What year was 12 years ago

January 31, 2020 United Kingdom leaves the European Union January 23, 2020 China imposed a quarantine on travel in or out of Wuhan, Huanggang & Ezhou in response to a novel coronavirus outbreak which later came to kill millions people and infect over 100 million people globally. On January 30th the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global health emergency. June 23, 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, UK electorate voted to leave the EU by a margin of 51.89% to 48.11% September 17, 2011 Beginning of Occupy Wall Street movement March 11, 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which lead to meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant December 17, 2010 Arab Spring begins January 9, 2009 Satoshi Nakamoto published bitcoin whitepaper 2007-2009 Global financial crisis caused by popping of United States subprime mortgage driven housing bubble. The bear market in U.S. stocks began on October 9, 2007 & ended on March 9, 2009. June 29, 2007 Steve Jobs announced the iPhone, ushering in the mobile web December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake & tsunami August 19, 2004 Google (later Alphabet) has initial public offering at $85 per share, priced in a Dutch auction. March 20, 2003 Iraq War begins September 11, 2001 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center & Pentagon in the United States January 15, 2001 Wikipedia founded by Jimmy Wales & Larry Sanger March 10, 2000 Dot com bubble peak January 10, 2000 AOL & Time Warner merged November 12, 1999 President Clinton signed the Financial Services Modernization Act that repealed Glass-Steagall, setting stage for the great recession less than a decade later January 1, 1999 Euro launched November 20, 1998 launch of the International Space Station September 4, 1998 Larry Page & Sergey Brin found Google August 29, 1997 Reed Hastings & Marc Randolph found Netflix July 1, 1997 United Kingdom transfers sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China August 9, 1995 Netscape commenced their IPO listing on Nasdaq, marking the beginning of the web-fueled tech stock bubble January 1, 1995 World Trade Organization commenced July 5, 1994 Jeff Bezos founds Amazon.com January 23, 1993 Marc Andreessen released xmosaic 0.5 web browser April 27, 1994 South Africa holds multiracial election, ending apartheid with the election of Nelson Mandela February 7, 1992 Maastricht Treaty signed, created the European Union December 26, 1991 Soviet Union dissolution August 6, 1991 Sir Tim Berners-Lee announces his invention of the World Wide Web on the alt.hypertext newsgroup November 9, 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre October 19, 1987 Black Monday - 22.61% crash in the Dow Jones Industrial Average April 26, 1986 Chernobyl disaster - catastrophic nuclear accident April 23, 1984 Margaret Heckler, Secretary of Health and Human Services announces the discovery of HIV as the "probable" cause of AIDS September 26, 1983 Soviet Air Defence Forces lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov saved the world from nuclear war April 1, 1976 Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak found Apple April 30, 1975 Fall of Saigon, end of the Vietnam War April 4, 1975 Bill Gates & Paul Allen found Microsoft October 6–25, 1973 Yom Kippur War January 22, 1973 United States Supreme Court rules on Roe v. Wade January 11, 1973 Beginning of 1973-74 stock market crash which lasted until December 6, 1974 & popped the bubble in the Nifty Fifty "one-decision" blue chip stocks which traded at exceptionally high P/E ratios June 17, 1972 - September 8, 1974 Watergate scandal January 30, 1972 Northern Ireland Bloody Sunday November 15, 1971 Intel advertises their 4004 microprocessor - the first commercially available computer processo - in Electronic News August 15, 1971 President Nixon closed the gold window November 17, 1970 Douglas Engelbart patented the computer mouse May 4, 1970 Ohio National Guard Kent State shootings August 15–18, 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair July 20, 1969 Apollo 11 lunar landing June 21, 1968 Bob Taylor approved ARPANET computer network plan - an early packet-switching network and the first network to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. assasinated November 22, 1963 John F. Kennedy assasinated August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech October 16–28, 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis November 1, 1955 Vietnam War begins July 29, 1958 National Aeronautics and Space Administration formed December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. May 14, 1955 Warsaw Pact May 17, 1954 United States Supreme Court rules on Brown v. Board of Education December 10, 1949 Mao Zedong's People's Liberation Army laid siege to Chongqing and Chengdu. Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan April 4, 1949 NATO formed January 30, 1948 Mahatma Gandhi assasinated August 14, 1945 Japan's Emperor Shōwa's accepts the Potsdam Declaration August 9, 1945 United States drops nuclear bomb on Nagasaki August 6, 1945 United States drops nuclear bomb on Hiroshima June 26, 1945 United Nations formed May 8, 1945 World War II in Europe & The Holocaust end June 6, 1944 D-Day - Normandy landings December 7, 1941 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor June 22, 1941 Operation Barbarossa - Germany invades the Solviet Union September 1, 1939 Germany invades Poland March 12, 1938 Anschluss - Nazi Germany annexation of Austria July 7, 1937 Second Sino-Japanese War begins May 6, 1937 The Hindenburg explodes December 26, 1933 Edwin H. Armstrong granted 5 U.S. patents for widebrand FM radio transmission July 28, 1932 Bonus Army conflict January 30, 1930 Adolph Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany October 29, 1929 Wall Street Crash of 1929 begins Great Recession September 28, 1928 Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin, the first antibiotic September 23, 1928 Philo Farnsworth demonstrates electronic television to press November 11, 1918 Armistice Day - end of WW1 December 18, 1917 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits "intoxicating liquors" November 7-8, 1917 Bolshevik's October Revolution creates Soviet Russia June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand II assasinated in Sarajevo - begin WW1 December 23, 1913 President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act December 13, 1913 Wilbur and Orville Wright's first flight October 1, 1908 First Model T Ford completed June 30, 1908 Tunguska event - explosion in Russian forest area believed to be caused by an air burst of a meteor May 13, 1897 Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi sent the first ever wireless communication over open sea, leading to the development of commercial radio broadcasting October 14, 1878 Thomas Edison filed his first patent application for "Improvements in Electric Lights" March 10, 1876 Alexander Graham Bell made first telephone call January 3, 1868 The Meiji Restoration: Shogun rule in Japan ended, restoring imperial rule August 20, 1866 President Andrew Johnson signed a Proclamation—Declaring that Peace, Order, Tranquillity, and Civil Authority Now Exists in and Throughout the Whole of the United States of America April 14, 1865 President Abraham Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth January 1, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation April 12, 1861 American civil war began November 24, 1859 Charles Darwin publishes "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life" July 19-20, 1848 Woman’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY begins the Women's Suffrage movement, which would last until 1920 February 21, 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish "The Communist Manifesto" 1845 — 1847 Railway mania bubble across the United Kingdom May 24, 1844 Samuel F. B. Morse sends "WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT" telegraph message to Alfred Vail August 29, 1831 Michael Faraday created the electric generator July 5, 1830 France begins occupation & colonization of Algiers July 23, 1829 William Austin Burt received U.S. patent No. 5581X covering his “typographer.” June 2, 1825 Bubble Act of 1720 repealed, setting stage for Railway Mania 1816 Joseph Nicéphore Niépce captured negatives inventing the first permanent photograph of a camera image February 21, 1804 Locomotive using Richard Trevithick’s ‘Pen-y-derren’ steam engine hauls 10 tons of iron, 5 wagons and 70 men 9.75 miles May 18, 1803 - November 20, 1815 The Napoleonic Wars May 5, 1789 - November 9, 1799 French revolution July 4, 1776 United States Congress approved the Declaration of Independence March 9, 1776 Adam Smith published "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" April 19, 1775 - September 1783 American Revolutionary War December 16, 1773 The Boston Tea Party 1712 Thomas Newcomen invented the steam engine 1711 South Sea Company formed, a British joint-stock company established to reduce the cost of the national debt. It would lead to the South Sea Bubble crash in 1720 February 3, 1637 Tulip bulb contracts reached their mania peak before crashing 1631 - 1653 Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan begins building the Taj Mahal in 1631. He opens the mausoleum for his favorite wife Mumtaz Mahal in 1648 & the building is completed in 1653 October 2, 1608 Hans Lippershey files patent for telescope October 31, 1517 Martin Luther published the Ninety-five Theses / Disputation on the Power of Indulgences, marking the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, which would last until 1648 October 12, 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered America May 29, 1453 Fall of Constantinople - Byzantine Empire comes to an end from Ottoman army attack 1440 Johannes Gutenberg creates the printing press using movable type October 1347 Black death: bubonic plague hits Europe through Sicilian port of Messina 1300 - 1600 The Renaissance June 15, 1215 King John of England signed Magna Carta Libertatum, a charter of rights drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury Spring 1206 – August 18, 1227 Genghis Khan ruled over the Mongol Empire April 22, 571 Muhammad born 72 - 80 Roman Colosseum built April 5, 33 Resurrection of Jesus April 3, 33 Crucifixion of Jesus ~ 6 BC - 4 BC Jesus of Nazareth born January 16, 27 BC - March 17, 180 Pax Romana - peace across the Roman Empire 336-323 BC Alexander the Great rules as king of Macedon 480–400 BC life of Gautama Buddha, birth of Buddhism 499–449 BC Greco-Persian Wars 551–479 BC life of Confucius (孔子), birth of Confucianism 1754 BC Code of Hammurabi, a Babylonian code of law 200,000 BC modern humans 7,000,000 - 5,000,000 BC first human ancestors appeared 4,540,000,000 BC Earth formed 13,800,000,000 BC big bang