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Current Events by Year, 1990–2009

Based on the clues, guess these things that happened in each year.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: December 5, 2023
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First submittedAugust 27, 2013
Times taken132,294
Average score75.0%
Rating4.73
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Year
Hint
Answer
2009
Singer who died from prescription drugs issued by his personal physician
Michael Jackson
2008
Country whose coastline saw an outbreak of piracy
Somalia
2007
U.K. Prime Minister who left office after 10 years
Tony Blair
2006
Celestial body demoted to "dwarf" planet
Pluto
2005
Body part which French surgeons became the first to transplant
Face
2004
Type of disaster which killed over 200,000 along the coast of the Indian Ocean
Tsunami
2003
Country invaded by the U.S.
Iraq
2002
Country which won its fifth FIFA World Cup
Brazil
2001
Building which, in addition to the World Trade Center, was attacked by 9/11 terrorists
The Pentagon
2000
Candidate who lost his bid to become U.S. president by just 537 votes in Florida
Al Gore
1999
Major new currency which was introduced
Euro
1998
Island where the Good Friday Agreement was signed
Ireland
1997
Celebrity who died in Paris after being chased by paparazzi
Princess Diana
1996
Disease which caused the EU to ban imports of British beef
Mad Cow
1995
Nerve gas that Aum Shinrikyo used in its terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway
Sarin
1994
System of racial segregation which came to an end in South Africa
Apartheid
1993
Basketball star who announced his retirement in order to play baseball
Michael Jordan
1992
City which saw riots after police were acquitted for beating Rodney King
Los Angeles
1991
Major world power which ceased to exist on December 31
Soviet Union
1990
Country invaded by Iraq
Kuwait
+27
Level 45
Oct 20, 2013
Only got the answer for 1993 because I was guessing the answer for 1990.
+5
Level 48
Apr 22, 2014
You win the internet.
+1
Level 57
Jun 3, 2015
same haha
+2
Level 72
Mar 1, 2016
thats funny
+2
Level 66
May 16, 2018
I'm guessing the questions were changed somewhere in the last 5 years. Otherwise... you got Michael Jordan because you thought Iraq invaded him in 1990?
+31
Level 67
Jun 2, 2018
They were typing Jordan to try to guess the country, but in the process they accidentally answered Michael Jordan.
+2
Level 67
Oct 15, 2021
I got 1993 by guessing another one too, but for me it was 2009.
+3
Level 77
Dec 7, 2022
Yes, this was a pretty good quiz on the whole but for me the 1993 question let it down. Were there really no events of greater historical moment that year?
+1
Level 79
Dec 15, 2023
it's not a 'greatest historical moments' quiz
+1
Level 49
Jan 21, 2014
I've never thought I would get 100%!
+1
Level 67
Mar 17, 2014
OMG, this is the first time I get 100% on a test on the first go! I guess this proves I have lived the past 24 years ;).
+5
Level 48
Apr 22, 2014
I'M AMERICAN. I DON'T WATCH SOCCER OR PAY ATTENTION TO WORLD LEADERS. It's kind of disturbing that apartheid ended so recently.
+3
Level 82
Jan 9, 2015
Human slavery was still officially legal in parts of the world through the early 80s.
+5
Level 43
Dec 23, 2016
And was never officially abolished in Alabama(methinks) until 2012 when an error in the movie "Lincoln" provoked a look into the abolition processes of every state.
+1
Level 60
Dec 5, 2023
Even in this century, it was not punishable in Mauritania.
+4
Level 43
Dec 23, 2016
UPDATE: Alabama ratified the 13th amendment on Feb. 18, 2013... after 148 years.
+5
Level 74
Dec 23, 2018
I think you mean Mississippi. Alabama ratifed the 13th Amendment on 12/2/1865, putting it among the original 27 states, or 3/4ths, necessary to pass it.. Mississippi failed to ratify it until 2013.
+1
Level 69
Nov 2, 2014
Maybe more spellings for apartheid. I knew it, but couldn't spell it.
+1
Level 79
Dec 15, 2023
maybe learn how to spell it
+10
Level 78
Jan 9, 2015
Gore didn't lose by 537 votes. He lost by one vote. In the Supreme Court.
+10
Level 82
Jan 9, 2015
That's debatable. More accurate would be to say he lost by one state, and the electoral votes that it represented (25, putting Gore behind by 5 electoral votes). He still won the popular vote by over half a million votes. Maybe the clue could be rewritten "this candidate loses his bid to become US president by only getting 543,985 more votes than his opponent (at last tally)."
+5
Level 75
Jan 9, 2015
If we were a pure democracy and voting was required of every citizen by law rather than a democratic republic where voting is optional and the electoral college actually elects our president, one has to wonder how the course of our US history might have changed.
+10
Level 82
Jan 10, 2015
the two political parties would probably look different than they do. Republicans can only win elections at a national level by relying on higher voter turnout amongst scared/retired conservatives than apathetic liberals, or by suppressing the vote of young people/minorities/women/inner city residents. If everyone had to vote they couldn't rely on this strategy and would have to adjust their strategy.
+1
Level 79
Dec 15, 2023
this aged rather disturbingly
+7
Level 78
Jan 9, 2015
Weren't thousands of people excluded from the elections by the Republican government of Florida (more or less) to secure a Bush win that would turn out to be crucial because of the crappy American electoral system?
+4
Level 82
Jan 10, 2015
