1994 Snapshot
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The Vibe
Pop Culture
Pulp Fiction
Slang
"As If!"
Price Check
Gas: $1.11
Notable Deaths
Kurt Cobain, Richard Nixon, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Music & Style
Britpop
World Affairs
Mandela President
Rwandan Genocide
Year's Summary
- Global Events: Nelson Mandela becomes President of South Africa. The Rwandan Genocide occurs. The Channel Tunnel officially opens, connecting the UK and France. The death of Kurt Cobain marks the end of an era for Grunge.
- Culture & Mood: Pulp Fiction and The Lion King dominate cinema. Friends premieres on NBC, creating a cultural phenomenon that would last a decade.
- Fashion & Slang: Saggy pants and baby tees. 'Booyah!'
- Fun Fact: Jeff Bezos founds Amazon.com (initially as an online bookstore), and the first Sony PlayStation is released in Japan.
- 6 Apr: Rwandan Presidential Aircraft Shot Down Sparking Genocide – A surface-to-air missile shot down a private jet carrying Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamaria as it prepared to land in Kigali, Rwanda, triggering the outbreak of the horrific Rwandan genocide and resulting in hundreds of thousands of systematic civilian killings.
- 27 Apr: Historic First Multiracial Democratic Elections Held in South Africa – Millions of South African citizens participated in the country's first fully democratic, multiracial general election, culminating in a sweeping victory for the African National Congress and paving the way for Nelson Mandela to assume office as the nation's first Black president.
- 6 May: Official Inauguration of the Channel Tunnel Linking UK and France – Queen Elizabeth II and French President François Mitterrand presided over the grand official opening ceremony of the Channel Tunnel (Eurotunnel) in Calais, establishing a vital undersea rail connection linking Folkestone in Kent with Coquelles in northern France.
- 10 May: Nelson Mandela Inaugurated as First Black President of South Africa – In a momentous ceremony at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nelson Mandela took the oath of office as President of South Africa, symbolizing the definitive legal collapse of apartheid and the birth of a new rainbow nation.
- 12 Jun: Brutal Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles – The high-profile double homicide of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman outside a Brentwood condominium in Los Angeles triggered an international media frenzy and set the stage for O.J. Simpson's sensationalized televised murder trial.
- 8 Jul: Passing of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Il Sung – Kim Il Sung, who had ruled North Korea as its totalitarian leader since its establishment in 1948, passed away at the age of eighty-two, leading to a smooth dynastic succession and the eventual consolidation of absolute power by his son, Kim Jong Il.
- 17 Jul: Brazil Defeats Italy in FIFA World Cup Final Decided by Penalty Shootout – The final match of the FIFA World Cup held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, concluded in a scoreless draw after extra time, leading Brazil to defeat Italy 3–2 in the tournament's first-ever penalty shootout to claim their fourth world title.
- 25 Jul: Signing of the Washington Declaration Officially Ending State of War – Jordanian King Hussein and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed the historic Washington Declaration at the White House, formally ending the state of war between Israel and Jordan and establishing bilateral diplomatic relations.
- 12 Aug: Opening of the Historic Woodstock '94 Music Festival in New York – Commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the original 1969 counterculture festival, Woodstock '94 commenced in Saugerties, New York, drawing hundreds of thousands of rock music fans for three days of legendary performances by iconic bands and artists.
- 18 Oct: Release of the Breakthrough Netscape Navigator Web Browser – Netscape Communications released the commercial beta version of Netscape Navigator 1.0, sparking the explosive commercial expansion of the World Wide Web, popularizing graphical web browsing, and launching the dot-com boom of the late 1990s.