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Current Events by Year, 1990–present

Based on the clues, guess these things that happened in each year.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: November 25, 2022
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First submittedAugust 27, 2013
Times taken106,195
Average score72.7%
Rating4.57
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Year
Hint
Answer
2022
Russia invades ______
Ukraine
2021
This Covid variant, first discovered in India, sweeps through the world
Delta
2020
The first major Covid-19 outbreak begins in this city
Wuhan
2019
Up to 1 million people protest against the Chinese government on
the streets of this city
Hong Kong
2018
Scientists announce the presence of liquid water here
Mars
2017
The Parliament of this region declares independence from Spain
Catalonia
2016
This controversial celebrity is elected President of the U.S.
Donald Trump
2015
Islamic terrorists kill 130 people in this city, attacking targets such
as the Bataclan Theatre
Paris
2014
An epidemic of this disease strikes West Africa
Ebola
2013
This new Pope, the first from the Americas, is elected
Francis
2012
This Middle East country is granted observer status by the U.N.,
moving it one step closer to independence
Palestine
2011
This series of protests rocks the Middle East
The Arab Spring
2010
Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, opens in this city
Dubai
2009
This singer dies from prescription drugs issued by his personal physician
Michael Jackson
2008
Pirates hijack 42 ships off the coast of this country
Somalia
2007
This British P.M. leaves office after 10 years
Tony Blair
2006
This celestial body is demoted to "dwarf" planet
Pluto
2005
French surgeons become the first to transplant this body part
Face
2004
200,000 people along the Indian ocean are killed by this type of disaster
Tsunami
2003
The U.S. invades this country
Iraq
2002
This country wins its fifth World Cup
Brazil
2001
Terrorists crash planes into the World Trade Center and this other building
The Pentagon
2000
By 537 votes, this candidate loses his bid to become U.S. president
Al Gore
1999
This major new currency is introduced
Euro
1998
The Good Friday Agreement helps bring peace to this island
Ireland
1997
This celebrity dies in Paris after being chased by paparazzi
Princess Diana
1996
The E.U. bans imports of British beef because of this disease
Mad Cow
1995
The Aum Shinrikyo cult attacks Tokyo subways with this nerve gas
Sarin
1994
This system of racial segregation comes to an end in South Africa
Apartheid
1993
This basketball star announces his retirement in order to play baseball
Michael Jordan
1992
Following a police brutality incident, riots erupt in this city
Los Angeles
1991
This major world power ceases to exist
Soviet Union
1990
Iraq invades this country
Kuwait
+9
Level 53
Oct 20, 2013
Not bad, should be harder though
+4
Level 83
Oct 20, 2013
Got 1990-2012 and missed 2013. For some reason totally blanked on the new Pope's name...
+6
Level 83
Jan 9, 2015
but... got it this go 'round. 100%
+8
Level 46
Oct 20, 2013
Got all but Michael Jordan. I had no idea he played baseball.
+68
Level 79
Oct 20, 2013
Neither did he.
+4
Level 86
Oct 20, 2013
LOL
+4
Level 88
Dec 22, 2021
Bob Saget returns to his clean material.
+33
Level 83
Jan 9, 2015
If only those space aliens hadn't blackmailed him into returning to basketball I'm sure his baseball career would have eventually taken off.
+2
Level 65
Mar 14, 2017
He was supposed to have been a very good baseball player...
+9
Level 84
Sep 3, 2017
...and then came time to try to hit a curve ball.
+3
Level 66
May 16, 2018
It didn't last long. He retired from basketball after the Bulls won their 3rd championship and his father was murdered. Then he joined the Chicago White Sox in their minor leagues, and ended up going back to basketball a couple years later.
+9
Level 73
Dec 23, 2018
Luckily baseball went on strike and gave him an excuse to go back to the hoops and win 3 more rings. I was at the game when they won #5. Go Bulls.
+2
Level 56
Dec 28, 2022
I got that by answering MJ to an earlier question.
+1
Level 75
Oct 20, 2013
I couldn't think of the new Pope's name either - also missed the nerve gas question.
+5
Level 89
Oct 20, 2013
Got all except the Tokyo subway, because I thought Sarin was spelled Serin. Oh well.
+1
Level 62
Jan 9, 2015
I know the feeling.
+6
Level 76
Dec 29, 2015
I was trying to spell it r-i-c-i-n. :(
+6
Level 88
Dec 22, 2018
That was Albuquerque.
+3
Level 53
