2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, generally considered to be the year's most prominent event, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan after the Taliban government was unable to extradite Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden within 24 hours. Other international conflicts in 2001 were the standoff between India and Pakistan as well as the Second Intifada between Israel and Palestine. Internal conflicts began in Macedonia, in the Central African Republic, and in Guinea. Political challenges or violent conflicts caused changes in leadership in Argentina, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines.
2001 was the second hottest year on record at the time, which was amplified by the end of a years-long La Niña phase. The Atlantic and Pacific tropical storm seasons were both more active than usual. The deadly Bhuj Earthquake took place in Gujarat, India on January 26, while the strongest earthquake in 36 years took place in Peru on June 23. A potential health crisis occurred when a major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease spread among British livestock, bringing about the deaths of millions of animals. Four hominid species were described or proposed, and several major archaeological finds took place, including a set of terracotta citizens near the Terracotta Army. The pygmy three-toed sloth was also first described in 2001. The year had the fewest successful orbital spaceflights since 1963, with eight crewed missions. Successes in space exploration included the landing of NEAR Shoemaker on an asteroid and the arrival of 2001 Mars Odyssey on Mars.
Politics and religion in the final months of 2001 focused intently on the Muslim world and Islamic terrorism after the September 11 attacks. The Catholic Church was active in 2001, as Pope John Paul II went on several goodwill trips to meet with non-Catholic religious groups and investigations of sexual abuse cases among the church's priests began. Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević was arrested and became the first head of state to be charged with crimes against humanity by an international body. The 27th G8 summit took place in Genoa and was met by 200,000 protestors, where one was killed. 2001 took place during a minor recession among developed and developing nations, with only middle income nations avoiding an economic downturn. The recession saw economic crises take place in Argentina and in Turkey. American energy company Enron and the European airlines Sabena and Swissair all ended operations in 2001. In popular culture, the Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings film franchises were launched, the iPod and iTunes were invented for music, and three major sixth-generation video game systems became available. The Mac OS X and Windows XP operating systems were launched, as was the Wikipedia project.
Population
The world population on January 1, 2001, was estimated to be 6.190 billion people and increased to 6.272 billion people by January 1, 2002. An estimated 133.9 million births and 52.1 million deaths took place in 2001. The average global life expectancy was 66.8 years, an increase of 0.3 years from 2000. There were approximately 12 million global refugees in 2001. 500,000 were settled over the course of the year, but about the same number of people were displaced in other locations, causing the number of refugees to remain largely unchanged. The largest sources of refugees were from Afghanistan and Macedonia. The number of internally displaced persons decreased from 21.8 million to 19.8 million in 2001, with the most affected areas being Afghanistan, Colombia, and Liberia.Conflicts
There were 34 conflicts that resulted in at least 25 fatalities in 2001. Ten resulted in at least 1,000 fatalities: the Afghan Civil War, the invasion of Afghanistan, the Algerian Civil War, the Angolan Civil War, the Burundian Civil War, the Colombian conflict, the Second Chechen War in Russia, the Rwandan insurgency during the Second Congo War, Eelam War III in Sri Lanka, and the Second Sudanese Civil War. The majority of conflicts took place in Africa and Asia: 14 occurred in Africa and 13 occurred in Asia. Four new armed conflicts emerged in 2001: the insurgency in Macedonia, the attempted coup in the Central African Republic, the United States invasion of Afghanistan, and the entry of Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front into the RFDG Insurgency in Guinea. The Sierra Leone Civil War was the only conflict that ended in 2001.Internal conflicts
The Second Congo War continued with the assassination of President Laurent-Désiré Kabila on January 16. The 1999 ceasefire was mostly respected by the government and the various rebel groups, and United Nations ceasefire monitors established a presence throughout the year. The Algerian Civil War, the Angolan Civil War, and the Burundian Civil War all saw continued fighting between governments and rebels in Africa. The latter began the peace process through a provisional government on November 1. The Second Sudanese Civil War between the ruling National Islamic Front and various other groups escalated in 2001. This included a sub-conflict, the War of the Peters, which continued into 2001 until a ceasefire was negotiated in August.Two failed coup attempts took place in 2001: a group of junior officers sought to overthrow President Pierre Buyoya in Burundi while he was out of the country on April 18, and André Kolingba, a former president of the Central African Republic, led a military coup against his successor Ange-Félix Patassé on May 28, causing several days of violence.
