Recent history

This is a timeline of the 21st century.

2001

 * September 11 attacks: Al-Qaeda terrorists crash planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, and The Pentagon in Washington, DC. A fourth plane is downed on the outskirts of Stonycreek Township, PA. Nearly 3,000 people die in the attacks.
 * Massive earthquakes hit the western state of Gujarat, India, leaving at least 30,000 dead.
 * The War on Terror is declared by President Bush, in response to 9/11.
 * The United States invades Afghanistan and topples the Taliban regime. The result is a long-term war.
 * African Union founded.
 * During an economic crisis in Argentina, the government effectively froze all bank accounts for twelve months which led to riots and President de la Rúa's resignation from office.
 * President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines is impeached.
 * Steve Jobs introduces the first iPod.
 * China and WTO: China became a member of the World Trade Organization.

2002

 * 2002 Bali bombings.
 * Riots and mass killings in the Indian state of Gujarat leave 1,044 dead.
 * Israel starts Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank in response to a wave of Palestinian suicide attacks.
 * Construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier begins.
 * Chechen rebels seize theatre in Moscow.
 * America demands Iraq allow unfettered access to weapons inspectors.
 * Guantanamo Bay detention camp is established. Algerian Civil War ends.
 * Beltway sniper attacks.
 * Independence of East Timor.
 * First Ivorian Civil War begins.
 * Brazil win the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea & Japan

2003

 * The United States invades Iraq and topples Saddam Hussein, triggering worldwide protests and an 8 year war.
 * War in Darfur begins.
 * The Human Genome Project is completed.
 * Second Congo War ends with more than 5 million dead.
 * Second Liberian Civil War ends.
 * Space Shuttle Columbia is destroyed on re-entry.
 * Rose Revolution in Georgia
 * The last Volkswagen Beetle is made in Brazil, after 65 years in production.

2004

 * Enlargement of NATO and the European Union incorporates most of former Eastern Bloc.
 * Facebook formed by Mark Zuckerberg.
 * Union of South American Nations formed.
 * Madrid train bombings.
 * The Second Battle of Fallujah is the deadliest American battle since Vietnam, killing 95 troops.
 * Orange Revolution in Ukraine.
 * Beslan school hostage crisis.
 * Boxing Day Tsunami occurs in Indian Ocean, leading to the deaths of 230,000.
 * 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
 * First surface images of Saturn's moon Titan.

2005

 * IRA end military campaign in Northern Ireland.
 * 7/7 attacks on London Underground.
 * Angela Merkel becomes Germany's first woman Chancellor.
 * Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan.
 * Second Intifada ends.
 * Israel withdraws from Gaza.
 * Cedar Revolution in Lebanon triggered by the assassination of Rafic Hariri.
 * Second Sudanese Civil War ends.
 * Hurricane Katrina kills 1,836 people in the Gulf of Mexico (particularly in New Orleans, Louisiana).
 * 80,000 are killed in an earthquake in Kashmir.
 * The Kyoto Protocol comes into effect.
 * Mahmoud Ahmadinejad becomes President of Iran.
 * Benedict XVI becomes Pope.
 * Michael E. Brown discovers Eris.
 * YouTube formed by Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen.

2006

 * Independence of Montenegro.
 * 2006 Lebanon War.
 * Mumbai bombings.
 * Comprehensive Peace Accord ends the Nepalese Civil War.
 * Ellen Johnson Sirleaf becomes President of Liberia, and thus Africa's first elected female head of state.
 * The International Astronomical Union creates the first formal definition of a planet, and excludes Pluto from the list.
 * Execution of Saddam Hussein.
 * The Baiji, the Yangtze river dolphin, becomes functionally extinct.
 * Twitter is launched.
 * Former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko dies from poisoning in the UK.

2007

 * Anti-government protests in Myanmar crushed by ruling junta.
 * Spike in food prices and subprime crisis help trigger global recession.
 * Assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
 * Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
 * First Ivorian Civil War ends.
 * Introduction of the iPhone.
 * Virginia Tech shooting.

2008

 * Stock markets plunge around the world.
 * End of Monarchy in Nepal.
 * Barack Obama is elected as President of the United States.
 * Cyclone Nargis kills 133,000 in Myanmar. Gaza War begins.
 * 2008 South Ossetia war.
 * Kosovo declares independence, to mixed reaction.
 * Battle of Basra - Iraqi forces crack down on Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi forces in Basra and Sadr City.
 * 2008 Mumbai attacks.
 * The Large Hadron Collider is completed as the world's largest and most powerful particle collider.

2009

 * Bitcoin is launched.
 * Gaza War ends; Gaza blockade continues.
 * Sri Lankan Civil War ends.
 * Election protests begin in Iran.
 * Second Chechen War ends.
 * Boko Haram rebellion begins in Nigeria.
 * Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest skyscraper, is completed.
 * Great Recession officially ends.
 * Formation of BRICS economic bloc.
 * Treaty of Lisbon ratified.