eh.... kinda. there were 1000s of lawyers representing both parties in Florida during and especially after the election. All were trying to gain any advantage they could for their candidate. Republican lawyers aggressively sought to discount some ballots in districts where they were recounting because in those voting districts, Gore was thought to be favored and had they done a comprehensive recount it probably would have meant more votes for Gore. So... they (mostly through legal means) sought to throw out certain ballots that were allegedly not clearly marked.. the ones with the famous "hanging chads" or "dimpled" chads meaning that the little paper square had not been neatly punched out of the card. There was also the famous butterfly ballot in one district where confused seniors had obviously *meant* to vote for Gore but ended up voting for Buchanan. And ultimately efforts to continue recounting were halted by the Supreme Court. Bush was still ahead at that point, so he "won."
+3
Level 82
Jan 10, 2015
and the electoral college works the way that it does by design. It's not supposed to be a direct democracy. So, it's not like the system failed or didn't work as it was supposed to. I think nonsensical, archaic, or unrepresentative would be better adjectives here than "crappy."
+1
Level 78
Apr 19, 2015
Crappy was harsh, but I really meant something like "unrepresentative".
+5
Level 82
Dec 19, 2019
What's crappy is not so much the electoral college (which does have a reasoning behind it) but the actual vote-casting methods. With so many irregularities, unclear voting by design rather than through voters' fault etc etc, almost any European court/electoral commission would order a recount, or more likely a repeat election with these issues tackled. Also *hours* of waiting at poll stations like in some poor country???
+1
Level 79
Dec 15, 2023
Oh the humanity, heaven forbid the United States of America (God bless) shares any characteristics with... poor countries!
+6
Level 82
Dec 26, 2019
There is without doubt enormous room for improvement when it comes to the American election process. Some of this has to do with the outdated electoral college; a lot of it has to do with other things. Unfortunately some in power have deemed it advantageous to their staying in power to either fail to address the problems that exist, or, in many cases, actively work to make them worse.
+2
Level 77
Dec 7, 2022
Here's the problem...the president and executive branch has too much power. The president is elected as a representative of the states. He presides over 50 states. Meanwhile, one of the houses of congress is comprised of people representing the individual districts. California has 1/8 of the entire house of representatives. When this system was created, the legislative branch was to be the most powerful with executive second and judicial a distant 3rd. Somehow 230 years later, the executive branch is most powerful, followed by judicial, then lastly legislative. Everything is backwards from its original design. That's why people lose their minds over a presidential election where he serves a maximum of 8 years, but are totally cool with people serving in congress for 30 years. Because he's got too much power.
+1
Level 79
Dec 15, 2023
So the solution is to give more power to Congress or to the SC or both? I think I'll pass
+4
Level 65
Jan 9, 2015
I spent the last 30 seconds retyping serin gas. I'm stupid.
+1
Level 68
Jun 24, 2016
Me too! tried every possible variation, except the right one.
+1
Level 48
Mar 14, 2017
Same here, getting it on the 5th try.
+3
Level 59
Dec 28, 2015
Got all but the riot city. Not an incident I've heard about and I wasn't alive at the time.
+2
Level 75
Dec 29, 2015
I feel really old. You probably can't picture a world without computers, remote controls, or Cocoa Puffs, either.
+7
Level 84
Sep 3, 2017
Just wanted to take this opportunity to mention that I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.
+5
Level 75
Dec 8, 2021
We used a snooker cue as a remote control.
+2
Level 48
Mar 14, 2017
Wow, a riot I lived through and here's someone who never heard of it. I make assumptions every day about what I've experienced.
+5
Level 73
Dec 26, 2018
The events that we more "senior" citizens have lived through really help to put our current events into a broader perspective. I was a senior in college in Miami for both the Liberty City riots and the Mariel boatlift. The boatlift resulted in about 125.000 Cuban immigrants coming to Florida. It included many former inmates from Cuban prisons and mental health facilities. The fact that we survived it kinda puts the 10,000 immigrants coming from Mexico and Central America with only a suspicion of some sort of criminal activity seem a little less scary.
+1
Level 56
Dec 29, 2015
The only way that I know the tokyo one was because of this season of Homeland. :/
+4
Level 62
Dec 29, 2015
Aaaaaaaawe didn't start the fire...lalalalalala lalalalalala....
+1
Level 68
Dec 29, 2015
100%. Very easy if you've lived through the years and listened.
+1
Level 65
Dec 29, 2015
Great idea for a quiz!
+12
Level 60
Mar 22, 2018
Too world-centric...
+1
Level 37
Nov 18, 2018
Also got 100%, but am concerned that one of the few times I score that high is on a quiz about world-wide calamities!
+3
Level 82
Dec 22, 2018
CJD could be an acceptable type in for mad cow disease? In Britain it was often referred to by it's medical name (which I can't spell)
+1
Level 66
Dec 21, 2019
You mean BSE
+4
Level 75
Dec 8, 2021
No, CJD/vCJD should also be accepted too in my opinion. vCJD (almost universally referred to as CJD at the time, although strictly I think it is different) is the disease that humans can get after eating cows with BSE. Clearly the EU banned British beef to avoid people getting vCJD from eating beef contaminated with BSE.
+1
Level 82
Dec 6, 2023
Yes, CJD should be accepted. It stands for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and is the human disease that can be contracted by eating meat from animals infected with BSE (which is Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy). Mad Cow is just the popular term - strictly for BSE I think, but it tends to encompass both in how it's used in the media.