Several conflicts continued in Indonesia, though the insurgency in Aceh between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement was the only one to see widespread violence in 2001, as the war significantly escalated after the end of a ceasefire and breakdown of peace talks. The New People's Army rebellion saw two ceasefires between the Philippine government and the New People's Army, separated by a brief surge of heavy fighting after the assassination of a member of parliament. A ceasefire was also established with the nation's other insurgent group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. In Myanmar, the Karen conflict continued, and the insurgency of the Shan State resumed hostilities after a temporary peace in 1999. The Tamil Tigers declared a ceasefire and requested peace talks during the Eelam War III in Sri Lanka, but hostilities resumed on April 25, and the Tamil Tigers launched several suicide attacks in July, including the Bandaranaike Airport attack. The Nepalese Civil War also saw increased hostilities in 2001.
The only major conflict in Europe was the Second Chechen War between the Russian government and the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Russian forces controlled the republic's population centers, but Chechen forces continued to use guerrilla warfare. Macedonia saw a smaller scale conflict between the Macedonian government and the National Liberation Army, which sought reform for the status of Albanian people in Macedonia. The deployment of NATO peacekeeping forces to Macedonia was authorized on August 21. Yugoslavia similarly saw an insurgency by Albanian rebels, but the conflict did not escalate. The only major conflict in South America was the Colombian conflict between the Colombian government and various far-left and far-right groups. The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia expanded into Ecuador in 2001 and carried out attacks on Ecuadorian citizens.
International conflicts
The 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff was the only conflict between two national governments in 2001. The territorial dispute over the region of Kashmir consisted primarily of small scale attacks by militant groups until two attacks on Indian legislature buildings: one in October and one in December. The latter provoked a major escalation of troop deployments with preparations for a major war.The Second Intifada continued from the previous year between Israel and Palestine. The conflict escalated into an undeclared war in which Palestinian militants targeted Israeli civilians with weapons and suicide bombers with the Israeli military responding with fighter jets and missile strikes against Palestinians. Every ceasefire ended within a day of its establishment.
September 11 attacks and invasion of Afghanistan
The September 11 attacks were carried out by Al-Qaeda when 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes and crashed two of them into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and one near Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania. 2,977 people were killed; the attacks and the subsequent global war on terror are widely recognized as events that defined 2001. This was internationally recognized as an armed attack against the United States under the UN charter, and NATO invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty for the first time in its history.The Afghan Civil War between the de jure Northern Alliance government and the de facto Taliban government continued from previous years. When the Taliban refused to extradite Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan on 7 October. The American-led coalition and the Northern Alliance captured Afghan cities until the Taliban surrendered to the Northern Alliance in Kandahar on December 6. The American-led coalition attacked the Al-Qaeda headquarters in Tora Bora in December, but Al-Qaeda's leadership had gone into hiding. An interim government of Afghanistan led by Hamid Karzai was formed on December 22.
Culture
Architecture
New buildings constructed or opened in 2001 include the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, the Sendai Mediatheque in Sendai, the DG Bank building in Berlin, and Aurora Place in Sydney. Museums that opened in 2001 include the Jewish Museum Berlin designed by Daniel Libeskind, the National Museum of Australia designed by Howard Raggatt in Canberra, the Changi Chapel and Museum in Singapore, the Neue Galerie New York, and the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg.Prominent renovations made in 2001 include the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court in the British Museum and the entrance wing of the Milwaukee Art Museum. Preservation efforts were also completed on the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and it reopened to the public on December 15 after 12 years of reconstruction. Damaged and destroyed buildings included the World Trade Center buildings which were destroyed in the September 11 attacks, and the Biblioteca Gallardo in El Salvador, which was destroyed in an earthquake.