WORLD HISTORY · 2006 日本語
Events of 2006Heisei 18 (Japan) · Year of the Dog
What happened in 2006?
In 2006, prosecutors raided the internet company Livedoor in January, and Kobe Airport opened in February. In September, Prince Hisahito was born, and that same month Abe Shinzo became prime minister and formed his cabinet.
- Prosecutors raid Livedoor headquartersAsia
- Turin Winter Olympics openEurope
- Kobe Airport opensAsia
- First tweet posted on TwitterNorth America
- FIFA World Cup opens in GermanyEurope
- Israeli forces invade LebanonMiddle East
- Princess Kiko gives birth to Prince HisahitoAsia
- Abe Shinzo cabinet takes officeAsia
Tap an event to jump to it in the timeline below.
2006 at a glance
| Japanese era | Heisei 18 |
|---|---|
| Chinese zodiac | Year of the Dog |
| Age of people born in 2006 | Turn 20 in 2026 |
| Previous / next year | 2005 (Heisei 17) ／ 2007 (Heisei 19) |
| Events | 122 |
| AP World History | Unit 9 (Globalization) |
| AP U.S. History | Period 9 |
Famous people born in 2006
Our birthday pages list 45 people born in 2006. Here are some of them.
- Prince Hisahito of AkishinoBorn September 6 · turns 20 this year
- Mckenna GraceBorn June 25 · turns 20 this year
- Sadie SandlerBorn May 6 · turns 20 this year
- Claudio EcheverriBorn January 2 · turns 20 this year
- Marc GuiuBorn January 4 · turns 20 this year
- Stefanos TzimasBorn January 6 · turns 20 this year
- Sarah ToscanoBorn January 9 · turns 20 this year
- Beckett SenneckeBorn January 28 · turns 20 this year
- Gianluca PrestianniBorn January 31 · turns 20 this year
- Sára BejlekBorn January 31 · turns 20 this year
- Lucas BergvallBorn February 2 · turns 20 this year
- Megan SkiendielBorn February 10 · turns 20 this year
Show 28 more
- Windy ZhanBorn March 2 · turns 20 this year
- Xochitl GomezBorn April 29 · turns 20 this year
- Lewis MileyBorn May 1 · turns 20 this year
- Konsta HeleniusBorn May 11 · turns 20 this year
- Vasilije AdžićBorn May 12 · turns 20 this year
- HaerinBorn May 15 · turns 20 this year
- Gukesh DommarajuBorn May 29 · turns 20 this year
- Macklin CelebriniBorn June 13 · turns 20 this year
- Pablo GarcíaBorn June 13 · turns 20 this year
- Zépiqueno RedmondBorn June 22 · turns 20 this year
- Eli Junior KroupiBorn June 23 · turns 20 this year
- Sam LavagninoBorn June 29 · turns 20 this year
- Caleb WilsonBorn July 18 · turns 20 this year
- Dani MuñozBorn July 19 · turns 20 this year
- EndrickBorn July 21 · turns 20 this year
- Javon WaltonBorn July 22 · turns 20 this year
- Héctor FortBorn August 2 · turns 20 this year
- Summer McIntoshBorn August 18 · turns 20 this year
- Kimi AntonelliBorn August 25 · turns 20 this year
- Victoria MbokoBorn August 26 · turns 20 this year
- Kang Ju-hyeokBorn August 27 · turns 20 this year
- Ian ChenBorn September 7 · turns 20 this year
- Oliver PeakeBorn September 11 · turns 20 this year
- Alisha PalmowskiBorn September 21 · turns 20 this year
- Priah FergusonBorn October 1 · turns 20 this year
- Jacob TremblayBorn October 5 · turns 20 this year
- Yoon Do-youngBorn October 28 · turns 20 this year
- Darja VarfolomeevBorn November 4 · turns 20 this year
Events of 2006 (timeline · 122)
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.
Ehud Olmert becomes acting Prime Minister of Israel after the incumbent, Ariel Sharon, suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke.
A stampede during the Stoning of the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 362 Muslim pilgrims.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.
Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country's first indigenous president.
Mexican professional wrestler Juana Barraza is arrested in connection with the serial killing of at least ten elderly women.
The roof of one of the buildings at the Katowice International Fair in Poland collapses due to the weight of snow, killing 65 and injuring more than 170 others.
The Goleta postal facility shootings occur, killing seven people before the perpetrator took her own life.
The last Mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army.
A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines; the official death toll is set at 1,126.
The Securitas depot robbery was the UK's largest heist. Almost £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) was stolen from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.
At approximately 6:44 a.m. local Iraqi time, explosions occurred at the al-Askari Shrine in Samarra, Iraq. The attack on the shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, caused the escalation of sectarian tensions in Iraq into a full-scale civil war.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in an attempt to subdue a possible military coup.
