21st century

Published on Sunday, January 13th 2008. Edited by Raw Fungutwin, Vienna, Austria.

Millennium: 3rd millennium

Centuries: 20th century · 21st century · 22nd century

Decades: 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s 2050s 2060s 2070s 2080s 2090s

Categories: Births – Deaths Establishments – Disestablishments

The 21st century is the current century of the Common Era in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It began on January 1, 2001 and will end December 31, 2100.

Technologically, the major differences to date from the 20th century are the changes brought about by the digital revolution of the 1980s and 1990s, and particularly the Internet. While the 20th century was marked by the rapid development of travel fueled mostly by petroleum, the 21st century is marked by concern over how to cope with consequences of pollution and resource depletion.

Pronunciation

Regarding pronunciation of 21st century years, academics suggest that since former years such as 1805 and 1905 were commonly pronounced as “eighteen oh” or “nineteen oh” five, the year 2005 should naturally have been pronounced as “twenty oh-five”. A less common variation would have been “twenty nought-five”. Many experts agree that majority usage of “two thousand (and) X” is a result of influences from the Y2K hype, as well as the way “2001” was pronounced in the influential 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Many people, ranging from linguistic and academic experts to Internet bloggers, predict that the “twenty X” pronunciation method will eventually prevail, but a timeframe as to when this change will occur often differs. The year 2010 is suggested by many, and the Vancouver Olympics, taking place in 2010, is being officially referred to by Vancouver 2010 as “the twenty-ten olympics”, while 2011 and 2013 are popular as well. The latest timeframes for change are usually placed at 2020.

Important developments, events, achievements

Politics

• 2001 – The September 11, 2001 attacks precede the War on Terrorism. On October 7, 2001 a US-led coalition invades Afghanistan.
• 2002 – East Timor gains independence from Indonesia.
• 2003 – International Criminal Court opens. On March 20, 2003 the United States and a “Coalition of the Willing” invade Iraq, beginning Operation Iraqi Freedom, or the Iraq War.
• 2003 – 2005 A series of nonviolent revolutions known as the colour revolutions overthrow governments in Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon.
• 2004 – EU Enlargement: 10 countries join, 8 of which are former Communist nations.
• 2005 – UN Security Council decides that war criminals in Darfur will be tried by the International Criminal Court
• 2006 – Montenegro gains independence and becomes the 192nd member of the UN.
• 2006 – North Korea conducts its first nuclear test.
• 2006 – Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq, is executed in Baghdad.
• 2007 – EU Enlargement: Romania and Bulgaria join the EU.
• 2008 – Kosovo declares independence from Serbia, but remains unrecognized by many countries.
• 2008 – Barack Obama becomes the presumptive nominee of the United States Democratic Party in the 2008 presidential election. He is the first African American to win enough support for the nomination of any major U.S. political party.

Science and technology

Space exploration

• 2001 – Dennis Tito becomes the first space tourist by paying $20 million to board the International Space Station.
• 2002 – Mars Odyssey arrives in orbit around Mars.
• 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disaster February 1.
• 2003 – The Chinese space program launches its first manned space flight, Shenzhou 5 on October 15.
• 2004 – Mars Exploration Rovers land on Mars; Opportunity discovers evidence that that area of Mars was once covered in water.
• 2004 – The Cassini-Huygens probe arrives at Saturn.
• 2004 – SpaceShipOne makes the first privately-funded human spaceflight, June 21
• 2005 – The Huygens probe lands on Titan, the largest of Saturn’s moons, January 14.
• 2005 – The Deep Impact probe impacts Comet Tempel 1, July 4.
• 2006 – New Horizons is launched on a 9 year voyage to Pluto, January 19.
• 2006 – The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars.
• 2006 – Pluto is reclassified from a planet to a dwarf planet, leaving the solar system with eight planets.
• 2008 – NASA’s MESSENGER flies by Mercury, becoming the first spacecraft to do so in 33 years.

Medicine

• 2003 – Dolly the cloned sheep dies prematurely February 14.
• 2003 – Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) spreads around the globe.
• 2005 – The first successful partial face transplant is performed in France.
• 2006 – Australian of the Year Dr Ian Frazer develops a vaccine for cervical cancer.

Personal technology

• Mobile phone usage approaches 100% in Europe.

Other

• 2003 Discovery of an old dwarf human species, Homo floresiensis by modern humans (published in October, 2004).
• Discovery of four chemical elements, of atomic number 113, 115, 116 and 118.

