1950
The Kenyan Tea Board is established as tea planting takes off in East Africa.
1950
Coffee is planted in New Guinea.
1950
Morton Levin makes an unambiguous link between smoking and lung cancer.
1950 - 1959
Harvesting machinery replaces sharecroppers on American farms.
1950
McCarthyism emerges in America as an intense hatred of communism.
1950 - 1953
The Korean War ends in a stalemate as America, Australia and other forces face China and North Korea. The country is divided at the 38th parallel.
1950
Jacques Cousteau founds the French Oceanographic Campaign.
1950
In a telegram to Shtykov, (the Soviet Ambassador to North Korea) Stalin writes in regard to North Korea's planned invasion of the South: "tell him (Kim II Sung) that I am ready to help him in this matter".
1951
J. D. Salinger writes The Catcher in the Rye.
1951
Marlon Brando popularises the T-shirt after wearing one in A Streetcar Named Desire.
19510614
Remington Rand Company launch the UNIVAC computer. The first machine is purchased for the US Census Bureau.
1951
The Nature Conservancy is formed.
1951
Rachel Carson writes The Sea Around Us.
1951
Foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community.
1951
The first nuclear reactor to produce electricity (albeit a small amount) is developed in Idaho by a team led by Walter Zinn. The Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR-1) was started in December 1951 and was experimented with until its decommission in 1964.
1951
Kellogg's introduces Frosted Corn Flakes or Frosties.
1952 - 1959
The Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya is brutally repressed by the British.
1952
Four thousand people die in London as a result of smog.
1953
Premier of Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot in Paris.
1953
Ian Fleming publishes his first James Bond story.
1953
Gilbert N. Plass presents a paper on global warming at the American Geophysical Union.
1953
Francis Crick and James Watson discover the structure of the DNA molecule.
1953
The Opium Protocol is agreed between nations limiting the growth of opum to Bulgaria, Greece, India, Iran Turkey, USSR and Yugoslavia and strictly for medical purposes.
1953
Mount Everest is climbed for the first time by Edmund Hilary and Tensing Norgay.
1953
President Eisenhower proposed his "Atoms for Peace" programme, which instigated efforts to produce civil nuclear energy development in the USA.
1954
R. J. Reynolds introduces Winston filter tips.
1954
Philip Morris acquires Benson & Hedges.
1954
The Marlboro cowboy is introduced in ads.
1954
Eva Cooper files the first tobacco lawsuit against R. J. Reynolds for her husband's death from lung cancer.
1954
The US provides support to many sympathetic warlords in the approach to the Vietnam War and inadvertantly fuels a boom in heroin production in the Golden Triangle.
1954 - 1962
The Algerian War of Independence. Algeria wins a bitter 9 year struggle for independence against France.
19541018
Texas Instruments introduces the first commercially available transistor radio, the Regency TR1, in the USA.
1954
The modern solar cell is developed at Bell laboratories, using silver.
1955
US Congress passes Air Pollution Control Act.
1955
Lindt & Sprungli introduce Lindor chocolates.
1955
Around the time that Disneyland first opens, T-shirts start to appear with images and logos.
1955
James Dean popularises the wearing of jeans in A Rebel Without a Cause.
1955
American inventors Malcolm McLean and Keith Tantlinger invent the modern transport container that can be loaded on trucks and ships and greatly reduced the amount of wood used in packaging.
1955 - 1975
The Vietnam War. American attempts to support the South Vietnamese forces fail as the North Vietnamese (supported by China and Russia) win a war of attrition.
1955
Disneyland opens in California.
1956
The world's first commercial nuclear electric power plant is opened at Sellafield in UK.
1956
The first fiber-optic semi-flexible gastroscope is patented by Basil Hirshowitz, C. Wilbur Peters and Lawrence E Curtiss.
1956
Sudan declares independence.
1956
Morocco and Tunisia gain independence from France.
1956
Hungarian Revolution. Hungary's attempts at independence from the Soviet Bloc are suppressed.
1956
Cable ship Monarch completes laying the first Transatlantic telephone cable.
