WORLD HISTORY · 1994 日本語
Events of 1994Heisei 6 (Japan) · Year of the Dog
What happened in 1994?
In 1994, Murayama Tomiichi became prime minister, and a sarin nerve gas attack took place in Matsumoto. Around the world, the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France opened, and Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa.
- Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi killedAfrica
- WTO founding agreement signedAfrica
- China Airlines jet crashes landing at NagoyaAsia
- Channel Tunnel opensEurope
- Mandela becomes South African presidentAfrica
- Matsumoto sarin attack in NaganoAsia
- Murayama Tomiichi becomes prime ministerAsia
- Sanriku Haruka-oki earthquake strikesAsia
Tap an event to jump to it in the timeline below.
1994 at a glance
| Japanese era | Heisei 6 |
|---|---|
| Chinese zodiac | Year of the Dog |
| Age of people born in 1994 | Turn 32 in 2026 |
| Previous / next year | 1993 (Heisei 5) ／ 1995 (Heisei 7) |
| Events | 121 |
| AP World History | Unit 9 (Globalization) |
| AP U.S. History | Period 9 |
Famous people born in 1994
Our birthday pages list 579 people born in 1994. Here are some of them.
- Shohei OhtaniBorn July 5 · turns 32 this year · Japanese baseball star who excels as both a pitcher and a hitter, winning MVP a…
- Harry StylesBorn February 1 · turns 32 this year · English singer and actor who rose to fame in One Direction and became a Grammy-…
- Giannis AntetokounmpoBorn December 6 · turns 32 this year · Greek basketball star and two-time NBA MVP who led the Milwaukee Bucks to the 2…
- Seiya SuzukiBorn August 18 · turns 32 this year
- Yuzuru HanyuBorn December 7 · turns 32 this year
- Edwin DíazBorn March 22 · turns 32 this year
- Kento YamazakiBorn September 7 · turns 32 this year
- Kanako MomotaBorn July 12 · turns 32 this year
- Kosuke HaginoBorn August 15 · turns 32 this year
- Wakatakakage AtsushiBorn December 6 · turns 32 this year
- Memphis DepayBorn February 13 · turns 32 this year
- Umika KawashimaBorn March 3 · turns 32 this year
Show 28 more
- Justin BieberBorn March 1 · turns 32 this year
- Phoebe BridgersBorn August 17 · turns 32 this year
- Margaret QualleyBorn October 23 · turns 32 this year
- Amelia DimoldenbergBorn January 30 · turns 32 this year
- Nicholas GalitzineBorn September 29 · turns 32 this year
- Zoey DeutchBorn November 10 · turns 32 this year
- Jessica PegulaBorn February 24 · turns 32 this year
- Brendan ElliotBorn January 1 · turns 32 this year
- LaMonte Wade Jr.Born January 1 · turns 32 this year
- Ronald DarbyBorn January 2 · turns 32 this year
- Isaquias QueirozBorn January 3 · turns 32 this year
- Derrick HenryBorn January 4 · turns 32 this year
- Gustavo ScarpaBorn January 5 · turns 32 this year
- Lachlan FitzgibbonBorn January 5 · turns 32 this year
- Matt GrzelcykBorn January 5 · turns 32 this year
- Tyrone PhillipsBorn January 5 · turns 32 this year
- Zemgus GirgensonsBorn January 5 · turns 32 this year
- Catriona GrayBorn January 6 · turns 32 this year
- Denis SuárezBorn January 6 · turns 32 this year
- Jameis WinstonBorn January 6 · turns 32 this year
- Jay BBorn January 6 · turns 32 this year
- Jarnell StokesBorn January 7 · turns 32 this year
- Lee Sun-binBorn January 7 · turns 32 this year
- MacKenzie WeegarBorn January 7 · turns 32 this year
- Glenn Robinson IIIBorn January 8 · turns 32 this year
- Radek FaksaBorn January 9 · turns 32 this year
- Emre CanBorn January 12 · turns 32 this year
- Vasilije MicićBorn January 13 · turns 32 this year
Events of 1994 (timeline · 121)
Tip: the PC view is best for studying
On a computer, each region has its own vertical line, so you can follow the flow of events and see what was happening in different parts of the world at the same time.
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican state of Chiapas.
Baikal Airlines Flight 130 crashes near Mamoney, Irkutsk, Russia, resulting in 125 deaths.
