WORLD HISTORY · 1999 日本語
Events of 1999Heisei 11 (Japan) · Year of the Rabbit
What happened in 1999?
In 1999, the Bank of Japan began its zero-interest-rate policy, and Japan passed a law on its national flag and anthem. Around the world, 11 EU countries adopted the euro, and major earthquakes struck Turkey and Taiwan.
- Euro introduced in 11 EU countriesEurope
- First brain-death determination under transplant lawAsia
- Bank of Japan begins zero-interest-rate policyAsia
- Czech Republic and two others join NATOEurope
- Maritime security order issued over spy ships off NotoAsia
- National Flag and Anthem Act passedAsia
- Izmit earthquake strikes northwestern TurkeyMiddle East
- Magnitude 7.6 earthquake strikes TaiwanAsia
Tap an event to jump to it in the timeline below.
1999 at a glance
| Japanese era | Heisei 11 |
|---|---|
| Chinese zodiac | Year of the Rabbit |
| Age of people born in 1999 | Turn 27 in 2026 |
| Previous / next year | 1998 (Heisei 10) ／ 2000 (Heisei 12) |
| Events | 134 |
| AP World History | Unit 9 (Globalization) |
| AP U.S. History | Period 9 |
Famous people born in 1999
Our birthday pages list 343 people born in 1999. Here are some of them.
- Kanna HashimotoBorn February 3 · turns 27 this year
- Hōshōryū TomokatsuBorn May 22 · turns 27 this year
- Fūju KamioBorn January 21 · turns 27 this year
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr.Born March 16 · turns 27 this year
- Kang Hye-wonBorn July 5 · turns 27 this year
- Matheus CunhaBorn May 27 · turns 27 this year
- Alexander IsakBorn September 21 · turns 27 this year
- Nathan ChenBorn May 5 · turns 27 this year
- Sabrina CarpenterBorn May 11 · turns 27 this year
- Fernando Tatís Jr.Born January 2 · turns 27 this year
- Haruka KudoBorn October 27 · turns 27 this year
- Ella LangleyBorn May 3 · turns 27 this year
Show 28 more
- Curry BarkerBorn September 22 · turns 27 this year
- Olivia DeanBorn March 14 · turns 27 this year
- Azmy QowimuramadhoniBorn January 1 · turns 27 this year
- Tomás ChancalayBorn January 1 · turns 27 this year
- Aaron WigginsBorn January 2 · turns 27 this year
- Georgios KalaitzakisBorn January 2 · turns 27 this year
- Collin SextonBorn January 4 · turns 27 this year
- Daniel ArzaniBorn January 4 · turns 27 this year
- Jaeman SalmonBorn January 4 · turns 27 this year
- Jan-Niklas BesteBorn January 4 · turns 27 this year
- Nico HischierBorn January 4 · turns 27 this year
- Wessam Abou AliBorn January 4 · turns 27 this year
- Filip UgrinićBorn January 5 · turns 27 this year
- Mattias SvanbergBorn January 5 · turns 27 this year
- Mac McClungBorn January 6 · turns 27 this year
- Polo GBorn January 6 · turns 27 this year
- Damiano DavidBorn January 8 · turns 27 this year
- Ignas BrazdeikisBorn January 8 · turns 27 this year
- Mason MountBorn January 10 · turns 27 this year
- Youssouf FofanaBorn January 10 · turns 27 this year
- Brandon WakehamBorn January 11 · turns 27 this year
- Jeanette Hegg DuestadBorn January 11 · turns 27 this year
- Lim Sung-jinBorn January 11 · turns 27 this year
- Tyler RobertsBorn January 12 · turns 27 this year
- Xavier TillmanBorn January 12 · turns 27 this year
- D'Andre SwiftBorn January 14 · turns 27 this year
- Declan RiceBorn January 14 · turns 27 this year
- Emerson RoyalBorn January 14 · turns 27 this year
Events of 1999 (timeline · 134)
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 Euro currency is introduced in 11 member nations of the European Union (with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden).
Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota, United States.
British Aerospace agrees to acquire the defence subsidiary of the General Electric Company, forming BAE Systems in November 1999.
War on drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board.
Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons are burned alive by radical Hindus while sleeping in their car in Eastern India.
Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot 19 times by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.
Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.
Pluto crosses Neptune's orbit, ending a nearly 20-year period when it was closer to the Sun than the gas giant; Pluto is not expected to interact with Neptune's orbit again until 2231.
United States President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
China Southwest Airlines Flight 4509, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft, crashes in Rui'an, Zhejiang, China. All 61 people on board are killed.
Alitalia Flight 1553 crashes at Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport in Genoa, Italy, killing four.