Conflicts and civil unrest

• Colombian Armed Conflict (1964-present)
• Sri Lankan Civil War (1983-present)
• September 11, 2001 attacks on USA
• War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
• 12 October 2002 Bali bombing
• Moscow theatre hostage crisis October 2002
• Iraq War (20 March 2003-present)
• Darfur conflict (2003-present)
• 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings
• September 2004 Beslan hostage crisis
• 7 July 2005 London bombings
• 2005 civil unrest in France
• 2006 East Timor crisis
• 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
• War in Chad (2005-present)
• War in Somalia (2006–present)
• War on Terrorism (2001-present)
• 2006 Fijian coup d'état

Worldwide deaths from war and terrorist attacks

• Second Congo War, approximately 1.8 million deaths (3.8 million since 1998)
• Iraq War, a wide variation in the number of casualties quoted, ranging from the tens of thousands, up to approximately 1 million deaths, Iraq Body Count, ORB survey of casualties of the Iraq War.
• Darfur conflict, approximately 400,000 deaths
• Civil War in Côte d'Ivoire, 3,000 deaths
• September 11, 2001 attacks, 2,997 deaths, Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre destroyed and The Pentagon damaged.
• December 13, 2001 attacks, Terrorist attack on Indian Parliament (2001), terrorists storm the Indian Parliament Building in New Delhi and kill six police officers.
• October 12, 2002 Bali terrorist bombings kill 202 people.
• March 11, 2004 terrorist attacks shake several train stations on Spain’s capital Madrid, killing 191 people and injuring 1,247.
• July 7, 2005 suicide terrorist attacks shake London transport system killing 52 people and injuring 700.
• 29 October 2005 Delhi Bombings, terrorists attack various markets in New Delhi, killing 61 people and injuring 188 more, right before the start of the festival season in India.
• July 11, 2006 six bombs explode in train stations in Mumbai, killing 190.

Natural disasters

• Up to 50,000 died in France, Italy, and other European countries in the summer of 2003 due to a prolonged heat wave coinciding with a shortage of medical and nursing staff.
• Earthquake in Bam, Iran on December 27, 2003 killed more than 26,000.
• 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. On December 26 an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean created a large tsunami, which impacted land across the region and killed approximately 310,000 in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and other countries in the region.
• 2004 hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne batter Florida and the Caribbean in August and September, killing over 3,200, 3,000 of which resulted from Jeanne’s torrential flooding rains in Haiti. The hurricanes caused a combined $50 billion in damage in the United States.
• In 2005, Hurricane Katrina impacts the U.S. Gulf Coast as a strong Category 3 hurricane with top sustained winds before landfall near 125 mph, flooding New Orleans, and causing significant damage in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama. The hurricane killed 1,836 and surpassed Hurricane Andrew in cost of damage, approaching $75 billion and becoming the costliest natural disaster in U.S history.
• Earthquake in Kashmir on October 8, 2005, which has so far killed at least 87,350 in India and Pakistan.
• Hurricane Stan hit Mexico along the Gulf of Campeche in October 2005 and moved into Guatemala. Hurricane Stan combined with powerful storms already occurring in the region and contributed to the deaths of 1,620.
• 2007 Peru earthquake. On August 15, an undersea earthquake in the peruvian coast killed more than 500 and destroyed the coastal cities of Pisco and Chincha.
• Cyclone Nargis strikes Myanmar from April 27 – May 3, 2008, killing more than 78,000, leaving 55,917 missing, and leaving 2.5 million homeless.
• 2008 China earthquake on May 12, 2008 kills over 50,000.

