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A Month-by-Month History of the Past Decade: 2000-2001

By Tamahome Jenkins · December 31, 2009

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This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series A Month-by-Month History of the 2000s

The decade of the 2000s has been a tumultuous turn of events that will be remembered far into the future. We have had many accomplishments, including the mapping of the human genome, the discovery of water on the moon, and movements towards peace on the planet. Unfortunately, negative events accompany us on our march of progress, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history. We’ve also suffered through terrorist attacks such as 9/11, 7/7, and tragically, countless many others which have led to the greater tragedy of a population living in constant fear. So, we have a long way to go for humanity to become as great as it can be, but I believe this decade was a definitive step in the right direction. As such, I have collected one event from each of the last 120 months so that we don’t forget where we came from. Enjoy, this month-by-month history of the first decade of the third millennium.

2000

January: AOL announces its intent to purchase Time Warner for $162 billion, making it the biggest corporate merger in history. The marriage wouldn’t last, though, as Time Warner spunoff AOL this past year.
February: The last original Peanuts comic strip is published following the death of creator Charles Schulz.
March: Chen Shui-bian is elected President of Taiwan; the Democratic Progressive Party ends Kuomintang rule for the first time.
April: In a predawn raid, federal agents seize 6-year old Elián González from his relatives’ home in Miami, Florida and fly him to his Cuban father in Washington, DC, ending one of the most publicized custody battles in U.S. history.
May: India’s population reaches one billion, becoming the 2nd country in the world with a population over a billion people.
June: South Korean President Kim Dae Jung visits North Korea to participate in the first North-South presidential summit.
July: The Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania nominates George W. Bush for U.S. President and Dick Cheney for Vice President.
August: The Russian submarine K-141 Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, resulting in the deaths of all 118 men on board.
September: Microsoft releases Windows ME, considered by some to be the worst operating system every created.
October: In Aden, Yemen, the USS Cole is badly damaged by two Al-Qaeda suicide bombers, who place a small boat laden with explosives alongside the United States Navy destroyer, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.
November: Republican candidate Texas Governor George W. Bush defeats Democratic Vice President Al Gore in the closest election in history, but the final outcome is not known for over a month because of disputed votes in Florida.
December: After 128 years, American retailer Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business.

USS Cole damage after bomb attack

2001

January: Wikipedia, the world’s most popular online encyclopedia, launches.
February: The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the “saddle” region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
March: The Russian space station Mir re-enters the atmosphere near Nadi, Fiji, and falls into the Pacific Ocean.
April: A Chinese fighter jet bumps into a U.S. EP-3E surveillance aircraft, which is forced to make an emergency landing in Hainan, China. The U.S. crew is detained for 10 days and the F-8 Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, goes missing and is presumed dead.
May: The third floor of the Versailles wedding hall in Jerusalem collapses, killing 23 and wounding nearly 400. The incident was notorious as it was captured on a camcorder and spread around the Internet.
June: Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal kills his father, the king, his mother and other members of the royal family with an assault rifle and then shoots himself in the Nepalese royal massacre. Dipendra dies June 4, as King of Nepal. His uncle Gyanendra accedes to the throne. However, Gyanendra was so unpopular that mass protests would lead to the end of the monarchy in 2008.
July: The world’s first self-contained artificial heart is implanted in Robert Tools. Mr. Tools survived 151 days before dying in November 2001.
August: Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has a 2½ ton monument of the Ten Commandments installed in the Rotunda of the Judiciary Building. He is later sued to have it removed, and eventually removed from office.
September: Almost 3,000 are killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City; the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia; and in rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania after American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crash into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93 crashes into a grassland in Shanksville.
October: The 2001 anthrax attacks continue as contaminated letters are mailed from Princeton, New Jersey, to U.S. Senators Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Patrick Leahy of Vermont.
November: The People’s Republic of China is admitted to the World Trade Organization after 15 years of negotiations.
December: The Parliament of India is attacked; 12 are killed bringing India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

Plane crashing into Tower 2 on 9/11

A big thanks to Wikipedia, without whom this timeline would have taken months. Also, I realize that according to the Gregorian calendar the decade doesn’t actually end until December 31, 2010, but I didn’t want to wait a year to do this. Besides, I will never consider the year 2000 to be a part of the 1990s, so there’s my logic. If you enjoyed this post, you should follow EiH on Twitter or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Series NavigationA Month-by-Month History of the Past Decade: 2002-2003»