Timeline of the 1990s

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They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div></div> </div> <article class="topic-content content mt-20"><figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="1" data-descid="1"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/49/233249-050-C545B8E8/woman-using-computer-mapping-program.jpg" target="_blank" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center " data-href="*"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/49/233249-050-C545B8E8/woman-using-computer-mapping-program.jpg?w=600&q=60" alt="Computer mapping, woman at early 1990s computer" data-width="1600" data-height="1061" loading="eager"><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class=""><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div><cite class="credit d-block mt-5">© David Sailors—Corbis Documentary/Getty Images</cite></figcaption></figure> <p class="topic-paragraph">The last decade of the 20th century was defined by a number of transformative events. The emergence of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Google-Inc" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Google</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Amazoncom" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Amazon</a> fueled the growing popularity of the Internet and forever changed everyday life. On the political front, the decades-long <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Cold-War" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Cold War</a> ended with the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/the-collapse-of-the-Soviet-Union" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">collapse of the Soviet Union</a>, creating a new world order. And while the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Persian-Gulf-War" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Persian Gulf War</a> lasted less than a year, it had an enduring impact.</p><span class="MOD1"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">The 1990s were also marked by a number of influential cultural events. The sitcom <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Friends" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Friends</em></a> debuted, while a landmark “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Seinfeld" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">show about nothing</a>” ended. A little movie called <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Titanic-film-1997" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Titanic</em></a> packed theaters, becoming the first film to earn $1 billion at the box office. And when it came to music, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/grunge-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">grunge</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/hip-hop" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">hip-hop</a> made a lot of noise.</p><span class="MOD2"></span> <figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="8" data-descid="20"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="infogram"><script id="infogram_0__/p5JCKKmVnDDbO6kZHRqB" src="https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?Itp" type="text/javascript" title=""></script></div></figure> <span class="AM-END-OF-ARTICLE am-inline"></span></article> </div> </div> </div> <aside class="cm-rightrail d-none d-md-block ad-rail"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div class="grid gx-0"> <div class="col"> <div class="md-loading hidden display-4 font-weight-normal"></div> <div class="text-center my-20 mb-100"> <button class="md-infinite-load-next btn btn-blue" data-value="next-page">Load More</button> </div> </div> <div class="col-md-da-320 hidden-xs"> </div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Story","templateName":"SPOTLIGHT","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":11,"pageId":13701,"pageLength":null,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/story-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Story","pageSubtype":"SPOTLIGHT","articleTemplateType":null,"gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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