The contemporary world begins in 1945, with the founding of the United Nations and the start of the Cold War. Decolonisation reshaped Africa and Asia, and the space age opened with Sputnik in 1957 and the Moon landings of 1969.
Computers, the internet and global trade, together with climate change, define the decades since.
Explore this era on the timeline
Key events of the Contemporary world
94,153 events are on the timeline for this era; these are among the most notable, in date order.
- 1945Discovery of promethium
- 1945Founding of United Nations General Assembly
- 1945Invention of computer
- 1945Founding of International Court of Justice
- 22 March 1945Founding of Arab League
- 24 October 1945Founding of United Nations
- 24 October 1945Founding of United Nations Security Council
- 16 November 1945Founding of UNESCO
- 27 December 1945Founding of World Bank
- 1946First edition of Cannes Film Festival
- 11 December 1946Founding of UNICEF
- 1947The Dead Sea Scrolls are found
- 23 February 1947Founding of International Organization for Standardization
- from 12 March 1947 to 25 December 1991Cold War
- 15 August 1947India and Pakistan become independent
- 29 October 1947Founding of Şalom
- December 1947Transistor
- 7 April 1948Founding of World Health Organization
- 5 October 1948Founding of International Union for Conservation of Nature
- 10 December 1948Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- 1949Discovery of berkelium
- 4 April 1949Founding of NATO
- 5 May 1949Founding of Council of Europe
- 1950Discovery of californium
- 1950Origins of Formula One
- 1950Fermi paradox
- from 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953Korean War
- 1952Discovery of einsteinium
- 1952Introduction of rupiah
- 1952Founding of European Parliament
- December 1952Discovery of fermium
- 25 April 1953Watson and Crick publish the structure of DNA
- 1954Publication of The Lord of the Rings
- 15 June 1954Founding of Union of European Football Associations
- 1955Discovery of mendelevium
- from 14 May 1955 to 1 July 1991Founding of Warsaw Pact
- from 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975Vietnam War
- 1956Premiere of Eurovision Song Contest
- 1957Personal computer
- 1958Discovery of nobelium
- 1958Publication of Exodus
- 1959HIV/AIDS
- 1960Founding of Somalia
- from 1960 to 1970The Beatles
- c. 1960sGlobal Positioning System
- 16 May 1960Laser
- 14 September 1960Founding of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
- 14 February 1961Discovery of lawrencium
- from 13 August 1961 to 9 November 1989Construction of Berlin Wall
- 1962Founding of Jamaica
- 1 October 1963Founding of Nigeria
- 1964Discovery of rutherfordium
- 1965Plate tectonics
- 1966Founding of Lesotho
- from 16 May 1966 to 6 October 1976Cultural Revolution
- from 25 August 1966 to 11 September 2001Construction of World Trade Center
- 27 February 1967Founding of Saint Kitts and Nevis
- 1 March 1967Founding of Saint Lucia
- 8 August 1967Founding of ASEAN
- 6 September 1968Founding of Eswatini
- 24 December 1968Apollo 8 orbits the Moon and photographs Earthrise
- 29 October 1969Invention of Internet
- 29 October 1969The first message is sent over ARPANET
- 1 December 1969Publication of Doraemon
- c. 1970sRise of rapping
- 18 February 1970Discovery of dubnium
- 1971Email
- 4 February 1971Founding of Nasdaq
- 1972Creation of C
- 1973Mobile phone
- 10 July 1973Founding of The Bahamas
- 1974Founding of Grenada
- March 1974The Terracotta Army is discovered
- July 1974Discovery of seaborgium
- 24 November 1974Discovery of Lucy
- 1975Founding of Papua New Guinea
- 30 May 1975Founding of European Space Agency
- 1976Discovery of bohrium
- 1978Founding of Solomon Islands
- 22 June 1978Discovery of Charon
- 1 October 1978Founding of Tuvalu
- 1979Founding of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- c. 1980sInvention of laptop
- 8 May 1980Smallpox is declared eradicated
- 21 September 1981Founding of Belize
- 1 November 1981Founding of Antigua and Barbuda
- 29 August 1982Discovery of meitnerium
- 1983Creation of C++
- 1984Discovery of hassium
- 1985Introduction of new shekel
- 20 November 1985Creation of Microsoft Windows
- 1986Construction of Musée d'Orsay
- 26 April 1986Chernobyl disaster
- 10 December 1987Rise of Hamas
- 12 March 1989World Wide Web
- 17 December 1989Premiere of The Simpsons
- 1990Rise of K-pop
- 24 April 1990Launch of Hubble Space Telescope
- from 2 August 1990 to 28 February 1991Gulf War
- 20 February 1991Creation of Python
- 17 September 1991Release of Linux
- 19 September 1991Otzi the Iceman is found
- 8 December 1991Founding of Commonwealth of Independent States
- 27 May 1992Publication of Azərbaycan marşı
- 1 November 1993Founding of European Union
- 1994Rise of Taliban
- 9 November 1994Discovery of darmstadtium
- 8 December 1994Discovery of roentgenium
- 1995Creation of Java
- 1 January 1995Founding of World Trade Organization
- 8 June 1995Creation of PHP
- 4 December 1995Creation of JavaScript
- 1996Discovery of copernicium
- 1998Supernovae show that cosmic expansion is accelerating
- 4 September 1998Founding of Google
- 20 November 1998Launch of International Space Station
- January 1999Discovery of flerovium
- 1 May 1999Premiere of SpongeBob SquarePants
- 9 September 1999Founding of African Union
- 26 June 2000The first draft of the human genome is announced
- July 2000Discovery of livermorium
- 2001Establishment of Phong Nha–Ke Bang National Park
- 15 January 2001Wikipedia
- 11 September 2001September 11 attacks
- June 2002Discovery of oganesson
- 1 July 2002Founding of International Criminal Court
- August 2003Discovery of moscovium
- 4 February 2004Founding of Facebook
- 20 October 2004Creation of Ubuntu
- 14 February 2005Launch of YouTube
- 2006Discovery of nihonium
- 4 October 2006Founding of WikiLeaks
- 23 September 2008Creation of Android
- 2009Discovery of tennessine
- 2009Premiere of As Aventuras de Gui & Estopa
- 16 June 2009Founding of BRICS
- 4 January 2010Construction of Burj Khalifa
- from 17 April 2011 to 19 May 2019Premiere of Game of Thrones
- 28 June 2012Doudna and Charpentier publish CRISPR gene editing
- 20 February 2014Russo-Ukrainian war
- 2015Rise of Wikipedia Asian Month
- 10 April 2019The first image of a black hole
- from 15 November 2019 to 5 May 2023COVID-19 pandemic
- 31 January 2020Brexit
- 11 March 2020The WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic
- from 26 January 2021 to 27 November 2023Premiere of Go, Dog. Go!
- from 17 September 2021 to 27 June 2025Premiere of Squid Game
- 24 February 2022Full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war
- 30 November 2022ChatGPT
- 7 December 2024Construction of Notre-Dame de Paris