1999
- For the album by Prince, see 1999 (album)
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s - 1990s - 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s
Years: 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 - 1999 - 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
International Year of Older Persons
Events
- Teletubbies Tinky Winky is outed starting controversy for the BBC, PBS and Jerry Falwell.
- Kosovo War
- Former child star Gary Coleman files for bankruptcy
- Y2K preparation was a major event in 1999 both in actual events and in media over-reporting.
- January 1- Euro currency introduced.
- January 4 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque killing 16 people injuring 25.
- January 6 - Bob Newhart receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- January 20 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet bars.
- January 21 - War on Drugs: In one of the one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 9,500 pounds of cocaine aboard. The ship was headed to Houston, Texas.
- January 25 - A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Columbia killing at least 1,000
- February 4 - Hugo Chávez Frías, Venezuelan military and politician, is elected President of Venezuela.
- February 4 - Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, enflaming race-relations in the city.
- February 5 - Mike Tyson is sentenced to a year's imprisonment, fined $5,000, and ordered to serve 2 years probation and perform 200 hours of community service for the August 31, 1998 assault on two people after a car accident.
- February 10 - Avalanches in the French Alps near Geneva kill at least 10.
- February 12 - President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial
- February 16 - In Uzbekistan a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov
- February 16 - Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Ocalan.
- February 16 - In Jasper, Texas, testimony begins in the trial of John William King who is accused of dragging African American James Byrd Jr. to death in an apparent hate crime. King was later convicted and sentenced to the death penalty.
- February 19 - Dennis Franz receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- February 23 - Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
- February 23 - White supremacist John William King is found guilty of kidnapping and killing African American James Byrd Jr by dragging him behind a truck for two miles.
- February 24 - LaGrand Case: The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery that led to a death. Karl's brother Walter is executed a week later, in spite of Germany's legal action in the International Court of Justice to attempt to save him.
- 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 in a hot air balloon for 233 hours and 55 minutes.
- February 27 - Olusegun Obasanjo becomes Nigeria's first elected president since mid-1983.
- March 1 - One of four bombs detonated in Lusaka, Zambia, destroys the Angolan Embassy.
- March 1 - Hutu rebels kill eight tourists in Uganda.
- March 26 - The Melissa worm attacks the Internet.
- April 1 - Nunavut, an Inuit homeland, part of the Northwest Territories becomes Canada's third territory.
- May 13 - in Italy Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is elected President of the republic
- April 20 - Two Littleton, Colorado teenagers open fire on their teachers and fellow students. The teenagers killed 12 students, 1 teacher and then turned their guns on themselves. See Columbine High School massacre.
- August - An earthquake in Turkey kills 13,000
- Thiomargarita namibiensis largest bacteria ever discovered
- October - NASA loses one of its Mars probes, the Climate Orbiter.
- November 20 - China launches the first Shenzhou spacecraft
- December - NASA loses a second Mars probe, the Polar Lander.
- December - The town council of Halfway, Oregon accepts an offer from the dot-com startup half.com to adopt the company name as its own.
- December 29 - Former Beatle George Harrison is stabbed several times in the chest by an unknown assailant, who had broke into Harrison's home. Harrison's wife wrestled the knife out the assailant's hand before the police arrived. The man apparently believed that Harrison was the devil.
- December 31 - Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, to be replaced by Vladimir Putin
- December 31 - Five hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed.
- Fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel kills 39 people closing the tunnel for 3 years.
Art, Culture & Fashion
- 1999 in film
- April 7 - Star Wars fans begin lining up at movie theaters in Westwood and Hollywood to buy tickets for Star Wars, Episode I - The Phantom Menace, a film that will not be opening for another six weeks.
- May 3 - A Durham, North Carolina woman named Jennifer Briggs changes her name to Obi-Wan Kenobi Briggs in honor of the Star Wars character. Ms. Briggs wins $1000 from a local radio station for changing her name.
