What happened in 2001

World12

• Jan 13A 7.6-magnitude earthquake hits El Salvador, killing at least 944 people and causing massive landslides, which leaves thousands of those affected homeless.
• Mar 24Apple Inc. released the Mac OS X operating system for Mac computers.
• May 22The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is adopted by 127 countries to limit pollution internationally.
• Jun 15Declaration to establish the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is signed.
• Jul 16China and Russia sign the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship.
• Aug 13Macedonian and Albanian representatives sign the Ohrid Agreement to reduce conflicts during the insurgency.
• Oct 42001 Kodori crisis: Fighting escalates between Georgia and the breakaway state Abkhazia.
• Oct 8Hurricane Iris hits Belize, causing $250 million (2001 USD) in damage.
• Oct 23Apple Inc. introduces the iPod, a portable media player and multi-purpose mobile device. The company will sell an estimated 450 million iPod products by May 2022.
• Oct 25Microsoft releases the Windows XP operating system to retail.
• Nov 4Hurricane Michelle hits Cuba, where the storm is the strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall on the island in more than 49 years. It is the costliest hurricane in Cuban history to this point with an estimated $2 billion in damage.
• Dec 22Battle of Amami-Ōshima: A Japan Coast Guard ship and an armed North Korean vessel engage in conflict near the Japanese island of Amami Ōshima, in the East China Sea. The encounter ends in the sinking of the North Korean vessel that is later determined to have been a spy craft by the Japanese authorities.

Japan1

• Jan 312001 Japan Airlines mid-air incident: Japan Airlines Flight 907 and Flight 958 almost collided with each other in Yaizu, Shizuoka, Japan. Flight 907 safely landed at Narita Airport and Flight 958 continued to Naha Airport. 100 people were injured.

North America16

• Jan 9Apple Inc. launches iTunes, a software program that acts as a media player and media library.
• Jan 15Wikipedia, which became the world's largest encyclopedia, is launched.
• Jan 15Creative Commons is founded.
• Feb 18NASCAR Champion Dale Earnhardt is killed in a crash during the Daytona 500.
• Apr 7The NASA orbiter 2001 Mars Odyssey launches on a Delta II rocket.
• Aug 8The Genesis probe is launched from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 17.
• Aug 9A Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem is bombed by a Palestinian Hamas terrorist, killing 15 civilians and injuring 130 others.
• Sep 11Approximately 2,977 people (not including 19 terrorists) are killed or fatally injured in the September 11 attacks after two Boeing 767s, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, are hijacked and crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Two Boeing 757s, American Airlines Flight 77 and United Airlines Flight 93, are also hijacked. Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon and Flight 93 crashes into grassland in Shanksville, Pennsylvania as a result of passengers fighting to regain control of the airplane. The Twin Towers collapse as a result of the burning jet fuel from the crashes.
• Sep 18The 2001 anthrax attacks begin in the United States, which cause five fatalities and 17 other infections.
• Sep 20In an address to a joint session of Congress, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a war on terror, officially the global war on terrorism.
• Oct 82001 Linate Airport runway collision: A twin-engine Cessna and Scandinavian Airlines jetliner collide in heavy fog during takeoff from Milan, Italy, killing 118 people.
• Oct 30Michael Jackson releases the album Invincible, it was his last studio album to be released during his lifetime before his death; 8 years later in June 2009.
• OctiPod releasedApple's portable music player, sold as 1,000 songs in your pocket. From 2003 the iTunes Store let people buy music one song at a time.
• Nov 12American Airlines Flight 587 crashes in Belle Harbor, Queens, on the Rockaway Peninsula shortly after takeoff, killing all 260 people aboard the plane as well as five people on the ground.
• Nov 15Microsoft enters the gaming console market with the release of the Xbox, a sixth-generation gaming console, in the United States.

1 more in the app

Europe12

• Jan 22The 2001 insurgency in Macedonia begins when a police station is shelled by the National Liberation Army in Tearce, near the border with Kosovo.
• Feb 19The 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak begins.
• Mar 14Battle of Tetovo: Violence erupts between Albanian rebels and Macedonian soldiers in Tetovo. Conflict in Tetovo will continue for months during the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia.
• Apr 1The Act on the Opening up of Marriage goes into effect in the Netherlands, which becomes the first modern country to legalize same-sex marriage.
• Apr 28Vejce ambush: Eight Macedonian soldiers are killed in an ambush by the NLA near Vejce, a village in the Šar Mountains, Macedonia. It represents the heaviest death toll for the government forces in a single incident during the insurgency.
• May 13The House of Freedoms coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi wins the Italian general election.
• Jun 12Aračinovo crisis: Albanian rebels violate a 24-hour cease fire with Macedonian soldiers.
• Jul 20The 27th G8 summit takes place in Genoa, Italy. Massive demonstrations, drawing an estimated 200,000 people, are held against the meeting by members of the anti-globalization movement. One demonstrator, Carlo Giuliani, is killed by a policeman, and several others are injured.
• Aug 21Operation Essential Harvest: NATO sends a military forces to the Republic of Macedonia in response to the ongoing insurgency.
• Sep 27Zug massacre: In Zug, Switzerland, a gunman shoots 32 people, killing 14 members of parliament and then himself.
• Oct 4Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 is accidentally shot down by the Ukrainian Air Force over the Black Sea en route from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Novosibirsk, Russia; all 78 people on board are killed.
• Nov 23The Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, the first international treaty to address cybercrime, is signed in Budapest, Hungary.