Sports

• 2001– Tiger Woods, American golfer, completes the Tiger Slam, winning four golf majors in a row
• 2001– NASCAR (American stock car) driver Dale Earnhardt dies after hitting the wall on the last lap of the Daytona 500. Earnhardt’s son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., claimed a tearful victory in the next race held at Daytona, less than four months later.
• 2001– Arizona Diamondbacks win the world series after beating the Yankees 4 games to 3 in a best of seven series.
• 2001– Rugby League Widnes Vikings gain their first entrance to the Super League.
• 2002– Phil Taylor becomes the first player to win the World Darts Championship 10 times [PDC], following a 7-0 whitewash of Peter Manley.
• 2002– In the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan, Brazil won the Football World Cup becoming the first team to win the trophy 5 times.
• 2002– Michael Schumacher wins his 5th Formula One World Drivers Championship, becoming only the second driver after Juan Manuel Fangio.
• 2002– 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.
• 2002– NASCAR Tony Stewart wins his first of 2 NASCAR championships.
• 2003– New Jersey Devils win their third Stanley Cup in team history, defeating the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 4 games to 3.
• 2003– Michael Schumacher wins his record-breaking sixth Formula One World Drivers Championship title.
• 2003– San Antonio Spurs win NBA championship over New Jersey Nets, 4 games to 2.
• 2003– Roy Jones Jr. becomes the first former World Middleweight Boxing Champion in 106 years to win a portion of the World Heavyweight title, following his twelve-round unanimous decision over then-WBA champion John Ruiz, March 1st.
• 2003– Australia win the 2003 Cricket World Cup
• 2003– Silver Ferns, New Zealand’s national woman’s netball team, wins the Netball World Championships, beating Australia in Jamaica
• 2003– England wins the 2003 Rugby World Cup, becoming the first team from the northern hemisphere to win the cup.
• 2003– NASCAR Matt Kenseth wins his first NASCAR Winston Cup Championship
• 2004– Arsenal win the English Premier League without losing a single game, having the longest unbeaten league run of 49 games from May 2003 to October 2004.
• 2004– Greece win the European Football Championship for the first time.
• 2004– 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens, Greece.
• 2004– The Boston Red Sox defeat the Saint Louis Cardinals in the World Series, for their first win in 86 years. The Red Sox overcame a 3-0 deficit in the penultimate series against their rival, the New York Yankees.
• 2004– Michael Schumacher wins his 5th consecutive Formula One World Drivers Championship title, 7 in total.
• 2004– NASCAR Kurt Busch wins the first NASCAR Nextel Cup Series championship with the Chase points system.
• 2005- Liverpool FC win the European Cup for the fifth time in their history, enabling them to keep the trophy permanently. In a dramatic final, they came from 3-0 down at half time to win 3-2 on penalties against AC Milan.
• 2005- American cyclist Lance Armstrong wins his 7th consecutive Tour de France and retires.
• 2005- In cricket, England wins The Ashes defeating Australia 2-1. This win is the first for England in 18 years.
• 2005- San Antonio Spurs win NBA championship over Detroit Pistons, 4 games to 3.
• 2005- Chicago White Sox win the World Series (4-0) over the Houston Astros. It was their first World Series win in 88 years.
• 2005- NASCAR Tony Stewart wins his 2nd NASCAR championship.
• 2005- Fernando Alonso became the youngest Formula One champion ever, grabbing 133 points to clinch the title.
• 2006- Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks, 21-10, to win the teams fifth Super Bowl in six tries.
• 2006- NBA star Kobe Bryant scores 81 points in a Lakers game on January 22.
• 2006- 2006 Winter Olympics held in Torino, Italy.
• 2006- Italy win the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
• 2006- Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup, defeating the Edmonton Oilers in game 7, winning the series 4-3.
• 2006- Miami Heat win the NBA Finals against Dallas Mavericks 4 games to 2; after losing the first two games, and winning the last four straight.
• 2006- Floyd Landis wins the Tour de France, but not without controversy.
• 2006- In cricket Australia regain The Ashes, whitewashing England 5-0. Shane Warne, the world’s most prolific wicket-taker, retires after taking 708 test wickets.
• 2006- St. Louis Cardinals win their 10th World Series 4 games to 1 over the Detroit Tigers.
• 2006- NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson wins his first Nascar championship.
• 2006- Michael Schumacher retires from Formula One racing after a record-breaking career, in which he broke 31 records in any racing class, including the record for most wins at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
• 2007- Indianapolis Colts defeat the Chicago Bears, 29-17, to claim the team’s first Super Bowl in 36 years.
• 2007- Australia win the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007.
• 2007- Anaheim Ducks win the Stanley Cup, defeating the Ottawa Senators in 5 games, winning the series 4-1.
• 2007- San Antonio Spurs win NBA championship over Cleveland Cavaliers in 4 games, sweeping the championship series.
• 2007- The Rugby World Cup is held in France from September to October, and won by South Africa.
• 2007- Thierry Henry leaves Arsenal FC to join FC Barcelona and is greeted by a record 30,000 fans (10,000 more than Ronaldinho) at the Camp Nou
• 2007- Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants breaks the all time career home run record with 756 career HR, the previous was 755 career HR held by Hank Aaron. Later in the year, Bonds is indicted for alleged perjury, for lying about whether he had ever taken steroids.
• 2007- Boston Red Sox win the World Series sweeping the Colorado Rockies 4-0.
• 2007- George J. Mitchell issues a report detailing the usage of steroids in Major League Baseball, implicating several players, including Roger Clemens.
• 2007- The New England Patriots finish the NFL regular season 16-0, the first team to go undefeated in a sixteen-game season. The Patriots would go on to beat the Jaguars and Chargers in the playoffs. Despite being heavily favored to win the Super Bowl and complete a 19-0 Season, the Patriots would lose to the New York Giants, 17-14. Eli Manning threw a game winning touchdown to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left.
• 2007- India win the first ICC World Twenty20 by defeating Pakistan in the finals.
• 2008- The Kansas Jayhawks defeat the Memphis Tigers to win the 2008 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.
• 2008- Manchester United win the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League.