- American Beauty
- The Green Mile
- M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, starring Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment
- 1999 in literature
- 1999 in music
- 1999 in sports
- January 13 - Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls basketball team announces his retirement (for the second time -- he has since rescinded his retirement)
- January 31 - Super Bowl XXXIII Denver Broncos (34) def. Atlanta Falcons (19)
- The U.S. Women's Soccer Team Wins World Cup
- 1999 in television
- The Sopranos premieres on cable television
- Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? premieres in the U.S., hosted by Regis Philbin. The show is based on a British show of the same name.
Births
Deaths
- January 2 - Rolf Liebermann, composer, aged 88
- January 4 - Iron Eyes Cody, actor
- January 14 - Aldo van Eyck, architect, aged 80
- January 21 - Susan Strasberg, actress
- January 29 - Lili St. Cyr, exotic dancer
- January 30 - Huntz Hall, actor
- February 7 - King Hussein of Jordan, aged 63 (cancer)
- February 8 - Iris Murdoch, writer, aged 79
- February 14 - John Ehrlichman, presidential advisor
- February 20 - Gene Siskel, film critic
- February 22 - William Bronk, poet, aged 80 (or 81?)
- February 24 - Andre Dubus, writer
- March 3 - Dusty Springfield, American singer, aged 59
- March 4 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer, aged 77
- March 7 - Stanley Kubrick, aged 70, American film director and writer
- March 8 - Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player, one of Marilyn Monroe's husbands, aged 84
- March 12 - Yehudi Menuhin, American violinist and musical director, aged 82
- April 18 - Gian-Carlo Rota, Professor of Applied Mathematics and Philosophy at MIT, aged nearly 67
- April 25 - Lord Killanin, former chairman of the IOC, aged 84
- May 8 - Dana Plato, actress, aged 34
- May 8 - Dirk Bogarde, aged 78, English actor (Death in Venice)
- May 10 - Shel Silverstein, children's poet, aged 68
- June 5 - Mel Torme, aged 73, American singer
- June 16 - Screaming Lord Sutch, aged 58, founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party
- June 17 - Basil Hume, archbishop of Westminster, aged 76
- June 27 - Jorgos Papadopoulos, dictator of Greece, aged 80
- July 1 - Joshua Nkomo, Zimbabwian politician, aged 83
- July 2 - Mario Puzo, writer (The Godfather), aged 78
- July 16 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., publisher, son of John F. Kennedy, aged 38 (airplane crash)
- July 24 - Hassan II, king of Morocco, aged 70 (heart attack)
- August 13 - Ignaz Bubis, German Jewish community leader, aged 72
- August 28 - Dom Helder Camera, Brazilian bishop and human rights activist, aged 90
- September 10 - Alfredo Kraus, opera singer, aged 72 (or 73?)
- September 20 - Raisa Gorbachev, wife of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
- September 22 - George C. Scott, film and stage actor
- October 3 - Heinz G. Konsalik, writer, aged 78
- October 6 - Amalia Rodrigues, Portuguese singer, aged 79
- October 13 - Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player
- October 14 - Julius Nyerere, Tanzanian leader
- October 19 - Harry Bannink, Dutch songwriter, aged 70
- October 26 - Rex Gildo, German singer, aged 63
- November 18 - Paul Bowles, American novelist (The Sheltering Sky), aged 88
- November 18 - Doug Sahm, country and rock musician, aged 58
- December 10 - Rick Danko, rock singer (The Band), aged 56
- December 11 - Franjo Tudjman, president of Croatia, aged 77
- December 12 - Joseph Heller, American novelist (Catch-22), aged 76
- December 17 - Grover Washington, saxophone player, aged 56
- December 19 - Desmond Llewelyn, British actor, (Q in the James Bond movies), aged 85
- December 26 - Curtis Mayfield, singer/composer, aged 57
- December 29 - Gene Rayburn, television host