Dec 26, 2019
@someone2018 now i dont smoke
+8
Level 88
Dec 22, 2021
3 years later I had to wait a second to get my own Breaking Bad reference.
+23
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
+1
Level 70
Mar 1, 2016
thats funny
+1
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?
+24
Level 66
Jun 2, 2018
They were typing Jordan to try to guess the country, but in the process they accidentally answered Michael Jordan.
+1
Level 67
Oct 15, 2021
I got 1993 by guessing another one too, but for me it was 2009.
+1
Level 75
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 49
Jan 21, 2014
I've never thought I would get 100%!
+1
Level 68
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 83
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.
+4
Level 43
Dec 23, 2016
UPDATE: Alabama ratified the 13th amendment on Feb. 18, 2013... after 148 years.
+4
Level 73
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.
+7
Level 79
Jan 9, 2015
Gore didn't lose by 537 votes. He lost by one vote. In the Supreme Court.
+9
Level 83
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 76
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.
+9
Level 83
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.
+6
Level 77
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?
+3
Level 83
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."
+2
Level 83
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 77
Apr 19, 2015
Crappy was harsh, but I really meant something like "unrepresentative".
+4
Level 81
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???
+6
Level 83
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.
+1
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.
+4
Level 62
Jan 9, 2015
I spent the last 30 seconds retyping serin gas. I'm stupid.
+1
Level 66
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.
+6
Level 22
Jan 9, 2015
palestine isnt a country though..
+8
Level 83
Jan 10, 2015
It's not a sovereign nation and therefore doesn't fit the definition of country sometimes used. But then again, neither is Wales...
+1
Level 60
Dec 28, 2021
And still isn't a country 6 years later. Clue needs to be reworded.
+2
Level 46
Jan 9, 2023
Free Palestine
+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 76
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 73
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 61
Dec 29, 2015
Aaaaaaaawe didn't start the fire...lalalalalala lalalalalala....
+4
Level 57
Dec 29, 2015
Excellent quiz, a (sad, for the most part) stroll through recent events. I'm ashamed to say I'd forgotten how many people died in the tsunami. As a Brit who remembers 'Mad Cow', any chance you could also accept CJD, (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) as this is the correct name for the awful condition. 'Mad Cow' was a name invented by the press.
+3
Level 63
Dec 29, 2015
I tried Creutzfeldt-Jakob before I typed Mad Cow. I would assign bonus points to the first answer :D
+8
Level 68
Dec 29, 2015
CJD is not the correct name of the disease in cows. It is called BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) or Mad Cow Disease. While the Mad Cow name was pretty much invented by the press, it is still a correct name. The disease that humans can get from eating infected meat is called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD).
+4
Level 79
Dec 26, 2018
I agree that it should be an accepted answer, however, because it was the vCJD scare that prompted the bans, regardless of the evidence linking the two diseases.
+1
Level 68
Dec 29, 2015
100%. Very easy if you've lived through the years and listened.
+1
Level 64
Dec 29, 2015
Great idea for a quiz!
+2
Level 52
Jan 4, 2016
Blanked on pope; kept guessing John Paul and Benedict; only knew LA Riots from GTA San Andreas, and couldn't guess face for the life of me. Glad i Knew the sarin gas one tho
+1
Level 53
Mar 22, 2018
Can you add ones for 2016 and 2017? It really needs an update!
+11
Level 59
Mar 22, 2018
Too world-centric...
+21
Level 68
Apr 26, 2020
To be fair, it does mention Mars.
+11
Level 78
Mar 11, 2021
And Pluto!
+6
Level 76
Jun 13, 2021
Too Solar System centric smh my head
+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 81
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 73
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 67
Jan 5, 2022
I tried CJD first
+1
Level 88
Dec 22, 2018
28/28, 97%, is better than only 50%. I guess this is an easy one.
+3
Level 83
Dec 22, 2018
"Scientist announce the presence of liquid water here"