U.S. figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked and injured by an assailant hired by her rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
A British Aerospace Jetstream 41 operating as United Express Flight 6291 crashes in Gahanna, Ohio, killing five of the eight people on board.
Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
The Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Féin.
The 6.7 Mw Northridge earthquake shakes the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.
Space Shuttle program: STS-60 is launched, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Shuttle.
Markale massacres, more than 60 people are killed and some 200 wounded as a mortar shell explodes in a downtown marketplace in Sarajevo.
Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
Four thieves break into the National Gallery of Norway and steal Edvard Munch's iconic painting The Scream.
Aldrich Ames is arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for selling national secrets to the Soviet Union in Arlington County, Virginia.
Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
American-Israeli extremist Baruch Goldstein commits a mass shooting at the Cave of the Patriarchs mausoleum, leaving 29 dead and over 100 injured before he is disarmed and beaten to death by survivors.
Bosnia's Bosniaks and Croats sign the Washington Agreement, ending war between the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and establishing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
At an election rally in Tijuana, Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated by Mario Aburto Martínez.
Aeroflot Flight 593 crashes into the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, killing 75.
A United States Air Force (USAF) F-16 aircraft collides with a USAF C-130 at Pope Air Force Base and then crashes, killing 24 United States Army soldiers on the ground alongside destroying a Starlifter by accident. This later became known as the Green Ramp disaster.
In South Africa, African National Congress security guards kill dozens of Inkatha Freedom Party protesters.
Three people are killed when KLM Cityhopper Flight 433 crashes at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
The Rwandan genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.
Auburn Calloway attempts to destroy Federal Express Flight 705 in order to allow his family to benefit from his life insurance policy.
Rwandan genocide: Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda, and soldiers kill the civilian Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana.
In a friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two U.S. Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two U.S. Army helicopters, killing 26 people.
Marrakesh Agreement relating to foundation of World Trade Organization is adopted.
A Douglas DC-3 ditches in Botany Bay after takeoff from Sydney Airport. All 25 people on board survive.
China Airlines Flight 140 crashes at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board.
South Africa begins its first multiracial election, which is won by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress.
South African general election: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution comes into force.This marked the end of Apartheid.
Former Central Intelligence Agency counterintelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving US secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.
Formula One racing driver Roland Ratzenberger is killed in a crash during the qualifying session of the San Marino Grand Prix run at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari outside Imola, Italy.
Three-time Formula One champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord, granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel.
Edvard Munch's painting The Scream is recovered undamaged after being stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in February.
Israeli troops finish withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, ceding the area to the Palestinian National Authority to govern.
The Democratic Republic of Yemen unsuccessfully attempts to secede from the Republic of Yemen; a war breaks out.
A worldwide trade embargo against Haiti goes into effect to punish its military rulers for not reinstating the country's ousted elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Four men are convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in New York in 1993; each one is sentenced to 240 years in prison.
China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303 crashes near Xi'an Xianyang International Airport, killing all 160 people on board.
China conducts a nuclear test for DF-31 warhead at Area C (Beishan), Lop Nur, its prominence being due to the Cox Report.
A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, blames recklessness by Exxon and Captain Joseph Hazelwood for the Exxon Valdez disaster, allowing victims of the oil spill to seek $15 billion in damages.
The 1994 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot occurs after the New York Rangers defeat the Vancouver Canucks to win the Stanley Cup, causing an estimated C$1.1 million, leading to 200 arrests and injuries.
Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
The Troubles: Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) attack a crowded pub with assault rifles in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland. Six Catholic civilians are killed and five wounded. It was crowded with people watching the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
The 1994 Imam Reza shrine bomb explosion in Iran leaves at least 25 dead and 70 to 300 injured.
NASA's Space Station Processing Facility, a new state-of-the-art manufacturing building for the International Space Station, officially opens at Kennedy Space Center.
A Boeing B-52 Stratofortress crashes at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, Washington, killing four.
Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult release sarin gas in Matsumoto, Japan. Seven people are killed, 660 injured.
An Airbus A330-300 crashes during a test flight at Toulouse–Blagnac Airport, killing all seven people on board.
USAir Flight 1016 crashes near Charlotte Douglas International Airport, killing 37 of the 57 people on board.
Rwandan genocide: Kigali, the Rwandan capital, is captured by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, ending the genocide in the city.
Kim Jong Il begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il Sung.
The bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (Argentine Jewish Community Center) in Buenos Aires kills 85 people (mostly Jewish) and injures 300.