1956
The Suez Crisis. Britain and France are humiliated as Egypt takes control of the Suez Canal.
1956
The Hovercraft is invented.
1956
UK Parliament passes the Clean Air Act.
1956
Geologist M. King Hubbert announced that US oil reserves would reach their peak by the early 1970's, then steadily decline.
1957
Sputnik I and Sputnik II are launched by the Russians.
1957
The High Fructose Corn Syrup production process is invented by Marshall and Kooi.
1957
The last surviving opium den in New York is closed down.
1957
Ghana declares independence from Britain.
1957
The Treaty of Rome establishes the European Economic Community, with France and Germany as the dominant members.
1957
The Gold Coast, Ghana, and Malaya declare independence from Britain.
1957
The International Atomic Energy Agency is set up with the aim of promoting the use of nuclear energy in peaceful and productive ways.
1958
Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe publishes Things Fall Apart written in the English language.
1958
The first integrated circuit, or silicon chip is produced by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce.
1958
France withdraws from NATO.
1958
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is founded in UK.
1958
Massey-Harris merged with the Ferguson company in 1953 and now become Massey Ferguson, producing electronic and agricultural goods.
1958
Kellogg's introduces Rice Cocoa Crispies.
1958
Frank and Dan Carney found Pizza Hut in Wichita, Kansas, using a flatbread base.
1958
Shippingport Nuclear Power Station, the first full-scale commercial electric generating station to use nuclear power, begins operating at full capacity.
1959
Frank Lloyd Wright's New York Guggenheim Museum building is completed.
1959
Cuba falls to a communist revolution led by Fidel Castro.
1959
Alaska and Hawaii are added to the US.
1959
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space.
19590801
Introduction of the Mini - initially under the Austin Seven or Morris Mini-Minor names. Designed by Alexander Issigonis (1906-1988) it becomes the best-selling British car of all time.
1960
The laser is created by Theodore Harold Maiman.
1960
Guylian chocolates is founded.
1960 - 1969
Indian food becomes increasingly popular around the world, increasing the use of spices.
1960
Over 75% of all clothing and fabrics sold in the US are made of cotton.
1960 - 1969
Slash and burn agriculture starts to destroy the Amazon Rainforest.
1960
The Belgian Congo gains independence and becomes the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
1960
Cameroon declares independence.
1960
Togo gains independence.
1960
British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan makes his Winds of Change speech, predicting a wave of decolonisation in Africa.
1960
Nigeria declares independence from Britain.
1960
Foundation of OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) in Baghdad. The founding members were Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Later countries to join were Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador, Angola and Gabon.
19600501
An American U-2 spy plane, piloted by Francis Gary Powers, is shot down during a surveillance mission in Russian airspace.
19601219
Cuba openly aligns itself with Soviet foreign policy and claims solidarity with the Sino-Soviet bloc, issuing a joint communiqué with the USSR.
1961
V. S. Naipaul receives international acclaim for his novel A House for Mr Biswas set in Trinidad.
1961
Fidel Castro nationalises Cuba's sugar industry.
1961
The Berlin Wall is erected.
1961
The Colonial War in Angola calls for independence from Portugal.
1961
South Africa is declared a republic and withdraws from the Commonwealth.
1961 - 1963
John F. Kennedy serves as US President.
1961
The World Wildlife Fund is founded in Switzerland.
1961
Sierra Leone declares independence from the UK.
1961
India uses military force to seize Goa and other Portuguese possessions in India.
1961
The Antarctic Treaty is signed.
1961
International Clean Air Congress is held in London.
196104
President John F. Kennedy secretly mounts the Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba, an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro.
19610212
In a speech to the Nation, Castro announces the leadership's faith in Marxism-Leninism, and declares that Cuba will become a communist state.
1961
World cereal production (in millions of metric tons) reaches 205 for maize; 285 for rice; and 222 for wheat.
1961
The Chorleywood Bread Process is developed by the British Baking Research association and enables bakers to make use of lower-protein wheat types in producing bread. It is now used for 80% of British bread production and in India and Australasia.
