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| 1990 |
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| Tim Berners-Lee, a British engineer, launched what became the WORLD WIDE WEB for information retrieval. | 1 |
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| 1990 Ff |
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| Intensification of economic globalization. | 2 |
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| 1990 |
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| POLITICAL TRANSFORMATIONS CONTINUED. Dramatic political change continued to be a major theme in global affairs during 1990. Significant changes in rulers or in political systems occurred in widely different areas. In SOUTH AFRICA, steps were taken to end the apartheid system. Nelson Mandela, the leader of the African National Congress, was freed from prison (Feb.) and began significant negotiations with the government. Following the end of communist rule in East Germany, GERMANY WAS REUNITED (Oct.). Previously authoritarian regimes agreed to significant democratization in Nepal (April), Chile (March), Mongolia (March), Zambia (Oct.), and Bangladesh (Dec.). Free elections were also held in Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Haiti (Dec.), although subsequent events made democracy short-lived in these countries. Throughout the year, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia continued to break up into their constituent parts. | 3 |
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| March |
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| Japan became the third country, after the United States and the Soviet Union, to place a satellite in orbit around the moon. | 4 |
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| April |
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| EARTH DAY celebrated by an estimated 200 million people from 140 countries in a major global expression of concern for the environment. | 5 |
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| Aug |
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| PERSIAN GULF WAR began when Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait. An international response led by the United States and coordinated through the United Nations developed. By the end of the year, a large multinational force was set to enforce UN resolutions calling for Iraqi withdrawal. | 6 |
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