Rwandan genocide: The Rwandan Patriotic Front takes control of Gisenyi and north western Rwanda, forcing the interim government into Zaire and ending the genocide.
Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901 is destroyed by a bomb after takeoff from Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport in Colón, Panama, killing 21.
Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, that formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948.
Major League Baseball players go on strike, eventually forcing the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.
Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 crashes in Douar Izounine, Morocco, killing all 44 people on board.
Eugene Bullard, the only African American pilot in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.
Argentina abolishes conscription after months of social backlash over the murder of a conscript.
USAir Flight 427, on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport, suddenly crashes in clear weather killing all 132 aboard, resulting in the most extensive aviation investigation in world history and altering manufacturing practices in the industry.
Frank Eugene Corder fatally crashes a single-engine Cessna 150 into the White House's south lawn, striking the West Wing. There were no other casualties.
The British government lifts the broadcasting ban imposed against members of Sinn Féin and Irish paramilitary groups in 1988.
Swiss police find the bodies of 48 members of the Order of the Solar Temple, who had died in a cult mass murder-suicide.
Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 746 crashes near Natanz, Iran, killing all 66 people on board.
Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in the establishment of the Oslo Accords and the framing of future Palestinian self government.
The United States, under the Clinton administration, returns Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to the island.
Russian journalist Dmitry Kholodov is assassinated while investigating corruption in the armed forces.
In Seoul, South Korea, 32 people are killed when a span of the Seongsu Bridge collapses.
North Korea and the United States sign an Agreed Framework that requires North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections.
Gliese 229B is the first Substellar Mass Object to be unquestionably identified.
Francisco Martin Duran fires over two dozen shots at the White House; he is later convicted of trying to kill U.S. President Bill Clinton.
American Eagle Flight 4184 crashes near Roselawn, Indiana killing all 68 people on board.
WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, launches the world's first internet radio broadcast.
Republican Revolution: On the night of the 1994 United States midterm elections, Republicans make historic electoral gains by securing massive majorities in both houses of Congress (54 seats in the House and eight seats in the Senate, additionally), thus bringing to a close four decades of Democratic domination.
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hits the central Philippine island of Mindoro, killing 78 people, injuring 430 and triggering a tsunami up to 8.5 m (28 ft) high.
In the United Kingdom, the first National Lottery draw is held. A £1 ticket gave a one-in-14-million chance of correctly guessing the winning six out of 49 numbers.
The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol in Zambia, ending 19 years of civil war. (Localized fighting resumes the next year.)
A Trans World Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and Cessna 441 Conquest II aircraft collide on the runway at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Bridgeton, Missouri, killing two people and injuring eight.
Taiwan holds its first full local elections; James Soong elected as the first and only directly elected Governor of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian became the first directly elected Mayor of Taipei, Wu Den-yih became the first directly elected Mayor of Kaohsiung.
Rwandan genocide: Maurice Baril, military advisor to the U.N. Secretary-General and head of the Military Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, recommends that UNAMIR stand down.
A bomb explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, en route from Manila, Philippines, to Tokyo, Japan, killing one. The captain is able to land the plane safely.
First Chechen War: Russian president Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya.
Flagship Airlines Flight 3379 crashes in Morrisville, North Carolina, near Raleigh–Durham International Airport, killing 15.
Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked on the ground at Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers, Algeria. Over the course of three days three passengers are killed, as are all four terrorists.
Four Armed Islamic Group hijackers seize control of Air France Flight 8969. When the plane lands at Marseille, a French Gendarmerie assault team boards the aircraft and kills the hijackers.
Turkish Airlines Flight 278 (a Boeing 737-400) crashes on approach to Van Ferit Melen Airport in Van, Turkey, killing 57 of the 76 people on board.
The First Chechen War: The Russian Ground Forces begin a New Year's storming of Grozny.
This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.
Source: Wikipedia date pages ("January 1" … "December 31") / CC BY-SA 4.0. Regions are assigned by the site editors.
FAQ
What year was 1994 in the Japanese calendar?
1994 was Heisei 6 in the Japanese era system.
What Chinese zodiac animal is 1994?
1994 is the Year of the Dog.
How old is someone born in 1994?
They turn 32 on their birthday in 2026.
What happened in 1994?
In 1994, Murayama Tomiichi became prime minister, and a sarin nerve gas attack took place in Matsumoto. Around the world, the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France opened, and Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa.
Dates and events are based on Wikipedia and other references. Summaries and regions are written by the site editors.