2000s facts for kids

The 2000s was the decade that started on January 1, 2000, and ended on December 31, 2009.

Events

The September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center

• November 7, 2000 – George W. Bush is elected President of the United States. The results were not known until December 12, 2000 due to the state of Florida being too close to the results.

• January 13, 2001 – A 6.6 magnitude earthquake strikes El Salvador killing at least 400 people.

• February 20, 2001 – An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease occurs in the United Kingdom and over 10 million sheep and cattle were killed.

• July 2, 2001 – The first artificial heart is implanted in a human being.

• September 11, 2001 – Terrorist attacks are carried out on the World Trade Center in New York City and The Pentagon in Washington, D.C. by members of the Islamic extremist group Al Qaeda. The attacks involve the hijacking of four American passenger planes. Almost 3,000 people die. Two of these planes fly directly into the two towers of the World Trade Center, causing both towers to collapse. A third plane flies into a section of the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashes in a field in Pennsylvania after the terrorists are overpowered by passengers.

• September 18, 2001 – Letters containing anthrax spores are mailed to several American media offices and two American senators. Twenty-two people are exposed and 5 people die.

• September 21, 2001 – A chemical factory explodes in Toulouse, France, killing 29 people and seriously wounding over 2,500.

• 2001 – War in Afghanistan (2001–present) begins as the United States, with help from other countries, invades Afghanistan.

• 2002 – May 20: East Timor gains independence from Indonesia
• 2002–2003 – SARS outbreak
• 2003 – Invasion of Iraq
• 2003 – December 26: earthquake in Bam, Iran
• 2004 – March 11: Bomb attacks on Madrid's train network
• 2004 - June 5: President Ronald Reagan dies at 93
• 2004 – September 1: Beslan School hostage crisis in Russia
• 2004 – Orange Revolution in Ukraine
• 2004 – December 26: tsunami in the Indian Ocean
• 2005 – April 2: Death of Pope John Paul II
• 2005 – July 7: Bomb attacks on the London Underground
• 2005 – October 8: earthquake in Kashmir
• 2005 – November 22: Angela Merkel becomes Chancellor of Germany
• 2005 – 2005 Atlantic hurricane season is the worst on record.
• 2006 – January 16: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, in Liberia becomes the first female president on the African continent.
• 2006 – July – August: war between Israel and Lebanon
• 2006 – December 30: Saddam Hussein is executed in Iraq.
• 2007 – May 16: Nicolas Sarkozy becomes President of France.
• 2007 – June 27: Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 2008 – February 24: Cuban President Fidel Castro retires. He is succeeded by his brother Raul Castro.
• 2008 – May 3: Burma is hit by Cyclone Nargis.
• 2008 – May 12: China's Sichuan province is hit by a major earthquake.
• 2008 – November: Mumbai terrorist attacks
• 2008–2009 – war in the Gaza Strip
• 2009 – January 20: Barack Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States and the first African-American President.
• 2009 – June 25: Death of Michael Jackson

People

• Pope John Paul II, Pope from 1978 to 2005
• Pope Benedict XVI, Pope from 2005 to 2013
• Elizabeth II, Monarch of the United Kingdom and other commonwealth countries since 1952
• Vladimir Putin, President of Russia from 2000 to 2008
• Dmitry Medvedev, President of Russia from 2008 to 2012
• Bill Clinton, President of the United States from 1993 to 2001
• George W. Bush, President of the United States from 2001 to 2009
• Barack Obama, President of the United States from 2009
• Joseph Estrada, President of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001
• Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010
• Fidel Castro, President of Cuba from 1959 to 2008
• Raul Castro, President of Cuba from 2008
• Johannes Rau, President of Germany from 1999 to 2004
• Horst Koehler, President of Germany from 2004 to 2010
• Gerhard Schröder, Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005
• Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany from 2005
• Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007
• Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2010
• Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003
• Jalal Talabani, President of Iraq from 2006
• Jacques Chirac, President of France from 1995 to 2007
• Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France from 2007 to 2012
• Hu Jintao, President of China from 2003 to 2013
• Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia from 2004
• John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007
• Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010
• Akihito, Emperor of Japan since 1989
• Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela from 1999 to 2013
• Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe since 1987
• Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda since 1986
• Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011
• Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, President of Tunisia from 1987 to 2011
• Muammar Gaddafi, Leader of Libya from 1969 to 2011
• Ali Abdullah Saleh, President of Yemen from 1990 to 2012
• Bhumibol Adulyadej, Monarch of Thailand from 1946
• Jiang Zemin, President of China from 1993 to 2003
• Michel Suleiman, President of Lebanon from 2008
• Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa from 1999 to 2008
• Klagema Motlanthe, President of South Africa from 2008 to 2009
• Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa from 2009
• Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan from 1989
• Hafez al-Assad, President of Syria from 1971 to 2000
• Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria from 2000
• Ezer Weizman, President of Israel from 1993 to 2000
• Moshe Katsav, President of Israel from 2000 to 2007
• Shimon Peres, President of Israel from 2007
• Benjamin Netanyehu, Prime Minister of Israel from 2009
• Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001
• Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel from 2001 to 2006
• Ehud Omert, Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009
• Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia from 2006
• Queen Beatrix, Monarch of Netherlands from 1980 to 2013
• King Albert II, Monarch of Belgium from 1993 to 2013
• King Abdullah II, Monarch of Jordan from 1999
• Juan Carlos I, Monarch of Spain from 1975
• Ben Affleck, American actor
• Tom Hanks, American actor
• Julia Roberts, American actress
• Kylie Minogue, Australian singer
• David Beckham, British footballer
• Ronaldo, Brazilian footballer
• Ronaldinho, Brazilian footballer
• Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese footballer
• Lionel Messi, Argentine footballer
• Didier Drogba, Ivorian footballer
• Zinedine Zidane, French footballer
• Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player
• Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player
• Andy Roddick, American tennis player
• Serena Williams, American tennis player
• Venus Williams, American tennis player
• Kobe Bryant, basketball player
• Britney Spears, American singer
• Madonna, singer
• Beyoncé Knowles, singer
• Justin Timberlake, singer
• Jennifer Lopez, singer
• Christina Aguilera, American singer
• Eminem, American rapper
• Gwen Stefani, American singer
• Michael Jackson, American singer and entertainer
• Will Smith, American actor
• Bruce Willis, actor
• Angelina Jolie, American actress
• Brad Pitt, American actor
• Harold Bishop, Australian stroke sufferer
• Dwayne Johnson, American pro-wrestler and actor
• Heath Ledger, Australian actor
• Donald Trump, American businessman
• George Lopez, comedian

