What happened in 1994

53 events　World 2, Japan 3, North America 11, Europe 13, USSR / Russia 2, Asia 3, Middle East 3, Latin America 8, Africa 7, Oceania 1

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Highlights of 1994

World2

  • Jan 1The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is established.
  • Apr 16Voters in Finland decide to join the European Union in a referendum.

Japan3

  • Apr 26China Airlines Flight 140, an Airbus A300, crashes while landing at Nagoya, Japan, killing 264 people.
  • Jun 28Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult execute the first sarin gas attack at Matsumoto, Japan, killing eight and injuring 200.
  • DecPlayStation releasedReleased by Sony on December 3. With 3D graphics and CD-ROMs, it went on to compete for the lead among game consoles.

North America11

  • Jan 17The 6.7 Northridge earthquake strikes the Greater Los Angeles Area of the United States, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.
  • Feb 28Four United States F-16s shoot down four Serbian J-21s over Bosnia and Herzegovina for violation of the Operation Deny Flight and its no-fly zone.
  • Mar 21The 66th Academy Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Steven Spielberg's Holocaust drama Schindler's List wins seven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director (Spielberg).
  • Apr 5Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of Nirvana. commits suicide at the age of 27 at his home in Seattle. His body was found three days later.
  • Jun 17The 1994 FIFA World Cup starts in the United States.
  • Jul 5Jeff Bezos founds Amazon.
  • Jul 17Brazil wins the 1994 FIFA World Cup, defeating Italy 3–2 in a penalty shootout in the final (full-time 0–0).
  • Aug 18Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants: a 12-person jury reaches its verdict to award Stella Liebeck $2,860,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, later reduced to $640,000, for burns she received from a spilled hot coffee. McDonald's and Liebeck will later settle out of court.
  • Aug 20Tyke, a female African bush elephant, injures her groomer and kills her trainer at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. She then escapes the arena, and runs amok in the streets for half an hour, before police officers shoot her 86 times. She eventually collapses from her wounds and dies.
  • Sep 8USAir Flight 427, a Boeing 737 with 132 people on board, crashes on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport killing all on board.
  • Nov 8"Republican Revolution": Georgia Representative Newt Gingrich leads the United States Republican Party in taking control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in midterm congressional elections, the first time in 40 years the Republicans secure control of both houses of Congress. George W. Bush is elected Governor of Texas.

Europe13

  • Feb 6Markale massacres: a Bosnian Serb Army mortar shell kills 68 civilians and wounds about 200 in a Sarajevo marketplace.
  • Feb 12The 1994 Winter Olympics begin in Lillehammer.
  • Mar 6A referendum in Moldova results in the electorate voting against possible reunification with Romania.
  • Mar 20Italian journalist Ilaria Alpi and TV cameraman Miran Hrovatin are assassinated in Somalia.
  • Mar 31The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull.
  • May 6The Channel Tunnel, which took 15,000 workers more than seven years to complete, officially opens between England and France; it will enable passengers to travel by rail between the two countries in 35 minutes.
  • May 20After a funeral in Cluny Parish Church, Edinburgh attended by 900 people and after which 3,000 people line the streets, UK Labour Party leader John Smith is buried in a private family funeral on the island of Iona, at the sacred burial ground of Reilig Odhráin, which contains the graves of several Scottish kings as well as monarchs of Ireland, Norway and France.
  • May 22Pope John Paul II issues the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis from the Vatican, expounding the Catholic Church's position requiring "the reservation of priestly ordination to men alone".
  • Oct 1In Slovakia, populist leader Vladimír Mečiar wins the general election.
  • Nov 6Bražuolė bridge bombing in Lithuania damages a railway bridge but trains are stopped in time to avoid casualties.
  • Nov 13Voters in Sweden decide to join the European Union in a referendum.
  • Nov 14The first Eurostar train passengers travel through the Channel Tunnel.
  • Nov 28Voters in Norway decide not to join the European Union in a referendum.

USSR / Russia2

  • Jan 8Soyuz TM-18: Valeri Polyakov begins his 437.7-day orbit of the Earth, eventually setting the world record for days spent in orbit.
  • Dec 11Russian president Boris Yeltsin orders troops into Chechnya.

Asia3

  • May 5The Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan is signed in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, effectively freezing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
  • Jul 8North Korean President Kim Il Sung dies, but officially continues to hold office.
  • Dec 14Construction commences on the Three Gorges Dam, at Sandouping, China.

Middle East3

  • Feb 25Israeli Kahanist Baruch Goldstein opens fire inside the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank; he kills 29 Muslims before worshippers beat him to death.
  • Jul 71994 civil war in Yemen: Aden is occupied by troops from North Yemen.
  • Jul 25Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration as a preliminary to signature on October 25 of the Israel–Jordan peace treaty, which formally ends the state of war that has existed between the nations since 1948.

Latin America8

  • Jan 1Beginning of the Zapatista uprising in Mexico.
  • Mar 23Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated at a campaign rally in Tijuana.
  • May 1Three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy.
  • Jul 18AMIA bombing: In Buenos Aires, a terrorist attack destroys a building housing several Jewish organizations, killing 85 and injuring many more.
  • Aug 5Maleconazo: Groups of protesters spread from Havana, Cuba's Castillo de la Punta ("Point Castle"), creating the first protests against Fidel Castro's government since 1959.
  • Sep 19Operation Uphold Democracy: U.S. troops stage a bloodless invasion of Haiti to restore the legitimately elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to power.
  • Nov 8Hurricane Gordon hits Central America, Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas, Haiti and the Southeastern United States, causing $594 million in damages and 1,152 fatalities.
  • Dec 19A planned exchange rate correction of the Mexican peso to the US dollar, becomes a massive financial meltdown in Mexico, unleashing the 'Tequila' effect on global financial markets. This prompts a US$50 billion "bailout" by the Clinton administration.

Africa7

  • Mar 28Shell House massacre: Inkatha Freedom Party and ANC supporters battle in central Johannesburg, South Africa.
  • Apr 6Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira die when a missile shoots down their jet near Kigali, Rwanda. This is taken as a pretext to begin the Rwandan genocide.
  • Apr 7The Rwandan genocide begins in Kigali, Rwanda.
  • Apr 20South Africa adopts a new national flag, replacing the "Oranje, Blanje, Blou" flag adopted in 1928 that was used during apartheid.
  • Jul 18Rwandan Patriotic Front troops capture Gisenyi, forcing the interim government into Zaire and ending the Rwandan genocide.
  • Nov 20The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol.
  • Dec 13The trial of former president Mengistu begins in Ethiopia.

Oceania1

  • Oct 1Palau gains independence from the United Nations Trusteeship Council.