1962 - 1970
The Beatles are active.
1962
The life of T. E. Lawrence is depicted in the movie Lawrence of Arabia starring Peter O'Toole.
1962
An International Coffee Agreement is brokered by the UN, fixing prices and production.
1962
Burma bans opium.
1962
Rwanda and Burundi become independent states.
1962
Russia sends nuclear missiles to Cuba, prompting the Cuban Missile Crisis. Genuine threats of nuclear war are averted when Russia withdraws the missiles.
1962
Nelson Mandela is arrested for his role in the political activities of the African National Congress.
1962
Jamaica declares independence from the UK.
1962
Trinidad and Tobago declare independence from Britain.
1962
Uganda gains independence from Britain.
1962
Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring, decrying the use of chemical pesticides.
19621022
President Kennedy makes public the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba and warns that, if any missiles are fired upon the United States, he would respond against the Soviet Union.
19621028
Khrushchev announces that he has ordered the removal of the Soviet missiles in Cuba.
1962
Creation of Ranks Hovis MacDougall, which owns the Hovis, Mothers' Pride and Nimble brands.
1962
The world's longest pipeline, the Druzhba, begins operation. The pipeline sources oil from the West Siberian oil fields in Russia and has continued to be extended and developed into new areas across Europe.
1963
The computer mouse is invented by Douglas Engelbart.
1963
President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
1963
Kenya declares independence from Britain.
1963
Zanzibar declares independence from Britain.
1963
Singapore declares independence from Britain.
1963
US Congress passes Clean Air Act.
1964
The movie Zulu is released depicting a battle from the Anglo-Zulu war that took place in 1879.
1964
Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o publishes the novel Weep Not, Child which centres on the Mau Mau uprising.
1964
The first US Surgeon General's report on smoking is released.
1964
A single price system is established for American cotton.
1964
The Palestine Liberation Organisation is founded to fight for Palestinian independence.
1964
Nyasaland becomes independent as Malawi.
1964
Northern Rhodesia gains independence as Zambia.
1964
The Civil Rights Act outlaws the most severe forms of discrimination and segregation between races in the US.
19640407
IBM introduce the IBM System/360 mainframe computer series of 32 bit computers.
1965
The well-worn look becomes popular with jeans.
1965
American scientist James Schlatter discovers the artificial sweetener, Aspartame.
1965
America removes silver from quarters and dimes.
1965
Southern Rhodesia declares unilateral independence from Britain as Rhodesia.
1965
Canada adopts the Maple Leaf flag.
1965
The Pillsbury Dough Boy first appears in adverts.
1966
Smoking reaches a peak in Japan, with nearly half of adult population (and over 83% of men) smoking.
1966
Barbados declares independence from the UK.
1966
British Guiana declares independence from Britain.
19660629
Barclays Bank launch the Barclaycard - the first credit card in the UK.
1967
Torrey Canyon oil tanker crashes off the coast of UK and spills 29 million gallons of oil into the sea.
1967
The Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) is invented by John Shepherd-Barron.
1967
South Africa issues the gold Krugerrand bullion coin.
1967
Greenpeace, as it will be known from 1971, is founded as the Don't Make a Wave Committee.
1967
Environmental Defence Fund is established.
19670610
So as to appease the Arabs, the Soviet Union severs diplomatic relations with Israel.
1967
Oil is struck in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. It is the largest oil field to be discovered in North America.
1968
The Video Game Console is invented by Ralph H Baer.
1968
Imperial Tobacco sponsors Formula 1 racing.
1968
The Calvin Klein fashion house is opened in New York.
1968
Intel microchips use gold circuits.
1968
Student riots erupt around the world.
1968
The Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia is suppressed as Russian tanks roll into Prague.
1968 - 1997
The Troubles in Ireland. Sectarian and nationalist conflict leaves over 3,000 dead.
1968
Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
1968
My Lai Massacre in Vietnam.
1968
Redwood National Park is established in California.
1969
Cadbury's merges with Schweppes to become Cadbury's-Schweppes. They were demerged in 2007.