Legoland California, the first Legoland outside of Europe, opens in Carlsbad, California, US.
Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.
A lorry carrying margarine and flour catches fire inside the Mont Blanc Tunnel, creating an inferno that kills 39 people.
Kosovo War: NATO begins attacks on Yugoslavia without United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approval, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
Kosovo War: An American Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk is shot down by a Yugoslav Army SAM, the first and only Nighthawk to be lost in combat.
Kosovo War: Serb paramilitary and military forces kill at least 130 Kosovo Albanians in Izbica.
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake in India strikes the Chamoli district in Uttar Pradesh, killing 103.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10,000 mark (10,006.78) for the first time, during the height of the dot-com bubble.
Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.
Turkish Airlines Flight 5904 crashes near Ceyhan in southern Turkey, killing six people.
During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, an American McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle shoots a passenger train, killing between 20 and 60 people.
United States President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a civil lawsuit; he is later fined and disbarred.
NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees. Yugoslav officials say 75 people were killed.
A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history.
Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 14 people and injure 23 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado.
NATO bombs the headquarters of Radio Television of Serbia, as part of their aerial campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Neo-Nazi David Copeland carries out the last of his three nail bombings in London at the Admiral Duncan gay pub, killing three people and injuring 79 others.
Panamanian general election: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.
The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City is devastated by an F5 tornado, killing forty-five people, injuring 665, and causing $1 billion in damage. The tornado is one of 66 from the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. This tornado also produces the highest wind speed ever recorded, measured at 484 ± 32 kilometres per hour (301 ± 20 mph). In meteorology, the term "May 3" is synonymous with the F5 tornado.
The first elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are held.
Kosovo War: Three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft inadvertently bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia.
Pope John Paul II travels to Romania, becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.
Mother's Day bus crash kills 22 passengers and injures another 22, including the driver in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.
The United States House of Representatives releases the Cox Report which details China's nuclear espionage against the U.S. over the prior two decades.
Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-96, the first shuttle mission to dock with the International Space Station.
In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display.
Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule.
Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station.
53 people are killed in a stampede at the Nyamiha metro station in Minsk, Belarus.
American Airlines Flight 1420 slides and crashes while landing at Little Rock National Airport, killing 11 people on a flight from Dallas to Little Rock.
Kosovo War: NATO suspends its airstrikes after Slobodan Milošević agrees to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo.
Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian begins when a NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping force, Kosovo Force (KFor), enters the province of Kosovo in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The Scottish Parliament is officially opened by Elizabeth II on the day that legislative powers are officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh. In Wales, the powers of the Welsh Secretary are transferred to the National Assembly.
U.S. President Bill Clinton imposes trade and economic sanctions against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Days of student protests begin after Iranian police and hardliners attack a student dormitory at the University of Tehran.
In women's association football, the United States defeats China in a penalty shoot-out at the Rose Bowl near Los Angeles to win the final match of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. Watched by 90,185 spectators, the final sets a new world record for attendance at a women's sporting event.
The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide.
Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-93, with Eileen Collins becoming the first female space shuttle commander. The shuttle also carried and deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Air Fiji flight 121 crashes while en route to Nadi, Fiji, killing all 17 people on board.
Kargil conflict officially comes to an end. The Indian Army announces the complete eviction of Pakistani intruders.
Discovery Program: Lunar Prospector: NASA intentionally crashes the spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the Moon's surface.
Russian president Boris Yeltsin fires his prime minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet.
One person is killed and five people are injured in the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting.
Beni Ounif massacre in Algeria: Some 29 people are killed at a false roadblock near the Moroccan border, leading to temporary tensions with Morocco.
The 7.6 Mw İzmit earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 17,118–17,127 dead and 43,953–50,000 injured.
In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević.
China Airlines Flight 642 crashes at Hong Kong International Airport, killing three people and injuring 208 more.
Russia begins the Second Chechen War in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade.
The Russian space mission Soyuz TM-29 reaches completion, ending nearly 10 years of continuous occupation on the space station Mir as it approaches the end of its life.
The first of a series of bombings in Moscow kills one person and wounds 40 others.
A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including two on the ground.
The 6.0 Mw Athens earthquake affects the area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 143, injuring 800–1,600, and leaving 50,000 homeless.
The 7.7-magnitude Chi-Chi earthquake strikes central Taiwan, killing 2,400 people.
Qantas Flight 1 overruns a runway in Bangkok during a storm, causing minor injuries to some passengers.
The Tokaimura nuclear accident causes the deaths of two technicians in Japan's second-worst nuclear accident.
Air Botswana pilot Chris Phatswe steals an ATR 42 from Sir Seretse Khama International Airport and later crashes it into two other aircraft at the airport, killing himself.
Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup.
The former Autonomous Soviet Republic of Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia.
Maurice Papon, an official in the Vichy government during World War II, is jailed for crimes against humanity.
A Learjet 35 crashes in Mina near Aberdeen, South Dakota, killing all six people on board, including PGA golfer Payne Stewart and golf course designer Bruce Borland.
The United Kingdom's House of Lords votes to end the right of most hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament.
Gunmen open fire in the Armenian Parliament, killing the Prime Minister and seven others.
Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted.
EgyptAir Flight 990 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantucket, killing all 217 people on board.
Honolulu shootings: In the worst mass murder in the history of Hawaii, a gunman shoots at eight people in his workplace, killing seven.
Bruce Miller is killed at his junkyard near Flint, Michigan. His wife Sharee Miller, who convinced her online lover Jerry Cassaday to kill him (before later killing himself) was convicted of the crime, in what became the world's first Internet murder.
TAESA Flight 725 crashes after takeoff from Uruapan International Airport in Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico, killing all 18 people on board.
The House of Lords Act is given Royal Assent, restricting membership of the British House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage.
The 7.2 Mw Düzce earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 845 people are killed and almost 5,000 are injured.
At Texas A&M University, the Aggie Bonfire collapses killing 12 students and injuring 27 others.
John Carpenter becomes the first person to win the top prize in the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Shenzhou 1: The People's Republic of China launches its first Shenzhou spacecraft.
A five-year-old Cuban boy, Elián González, is rescued by fishermen while floating in an inner tube off the Florida coast.
The 7.5 Mw Ambrym earthquake shakes Vanuatu and a destructive tsunami follows. Ten people were killed and forty were injured.
The centre-left Labour Party takes control of the New Zealand government with leader Helen Clark becoming the first elected female prime minister in New Zealand's history.
In Seattle, United States, demonstrations against a World Trade Organization meeting by anti-globalization protesters catch police unprepared and force the cancellation of opening ceremonies.
Exxon and Mobil sign a US$73.7 billion agreement to merge, thus creating ExxonMobil, the world's largest company.
British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems merge to form BAE Systems, Europe's largest defense contractor and the fourth largest aerospace firm in the world.
The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive following the Good Friday Agreement.
NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
In Worcester, Massachusetts, firefighters responded to a fire at the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. facility, which takes the lives of 6 firefighters.
A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.: The Recording Industry Association of America sues the peer-to-peer file-sharing service Napster, alleging copyright infringement.
Helen Clark is sworn in as Prime Minister of New Zealand, the second woman to hold the post and the first following an election.
SATA Air Açores Flight 530M crashes into Pico da Esperança on São Jorge Island in the Azores, killing 35.
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake hits the Philippines's main island of Luzon, killing six people, injuring 40, and causing power outages that affected the capital Manila.
Torrential rains cause flash floods in Vargas, Venezuela, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, the destruction of thousands of homes, and the complete collapse of the state's infrastructure.
NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-103, the third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.
Cubana de Aviación Flight 1216 overshoots the runway at La Aurora International Airport, killing 18.
The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid, Spain.
Just after taking off from London Stansted Airport, Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509 crashes into Hatfield Forest near Great Hallingbury, killing all four people on board.
Indian Airlines Flight 814 is hijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal, and Delhi, India. The aircraft landed at Kandahar in Afghanistan. The incident ended on December 31 with the release of 190 survivors (one passenger is killed).
Cubana de Aviación Flight 310, a Yakovlev Yak-42, crashes near Bejuma, Carabobo State, Venezuela, killing 22 people.
The storm Lothar sweeps across Central Europe, killing 137 and causing US$1.3 billion in damage.
Burger King and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission order a recall of plastic Poké Ball containers after they are determined to be a choking hazard.
Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacking ends after seven days with the release of 190 survivors at Kandahar Airport, Afghanistan.
The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor.
The U.S. government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties.
Source: Wikipedia date pages ("January 1" … "December 31") / CC BY-SA 4.0. Regions are assigned by the site editors.
FAQ
What year was 1999 in the Japanese calendar?
1999 was Heisei 11 in the Japanese era system.
What Chinese zodiac animal is 1999?
1999 is the Year of the Rabbit.
How old is someone born in 1999?
They turn 27 on their birthday in 2026.
What happened in 1999?
In 1999, the Bank of Japan began its zero-interest-rate policy, and Japan passed a law on its national flag and anthem. Around the world, 11 EU countries adopted the euro, and major earthquakes struck Turkey and Taiwan.
Dates and events are based on Wikipedia and other references. Summaries and regions are written by the site editors.