1999#July

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{{Events by month|1999}}

File:1999 Events Collage.png of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; an earthquake in İzmit kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootings in the United States; the year 2000 problem ("Y2K"), perceived as a major concern in the lead-up to the year 2000; the Millennium Dome (currently The O2 Arena) opens in London; online music downloading platform Napster is launched, soon a source of online piracy; NASA loses both the Mars Climate Orbiter and the Mars Polar Lander; a destroyed T-55 tank near Prizren during the Kosovo War.|300x300px|thumb]]

{{Year dab|1999}}

{{Year nav|1999}}

{{C20 year in topic}}

{{Year article header|1999}}

1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.

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Events

=January=

  • January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
  • January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA.{{Cite web |last=Dooling |first=Dave |title=Mars Polar Lander {{!}} United States space probe |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mars-Polar-Lander |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427225014/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mars-Polar-Lander |archive-date=April 27, 2021 |access-date=27 April 2021 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}
  • January 25 – The 6.2 {{M|w}} Colombia earthquake hits western Colombia, killing at least 1,900 people.{{Cite web |title=International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) |url=https://www.eird.org/eng/revista/No14_99/desas3.htm |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=www.eird.org}}

=February=

  • February 7Abdullah II inherits the throne of Jordan, following the death of his father King Hussein.{{cite web | last=Satloff | first=Robert | title=Analyzing King Abdullah's Change in the Line of Succession | website=The Washington Institute | date=2004-11-29 | url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/analyzing-king-abdullahs-change-line-succession | access-date=2025-03-03}}
  • February 11Pluto moves along its eccentric orbit further from the Sun than Neptune. It had been nearer than Neptune since 1979, and will become again in 2231.{{cite book |last1=Weintraub |first1=David A. |title=Is Pluto a Planet?: A Historical Journey through the Solar System |date=2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-5297-0 |page=250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dW1_AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA250}}
  • February 12 – U.S. President Bill Clinton is acquitted in impeachment proceedings in the United States Senate.
  • February 16
  • In Uzbekistan, an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov takes place at government headquarters.{{cite book|last=Cummings|first=Sally N.|year=2002|title=Power and change in Central Asia|url=https://archive.org/details/powerchangecentr00cumm|url-access=limited|page=[https://archive.org/details/powerchangecentr00cumm/page/n140 130]|publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780415255851}}
  • Across Europe, Kurdish protestors take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrests one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.
  • February 23
  • Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
  • 1999 Galtür avalanche: An avalanche destroys the village of Galtür, Austria, killing 31.{{Cite web |title=25 years since the avalanche winter of 1999 |url=https://www.wsl.ch/en/news/25-years-since-the-avalanche-winter-of-1999/ |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=www.wsl.ch |language=en-US}}
  • February 27 – While trying to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon, Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new endurance record after being aloft for 233 hours and 55 minutes.