1969
R. J. Reynolds sponsors NASCAR racing.
1969
Fortune Brands is established in Deerfield, Illinois, by American Brands offering a mixture of hardware and consumable products. It now owns Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, Canadian Club, Teacher's, Laphroiag, Courvoisier, Gilbey's Gin, Cockburn's Port and Harvey's Sherry.
1969
National Environmental Policy Act is passed by US Congress.
1969
Friends of the Earth is founded.
1969
Canada adopts bilingualism.
1969
Neil Armstrong becomes the first man on the Moon, during the successful Apollo 11 mission.
19690407
The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) commissions the building of the first computer network (ARPANET) based on packet switching. It is one of the earliest forerunners of the internet.
1969
A UNESCO conference "Man and his Environment. A view towards Survival" is held in San Francisco.
1969
The Cuyahoga River catches fire due to oil and chemical pollution. This will become a defining moment for the US environmental movement.
19690302
A Soviet patrol comes into armed conflict with Chinese soldiers on Damansky Island. This conflict led to several further skirmishes across the Sino-Soviet territorial borders.
1969
Over 32.3m tons of chemical fertiliser are used worldwide.
1969
The Santa Barbara oil spill. An offshore drilling platform causes over 200,000 gallons of oil to leak into the Pacific Ocean. The ecological disaster contributed to the modern environmental movement, and to the passing of the National Environmental Act in 1970.
1970
The World Trade Center's first tower is completed and becomes the world's tallest building at 417m.
1970
Seattle's Best Coffee is founded at the Wet Whisker on Pier 70 in Seattle.
1970
Toblerone merges with Suchard to become Interfood.
1970 - 1979
Fusion cuisine becomes more popular increasing interest in exotic ingredients and spices.
1970
Cotton Incorporated is created to revive interest in cotton fabrics.
1970
Rock singer Janis Joplin dies of an accidental heroin overdose.
1970
Gold trades at $200 an ounce.
1970
Salvador Allende takes power in Chile, fuelling American fears that South America will fall to communism.
1970
Thor Heyerdahl's Ra II expedition proved that it was possible to sail across the Atlantic from Morocco to the Caribbean on primitive rafts.
1970
The Boeing Jumbo Jet is launched.
1970
The first Earth Day is celebrated in US.
1970
Environmental Protection Agency is founded in US.
1970
As M. King Hubbert predicted in 1956, U.S. oil production peaks.
1970
Imperial Oil (Esso) introduced the first self-service fuel stations in Canada.
1971
Chilean author, Pablo Neruda, wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.
1971
E-mail is first implemented by Ray Tomlinson on the ARPANET system.
1971
Liquid Crystal Display is invented by James Ferguson.
1971
Starbucks is founded in Seattle. Within 40 years it has 15,000 stores in 90 countries.
1971
President Nixon ends the convertibility of US dollars into gold.
1971
Idi Amin seizes control of Uganda and forces many Ugandan-Asians to flee to Britain and other countries.
19711215
Intel releases the world's first commercial microprocessor.
1971
Greenpeace is founded in Vancouver, Canada, and grows to become a major environmental protest movement worldwide.
1972
Health warnings are made compulsory in tobacco advertising.
1972
DDT is banned in the US.
1972
Heroin production in the Golden Triangle booms.
1972
The Erroll Report is issued by the UK Government describing the impact of alcohol on society.
1972
DDT is banned in the US.
1973
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill complete the Sears Tower in Chicago, which becomes the tallest building in the world at 442m (527m, including the antennae).
1973
Cotton Incorporated introduces the famous Seal of Cotton mark.
1973
Rock musician Gram Parsons dies of a morphine overdose.
1973
Richard Nixon creates the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
1973
General Pinochet seizes power in Chile, backed by the US. His right wing regime continues in power until 1990.
1973
The Six Day War - attempts by Egypt and Syria to invade Israel are defeated by pre-emptive strikes.
1973
The Bahamas declare independence from the UK.
1973
Federal Express begins operations.