2010

 * After the 2010 United Kingdom general election, David Cameron becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
 * Benigno Aquino III is elected as the 15th President of the Philippines.
 * A 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti kills 230,000.
 * The threat of Greece defaulting on its debts triggers the European sovereign debt crisis and Republic of Ireland's financial crisis.
 * The largest oil spill in US history occurs in the Gulf of Mexico.
 * North Korea shells the island of Yeonpyeong.
 * Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest.
 * 2010 Moscow Metro bombings.
 * Arab Spring triggered by self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi on December 17, 2010 in Tunisia.
 * 2010 Kyrgyzstani revolution.
 * 2010 Nigerien coup d'état.
 * The President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, is among 96 killed when their airplane crashes in Smolensk on April 10.
 * The Burj Khalifa located in Dubai opened to the public and stood as the tallest structure in the world, standing at 829.8 m (2,722 ft).
 * Dilma Rousseff is elected as the first female president of Brazil.
 * The iPad is introduced.
 * Instagram is launched

2011

 * Independence of South Sudan.
 * Snapchat launched.
 * Arab Spring: revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya follow, as well as uprisings in Yemen and Bahrain, and protests in several other Arab countries.
 * Syrian civil war begins.
 * Second Ivorian Civil War.
 * Occupy movement inspires worldwide protests.
 * News International phone hacking scandal.
 * A 9.0 earthquake in Japan triggers a tsunami and the meltdown of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.
 * The Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge, the world's longest, opens in China.
 * Second Ivorian Civil War ends with the arrest of former president Laurent Gbagbo.
 * Iraq War ends.
 * Riots flare across England.
 * Bombings occur In Russia and Somalia.
 * World population reaches 7 Billion.
 * Floods in Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines kill roughly 2500 people.
 * Osama bin Laden is shot dead by United States Navy SEALs in Pakistan.
 * 2011 Norway attacks

2012

 * Northern Mali conflict, the MNLA declares Azawad an independent state.
 * Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh steps down.
 * 2012 Benghazi attack leads to the death of US ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.
 * Shenouda III, Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, departs; Tawadros II succeeds him.
 * The Higgs boson is discovered.
 * Vladimir Putin is elected president of Russia for the third time.
 * Hurricane Sandy kills 209 people in North America, while Typhoon Bopha kills over 1,600 in the Philippines.
 * Skydiver Felix Baumgartner becomes the first person to break the sound barrier without a vehicle.
 * Conflict begins in the Central African Republic.
 * UN Climate Change Conference agrees to extend the Kyoto Protocol until 2020.
 * Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense against the Palestinian-governed Gaza Strip.
 * 2012 Guinea-Bissau coup d'état.
 * The US rover, Curiosity, takes a selfie on Mars
 * Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
 * 2012 Aurora shooting.
 * Costa Concordia disaster.

2013

 * The French military intervenes in the Northern Mali conflict.
 * Chelyabinsk meteor.
 * Pope Benedict XVI resigns and Pope Francis becomes Pope.
 * Terrorist attacks occur in Boston and Nairobi.
 * The Rana Plaza collapses in Bangladesh.
 * Edward Snowden releases classified documents concerning mass surveillance by the NSA.
 * President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi is deposed by the military in a coup d'état.
 * Croatia becomes a member of the European Union.
 * The Euromaidan protest begins in Ukraine.
 * A chemical attack in Ghouta, Syria is blamed on President Bashar al-Assad.
 * Typhoon Haiyan kills nearly 6,150 people in the Philippines and Vietnam.
 * Conflict begins in South Sudan. Uruguay becomes the first country to fully legalize cannabis.
 * End of 2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis.
 * Boston Marathon bombings.

2014

 * The worst Ebola epidemic in recorded history occurs in West Africa, infecting nearly 30,000 people and resulting in the deaths of 11,000+.
 * Euromaidan protest in Ukraine sparks a revolution and the overthrow of Viktor Yanukovych, leading to Russia's annexation of Crimea and the War in Donbass.
 * Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappears from radar while en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8. There were 239 people on board.
 * A coup d'état in Thailand overthrows the caretaker government.
 * King Juan Carlos I of Spain abdicates; his son becomes King Felipe VI.
 * Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashes into the Java Sea, while Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shot down over Ukraine and Air Algérie Flight 5017 is downed in Mali.
 * Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan kill over 130 students in Pakistan.
 * Israel launches an assault on the Gaza Strip in response to tit-for-tat murder-kidnappings, leading to the deaths of 71 Israelis and 2100 Palestinians.
 * ISIS begins its offensive in northern Iraq, leading to intervention in Iraq and Syria by a US-led coalition.
 * Second Libyan Civil War begins.
 * The Rosetta spacecraft's Philae probe becomes the first to successfully land on a comet.
 * The shooting of African-American teenager Michael Brown by police leads to violent unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.