Issues and concerns

There are several points-of-view pertaining to the following items, all of which should be considered accordingly.

Issues that have been frequently discussed and debated so far in this century include:

• Globalization. Advances in telecommunications and transportation, the expansion of capitalism and democracy, and free trade agreements have resulted in unprecedented global economic and cultural integration. This has caused (and is continuing to cause) economic and cultural shifts which have been the subject of considerable controversy.
• Overpopulation. The United Nations estimates that world population will reach 9.1 billion by mid-century. Such growth raises questions of ecological sustainability and creates many economic and political disruptions. In response, many countries have adopted policies which either force or encourage their citizens to have fewer children, and others have limited immigration. Considerable debate exists over what the ultimate carrying capacity of the planet may be; whether or not population growth containment policies are necessary; to what degree growth can safely occur thanks to increased economic and ecological efficiency; and how markets should accommodate demographic shifts. Evidence suggests that developed countries (such as Japan) suffer population implosion, and the population debate is strongly tied with poverty.
• Poverty. Poverty remains the root cause of many of the world’s other ills, including famine, disease, and insufficient education. Poverty contains many self-reinforcing elements (for instance, poverty can make education an unaffordable luxury, which tends to result in continuing poverty) that various aid groups hope to rectify in this century. Microcredit lending has also started to gain a profile as a useful anti-poverty tool.
• Political issues, such as media content, gay rights, and abortion continue from the 1990s.
• Disease. AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria each kill over a million people annually. HIV remains without a cure or vaccine, and is growing rapidly in India and much of the African continent. Antibiotic resistance is a growing concern for organisms such as tuberculosis. Other diseases, such as SARS, ebola, and flu variations, are also causes for concern. The World Health Organization has warned of a possible coming flu pandemic resulting from bird flu mutations.
• War and terrorism. Active conflicts continue around the world, including civil wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the largest war since World War II), Chechnya, Côte d'Ivoire, Somalia, Senegal, Colombia, and Sudan (mainly in Darfur). The 9/11 terrorist attacks triggered invasions of Afghanistan and partially and controversially Iraq. The War on Terrorism has seen controversies over civil liberties, accusations of torture, continued terrorist attacks and ongoing instability, violence, and military occupation. Violence continues in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Considerable concern remains about nuclear proliferation, especially in Iran and North Korea, and the availability of weapons of mass destruction to rogue groups.
• Global warming. Most climate scientists concur that the earth is currently undergoing significant anthropogenic (human-induced) global warming. The resulting economic and ecological costs are hard to predict, and by the end of the 21st century could be quite severe. However, predictions have become more dramatic in recent years. Some scientists argue that human-induced global warming risks considerable losses in biodiversity and ecosystem services unless considerable sociopolitical changes are introduced, particularly in patterns of mass consumption. On the other hand, climate change has already begun to wreak havoc on entire communities on the fringes of the developing world.
• Other environmental changes. Trends such as increased pollution, deforestation and biodiversity loss occurring in the 20th century are likely to continue into the 21st century.
• Global power. Issues surrounding the cultural, economic, and military dominance of the United States and its role in the world community have become even more pointed given its recent military activities, problematic relations with the United Nations, disagreement over several international treaties, and its economic policies with regard to globalization. Integration of the European Union and the African Union have proceeded.
• Intellectual property. The increasing popularity of digital formats for entertainment media such as movies and music, and the ease of copying and distributing it via the Internet and peer-to-peer networks, has raised concerns in the media industry about copyright infringement. Much debate is proceeding about the proper bounds between protection of copyright, trademark and patent rights versus fair use and the public domain, where some argue that such laws have shifted greatly towards intellectual property owners and away from the interests of the general public in recent years, while others say that such legal change is needed to deal with the threat of new technologies against the rights of authors and artists (or, as others put it, against the outmoded business models of the current entertainment industry). Domain name “cybersquatting” and access to patented drugs to combat epidemics in third-world countries are other IP concerns.
• Technology developments show no sign of ending. Communications and control technology continues to augment the intelligence of individual humans, collections of humans, and machines. Cultures are forced into the position of sharply defining humanity and determining boundaries on desire, thought, communication, behaviour, and manufacturing. Some, notably Ray Kurzweil have predicted that by the middle of the century there will be a Technological Singularity if artificial intelligence that outsmart humans is created. If these AIs then create even smarter AI’s technological change will accelerate in ways that are impossible for us to foresee. (However, gradual and simultaneous use of AI technology to increase our own intelligence might prevent this from ever occurring.)
• Fossil fuels are becoming scarce and more expensive, due to the escalating demand for petroleum (“oil”) and oil-based products such as gasoline and kerosene, unmatched by production. Discovery of new oil fields has not been sufficient to sustain current levels of production, and some fear that the earth may be running out of economically viable oil.

