My friend and I created a timeline of large events that occurred in our lifetime, he was born in 1982 and I was born in 1985.
OUR TIMELINE
- USA, 1982: Late Night with David Letterman premiers.
- USA, 1982: The FALN, a Puerto Rican Nationalist Group, bombed Wall Street.
- RUSSIA, 1982: Space shuttle Venera 13 landed on Venus and sent back data.
- USA, 1982: The U.S. transferred the Canal Zone to Panama.
- USA, 1982 - 1984: Serial Killer Gary Ridgeway, known as the "Green River Killer", kills 48-50.
- USA, 1982: War over the Falkland Islands
- CANADA, 1982: Canada adopted a new Constitution to replace the 1867 British North America Act. It enshrined special rights for indigenous peoples. Pierre Trudeau added a Charter of Rights and Freedoms to Canada’s constitution. Quebec did not sign the 1982 Constitution.
- USA, 1983: US troops invade Grenada.
- USA, 1984-1985: Serial killer Richard Ramirez, known as the "Night Stalker", kills 14.
- USA & FRANCE, 1985: RMS Titanic wreck discovered by Jean-Louis Michel of IFREMER, Robert Ballard and his crew, they found that the ship broke in two as it sank.
- INDIA, 1984: Indira Ghandi, first and only woman Prime Minister assassinated.
- SOVIET UNION, 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev elected.
- USA, 1986: US launches air strikes in Libya.
- RUSSIA, 1986: Nuclear explosion at Chernobyl.
- USA, 1986: NASA space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven crewmembers aboard.
- USA & CANADA, 1989: US and Canada sign free trade agreement.
- GERMANY, 1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall.
- CANADA, 1989: The École Polytechnique Massacre, also known as the Montreal Massacre, occurred on December 6, 1989 at the École Polytechnique in Montreal. Gunman Marc Lépine, armed with a legally obtained semi-automatic rifle and a hunting knife, shot twenty-eightpeople, killing fourteen (all of them women) and injuring theother fourteen before killing himself.
- USA, 1989 - 1993: Serial killerJoel Rifkin, kills 18.
- USA, 1989: Exxon Valdez oil-spill in Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil. This has been recorded as one of the largest spills in U.S. history and one of the largest ecological disasters.
- CHINA, 1989: Protest demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in Peking.
- USA, 1989: US forces out General Noriega.
- USA, 1990: Serial killer ArthurShawcross, known as the "Genesee River Killer", kills 13.
- GERMANY, 1990: East and West Germany unite as Federal Republic of Germany.
- USA, 1990: Gulf War ("Desert Storm") to liberate Kuwait.
- AFRICA, 1990: Nelson Mandela freed after 27 years in prison.
- USA, 1990: Hubble Space Telescope launched.
- ENGLAND, 1990: Margaret Thatcher resigns - John Major takes over as British Prime Minister.
- USSR, 1991: USSR formally disbands.
- USA, 1991: US Congress votes for war in Iraq.
- YUGOSLAVIA, 1992: Civil war breaks out.
- CZECHOSLOVAKIA, 1993: Czechoslovakia is dissolved, creating Czech Republic and Slovakia.
- CANADA, 1993: First woman Prime Minister Kim Cambell elected, serves 5 months (June 25 - Nov 4).
- CANADA, 1993: Jean Cretien stepped down as Prime Minister of Canada, after 10 years. Succeeded by Paul Martin.
- USA, 1993: The Battle of Mogadishu in Africa, killing 18 US troops and an estimated 1500 Somali milita.
- USA, 1994: Famous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer dies at 34, beaten to death by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver.
- USA, 1994: 37th President Richard Milhous Nixon dies at 81.
- AFRICA, 1994: Nelson Mandela elected President of South Africa.
- CANADA, 1994: Sovereignty of Quebec narrowly defeated in referendum.
- IRELAND, 1994: IRA announce unconditional cease-fire - lasts until 1996.
- FRANCE & ENGLAND, 1994: Chunnel tunnel completed, , connecting Folkestone, Kent in England to Coquelles near Calais in northern France.
- USA, CANADA & MEXICO, 1994: North American Free Trade Agreement between US, Canada and Mexico.
- USA, 1995: Federal building in Oklahoma City is bombed by Timothy McVeigh, killing 168 people
- USA, 1994-1995: OJ Simpson found not guilty of the murder of Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman. The verdict was seen live on TV by more than half of the U.S. population, making it one of the most watched events in American TV history.