Which one? Is it Neil deGrasse Tyson? I love him.

+1
Level 71
Dec 23, 2018
I‘m not a big fan of astronomy, but I could listen for hours to Neil. He makes astronomy great again, what a legend!
+9
Level 56
Dec 31, 2018
Typed MJ for 2009, got 1993 instead.
+1
Level 59
Dec 30, 2021
"Take your pick."
+1
Level 64
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 71
Jan 2, 2019
My life (most of it).
+3
Level 73
Dec 8, 2021
Me too 👋🏻
+7
Level 67
Dec 26, 2019
Point of clarification for the 1992 question: the riots erupted after the police who beat Rodney King were acquitted at trial that year. The actual police brutality incident occurred a year earlier, in March 1991, and people did not riot when the news of the beatings initially broke. I think there is an important historical distinction between people rioting at the sight of four derelict police officers vs. people rioting after the entire justice system spit in their faces.
+3
Level 68
Dec 26, 2019
"Scientist announce" -- one of these words needs an "s."
+1
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.

+1
Level 65
Dec 26, 2019
Palestina?
+1
Level 83
Dec 26, 2019
if the quiz were written in Latin maybe
+2
Level 52
Jan 7, 2020
I bet that US - Iran tensions/conflicts will be the 2020 spot. Either that or the Australian bushfires.
+22
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...
+2
Level 70
Jan 10, 2020
To be pedantic, 'Princess Diana' is not correct, whether or not that's how she was popularly known. Her title was Diana, Princess of Wales so either use that or just Diana.
+10
Level 83
Jun 14, 2020
It's correct. Her name was Diana. She was a princess. She was popularly known as Princess Diana. It's a proper name so it's capitalized. Moronic conventions of the British royal family don't trump common international usage of the English language.
+3
Level 55
Nov 18, 2020
Catalonia has gained independence from Spain previously......................for eight seconds
+7
Level 63
Nov 18, 2020
So Quizmaster are you really sure that, nothing more major than Covid will happen in the next 5 weeks?
+7
Level 82
Nov 19, 2020
don't tempt fate
+4
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...
+10
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.
+3
Level 77
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 71
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 59
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 74
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 75
Nov 29, 2020
Spelling: Indian Ocean, with a capital O
+1
Level 77
Dec 21, 2020
Yay, got all of them first try!
+1
Level 77
Dec 21, 2020
For 2018, 'scientist' should be 'scientists'.
+1
Level 62
Feb 3, 2021
Calling Trump controversial is a bit partisan. Blair was also very controversial after the Iraq war but he is kept neutral in this quiz.
+7
Level 71
Apr 17, 2021
I don't think it is. Unfortunately, there are people in the US crazy enough to think that everyone loves Trump and enjoy the same God-like devotion to him as they themselves do... but I think most rational people, regardless of political affiliation, would call Trump "controversial." After all, controversial doesn't mean completely unpopular, it just means that not everyone shares the same views on the topic and there are many arguments about it... which I think most people would agree is true of Trump.
+1
Level 59
Dec 30, 2021
I don't think you can really call the person controversial, just their actions, but what do I know.
+5
Level 83
Dec 22, 2021
I can't think of another Western leader of the modern age that would better fit the label 'controversial'. Blair certainly was and continues to be controversial, but nothing like on the level of Trump. And controversial isn't a value judgement, merely a statement that people have strongly differing opinions on the topic.
+2
Level 67
Dec 30, 2021
I suppose there's relatively little controversy about war criminal Tony Blair; he's consistently among the most-hated public figures in the UK.
+1
Level 83
Jan 1, 2022
can: but you think that Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot were all awesome, right?
+3
Level 67
Jan 5, 2022
As of today, over 600,000 people have signed a petition calling for Tony Blair to have his recent - and controversial - knighthood removed.
+1
Level 59
Apr 21, 2021
Hold up. We don't know FOR SURE where the coronavirus began.
+1
Level 75
May 18, 2021
I tried Jordan for the 1990 question and it gave me the answer for the 1993 question.
+1
Level 67
May 24, 2021
2016 was a crazy year to think that both Brexit and Trump's election was in the same year.
+1
Level 47
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 77
Nov 6, 2021
9/11

Inside job

Fact

+11
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 84
Jul 18, 2022
Don't forget the Jewish space lasers!
+1
Level 58
Dec 30, 2021
:')
+1
Level 49
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 74
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 60
Dec 31, 2021
Hurricane Katrina for 2005?
+1
Level 40
Jan 3, 2022
I had to look up Aum Shinrikyo... holyyyy
+1
Level 66
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 77
Dec 7, 2022
Come on...did nothing but covid happen in both 2020 AND 2021? I'm sure we have to have a better answer for 2021 than a variant of 2020. I mean, the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan for crying out loud. That's a pretty big deal.
+4
Level 53
Dec 12, 2022
I got Micheal Jordan but only because I guessed that Iraq invaded Jordan 😅
+4
Level 45
Dec 28, 2022
Michael Kuwait will be the next one.
+1
Level 41
Dec 20, 2022
Completed with four seconds remaining!
+1
Level 25
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 25
Dec 28, 2022
finished with 5 seconds left
+1
Level 65
Dec 29, 2022
There's only one variant of Covid: the common cold.
+1
Level 49
Dec 30, 2022
Only 60% knew the Good Friday agreement?