The United Nations lists global issues on its agenda and lists a set of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to attempt to address some of these issues.

Astronomical events

• Tuesday, June 8, 2004: First transit of Venus for 122 years.
• November 8, 2006: Transit of Mercury.
• December 23, 2007: grand conjunction a galactic conjunction which happens every 26000 years.
• 2009: Triple conjunction Jupiter–Neptune.
• 2010/2011: Triple conjunction Jupiter-Uranus.
• July 12, 2011: Neptune completes its first orbit since its discovery in 1846.
• Wednesday, June 6, 2012: Transit of Venus to occur a second time (and last time) this century.
• May 9, 2016: Transit of Mercury.
• Monday, August 21, 2017  : First total solar eclipse of the 21st century for the United States, and the first visible in the continental US since February 26, 1979 .
• November 11, 2019: Transit of Mercury.
• 2024 (plus or minus 5 years): Next predicted return of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks.
• 2025/2026: Triple conjunction Saturn-Neptune.
• Friday, April 13, 2029: The asteroid 99942 Apophis (previously better known by its provisional designation 2004 MN4) will pass within 30,000 km (18,600 mi) of the Earth.
• November 13, 2032: Transit of Mercury.
• 2037/2038: Triple conjunction Jupiter-Uranus.
• November 7, 2039: Transit of Mercury.
• 2041/2042: Triple conjunction Mars-Uranus.
• October 1, 2044: Occultation of Regulus by Venus. The last was on July 7, 1959. After 2044 the next occultation of Regulus by Venus will occur on October 21, 3187, although some sources claim it will occur again on October 6, 2271.
• 2047/2048: Triple conjunction Jupiter-Neptune.
• May 7, 2049: Transit of Mercury.
• November 9, 2052: Transit of Mercury.
• July 2061: Next return of Halley’s Comet.
• 2063: Triple conjunction Mars-Uranus.
• November 11, 2065: Transit of Mercury.
• November 22, 2065: At 12:45 UTC, Venus will occult Jupiter. This event will be the first occultation of a planet by another since January 3, 1818. This event will be very difficult to observe, because the elongation of Venus and Jupiter from the Sun on that date will be only 7 degrees.
• 2066: Triple conjunction Jupiter-Uranus.
• July 15, 2067: At 11:56 UTC, Mercury will occult Neptune. This rare event will be very difficult to observe, because of the constant low elongation of Mercury from the Sun, and the magnitude of Neptune always under the limit of visibility with the naked eye.
• 2071/2072: Triple conjunction Mars-Neptune.
• November 14, 2078: Transit of Mercury.
• 2079: Triple conjunction Saturn-Uranus.
• August 11, 2079: At 01:30 UTC, Mercury will occult Mars.
• Friday, November 10, 2084: Transit of Earth as seen from Mars, the first and the only one in this century.
• November 7, 2085: Transit of Mercury.
• 2085/2086: Triple conjunction Jupiter-Neptune.
• October 27, 2088: At 13:43 UTC, Mercury will occult Jupiter.
• 2088/2089: Triple conjunction Mars-Neptune.
• 2093: Triple conjunction Jupiter-Uranus.
• April 7, 2094: At 10:48 UTC, Mercury will occult Jupiter.
• May 8, 2095: Transit of Mercury.
• November 10, 2098: Transit of Mercury.

