Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela found the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at the Baghdad Conference.
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbits the Earth aboard Vostok 1, becoming the first human in space.
A 13-day standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union over nuclear missiles in Cuba brings the world closest to nuclear war.
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, Earth's first artificial satellite, opening the Space Age.
After Nasser nationalises the Suez Canal, Israel, Britain and France attack Egypt but withdraw under US and Soviet pressure.
Delegates from 29 Asian and African nations meet in Bandung to promote Afro-Asian cooperation and oppose colonialism, a forerunner of the Non-Aligned Movement.
A conflict between North Vietnam and the Viet Cong on one side and South Vietnam, backed by the United States and its allies, on the other; it ends with the fall of Saigon in 1975.