A global oil crisis begins when Arab nations from OPEC place an embargo on exports of oil to a number of countries including the US in response to their support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. The reduced supply led to a substantial increase in the price of oil worldwide and created a significant strain on the world financial system.
1973
President Nixon launches Project Independence, an initiative created in order to achieve energy self-sufficiency by 1980. Nixon declares that American industry and innovation could free the US of its dependence upon foreign oil.
1973
After the Yom Kippur war, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announces that it will embargo oil destined for countries that supported Israel during the war. Prices on oil soar in the U.S. and other Western countries.
1973
Following the 1973 oil crisis, the construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline system gets underway. After four years and $8 billion spent, oil is pumped through to Valdez.
1974
Philip Morris builds the world's largest tobacco facory in Richmond, Virginia.
1974
Now the dollar is no longer backed by gold, US citizens are free to trade gold.
1974
Grenada declares independence from Britain.
1974
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was created.
1975
First performance of Wole Soyinka's play Death and The King's Horsemen.
1975
Under 35% of all clothing and fabrics sold in the US are made of cotton as a result of the boom in synthetic fabrics.
1975
The fall of Saigon curtails the sale of narcotics from South East Asia. Mexico fills the gap.
1975
Mahogany starts to become scarce.
1975
Pernod Ricard is founded, merging two great French drinks companies.
1975
Papua New Guinea declares independence from Australia.
1975
Angola gains independence from Portugal and a violent civil war breaks out.
1975
Mozambique gains independence from Portugal.
1975
The Waitangi Tribunal addresses the rights of the Maori people in New Zealand.
19750404
Bill Gates founds Microsoft.
1976
The artificial sweetener, Sucralose, is discovered by scientists at Tate & Lyle.
1976
Howard Hughes dies of liver failure due to excessive codeine intake.
1976
Formation of the Animal Liberation Front in England.
1976
The National Forest Management Act balances the needs of the Timber industry, recreation, wildlife and the environmenet.
1976
American wines achieve top honours at a Paris wine tasting.
1976
Soweto riots challenge the apartheid system in South Africa.
19760401
Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne establish Apple.
1976
Brazilian rubber tappers protest against the cutting down of rubber trees in the Amazon region.
1977
American Spice Trade Association carries out the first thorough nutritional analysis of spices.
1977
World Environment Day is held.
1977
The American Department of Energy is established, amalgamating several organisations into one. The new department is also given responsibility for the nuclear weapons program.
1977
President Carter signs the Emergency Natural Gas Act.
1977
The Solar Energy Research Institute is established. It later became the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
1978
Edward Said publishes Orientalism which becomes highly influential and controversial among postcolonial theorists.
1978
The Amoco Cadiz is wrecked off the coast of France and loses 68 million gallons of fuel.
1978
The Boll Weevil Eradication program starts in the US and cotton production increases.
1978
Mexican poppy fields are sprayed with Agent Orange to destroy the opium crop.
1978
The U.S. Government introduces the Energy Tax Act, or "Gas Guzzler Tax".
1979
Calvin Klein helps to launch the Designer Jeans craze
1979
Rock musician Sid Vicious dies of a heroin overdose.
1979
Opium production flourishes in Afghanistan.
1979
The Canadian Maple Leaf gold bullion coin is introduced.
1979
The Shah of Iran flees, prompting the creation of a new Islamic Republic.
1979 - 1988
The Iran-Iraq War ends in a stalemate.
1979
Three Mile Island Nuclear Reactor incident.
1979 - 1989
In support of the Amin regime, Soviet forces invade Afghanistan in December 1979. After 10 years of unsuccessful conflict, their last troops finally withdrew in February 1989.
1979
Mobil struck oil off the Grand Banks in a field later named 'Hibernia'. Many failed start-up attempts ensued, including the sinking of the Ocean Ranger and the deaths of all those on-board.
1979
After the Iranian revolution, Iran transformed from a pro-Western monarchy to an Islamic theocracy under the rule of Ayatollah Khomeini. Iran's oil reserves are restricted, leading to a second oil crisis in the US.