Significant figures

__

• Rudolph Giuliani, Mayor of New York City during the September 11, 2001 attacks
• George W. Bush, President of the United States from 2001-2009
• Bill Gates, founder and former CEO of Microsoft, philanthropist
• Melinda Gates, philanthropist
• Vladimir Putin, President of Russia from 1999-2008
• Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997-2007
• Gerhard Ertl, physical chemist
• Leonid Hurwicz, economist
• Eric S. Maskin, economist
• Roger B. Myerson, economist
• Doris Lessing, writer
• Mario R. Capecchi, molecular geneticist
• Martin J. Evans, geneticist
• Oliver Smithies, geneticist
• Albert Fert, physicist
• Ronald Collé, research radiochemist
• Peter Grünberg, physicist
• Cormac McCarthy, writer
• David Lindsay-Abaire, playwright
• Gene Roberts, historian
• Hank Klibanoff, historian
• Natasha Trethewey, poet
• Lawrence Wright, writer
• Ornette Coleman, musician
• Bono, musician, activist
• Al Gore, Vice President of the United States from 1993-2001, environmental activist
• Debby Applegate, biographer

Popular culture in the remaining years of the 21st century

Television and film

• The new series of Doctor Who which began in 2005 has events that take place (more or less) in the 21st century.
• seaQuest DSV takes place between the years 2018 and 2032.
• In the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey, a joint American-Soviet space expedition is sent to Jupiter in 2010.
• The popular adult swim series Sealab 2021 takes place in the year 2021.
• The events of Stargate SG-1 continue into the early 21st century.
• Stargate Atlantis is set in the early 21st century.
• The Transformers: The Movie: is set in the year 2005. The subsequent third season of the Transformers series takes place after the events of the movie.
• The Japanese anime show The Super Dimension Fortress Macross spans the years 1999 to 2012 (its final episode takes place in January of 2012, and a direct to video epilogue featurette takes place in September 2012). Its prequel and sequels take place in 2008 (Macross Zero), 2040 (Macross Plus) and 2045-2046 (Macross 7). A dramatized historical fiction movie about the First Space War, The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?, premieres in 2031.
• The American cartoon show Robotech, composed from the footage of three unrelated anime series (including Macross, above) spans the years 1999 to 2015, 2030-2031 and 2044-2045.
• Part of the sequel Back to the Future Part II is set in 2015.
• The Japanese anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion is also set in 2015.
• The modern classic film Blade Runner takes place in November, 2019.
• The cult series Dark Angel is set in 2019.
• The film The Running Man starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is set in 2019.
• Both parts of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Past Tense” take place in 2024.
• The film Children of Men is set in 2027.
• The anime universe of Ghost in the Shell, its sequel Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, and anime television series based on the same premise (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GiG), are centered somewhere around 2029.
• The Terminator is set up during the early years of the 21st century in terms of the wars between humans & Skynet. Some of the intervening years are dealt with by the two sequels, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, with the whole franchise building to a conclusion of the War in 2029.
• The 2002 version of The Time Machine has scenes that take place in the 2030s.
• The Doctor Who story The Enemy of the World is set in Australia in 2030.
• The anime OAV series Bubblegum Crisis (2032-33), its sequel Bubblegum Crash (2034), and its TV-series re-imagining Bubblegum Crisis 2040 (2040).
• Demolition Man is set in 2032.
• I, Robot was set in 2035.
• Deep space vessel Event Horizon was sent to test an artificial wormhole (black hole) in deep space in the year 2040. The lost ship is found 7 years later by a rescue team on board the ship Lewis and Clark on low orbit around the planet Neptune.
• The Outward Urge has a major nuclear war in 2044 and the first manned landing on Mars in 2094.
• Minority Report was set in 2054.
• World War III ends in 2056 according to Star Trek: First Contact, with 600,000,000 dead and most major cities destroyed.
• The 1998 remake of Lost in Space was set in 2058.
• Most of Star Trek: First Contact takes place in 2063. In Star Trek canon, the human Zefram Cochrane develops faster-than-light travel and makes first contact with an alien race during this year.
• Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is set in 2065.
• The Doctor Who story The Moonbase is set in 2070.
• The Japanese anime show Cowboy Bebop is set in 2071.
• The Nickelodeon cartoon My Life as a Teenage Robot is set in 2072.
• Equilibrium is set in 2072.
• The Doctor Who story Day of the Daleks is set in 2073, albeit in an alternative timeline.
• The film Total Recall, and the Doctor Who story Warriors of the Deep is set in 2084.
• In Star Trek: Insurrection, it is discovered that the Ba'ku moved to the Briar Patch at some point in this century.
• The Jetsons is supposed to take place in the late 21st century.
• Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century and its sequels takes place in the years 2049-2054.
• The final episode of The X-Files sets 2012 as the date for alien colonization.
• The CGI animated series Cubix: Robots for Everyone takes place in 2040.
• The Doctor Who story The Seeds of Death is set in 2090.
• The Doctor Who story Nightmare of Eden is set in 2096.
• The events of Leprechaun 4: In Space;; takes place in 2096
• The 2008 Disney Channel movie Minutemen is based between the dates September 3rd 2005 and September 8th 2008.
• The tagline of Torchwood series one is: “The 21st century is when everything happens. And we have to be ready.” In series two, the second sentence changes to: “And Torchwood is ready.”