But in any case, the question is "the disease that caused the EU to ban imports of British beef", and I think CJD certainly fits that description as much if not more so than BSE.

+1
Level 68
Jan 5, 2022
I tried CJD first
+1
Level 89
Dec 22, 2018
28/28, 97%, is better than only 50%. I guess this is an easy one.
+1
Level 63
Dec 31, 2018
28/29. Ran out of time remembering the name the Tokyo attack substance. It was too late to say Sarin
+2
Level 72
Jan 2, 2019
My life (most of it).
+3
Level 75
Dec 8, 2021
Me too 👋🏻
+2
Level 42
Dec 26, 2019
My absolute favourite kind of quiz. I have such a poor grasp on specific years so it's great to revise.

I've also created quizzes on an event a year for both 1900-1950 and 1950-2000 if people are interested, though my clues aren't quite as streamlined as these.

+3
Level 51
Jan 7, 2020
I bet that US - Iran tensions/conflicts will be the 2020 spot. Either that or the Australian bushfires.
+24
Level 71
Oct 6, 2020
Man, you can really tell this comment was written in January when all we had to worry about was World War 3.
+3
Level 57
Dec 21, 2020
I wish he was right...
+7
Level 62
Nov 18, 2020
So Quizmaster are you really sure that, nothing more major than Covid will happen in the next 5 weeks?
+9
Level 83
Nov 19, 2020
don't tempt fate
+6
Level 75
Nov 19, 2020
These aren't always the most major events of the year
+6
Level 55
Nov 19, 2020
Gah! Another perfect score ruined by a question about an obscure American sport...
+14
Level ∞
Nov 19, 2020
Yes, the quaint sport of basketball. Such an odd American custom. Only a few people have ever heard of it. And whoever heard of Michael Jordan outside of the United States? Nobody, that's who. Just a completely random and unnecessary imposition to expect anyone to guess that one. And, even if you knew it, how could one even spell it? It's just such a strange and weird answer.
+5
Level 78
Nov 19, 2020
Say, what is this 'United States' some people are mentioning on this site? And who are these 'Americans'? Don't think I've ever heard of them before.
+2
Level 55
Nov 20, 2020
Here, fishy fishy.
+1
Level 72
Nov 25, 2022
I have to say, as someone who hates the number of questions on US sports that us non-Americans get hit with, that I had no clue on this one, but guessed the most famous Basketball player I knew and ehhh hey presto.

In this case, the question may be bloody tricky for those of us who aren’t from North America, but it is very very easily guessed, so I have to side with Quizmaster on this one.

+1
Level 67
Dec 30, 2021
I would agree that MJ leaving basketball is a little obscure on a global level, but so is Tony Blair becoming a PM or a small-scale terrorist attack in Japan.

No, I'm not bitter...

+1
Level 77
Nov 25, 2022
Basketball was invented by a Canadian man.
+3
Level 75
Nov 21, 2020
Surely the reveal of the first iPhone in 2007 has had a much larger impact on the world than Tony Blair leaving office, no?
+1
Level 79
Dec 21, 2020
Yay, got all of them first try!
+1
Level 76
May 18, 2021
I tried Jordan for the 1990 question and it gave me the answer for the 1993 question.
+1
Level 46
Oct 11, 2021
Can I just say, princess Diana wasn't really a celeb as such more a public figure although she was heading into that celebrity realm so I suppose you could call her celebrity...

I will shut up now.

+2
Level 87
Nov 6, 2021
9/11

Inside job

Fact

+13
Level 52
Dec 22, 2021
Obviously. It was all the work of Bush who let the Atheist-Muslim-Jewish-Satanist-Pastafarian Obama spy on Donald Trump (who won every president election since he was born) by dropping chemtrails onto Trump Tower to assassinate Kennedy with help from the CIA, the KGB, the Cuban government, the second shooter on the grassy knoll, George Soros, and space aliens.
+1
Level 85
Jul 18, 2022
Don't forget the Jewish space lasers!
+1
Level 60
Dec 30, 2021
:')
+1
Level 52
Dec 8, 2021
I did the "We didn't start the Fire" lyrics quiz directly before this and I now really want to make a song out of this.
+5
Level 76
Dec 30, 2021
It's really kind of disappointing that the island the Good Friday Agreement brought peace to wasn't Easter Island.
+1
Level 62
Dec 31, 2021
Hurricane Katrina for 2005?
+2
Level 40
Jan 3, 2022
I had to look up Aum Shinrikyo... holyyyy
+1
Level 67
Jan 25, 2022
I missed Michael Jackson coz I kept thinking Prince and Pope Francis even though I met him when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires
+1
Level 50
Aug 11, 2022
Fun one! Would love more of these!
+5
Level 56
Dec 12, 2022
I got Micheal Jordan but only because I guessed that Iraq invaded Jordan 😅
+6
Level 49
Dec 28, 2022
Michael Kuwait will be the next one.
+1
Level 43
Dec 20, 2022
Completed with four seconds remaining!
+1
Level 28
Dec 28, 2022
i had 5 seconds left
+2
Level 66
Dec 28, 2022
I'm pretty sure Hannibal Lecter had already done a face transplant back in 1991, beating the French by 14 years.
+1
Level 28
Dec 28, 2022
finished with 5 seconds left
+1
Level 52
Dec 30, 2022
Only 60% knew the Good Friday agreement?
+3
Level 69
Jun 26, 2023
I understand why in this case (because they’re both in this specific quiz), but why is “MJ” never accepted as a type-in for Michael Jackson on this site? It always seems to work as a type-in for Michael Jordan, even though they’re both commonly referred to as MJ and Michael Jackson is SURELY the more famous of the two?
+1
Level 85
Dec 5, 2023
The USSR ceased to exist on 26th when it was voted out of existence by the Supreme Soviet. The 31st was when the UN officially recognized Russia as the legal successor state to the USSR.
+1
Level 88
Dec 11, 2023
1992 was easy enough to guess, but the wording should probably be changed. The correct answer was definitely not the only city to see riots after the Rodney King verdict. I was in San Francisco, for example, and personally witnessed looting, fires set, and even a trolley car overturned!
+1
Level 64
Jan 18, 2024
I typed "MJ" because it was Michael Jackson , but i accidentally got Michael Jordan :)
+1
Level 48
Jan 18, 2024
If you're gonna allow 'MJ' and 'Princess Di', you should allow 'LA'.
+1
Level 25
Jan 18, 2024
Should accept CJD for mad cow disease, as that's its proper name.

Good quiz ♥️

+1
Level 62
Jan 19, 2024
you kiddin

I typed MJ and got michael jordan but not michael jackson??

+1
Level 57
Jan 19, 2024
MJ is both Jordan and Jackson bruh
+1
Level 35
Jan 22, 2024
Ireland isn't an island. Great Quiz though
+1
Level 39
Jan 25, 2024
I'm astonished that it will be 15 years this year already since M.J. has passed!