1980
Waiting for the Barbarians published by South African J. M. Coetzee.
1980
Silver hits a high of nearly $50 an ounce following the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.
1980
Gold trades at over $1,800 an ounce.
1980
Foundation of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) in Norfolk, Virginia.
1980
Mothers Against Drunk Driving is founded in Irving, Texas.
1980
Rhodesia becomes Zimbabwe.
1980
Kellogg's introduces Crunchy Nut Cornflakes in the UK after their invention in Manchester.
1980
Ananda Chakrabarty uses biotechnology to create a new organism to help break down oil spills. It is the first micro-organism to be patented.
1980
The Energy Security Act is signed by President Carter. It consists of a number of acts involving synthetic and alcoholic fuels, biomass, solar, ocean thermal and geothermal energy types.
1981
Salman Rushdie publishes Midnight's Children.
1981
AIDS is identified as a major new global disease.
1981
British Honduras gains independence from Britain as Belize.
1981
Antigua declares independence from Britain.
1981
The Space Shuttle is launched and continues in service until 2012.
1982
Colombian author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.
1982
Jacobs coffee merges with Interfood to become Jacobs Suchard.
1982
Argentina invades the British Falkland Islands, but is defeated by a British combined arms operation.
1982
The Canada Act passes all legislative power over Canadian affairs to the Canadian Government.
1983
Skoal Bandits are introduced.
1983
US Congress passes the International Environmental Protection Act.
1984
The Indonesian Tea Industry is revived.
1984
The International Tobacco Growers' Association is formed.
1984
Don Johnson popularises the white T-shirt in Miami Vice.
1984
Two years of famine strike Ethiopia.
1984
Bhopal Disaster takes place in India when a fertiliser plant leaks poisonous chemicals.
1984
Canadian Co-operative Wheat Producers change their name to Prairie Pools.
1984
The National Coal Council is established to advise private industry and the government on coal research, logistics, production and use.
The UK miners' strike began on 5 March 1984 and lasted until 3 March 1985.
1985
British scientist Joe Farman publishes on his discovery of an ozone hole over Antarctica.
1985
Philip Morris diversifies and buys General Foods (including Maxwell House Coffee).
1985
The NutraSweet Company is founded to sell a sweetener based on Aspartame.
1985
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader and introduces a new policy of Perestroika, which encourages the disintegration of the Soviet Bloc in 1989.
19850710
The Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace protest ship, is sunk by the French secret service while at harbour in New Zealand.
1985
The wreck of the Titanic is discovered by Robert Ballard.
1985
The Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts in Columbia killing many thousands of people.
1985
McVitie's introduce the Hobnob biscuit with a milk chocolate variant following two years later.
1986
Paul Simon's Graceland album sparks an interest in world music.
1986
Nigerian author, Wole Soyinka wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.
1986
The Lloyd's Building, designed by architect Richard Rogers, is completed in London.
1986
Chernobyl nuclear reactor explodes and melts down in Russia.
1986
Levi Strauss creates the Dockers brand of cotton trousers.
1986
The US Mint starts to produce the American Eagle bullion coin.
1986
The Australian Government introduces the Kangaroo Bullion coin.
1986
Gold mines in Ghana intensify production.
1986
The Marshall Islands declare independence from America.
1986
The Australia Act prohibits any British legislation over Australian affairs.
1987
Côte d'Or is purchased by Jacobs Suchard.
1987
Nearly 50% of all clothing and fabrics sold in the US are made of cotton.
1987
Cotton Traders clothing is founded in the UK.
1987
Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz founds Red Bull, a sugar and caffeine based energy drink.
1987
A great storm hits the UK destroying thousands of ancient trees.
19871019
Stocks worldwide devalued dramatically with the Black Monday Crash.
1987
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is adopted, an international agreement to protect the ozone layer.
1987 - 1991
Singing Revolution. On the 50 year anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, two million people formed a chain across Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia from Tallinn to Vilnius, demanding secession from the Soviet Union. Finally, on the 6th September 1991, the Soviet Union recognised Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian independence.
