WORLD HISTORY · 2008 日本語
Events of 2008Heisei 20 (Japan) · Year of the Rat
What happened in 2008?
In 2008, the Kyoto Protocol's commitment period began, and in March the yen briefly rose past 100 to the dollar. In June, the Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku earthquake struck, and in September the collapse of Lehman Brothers spread financial turmoil worldwide.
- Kyoto Protocol commitment period beginsAsia
- Kosovo declares independenceEurope
- Yen briefly breaks 100 to the dollarAsia
- Sichuan earthquake strikes ChinaAsia
- Stabbing rampage in AkihabaraAsia
- Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku earthquake strikesAsia
- Beijing Summer Olympics openAsia
- Lehman Brothers collapsesNorth America
Tap an event to jump to it in the timeline below.
2008 at a glance
| Japanese era | Heisei 20 |
|---|---|
| Chinese zodiac | Year of the Rat |
| Age of people born in 2008 | Turn 18 in 2026 |
| Previous / next year | 2007 (Heisei 19) ／ 2009 (Heisei 21) |
| Events | 122 |
| AP World History | Unit 9 (Globalization) |
| AP U.S. History | Period 9 |
Famous people born in 2008
Our birthday pages list 13 people born in 2008. Here are some of them.
- Raegan RevordBorn January 3 · turns 18 this year
- Rémi HimbertBorn February 29 · turns 18 this year
- Emma KokBorn March 12 · turns 18 this year
- Abby Ryder FortsonBorn March 14 · turns 18 this year
- HyeinBorn April 21 · turns 18 this year
- Lilliana KetchmanBorn June 23 · turns 18 this year
- Mathis JangéalBorn June 24 · turns 18 this year
- Iain ArmitageBorn July 15 · turns 18 this year
- Hudson MeekBorn August 5 · turns 18 this year
- Rio NgumohaBorn August 29 · turns 18 this year
- Jackson Robert ScottBorn September 18 · turns 18 this year
- Ella GrossBorn December 1 · turns 18 this year
Show 1 more
- Ediz GürelBorn December 5 · turns 18 this year
Events of 2008 (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.
A Let L-410 Turbolet crashes in the Los Roques Archipelago in Venezuela, killing 14 people.
British Airways Flight 38 crashes short of the runway at Heathrow Airport, injuring 47.
The Euphronios Krater is unveiled in Rome after being returned to Italy by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
An Egyptian court rules that people who do not adhere to one of the three government-recognised religions, while not allowed to list any belief outside of those three, are still eligible to receive government identity documents.
Civic mobilizations in Colombia against FARC, under the name A million voices against the FARC.
Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President José Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.
Northern Illinois University shooting: A gunman opens fire in a lecture hall of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb County, Illinois, resulting in six fatalities (including the gunman) and 21 injuries.
A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam, marking the first operational loss of a B-2.
Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba and the Council of Ministers after 32 years. He would remain as head of the Communist Party for another three years.
The New York Philharmonic performs in Pyongyang, North Korea; this was the first such event to take place in North Korea.
Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari escapes from a detention center in Singapore, hiding in Johor, Malaysia until he was recaptured over a year later.
The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence withdraws Prince Harry from a tour of Afghanistan after news of his deployment is leaked to foreign media.
Misha Defonseca admits to fabricating her memoir, Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, in which she claims to have lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust.
The Armenian police clash with peaceful opposition rally protesting against allegedly fraudulent presidential elections; as a result ten people are killed.
Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-123, carrying the first component of the Japanese Kibō module to the International Space Station.
A series of riots, protests, and demonstrations erupt in Lhasa and subsequently spread elsewhere in Tibet.
Stockpiles of obsolete ammunition explode at an ex-military ammunition depot in the village of Gërdec, Albania, killing 26 people.
GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed.
Texas law enforcement cordons off the FLDS's YFZ Ranch. Eventually 533 women and children will be taken into state custody.
ATA Airlines, once one of the ten largest U.S. passenger airlines and largest charter airline, files for bankruptcy for the second time in five years and ceases all operations.