- USA, 1996: Serial killer Otis Toole dies at 49. Otis was partner to fellow killer Henry Lee Lucas and responsible for the deaths of 2-6.
- CANADA, 1997 - 2001: Serial killer Robert Pickton stalks Vancouver's downtown east side, killing at least 20 women.
- AFRICA, 1997: Following the First Congo War, Lt. General Joseph-Desire Mobutu is deposed as ruler of Zaire and replaced by Laurent-Desire Kabila. Zaire becomes the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- CAMBODIA, 1998: Khmer Rouge leader and communist dictator Pol Pot dies at 72.
- SERBIA, 1999: Kosovo War.
- USA, 1999: US President Clinton impeached over Lewinsky scandal.
- USA, 1999: The Columbine High School massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado. Two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a shooting rampage, killing 12 students and a teacher, as well as wounding 23 others, before committing suicide.
- SWITZERLAND, 1999: On Saturday, March 20, 1999, the Breitling Orbiter 3 balloon, piloted by Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard, became the first balloon to fly nonstop around the world.
- USA & CANADA, 1999: Y2K fears.
- USA, 2000: Buell Elementary School shooting in Michigan. On February 29, 2000, 6 year old Dedrick Owens shot classmate Kayla Rolland. At 6 years old, Rolland is believed to be the youngest school shooting victim in U.S. history.
- CANADA, 2000: 15th Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau dies at 80.
- USA, 2000: George W Bush elected as 43rd President of the United States.
- USA, 2001: Timothy McVeigh, Federal Building bomber, executed.
- USA, 2001: September 11th bombings of the World Trade Center and Pentagon, killing almost 3000 people.
- USA, 2001: Serial killer Henry Lee Lucas dies at 65. Lucas killed between 1960 and his apprehension in 1983 and is responsible for anywhere from 11-360 deaths.
- USA, 2001: September 12th of 2001 at 10:53 am, President George Bush declairs war on the Middle
East.
- USA, 2002: US forces overthrow Taliban in Afghanistan.
- AFRICA, 2003: 3rd President of Uganda, Idi Amin, dies in late 70s.
- USA, 2003: NASA space shuttle Columbia breaks apart upon re-entry, killing all seven aboard
- USA & CANADA, 2003: SARS Crisis reaches North America, killing 774 worldwide.
- USA, 2004: George W Bush elected to second term as President of the United States.
- AFRICA, 2004: Genocides in Rwanda and Sudan killing 800,000 and 450,000 respectively.
- INDONESIA, SRI LANKA, INDIA & THAILAND: Tsunami with waves up to 30 metres tall hits, killing over 225,000 people in 11 countries. Another 125,000 injured, 45,752 missing and 1.69 million people displaced.
- SPAIN, 2004: Bombing of Madrid train by al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist cell, killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.
- USA, 2004: 40th President Ronald Wilson Reagan dies at 93.
- ISREAL, 2004: Yasir Arafat, 1st President of the Palestinian National Authority, dies at 75.
- USA, 2004: Famous star Marlon Brando dies at 80.
- USA, 2004: Famous star and disabled-rights activist Christopher Reeve, dies at 52.
- USA, 2005: Rosa Parks, civil rights icon dies at 92.
- BRITAIN, 2005: Bombings in London, killing 52 and wounding over 700.
- ITALY, 2005: Pope John Paul II succeeded by Joseph Ratzinger.
- ITALY, 2005: Pope John Paul II, Karol Joseph Wojtyla, died at 84.
- USA, 2005: Hurricane Katrina decimates New Orleans, LA killing at least 1,836 and causing $81.2 billion dollars in damage.
- USA, 2006: 38th President Gerald Rudolph Ford dies at 93.
- CHILE, 2006: 30th President Augusto Pinochet dies at 91.
- SERBIA, 2006: Dictator Slobodan Milosevic dies at 64.
- USA, 2006: Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King, dies at 78.
- USA, 2006: The Amish school shooting occurred on the morning of Monday, October 2, 2006, when gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and eventually killed five girls (aged 7-13) and then killed himself at West Nickel Mines School, PA.
- CANADA, 2006: Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, elected as 22nd Prime
- BRITAIN, 2007: Tony Blair steps down as Prime Minister of Britain, succeeded by Gordon Brown.
- CANADA, 2007: Canada's most famous serial killer, Robert Willam "Willie" Pickton, found guilty of 6 murders, sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
- USA, 2007: The Virginia Tech massacre. Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people and wounded many more, before committing suicide, making it the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
- USA, 2007: Brigadier General Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died at age 92.