1987
The World Solar Challenge is raced in Australia. 11 teams drove between Darwin to Adelaide (around 1800 miles) in solar-powered vehicles. The winner's average speed was 67mph.
1988
Piper Alpha oil platform explodes in the North Sea off Scotland.
1988
Rowntree's is purchased by Nestlé.
1988
Philip Morris acquires Kraft Foods and combines it with General Foods in 1989.
1988
Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat dies of a heroin overdose.
1988
In America, the Texan Hunt brothers are found guilty of trying to corner the silver market.
1988
Construction of the Channel Tunnel begins.
1988
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is set up to investigate the causes of climate change.
1989
European countries begin a ban on ozone depleting chemicals.
1989
Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs aground off Alaska spilling 11 million gallons.
1989
Failure to renew the International Coffee Agreement causes world prices to plunge.
1989
Lavazza set up a vending machine business with single shot plastic pods.
1989
Cotton Incorporated launches The Fabric of Our Lives advertising campaign.
1989
The Berlin Wall is demolished by protestors on both sides.
1989
America supports an invasion of Panama, ousting General Noriega.
1989 - 1991
On the 9th November 1989, the East German Government began opening sections of the Berlin Wall, thus marking the beginning of its eventual demolition.
1990
World Wide Web is invented by Tim Berners-Lee.
1990
UN report on climate change warns of a temperature rise of 2 degrees Fahrenheit in thirty five years.
1990
London Protocols on the ozone are agreed by 93 countries.
1990
Jacobs Suchard is purchased by Kraft Foods.
1990
Amedei chocolate is founded in Tuscany.
1990 - 1999
Calvin Klein helps to make cotton boxer shorts popular.
1990
Colombia steps up heroin production.
1990
Namibia is granted independence.
1990
East and West Germany reunite.
1990 - 1991
The First Gulf War. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait is repulsed by an international coalition led by America, Britain and many Arab states.
19900211
Nelson Mandela is released from prison and starts talks with President de Klerk about shifting to black majority rule without bitterness and bloodshed.
1990
Youth for Environmental Sanity is formed.
1990
On August 2nd, Iraqi forces invade Kuwait and seize control of valuable oil territories. After realising that they would soon be ousted, Saddam Hussein's forces begin setting fire to oil wells; around 700 wells are sabotaged.
1991
Sweden becomes the first country to impose a carbon tax to curb CO2 emissions.
1991
Green & Black's chocolate is founded in the UK and pioneers organic and fair-trade practices with farmers in Belize.
1991
The USSR is broken up in the wake of popular protests and attempted coups. Russia, Ukraine and other states become independent states.
1991 - 1995
The War in Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia is broken up in the wake of sectarian conflict.
199112
The supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic ratified the Belavezha Accords. Later that month, the Alma-Ata protocol completed the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
1991
The Gulf War oil spill and Kuwaiti oil fires. Iraqi forces open valves at the Sea Island Oil Terminal in a strategic move against U.S forces. This is thought to be the largest oil spill in history. As part of a scorched earth policy, retreating forces also set alight to more than 600 oil wells.
1991
The first offshore wind farm is installed in Vindeby, Denmark.
1992
Afghanistan becomes the world's largest opium producer, overtaking Burma.
1992
The North American Free Trade Area is established between the USA, Canada and Mexico.
1992
Earth Summit is held in Brazil.
1992
The Rio Summit, a UN Conference on Environment and Development, is held in Rio de Janeiro. It produces the Climate Change treaty to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations and the sustainable development action plan, Agenda 21.
1993
Biochemist, Jeffrey Wigand, is fired by Brown & Williamson after he demands the removal of a known carcinogen from a pipe tobacco and the company refuses.
1993
The Thai army destroy poppy fields in the Golden Triangle with CIA support.
1993
Nabisco sell their Shredded Wheat brand to Kraft Foods.
1993
The North American Free Trade Agreement is signed between the US, Canada and Mexico.
1993
China becomes a net importer of oil.
1994
Kurt Cobain commits suicide after sustained use of heroin.
1994 - 1999
Nelson Mandela is President of South Africa.