The 2008 Egyptian general strike starts led by Egyptian workers later to be adopted by April 6 Youth Movement and Egyptian activists.
Kata Air Transport Flight 007 crashes while attempting an emergency landing at Chișinău International Airport, killing eight.
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the Baze v. Rees decision that execution by lethal injection does not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
The Quito Ultratumba nightclub fire in Quito, Ecuador, kills 19 people and injures at least 24 more.
Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300, becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
Two skeletal remains found near Yekaterinburg are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei and Anastasia, two of the children of the last Tsar of Russia, whose entire family was executed at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks.
Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.
Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.
An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts the largest-ever raid of a workplace in Postville, Iowa, arresting nearly 400 immigrants for identity theft and document fraud.
Battle of Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre between Zenit supporters and Rangers supporters and the Greater Manchester Police; 39 policemen injured, one police dog injured and 39 arrested.
California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries.
NASA's Phoenix lander touches down in the Green Valley region of Mars to search for environments suitable for water and microbial life.
Severe flooding begins in eastern and southern China that will ultimately cause 148 deaths and force the evacuation of 1.3 million.
The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.
A doublet earthquake, of combined magnitude 6.1, strikes Iceland near the town of Selfoss, injuring 30 people.
TACA Flight 390 overshoots the runway at Toncontín International Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and crashes, killing five people.
Usain Bolt breaks the world record in the 100m sprint, with a wind-legal (+1.7 m/s) 9.72 seconds.
Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-124 carrying the second portion of the Japanese Kibō module to the International Space Station.
A fire on the back lot of Universal Studios breaks out, destroying the attraction King Kong Encounter and a large archive of master tapes for music and film, the full extent of which was not revealed until 2019.
Two bombs explode at a train station near Algiers, Algeria, killing at least 13 people.
Sudan Airways Flight 109 crashes at Khartoum International Airport, killing 30 people.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a historic official apology to Canada's First Nations in regard to abuses at a Canadian Indian residential school.
Twelve people are killed, including nine clubgoers and three police officers, during a crowd crush in Mexico City.
A suicide bomber dressed as an Iraqi policeman detonates an explosive vest, killing 25 people.
In a highly scrutinized election, President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe is re-elected in a landslide after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai had withdrawn a week earlier, citing violence against his party's supporters.
Riots erupt in Mongolia in response to allegations of fraud surrounding the 2008 legislative elections.
A bomb explodes at a concert in Minsk's Independence Square, injuring 50 people.
Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boškoski is acquitted of all war-crimes charges by a United Nations tribunal.
Battle of Wanat begins when Taliban and al-Qaeda guerrillas attack US Army and Afghan National Army troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. deaths were, at that time, the most in a single battle since the beginning of operations in 2001.
Fifty-six people are killed and over 200 people are injured, in the Ahmedabad bombings in India.
East Coast Jets Flight 81 crashes near Owatonna Degner Regional Airport in Owatonna, Minnesota, killing all eight people on board.
The Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway begins operation as the fastest commuter rail system in the world.
Eleven mountaineers from international expeditions die on K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth, in the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering.
The New England Revolution win the 2008 North American SuperLiga final against the Houston Dynamo.
A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
The 29th modern summer Olympic Games take place in Beijing, China until August 24.
A EuroCity express train en route from Kraków, Poland to Prague, Czech Republic strikes a part of a motorway bridge that had fallen onto the railroad track near Studénka railway station in the Czech Republic and derails, killing eight people and injuring 64 others.
The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago is topped off at 1,389 feet (423 m), at the time becoming the world's highest residence above ground-level.
American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals at one Olympic Games.
The President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, resigns under threat of impeachment.
Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid, Spain to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport. Of the 172 people on board, 146 die immediately, and eight more later die of injuries sustained in the crash.
Sixty-five passengers are killed when Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 6895 crashes during an emergency landing at Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
A Conviasa Boeing 737 crashes into Illiniza Volcano in Ecuador, killing all three people on board.