English-language Wikipedia reaches its one millionth article, Jordanhill railway station.
In Monterrey, Mexico, a man identified as Diego Santoy Riveroll commits a double murder against two children, followed by an attempted murder of his ex-partner, Erika. The incident is popularly known as the Cumbres case.
The terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba coordinates a series of bombings in Varanasi, India.
In Mahmoudiyah, Iraq, 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi is raped and murdered by five American soldiers of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, who also murder both of her parents and her sister.
Operation Bringing Home the Goods: Israeli troops raid an American-supervised Palestinian prison in Jericho to capture six Palestinian prisoners, including PFLP chief Ahmad Sa'adat.
Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Déby.
Three Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) hostages are freed by British forces in Baghdad after 118 days of captivity and the murder of their colleague from the U.S., Tom Fox.
Protesters demanding a new election in Belarus, following the rigged 2006 Belarusian presidential election, clash with riot police. Opposition leader Aleksander Kozulin is among several protesters arrested.
Capitol Hill massacre: A gunman kills six people before taking his own life at a party in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.
At least one million union members, students and unemployed take to the streets in France in protest at the government's proposed First Employment Contract law.
Cyclone Glenda, one of the strongest tropical cyclones in the Australian region makes landfall near Onslow, Western Australia.
Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) of the Government of the United Kingdom is enforced, but later merged into National Crime Agency on 7 October 2013.
Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces Iran's claim to have successfully enriched uranium.
The United Front for Democratic Change's attack on the Chadian capital of N'Djamena is repelled by the Chadian army
Twin blasts triggered by crude bombs during Asr prayer in the Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi injure 13 people.
A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates an explosive device in a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 11 people and injuring 70.
Bombings in the Egyptian resort city of Dahab kill 23 people and injure about 80.
Construction begins on the Freedom Tower (later renamed One World Trade Center) in New York City.
Armavia Flight 967 crashes into the Black Sea near Sochi International Airport in Sochi, Russia, killing 113 people.
Iranian Azeris interpret a cartoon published in an Iranian magazine as insulting, resulting in massive riots throughout the country.
Mass unrest by the Primeiro Comando da Capital begins in São Paulo (Brazil), leaving at least 150 dead.
The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef.
The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.
The Republic of Montenegro holds a referendum proposing independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro; 55% of Montenegrins vote for independence.
The 6.4 Mw Yogyakarta earthquake shakes central Java with an MSK intensity of VIII (Damaging), leaving more than 5,700 dead and 37,000 injured.
The union of Serbia and Montenegro comes to an end with Montenegro's formal declaration of independence.
A Yeti Airlines de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter crashes at Jumla Airport in Nepal, killing nine people.
Mari Alkatiri, the first Prime Minister of East Timor, resigns after weeks of political unrest.
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that President George W. Bush's plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates U.S. and international law.
Space Shuttle program: Discovery launches STS-121 to the International Space Station. The event gained wide media attention as it was the only shuttle launch in the program's history to occur on the United States' Independence Day.
North Korea tests four short-range missiles, one medium-range missile and a long-range Taepodong-2. The long-range Taepodong-2 reportedly fails in mid-air over the Sea of Japan.
The Nathu La pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years.
A shootout happens in Spiritwood, Canada, killing two Royal Canadian Mounted Police and wounding a third officer.
Italy win their fourth World Cup title, defeating France 5–3 on penalties following a 1–1 draw after extra time.
One hundred and twenty-five people are killed when S7 Airlines Flight 778, an Airbus A310 passenger jet, veers off the runway while landing in wet conditions at Irkutsk Airport in Siberia.
A Pakistan International Airlines Fokker F27 Friendship crashes near Multan International Airport, killing all 45 people on board.
Mumbai train bombings: 209 people are killed in a series of bomb attacks in Mumbai, India.
Twitter, later one of the largest social media platforms in the world, is launched.
The 7.7 Mw Pangandaran tsunami earthquake severely affects the Indonesian island of Java, killing 668 people, and leaving more than 9,000 injured.
The world's longest running music show Top of the Pops is broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years.
A massacre is carried out by Sri Lankan government forces, killing 17 employees of the French INGO Action Against Hunger (known internationally as Action Contre la Faim, or ACF).
At least 21 suspected terrorists are arrested in the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot that happened in the United Kingdom. The arrests are made in London, Birmingham, and High Wycombe in an overnight operation.
The oil tanker MT Solar 1 sinks off the coast of Guimaras and Negros Islands in the Philippines, causing the country's worst oil spill.
Lebanon War: A ceasefire takes effect three days after the United Nations Security Council's approval of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, formally ending hostilities between Lebanon and Israel.