1994 - 1997
NATO enlarges to include many former Eastern Bloc countries.
1994
The North American Free Trade Agreement comes into effect between Canada, Mexico and the United States.
19941211
Russian troops invade Chechnya.
1994
Canada exports a record 2,840 million tonnes of wheat to the US, prompting a new restrictive trade agreement.
1994
Genetically modified foods are first introduced to the market with Calgene's delayed ripening tomato.
1994
The construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China gets underway. Construction was completed and the station became operational as of July 4th 2012. It is the largest power station in terms of installed capacity.
1995
Valrhona develop Xocopili chocolate, adding salt and spices to the blend.
1995
The World Meteorological Organisation reports that the hole in the Earth's ozone layer is expanding rapidly.
1995
Prairie Pools start a process of closing down local grain elevators in Canada.
1995
The US Government recognises 8 genetically modified crops including cotton, potatoes, corn and soybeans.
1995
The first United Nations Climate Change Conference takes place in Berlin.
1996
Chocolove is founded in Boulder, Colorado.
1996
Michael Coe completes his wife, Sophie's, manuscript on the True History of Chocolate. Valrhona Manjari chocolate is described as amongst the finest in the world.
1996
The World Bank and the World Health Organisation call for a global phase-out of leaded petrol.
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The Khasav-Yurt Accord is signed by Maskhadov and Lebed, ending the first Chechen War.
1997
Frank Gehry's Guggenheim building in Bilbao is completed.
1997
Diageo is formed from a merger of Grand Metropolitan and Guinness to become one of the world's largest drinks manufacturers with brands including Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Seagram's, Bailey's, Guinness, Gordon's Gin, Jose Cuervo Tequila and Captain Morgan Rum.
1997
Britain returns Hong Kong to China.
1997
The UN’s Kyoto Protocol which commits signatory nations to reduce greenhouse gases and fight global warming is adopted.
1997
The Toyota Prius is introduced as the world's first petroleum/electric hybrid car. It became available to consumers in 2001.
1998
J. K. Rowling publishes her first Harry Potter novel.
1998
The Petronas twin towers in Kuala Lumpur, designed by Cesar Pelli, become the world's tallest buildings at 452m.
1998
The Divine Chocolate Company is founded in the UK as a partnership between the Kuapa Kokoo cocoa growers collective in Ghana and the Twin trading alternative trading group. It is a pioneering example of fair-trade practice.
1998
Lindt & Spungli purchase Ghirardelli.
1998
The Energy Conservation Law of China comes into force, formulated to facilitate energy savings, improve efficiency, protect the environment and guarantee economic development and welfare for Chinese citizens.
1998
The average price of oil for the year drops to under $18 per barrel (adjusted for inflation to 2011 dollars).
1999
Release of the movie The Insider based on a true story of the television appearance of a tobacco executive who exposed secrets of the Big Tobacco industry in 1995.
1999
Splenda, based on Sucralose, is introduced to the US market and becomes a dominant brand.
1999
Afghanistan now produces 75% of the world's heroin.
1999
The Euro is introduced, backed by 15% gold holdings at the European Central Bank.
1999
The World Commission on forests and sustainable development publish Our Forests, Our Future on sustainable forestry.
1999
China takes Macao back from the Portuguese.
1999
Australian voters reject calls to become a republic.
1999
Nunavut is incorporated into Canada.
1999
The first balloon flight around the world is completed by Betrand Piccard and Brian Jones.
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The Euro currency of the Eurozone officially comes into existence.
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Following the Dagestan war and several terrorist attacks , Russian troops invade Chechnya.
1999
Germany introduces the Eco-Tax to promote the use of renewable energy.
2000
Over 580,000 sq km of forest are lost in the Amazon Rainforest from 1991 to 2000 as deforestation accelerates.
2000
The European Union bans leaded petrol.
2000
Germany passes the Nuclear Exit Law and Renewable Energy Act, seeking to rid the use of nuclear power by 2020.
According to data from BP, world coal production increased by 67% between the years 2000 and 2012.