Timeline

21st century

1. September 11, 2001★★★★★

   September 11 attacks

   Al-Qaeda hijackers attack New York and Washington with four airliners, killing nearly 3,000 people.

   DisasterPolitics· United States
2. February 4, 2004★★★★★

   Facebook is launched

   Mark Zuckerberg and fellow students launch the social network Facebook at Harvard; it later reaches billions of users.

   TechnologyCulture· United States
3. August 29, 2005★★★★★

   Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans

   Hurricane Katrina strikes the US Gulf Coast, breaching New Orleans' levees and killing more than 1,300 people.

   Disaster· United States
4. January 9, 2007★★★★★

   Apple unveils the iPhone

   Steve Jobs unveils the first iPhone, accelerating the era of touchscreen smartphones.

   Technology· United States
5. November 4, 2008★★★★★

   Barack Obama elected US President

   Barack Obama wins the presidential election, becoming the first African American elected to the office.

   Politics· United States
6. September 14, 2015★★★★★

   First detection of gravitational waves

   The LIGO detectors record gravitational waves from two merging black holes, confirming a prediction of general relativity; the result is announced in February 2016.

   Science· United States
7. September 10, 2023★★★★★

   US–Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

   During President Joe Biden's visit to Hanoi, the two countries upgrade relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

   Politics· Vietnam, United States