USSR / Russia2

• Mar 23The deorbit of Russian space station Mir is processed, with debris falling into the South Pacific Ocean after the station enters the atmosphere and is destroyed.
• Jul 4Vladivostok Air Flight 352 crashes on approach while landing at Irkutsk Airport, Russia, killing all 145 people aboard.

Asia11

• Jan 20Impeachment proceedings against Philippine President Joseph Estrada end prematurely as he is peacefully overthrown in the Second EDSA Revolution. Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo succeeds him as president.
• Jan 23A self-immolation incident takes place in Tiananmen Square in central Beijing, China. Five members of the Falun Gong are alleged to have set themselves on fire, but details surrounding the incident are disputed by Falun Gong sources.
• Jan 26A 7.7 Gujarat earthquake shakes Western India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving thousands of people dead and more than 166,000 others injured.
• Feb 25Sampit conflict: Mass ethnic violence begins in Sampit, Indonesia, killing hundreds of people.
• Apr 1Hainan Island incident: A Chinese fighter jet collides with 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.
• Apr 28The Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-32 lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying the first space tourist, American entrepreneur Dennis Tito, and two Russian cosmonauts.
• Jun 1Crown 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 is recognized as King of Nepal while in a coma.
• Oct 1Jaish-e-Mohammed militants attack the state legislature building in Srinagar, Kashmir, killing 38 people.
• Nov 14A 7.8-magnitude earthquake strikes China with an epicenter near Kokoxili, but it occurs in a sparsely populated mountainous region and there are no casualties.
• Dec 132001 Indian Parliament attack: Nine people and five terrorists are killed in a terrorist attack in New Delhi, leading to the 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff.
• Dec 27Tropical Storm Vamei forms within 1.5 degrees of the equator. No other tropical cyclone in recorded history has come as close to the equator.

Middle East14

• Feb 62001 Israeli prime ministerial election: Ariel Sharon of the Likud party is elected Prime Minister of Israel.
• May 182001 HaSharon Mall suicide bombing: A Hamas suicide bomber kills six people in Netanya, Israel. The Israeli government responds with the first use of airstrikes against Palestine since 1967.
• Jun 1Dolphinarium discotheque bombing: A Hamas suicide bomber kills 21 people, mostly teenagers, in the Dolphinarium disco in Tel Aviv, Israel.
• Aug 28A targeted Israeli strike kills PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustafa. Palestinian militants respond by firing on Israeli civilians. Israeli forces occupy Beit Jala, Palestine to combat the militants.
• Sep 9A suicide bomber kills Ahmad Shah Massoud, military commander of the Afghan Northern Alliance.
• Oct 7United States invasion of Afghanistan: In response to the September 11 attacks, Afghanistan is invaded by a US-led coalition, beginning the War in Afghanistan.
• Oct 17Assassination of Rehavam Ze'evi: Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi is assassinated by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
• Nov 10Fall of Mazar-i-Sharif: American and Northern Alliance forces take Mazar-i-Sharif in the first major offensive of the War in Afghanistan.
• Nov 122001 uprising in Herat: Northern Alliance forces take the city of Herat from the Taliban.
• Nov 14Fall of Kabul: Northern Alliance forces take the Afghan capital Kabul.
• Dec 2Haifa bus 16 suicide bombing: A Hamas militant carries out a suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel, killing 15 people.
• Dec 6Fall of Kandahar: The Taliban surrenders in Kandahar, its final stronghold.
• Dec 17Battle of Tora Bora: American forces take Tora Bora, a cave complex and the headquarters of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden escapes during the battle and goes into hiding.
• DecDasht-i-Leili massacre: Hundreds of Taliban prisoners are killed by the forces of Abdul Rashid Dostum.

Latin America3

• Jun 23An 8.4 southern Peru earthquake shakes coastal Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami follows, leaving at least 77 people dead, and 2,687 others injured.
• Aug 252001 Marsh Harbour Cessna 402 crash: Eight people including singer and actress Aaliyah, and several members of her entourage are killed after their overloaded aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff at Marsh Harbour Airport.
• Dec 21President Fernando de la Rúa of Argentina resigns in response to the riots against Argentina's economic crisis.

Africa5

• Jan 16Assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila: The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is shot in his office during the Second Congo War and rushed to Harare in Zimbabwe for medical treatment; his death will be announced two days later. He is succeeded by his son, Joseph Kabila.
• Aug 102001 Angola train attack: 252 people are killed by UNITA in an attack on a train during the Angolan Civil War.
• Aug 31The World Conference against Racism 2001 begins in Durban, South Africa. Israel and the United States withdraw three days later, alleging antisemitism in the conference.
• Sep 72001 Jos riots: Clashes between Christian and Muslim rioters begin in Jos, Nigeria. The conflict will continue until September 17, during which time hundreds of people will be killed.
• Oct 25To avoid connotations with the Rwandan genocide, the government of Rwanda adopts a new national flag for the country.