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

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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 1992 -- 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
• Impeachment of Bill Clinton
• 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

World Leaders

• Deng Xiaoping (People's Republic of China)
• President Jiang Zemin (People's Republic of China)
• 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)

Entertainers

• 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

Music

• Ace of Base[?] (The Sign[?])
• Aerosmith (Get a Grip[?])
• Alan Jackson (A Lot About Livin' (And a Little About Love)[?])
• 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[?])
• Spacemen 3 (Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs to[?])
• The Spice Girls (Spice World[?])
• 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))

See also: 1990s music groups, List of rock and roll albums in the 1990s