=March=

=April=

=May=

=June=

  • June 1
  • Napster, a music downloading service, is created; it would later inspire other file-sharing sites such as The Pirate Bay, LimeWire, Gnutella, Kazaa, Morpheus, BearShare, and ΜTorrent 1999-2010 period which some called the "Second Golden Age of Piracy".{{Cite web|last=Ghoshal|first=Abhimanyu|date=2018-12-28|title=A nostalgic look back at digital music piracy in the 2000s|url=https://thenextweb.com/insights/2018/12/28/a-nostalgic-look-back-at-digital-music-piracy-in-the-2000s/|access-date=2021-03-18|website=The Next Web|archive-date=March 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210326175359/https://thenextweb.com/insights/2018/12/28/a-nostalgic-look-back-at-digital-music-piracy-in-the-2000s/|url-status=live}}{{Citation|title=The Rise and Fall of LimeWire| date=November 18, 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2BwsMbrXqo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/e2BwsMbrXqo| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|access-date=2021-03-18}}{{cbignore}}
  • American Airlines Flight 1420 crash lands after overrunning the runway at Little Rock National Airport, killing 11 of the 145 people onboard.{{cite book |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR0102.pdf |title=Aircraft Accident Report – Runway Overrun During Landing, American Airlines Flight 1420, McDonnell Douglas MD-82, N215AA, Little Rock, Arkansas, June 1, 1999 |date=October 23, 2001 |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |id=NTSB/AAR-01/02 |access-date=April 7, 2025|archive-date=July 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711121033/https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR0102.pdf |url-status=live}}{{rp|p=12}}
  • June 2 – The King of Bhutan allows television transmissions to commence in the Kingdom for the first time, coinciding with the King's Silver Jubilee.
  • June 5 – The Islamic Salvation Army, the armed wing of the Islamic Salvation Front, agrees in principle to disband in Algeria.
  • June 8 – The government of Colombia announces it will include the estimated value of the country's illegal drug crops, exceeding half a billion US dollars, in its gross national product.
  • June 9Kosovo War: Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty to end their hostilities.
  • June 10 – Kosovo War: NATO suspends its airstrikes after Slobodan Milošević agrees to withdraw Yugoslav forces from Kosovo.
  • June 12 – Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian/Operation Agricola begins: NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping forces KFOR enter Kosovo, Yugoslavia.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/06/24/marines-shoot-3-in-kosovo-firefight/6282cb80-2b47-4c3a-88b2-8de7966f529f/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190717052055/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/06/24/marines-shoot-3-in-kosovo-firefight/6282cb80-2b47-4c3a-88b2-8de7966f529f/?noredirect=on|url-status = dead|title=Marines Shoot 3 in Kosovo Firefight|date=June 24, 1999|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=July 17, 2019|archive-date=July 17, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9F7Xxp46hI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/-9F7Xxp46hI| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|agency=Associated Press|title=KOSOVO: NATO PEACEKEEPING MISSION: US MARINES|date=June 1999|access-date=July 17, 2019|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLETDU7VFjM |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/kLETDU7VFjM| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=YUGOSLAVIA: KOSOVO: GNJILANE: US MARINES ARRIVE|agency=Associated Press|date=June 1999|access-date=July 17, 2019|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}
  • June 16Thabo Mbeki is inaugurated as the second president of South Africa, marking the first peaceful transfer of executive power in the country's post-democratization history.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/president-thabo-mbeki-inaugurated-union-buildings|title=President Thabo Mbeki is inaugurated at Union Buildings|date=March 16, 2011|website=South African History Online|access-date=July 17, 2019|archive-date=July 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717052642/https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/president-thabo-mbeki-inaugurated-union-buildings|url-status=live}}{{importance inline|reason=election and inauguration are usually the same event|date=June 2020}}
  • June 18 – The J18 international anti-globalization protests are organized in dozens of cities around the world, some of which led to riots.
  • June 19Turin, Italy, is awarded the 2006 Winter Olympics.
  • June 20 - Australia defeats Pakistan by 8 wickets at Lord's Cricket Ground in London in the 1999 Cricket World Cup Final, securing their second World Cup title.
  • June 24 – Kosovo War: NATO marines shoot three gunmen in Kosovo, Yugoslavia after being attacked by the latter, killing one of them and injuring the other two.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_4OvttRDjI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/Z_4OvttRDjI| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|agency=Associated Press|title=KOSOVO: ZEGRA: US MARINES COME UNDER FIRE|date=June 1999|access-date=July 17, 2019|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}
  • June 25Bosnia and Herzegovina gets a new national anthem.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ohr.int/decisions/statemattersdec/default.asp?content_id=354|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030709125629/http://www.ohr.int/decisions/statemattersdec/default.asp?content_id=354|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 9, 2003|date=June 25, 1999|title=Decision imposing the Law on the National Anthem of BiH|first=Carlos|last=Westendorp|author-link=Carlos Westendorp|access-date=July 9, 2003|publisher=Office of the High Representative|location=Sarajevo|quote=In accordance with my authority under Annex 10 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article XI of the Bonn Document, I do hereby decide that the Law on the National Anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina enters into force with immediate effect on an interim basis, until the House of Peoples adopts this law in due form, without amendments and no conditions attached.}}
  • June 30 – Twenty-three people die in a fire at the Sealand Youth Training Center in South Korea.

=July=

=August=

  • August 7 – Dagestan incursions: Hundreds of Chechen guerrillas invade the Russian republic of Dagestan, triggering the short war.{{cite news |last1=Lieven |first1=Anatol |title=Why Dagestan Needs the Russians |work=The New York Times |date=August 20, 1999 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/20/opinion/why-dagestan-needs-the-russians.html |access-date=4 August 2023}}
  • August 10 – The Atlantique incident occurs as an intruding Pakistan Navy plane is shot down in India, sparking tensions between the two nations, a month after the end of the Kargil War.{{Cite web |date=2013-08-10 |title=The Atlantique Incident – Part 1 of 2|url=http://fly.historicwings.com/2013/08/the-atlantique-incident/ |access-date=2022-07-03 |website=HistoricWings.com : A Magazine for Aviators, Pilots and Adventurers}}
  • August 11 – A total solar eclipse is seen in Europe and Asia.
  • August 17 – The 7.6 {{M|w}} İzmit earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving more than 17,000 dead and around 50,000 injured.
  • August 19 – In Belgrade, tens of thousands of Yugoslavs rally to demand the resignation of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević.
  • August 30East Timor votes for independence from Indonesia (which had invaded and occupied it since 1975) in a referendum.

=September=

=October=

=November=

=December=

Births and deaths

{{Main|:Category:1999 births|Deaths in 1999}}

Nobel Prizes

New English words and terms

  • blog
  • carbon footprint
  • dashcam
  • epigenomics
  • metabolomics
  • texting
  • vape{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1999|title=Time Traveler by Merriam-Webster: Words from 1999|publisher=Merriam-Webster|access-date=July 30, 2019|archive-date=July 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730171834/https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1999|url-status=live}}

References

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