Iraq War: The United States Armed Forces transfers control of Anbar Province to the Iraqi Armed Forces.
The United States government takes control of the two largest mortgage financing companies in the US, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history, is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland.
A major Channel Tunnel fire breaks out on a freight train, resulting in the closure of part of the tunnel for six months.
The 2008 Chatsworth train collision in Los Angeles between a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train kills 25 people.
Delhi, India, is hit by a series of bomb blasts, resulting in 30 deaths and 130 injuries.
Aeroflot Flight 821, a Boeing 737-500, crashes into a section of the Trans-Siberian Railway while on approach to Perm International Airport, in Perm, Russia, killing all 88 people on board.
Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history.
A Learjet 60 carrying musicians Travis Barker and Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein crashes during a rejected takeoff from Colombia Metropolitan Airport in West Columbia, South Carolina, killing four of the six people on board. Barker and Goldstein both survive.
A dump truck full of explosives detonates in front of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 54 people and injuring 266 others.
CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk.
Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed liquid-fuel ground-launched vehicle to put a payload into orbit by the RatSat mission.
The Singapore Grand Prix is held as Formula One's inaugural night race, with Fernando Alonso winning the event. Almost a year later it was revealed that Alonso's team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr. had been ordered to crash his car to help bring out the safety car and give Alonso the advantage and win.
The stock market crashes with the Dow Jones dropping a then record 778 points after the United States House of Representatives vote on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act fails during the beginning stages of the Great Recession.
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 for the U.S. financial system is signed by President George W. Bush.
Asteroid 2008 TC3 impacts the Earth over Sudan, the first time an asteroid impact is detected prior to its entry into Earth's atmosphere.
Qantas Flight 72 experiences an in-flight upset near Exmouth, Western Australia, Australia, injuring 112.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes down 733.08 points, or 7.87%, the second worst percentage drop in the Dow's history.
"Bloody Friday" saw many of the world's stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.
Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, creating the world's largest airline and reducing the number of US legacy carriers to five.
Lewis Hamilton secured his maiden Formula One Drivers' Championship Title by one point ahead of Felipe Massa at the Brazilian Grand Prix, after a pass for fifth place against the Toyota of Timo Glock on the final lap of the race.
Barack Obama becomes the first person of biracial or African-American descent to be elected as President of the United States.
Over five months after landing on Mars, NASA declares the Phoenix mission concluded after communications with the lander were lost.
Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-126 to continue assembly of the International Space Station.
Cyclone Nisha strikes northern Sri Lanka, killing 15 people and displacing 90,000 others while dealing the region the highest rainfall in nine decades.
Mumbai attacks, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks took place in Mumbai killing 166 citizens by 10 terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan based extremist Islamist terrorist organisation.
XL Airways Germany Flight 888T: An Airbus A320 performing a flight test crashes near the French commune of Canet-en-Roussillon, killing all seven people on board.
Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is arrested by federal officials for crimes including attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
Bernie Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
An ash dike ruptures at a solid waste containment area for a Tennessee Valley Authority coal-fired power plant in Roane County, Tennessee, releasing 4.2 million m3 (1.1 billion US gal) of coal fly ash slurry in the largest industrial spill in U.S. history.
A coup d'état occurs in Guinea hours after the death of President Lansana Conté.
The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks against civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.
Source: Wikipedia date pages ("January 1" … "December 31") / CC BY-SA 4.0. Regions are assigned by the site editors.
FAQ
What year was 2008 in the Japanese calendar?
2008 was Heisei 20 in the Japanese era system.
What Chinese zodiac animal is 2008?
2008 is the Year of the Rat.
How old is someone born in 2008?
They turn 18 on their birthday in 2026.
What happened in 2008?
In 2008, the Kyoto Protocol's commitment period began, and in March the yen briefly rose past 100 to the dollar. In June, the Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku earthquake struck, and in September the collapse of Lehman Brothers spread financial turmoil worldwide.
Dates and events are based on Wikipedia and other references. Summaries and regions are written by the site editors.