookie)
• Guru (Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1)
• GZA (Liquid Swords)
• Hootie and the Blowfish (Cracked Rear View)
• Kid Rock (Devil Without a Cause)
• Kris Kross (Totally Krossed Out)
• Lauryn Hill (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill)
• Limp Bizkit (Significant Other)
• Lush (Split)
• Madonna (Ray of Light)
• Marilyn Manson (Antichrist Superstar)
• Mary J. Blige (What's the 411)
• MC Hammer (Too Legit to Quit)
• My Bloody Valentine (Loveless)
• Nas (Illmatic)
• Nine Inch Nails (The Downward Spiral)
• Nirvana (Nevermind)
• NOFX (Punk in Drublic)
• Notorious B.I.G (Life After Death)
• Oasis (Definitely Maybe)
• The Offspring (Smash)
• OutKast (Aquemini)
• Pantera (A Vulgar Display of Power)
• Paul Oakenfold (Global Underground: Oslo)
• Pearl Jam (Ten)
• Pennywise (Pennywise)
• The Prodigy (The Fat of the Land)
• Radiohead (OK Computer)
• Raekwon (Only Built 4 Cuban Linx)
• Rancid (And Out Come the Wolves)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers (Blood Sugar Sex Magik)
• Reverend Horton Heat (Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em)
• Ricky Martin (A Medio Vivir)
• Ride (Nowhere)
• Sepultura (Chaos A.D)
• Shania Twain (Come on Over)
• The Smashing Pumpkins (Siamese Dream)
• Spacemen 3 (Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs to)
• The Spice Girls (Spice World)
• Stone Temple Pilots (Core)
• Sunny Day Real Estate (How It Feels to Be Something On)
• Tool (Ænima)
• A Tribe Called Quest (The Low End Theory)
• Tupac Shakur (2pacalaypse Now)
• Type O Negative (Bloody Kisses)
• The Vandals (Quickening)
• Weezer (The Blue Album)
• White Zombie (La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1)
• Wilco (Being There)
• Wu-Tang Clan (Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers))