The Year 1999 From The People History 25 Years Ago

Other Major Events From 1999

United States - Napster Released

1. The online peer-to-peer file sharing service, Napster, is released during June.

2. The service was created by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker.

3. It was mainly used by people who shared MP3 music and digital audio files.

4. As the laws about file sharing and copyright regarding the internet were just newly established, the service soon ran into legal troubles dealing with copyright infringement.

5. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), A&M Records, and several other record companies filed lawsuits against Napster by the end of the year for violating the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act).

6. By 2001, Napster was forced to shut down its music-sharing service and was instead changed to a subscription model.

USA -- Bill Clinton Acquitted

The United States Senate acquits President Bill Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice on February 12th, ending his five week long impeachment trial. Details of the trial centered on the President’s inappropriate relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton had lied to the American public when he initially denied the relationship. The final vote for the charge of perjury was 55 for not guilty and 45 for guilty and it was 50 to 50 for the obstruction charge. The Senate required a two-thirds majority to convict and remove Clinton from office. The trial was presided over by Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

USA -- SpongeBob Premieres

The popular children’s cartoon show “SpongeBob SquarePants” premieres on the Nickelodeon cable network on May 1. The show was created by animator Stephen Hillenburg who had previously been a marine biology teacher. The title character was voiced by comedian Tom Kenny who also provided voices for “Rocko’s Modern Life,” “CatDog,” “The Powerpuff Girls,” and “Adventure Time.” SpongeBob SquarePants was one of the highest rated and longest running shows on Nickelodeon with over 200 episodes. It still has a large following today and has led to the production of several movies, video games, comic books, and mass amounts of merchandise like clothing and toys.

East Timor -- Independence Referendum

The citizens of East Timor voted in a referendum on their independence from Indonesia on August 30th. Indonesia had annexed the country in 1976 and maintained it as a province. As pro-independence movements gained traction, the President of Indonesia asked the United Nations to set up the referendum in which the East Timorese people were given the choice of remaining in Indonesia but with more autonomy or gaining their independence. An overwhelming majority of 78.5% voted in favor of independence with a 98.6% registered voter turnout. While some violence from pro-Indonesia militias erupted after the vote, the country carefully transitioned to independence over the next three years, making it official in 2002.

Pakistan and India fighting

Renewed fighting between Pakistan and India over Kashmir

Indonesia Democracy

Democracy restored to Indonesia

U.S.

Ford Acquires Volvo

Turkey Earthquakes

2 Devastating Earthquakes kill 14,000 people in Turkey

ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians

Serbs accelerate ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians leading to a NATO bombing attack

Northern Ireland

New multi party assembly in Northern Ireland meets restoring self rule after 22 years

European Union

European Union bans Beef Imports from the US over the widespread use of growth hormones

World population

The human population of the world surpassed six billion.

Dow Jones

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 11,000 for the first time

Mexico floods

The worst floods seen in Mexico in 40 years causes a number of mudslides which buries whole villages leaving over 400 dead

Helen Clark

Helen Clark becomes the first elected female Prime Minister in New Zealand

Yugoslavia crimes against humanity

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Miloševic and four others on May 27 for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo

Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong wins his first Tour de France.

Greece earthquake

A powerful, magnitude 5.9 earthquake hits Athens, killing 143 people

Taiwan Earthquake

Earthquake in central Taiwan kills about 2,400 people.

Jack Kervorkian

Jack Kervorkian was sentenced for the second-degree murder of Thomas Youk. ( assisted suicide )

Euro currency

Euro currency introducedon 1st January in 11 countries.

UK Minimum Hourly Wage £3.60 an hour

Great Britain Introduces the Minimum Hourly Wage Rate of all adults must be paid at least £3.60 an hour

Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones

Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon without stopping.

U.S. tornado

A F5 tornado slams in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma killing 38 people

U.S. Gun Control Bill Rejected

New US Gun Control Bill Rejected for new controls going too far, and new controls not going far enough.

Brazil Power Outage

Between 50 and 100 million are left without power in the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul,

Ladbroke Grove rail crash

Thirty-one people die in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash, west of London, England.

Vanuatu

Earthquake and Tsunami in Vanuatu

Russia Chechnya

Russia offensive on Chechnya using Missile Attacks

Australia

Australian voters decided to keep the queen and not become a republic

Millennium Dome

The Millennium Dome opens in London

Geneva Convention

The Geneva Convention celebrations for 50th Anniversary

UK

Walmart continues it's world wide expansion plans when it buys the UK supermarket chain ASDA

West Nile Virus

The West Nile Virus first appears in the United States

Barbie Doll

Mattel's Barbie Doll celebrates it's 40th Birthday

Venezuela floods and mudslides

Torrential rains caused catastrophic floods and mudslides in the coastal regions of Venezuela, killing an estimated 25,000 people and leaving 100,000 others homeless.

Vladimir Putin

Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, replaced by Vladimir Putin

Dr. Jack Kevorkian

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, was found guilty of second-degree murder for for giving a lethal injection in a case of voluntary euthanasia

U.S. blizzards

Severe blizzards take place in the Midwestern United States affecting Wisconsin and Illinois

Bill Clinton

Impeachment Proceedings are bought against President Bill Clinton

Prince Edward

Prince Edward marries commoner Sophie Rhys-Jones on June 19th at St. George's Chapel, Windsor.

Scottish Parliament

The Queen opens the first Scottish Parliament in 300 years

Afghanistan Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden sets his Al-Qaeda terrorist base in Afghanistan ( he is on the FBI's Most wanted List ) following involvment in American embassey bombings in Africa

U.S. Women's World Cup champions

U.S. women's soccer team wins the FIFA Women's World Cup champions

Total Eclipse Of The Sun

Total Eclipse Of The Sun Is Seen In cities of Europe and Asia

India Train Crash

Deadly Train Crash in India leaves over 500 dead

Paddington train crash

Two trains collide near Paddington Station at the height of the morning rush hour.

Liberty Bell space capsule

The Liberty Bell space capsule recovered in Florida during an expedition sponsored by the Discovery Channel.

Millennium celebrations

Start of Millennium celebrations worldwide (technically the Millennium started in 2001 not 2000).