Sri Lankan Civil War: Sixty-one schoolgirls killed in Chencholai bombing by Sri Lanka Air Force air strike.
Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP S. Sivamaharajah is shot dead at his home in Tellippalai.
Grigori Perelman is awarded the Fields Medal for his proof of the Poincaré conjecture in mathematics but refuses to accept the medal.
Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612 crashes near the Russian border over eastern Ukraine, killing all 170 people on board.
Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of ten, escapes from her captor Wolfgang Přiklopil, after eight years of captivity.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet.
Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Lazarenko is sentenced to nine years imprisonment for money laundering, wire fraud, and extortion.
Comair Flight 5191 crashes on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, bound for Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta. Of the passengers and crew, 49 of 50 are confirmed dead in the hours following the crash.
Edvard Munch's famous painting, The Scream, stolen on August 22, 2004, is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police.
The Waziristan Accord is signed between the Government of Pakistan and local Taliban militants in North Waziristan, obliging the Taliban to expel foreign jihadists and the government to compensate the tribes for loss of life and property and launch reconstruction projects.
Space Shuttle Program: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-115 to resume assembling the International Space Station. It is the first ISS assembly mission after the Columbia disaster back in 2003.
An audio tape of a private speech by Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány is leaked to the public, in which he confessed that his Hungarian Socialist Party had lied to win the 2006 election, sparking widespread protests across the country.
Fourpeaked Mountain in Alaska erupts, marking the first eruption for the volcano in at least 10,000 years.
The Thai army stages a coup. The Constitution is revoked and martial law is declared.
Twenty-three people were killed in a maglev train collision in Lathen, Germany.
Typhoon Xangsane passes over Manila after impacting parts of Southern Luzon and Eastern Visayas, becoming the strongest to affect the Philippine capital in 11 years.
A Boeing 737 and an Embraer 600 collide in mid-air, killing 154 people and triggering a Brazilian aviation crisis.
Five Amish girls are murdered in a shooting at a school in Pennsylvania, United States.
The 6.7 Mw Kiholo Bay earthquake rocks Hawaii, causing property damage, injuries, landslides, power outages, and the closure of Honolulu International Airport.
A Panama Canal expansion proposal is approved by 77.8% of voters in a national referendum.
A funeral service takes place at the Bykivnia graves for Ukrainians who were killed by the Soviet secret police.
ADC Airlines Flight 053 crashes after takeoff from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Nigeria killing 96 people and injuring nine.
Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, and his co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, are sentenced to death in the al-Dujail trial for their roles in the 1982 massacre of 148 Shia Muslims.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The Israeli Defense Force kill 19 Palestinian civilians in their homes during the shelling of Beit Hanoun.
The National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia is opened and dedicated by U.S. President George W. Bush, who announces that Marine Corporal Jason Dunham will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor.
Queen Elizabeth II unveils the New Zealand War Memorial in London, United Kingdom, commemorating the loss of soldiers from the New Zealand Army and the British Army.
Anti-Syrian Lebanese politician and government minister Pierre Gemayel is assassinated in suburban Beirut.
A series of bombings kills at least 215 people and injures 257 others in Sadr City, making it the second deadliest sectarian attack since the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003.
The House of Commons of Canada approves a motion introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper recognizing the Québécois as a nation within Canada.
The law on same-sex marriage comes into force in South Africa, legalizing same-sex marriage for the first time on the African continent.
NASA reveals photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars.
Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-116 carrying the P5 truss segment of the International Space Station.
Felipe Calderón, the president of Mexico, launches a military-led offensive to put down the drug cartel violence in the state of Michoacán. This effort is often regarded as the first event in the Mexican drug war.
The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran, by then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; nations such as Israel and the United States express concern.
The first of a series of floods strikes Malaysia. The death toll of all flooding is at least 118, with over 400,000 people displaced.
Two earthquakes in Hengchun, Taiwan measuring 7.0 and 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale kill two and disrupt telecommunications across Asia.
War in Somalia: The militaries of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopian troops capture Mogadishu unopposed.
The Indonesian passenger ferry MV Senopati Nusantara sinks in a storm, resulting in at least 400 deaths.
Source: Wikipedia date pages ("January 1" … "December 31") / CC BY-SA 4.0. Regions are assigned by the site editors.
FAQ
What year was 2006 in the Japanese calendar?
2006 was Heisei 18 in the Japanese era system.
What Chinese zodiac animal is 2006?
2006 is the Year of the Dog.
How old is someone born in 2006?
They turn 20 on their birthday in 2026.
What happened in 2006?
In 2006, prosecutors raided the internet company Livedoor in January, and Kobe Airport opened in February. In September, Prince Hisahito was born, and that same month Abe Shinzo became prime minister and formed his cabinet.
Dates and events are based on Wikipedia and other references. Summaries and regions are written by the site editors.