Images for kids

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  Benazir Bhutto

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  2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The tsunami caused by the December 26, 2004, earthquake strikes Ao Nang, Thailand.

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  2005 flooding in New Orleans, caused by Hurricane Katrina.

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  People in Mexico City wear masks on a train due to the swine flu outbreak, April 2009

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  Shanghai becomes a symbol of the recent economic boom of China.

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  Offshore outsourcing of jobs, such as this call centre in India, significantly increased during the decade as many multinational corporations moved their manufacturing and services from western countries to developing countries.

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  People queuing outside a Northern Rock bank branch in Birmingham, United Kingdom on September 15, 2007, to withdraw their savings because of the Subprime mortgage crisis.

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  Gas prices in late May 2008

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  The euro became the currency of members of the Eurozone.

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  Artist Concept of a NASA Mars Exploration Rover on Mars

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  These images show water in a very young lunar crater on the side of the moon that faces away from Earth.

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  The popularity of mobile phones and text messaging surged in the 2000s in the Western world.

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  Google becomes the Internet's most visited website.

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  The Da Vinci surgical robot which enables doing accurate robotic surgeries was introduced in the 2000s

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  The Segway was unveiled in December 2001

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  At the beginning of the decade the e-cigarette was invented

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  The highest-grossing film of the decade was Avatar (2009)

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  Harry Potter had the highest-grossing film series during the decade

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  Eminem was the best-selling musical artist of the decade. He sold 32 million albums and won multiple awards, including the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2002.

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  Beyoncé, one of the most significant cultural figures and best-selling female artists of the decade.

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  Caps with Crop tops and low-rise pants were popular as women's wear throughout the early and mid 2000s.

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  Typical 2000s emo hairstyle

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  Cardigans regained popularity in the later part of the decade, worn here by Kanye West in 2007

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  The television genre Reality TV gained massive popularity over the decade with reality TV programs such as "Survivor","Jersey Shore","Idol" and "Big Brother", for which local versions were produced over the years in many countries

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  PlayStation 2 was released in 2000 and became the best-selling gaming console of the decade and of all time.

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  The Nintendo DS awakened an interest in casual play that had never really existed before.

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  The opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics

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  Michael Phelps holds his gold medal on the podium during the 2008 Olympics. Pictured with Ryan Lochte (left) and László Cseh (right)

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  Michelle Kwan performing in the 2002 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

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  GPS devices for automobiles gained massive popularity during the decade

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  Collision Warning with Brake Support on the 2009 Lincoln MKS

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  Digital audio players, especially the iPod player, gained massive popularity during the decade

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  A DSL modem from the 2000s. During the decade broadband Internet connection gained massive popularity around the world and gradually replaced internet connection via telephone lines.

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  During the decade the Blu-ray format became dominant successor of to the DVD format

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  The MacBook Air also saw popularity in the late 2000s

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  Digital cameras gained massive popularity during the decade

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  Flat panel displays begin to displace cathode-ray tubes

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  In early 2001, Wikipedia was launched, which quickly became the largest and most popular online encyclopedia, and one of the most viewed sites on the web.

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  In 2003, the first beta version of the Skype telephony software was launched. By the end of the decade, Skype will have over 600 million users.

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  In 2004, the social network Facebook was launched. By the end of the decade, the site will be ranked 7th in its popularity on the web, and will have over 350 million active users worldwide. Co-founder Mark Zuckerberg pictured above in the site's infancy.

See also

In Spanish: Años 2000 para niños