2015

 * Five former Soviet Union countries form the Eurasian Economic Union.
 * Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris.
 * Boko Haram perpetrates a massacre of over 2000 people in Baga, Nigeria, and allies itself with ISIL.
 * Al-Shabaab perpetrates a a mass shooting in Kenya, killing 148.
 * Houthis overthrow the government in Yemen, triggering a military response by Saudi Arabia.
 * A series of earthquakes in the Himalayas kills over 10,000 people.
 * ISIL claims responsibility for the Kobanî massacre in Syria, the Sousse attacks in Tunisia, a mosque bombing in Kuwait, the Suruç bombing in Turkey, multiple bombings in Beirut and a massacre in Paris, as well as the bombing of a Russian Airliner over Egypt. They also inspire a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.
 * Turkey and Russia intervene in the Syrian Civil War.
 * The heads of China and Taiwan meet for the first time, while the United States and Cuba resume diplomatic relations.
 * 195 nations agree to lower carbon emissions.
 * Liquid water is found on Mars.
 * First close-up images of Ceres and Pluto.
 * November 2015 Paris attacks.
 * Charleston church shooting.
 * 2015 San Bernardino attack.

2016

 * An outbreak of the Zika virus is linked to a cluster of cases of microcephaly.
 * The United Nations lifts sanctions on Iran in recognition of its dismantling of its nuclear program.
 * ISIL claims responsibility for a series of bombings in Brussels, a massacre at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport and car ramming attacks in Nice and Berlin.
 * The Gotthard Base Tunnel, the world's longest railway tunnel, is completed.
 * The people of the United Kingdom vote narrowly to leave the European Union; Theresa May becomes Prime Minister.
 * Donald Trump is elected President of the United States.
 * The Colombian government signs a peace deal with FARC despite losing a referendum.
 * The President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, is impeached.
 * The government of Turkey begins a series of purges in reaction to a failed coup d'état attempt.
 * Rodrigo Duterte becomes President of the Philippines, and initiates a controversial drug war.
 * Andrei Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, is assassinated at an art exhibition in Ankara.
 * Detection of gravitational waves by LIGO confirmed.
 * Dhaka attack kills 29 people.
 * A shooter kills 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
 * 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers.
 * 2016 Southern Taiwan earthquake.

2017

 * Tensions between North Korea and the UN escalate as the country tests a hydrogen bomb and conducts a series of ballistic missile tests. The UN responds with a wave of export sanctions.
 * A terrorist bombing attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England kills 22 people and injures over 500.
 * Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) launch simultaneous attacks in Tehran, destroy the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul Iraq, and kill 311 in Egypt, but are declared defeated in Iraq by the end of the year.
 * A military operation targeting Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar is declared ethnic cleansing by the UNHCR.
 * A bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia on October 14 kills 500+ people and injures 316. It is one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in modern history.
 * Hurricane Harvey kills 90 and becomes the costliest hurricane in US history, while Hurricane Irma kills 134, and Hurricane Maria kills 94.
 * Two earthquakes strike Mexico on 7 September and 19 September, killing more than 350.
 * Kurdistan and Catalonia declare independence from Iraq and Spain, respectively. Catalonia is not recognised, and Iraq engages the Kurds in conflict.
 * Robert Mugabe is ousted in a coup d'état, while Ratko Mladić is declared guilty of genocide.
 * The city of Charlottesville is the site of a far-right rally protesting the removal of Confederate statues throughout the US. During the event, a white supremacist rams his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, injuring 19 and killing one.
 * 58 people are killed in a mass shooting in Las Vegas
 * Allegations of sexual abuse against film producer Harvey Weinstein lead to a wave of similar accusations from within Hollywood and other areas of primarily the English-speaking world.
 * Grenfell Tower fire in London kills 72 and injures 70.
 * 'Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object, is identified.

2018

 * Turkey invades northern Syria, while 70 die in a chemical attack, triggering a missile strike against Bashar al-Assad.
 * The first monkeys are cloned, and first genetically modified humans reported, in China.
 * Jacob Zuma resigns as President of South Africa; Cyril Ramaphosa becomes President. Scott Morrison becomes Prime Minister of Australia.
 * Four people are poisoned, one to death, in Salisbury and Amesbury, England in a suspected Russian assassination attempt. The British government responds by leading the international expulsion of 153 Russian diplomats.
 * March for Our Lives occurs in 900 locations worldwide in response to the Parkland shooting.
 * The northern white rhinoceros becomes functionally extinct.
 * Pakatan Harapan becomes the first opposition party to assume power in Malaysia since independence.
 * The first summit between the USA and North Korea and the first ever crossing of the Korean Demilitarized Zone by a North Korean leader occur.
 * Twenty-year Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict formally ends.
 * Yellow vests movement becomes France's largest sustained period of civil unrest since 1968.
 * Two tsunamis strike Indonesia, killing nearly 3000 people.
 * Exiled Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi is murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, triggering a diplomatic crisis for Saudi Arabia.
 * Kerch Strait incident triggers martial law in Ukraine.
 * Macedonia and Greece reach a historic agreement in the Macedonia naming dispute, in which the former is renamed in 2019 to the 'Republic of North Macedonia'.
 * China's National People's Congress votes to abolish presidential term limits, allowing Xi Jinping to rule for life. Xi is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the highest position without term limits.
 * 2018 Anchorage earthquake strikes south central Alaska with a magnitude of 7.0.
 * Start of the global movement Fridays for Future.