What happened in 1987

53 events　World 5, Japan 1, North America 11, Europe 11, USSR / Russia 1, Asia 8, Middle East 4, Latin America 5, Africa 7

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Highlights of 1987

World5

  • Jul 22Palestinian cartoonist Naji Salim al-Ali is shot in London; he dies August 28.
  • Aug 4The World Commission on Environment and Development, also known as the Brundtland Commission, publishes its report, Our Common Future.
  • Oct 15The Great storm of 1987 strikes southern Great Britain and northwestern France. It is one of the strongest storms to affect the region in the past 200 years.
  • Oct 19Black Monday: Stock market levels fall sharply on Wall Street and around the world.
  • Dec 8The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C. by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. It expired in 2019.

Japan1

  • Dec 15Production I.G is founded by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and Takayuki Goto.

North America11

  • Mar 30The 59th Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles, with Platoon winning Best Picture.
  • Apr 19The Simpsons cartoon first appears as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show.
  • Jun 12During a visit to Berlin, Germany, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
  • Jun 19Edwards v. Aguillard: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that a Louisiana law requiring that creation science be taught in public schools whenever evolution is taught is unconstitutional.
  • Jun 30Canada introduces a one-dollar coin, nicknamed the "Loonie".
  • Aug 11Apple introduces Hypercard, a precursor to the World Wide Web.
  • Aug 15Great Basin National Park is dedicated; it is the 49th national park in the United States and the first in the state of Nevada.
  • Aug 16Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (a McDonnell Douglas MD-82) crashes on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan, just west of Detroit, killing all but one (4-year-old Cecelia Cichan) of the 156 people on board.
  • Aug 31Michael Jackson releases Bad, his first studio album since Thriller, the best-selling album of all time. The album would produce five number one singles in the US, a record which has not been broken.
  • Nov 22Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion – unknown perpetrators hijack the signal of WGN-TV for about 20 seconds, and WTTW for about 90 seconds, and displays a video of a man in a Max Headroom mask.
  • Dec 7Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 crashes near Paso Robles, California, United States, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-supervisor on the flight, then shoots both pilots.

Europe11

  • Mar 28The 1987 Aegean crisis, which occurred near the Greek island of Thasos, was a confrontation between Greece and Turkey that was ultimately resolved peacefully. Turkey agreed to withdraw its vessels under the condition of Greece not pursue oil drills beyond its territorial waters.
  • Apr 13The governments of the Portuguese Republic and the People's Republic of China sign an agreement in which Macau will be returned to China in 1999.
  • May 8Loughgall ambush: A 24-man unit of the British Army Special Air Service (SAS) ambushed eight members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) as they mounted an attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) barracks. All IRA members were killed as well as one civilian.
  • Jun 19Hipercor bombing: the Basque terrorist group ETA perpetrate a car-bomb attack at an Hipercor market in Barcelona, killing 21 and wounding 45.
  • Jul 1The Single European Act is passed by the European Community.
  • Aug 17Rudolf Hess is found dead in his cell in Spandau Prison. Hess, 93, is believed to have committed suicide by hanging himself with an electrical flex. He was the last remaining prisoner at the complex, which is soon to be demolished.
  • Aug 19Hungerford massacre: Sixteen people die in an apparently motiveless mass shooting in the United Kingdom, carried out by Michael Ryan.
  • Nov 8Enniskillen bombing: Twelve people are killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb at a Remembrance Day service at Enniskillen.
  • Nov 15In Brașov, Romania, workers rebel against the communist regime led by Nicolae Ceaușescu.
  • Nov 18The King's Cross fire on the London Underground kills 31 people and injures a further 100.
  • Dec 30Pope John Paul II issues the encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis (On Social Concern).

USSR / Russia1

  • May 9A Soviet-made Ilyushin Il-62 airliner, operated by LOT Polish Airlines, crashes into a forest just outside Warsaw, killing all 183 people on board.

Asia8

  • Feb 2The new Constitution of the Philippines goes into effect, which replaces the earlier Constitution instituted by Ferdinand Marcos.
  • Mar 71987 Lieyu massacre: The Republic of China Army execute 19 unarmed Vietnamese refugees on Donggang beach, Lieyu, Kinmen off Mainland China.
  • Apr 15An insurrection in Sri Lanka by the Marxist–Leninist group, JVP, begins.
  • Apr 21In Colombo, Sri Lanka, the Central Bus Station Bombing kills 113 civilians.
  • May 22The Hashimpura massacre occurs in Meerut, India.
  • Jun 29South Korean politician, presidential candidate of the ruling party Roh Tae-woo makes a speech promising a wide program of nationwide reforms, the result of the June Democracy Movement.
  • Nov 7Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system in Singapore opens for passenger service.
  • Nov 29Korean Air Flight 858 is blown up over the Andaman Sea, killing 115 crew and passengers. North Korean agents are responsible for the bombing.

Middle East4

  • May 17Iran–Iraq War: is hit by two Iraqi-owned Exocet AM39 air-to-surface missiles killing 37 sailors.
  • Jul 31Four hundred pilgrims are killed in clashes between demonstrating Iranian pilgrims and Saudi Arabian security forces in Mecca.
  • Oct 19Operation Earnest Will: US warships destroy two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.
  • Dec 8Israeli–Palestinian conflict: The First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Latin America5

  • Jan 1Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency.
  • Mar 6A 6.9 magnitude earthquake occurs in Napo Province in northeast Ecuador, killing roughly 1,000 people.
  • Mar 29A hybrid solar eclipse is the second hybrid solar eclipse in less than one year, the first being on October 3, 1986. It is annular visible in southern Argentina, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan (part of the path of annularity crossed today's South Sudan), Ethiopia, Djibouti and northern Somalia and totally visible in Atlantic Ocean, lasting just 7.57 seconds.
  • Sep 13Goiânia accident: Metal scrappers open an old radiation source abandoned in a hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, causing the worst radiation accident ever in an urban area.
  • Dec 8Alianza Lima air disaster: A Peruvian Navy Fokker F27 crashes near Ventanilla, Peru, killing 43.

Africa7

  • Jan 2Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade.
  • Aug 14Angolan Civil War: The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale begins in Angola and further intensifies the South African Border War.
  • Sep 3In a coup d'état in Burundi, President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya.
  • Sep 11Chadian–Libyan War: Chad and Libya sign a ceasefire under supervision of the Organisation of African Unity, officially ending the 14-year territorial conflict. Sporadic fighting will continue.
  • Oct 15In Burkina Faso, a military coup is orchestrated by Blaise Compaoré against incumbent President Thomas Sankara.
  • Nov 28South African Airways Flight 295 crashes into the Indian Ocean off Mauritius, due to a fire in the cargo hold; the 159 passengers and crew perish.
  • Dec 22In Zimbabwe, the political parties ZANU and ZAPU reach an agreement that ends the violence in the Matabeleland region known as the Gukurahundi.