Computer and video games

• The events of Metal Gear Solid take place in 2005, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty takes places in the years 2007 (Tanker Chapter) and 2009 (Big Shell Chapter), and the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots take place in 2014.
• Duke Nukem 3D is set in the early 21st century and contains evidence (such as calendars) that suggest it is more specifically set in October or December 2007
• Uplink is set on the internet of the year 2010.
• Perfect Dark Zero is set in 2020 and Perfect Dark is set in 2023.
• The races in San Francisco Rush 2049 take place in 2049.
• The events of Deus Ex take place in 2052.
• The levels “Breaking and Entering” and “You Genius, U-Genix” in TimeSplitters: Future Perfect take place in 2052.
• System Shock is set in 2072.
• Future Cop: LAPD takes place in the year 2098.
• The discovery of the Zohar in Xenosaga takes place in 20XX.
• The Great War of the Fallout universe starts on October 23, 2077; nuclear bombs are launched, nobody knows who the aggressor was.
• The events of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne occur in 20XX.
• In Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, the 2nd Korean War starts early in this century.
• Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, will take place sometime around between 2008 and 2010.
• The Mega Man Classic series takes place in the 21st century.
• The MegaMan Battle Network series takes place in 20XX.
• The arcade game Robotron: 2084 takes place in the year 2084.
• One Must Fall: 2097 takes place in 2097.
• The Mr. Driller series (and Dig Dug: Digging Strike, a game in its related timeline) takes place in 20XX.
• The events of Half-Life 2 and its expansion packs takes place around th early 2020s.
• The video game and cartoon 20X6 of Homestar Runner supposedly takes place in the seventh year of an unspecified decade in the 21st century.
• The nuclear holocaust of the AquaNox universe takes place in mid-21st century, followed by the massive exodus of survivors underwater.
• Trauma Centre: Under the Knife and Trauma Centre: Second Opinion take place in 2018, when AIDS and cancer supposedly have cures.
• The events of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow takes place in this time; specifically 2035. The sequel, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow takes place one year later, in 2036. These are the only two Castlevania titles to have taken place beyond the early to mid 20th century thus far.
• The events of Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift and Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2 take place during 20XX, when Japanese highways have supposedly been opened as racing circuits.
• The events of Namco X Capcom takes place during 20XX.
• In the Command & Conquer: Tiberian series, the 2nd Tiberium War between the Global Defense Initiative and the Brotherhood of Nod begins in 2030. The 3rd Tiberium War takes place 17 years later in 2047, which also sees the arrival of the Scrin to Earth.
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (GRAW 2) takes place in 2014

Novels

• Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010: Odyssey Two and 2061: Odyssey Three.
• Tad Williams' Otherland series is set at some undefined point in the 21st century
• Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age is also set in the 21st century, after some disaster befell the centralized telephone network. This led people to build a decentralized network, which they used to transfer money, thus destroying normal methods of taxation and bringing down most large governments.
• Red Mars of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy begins in 2027.
• Some books by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky are set in 21st century
• The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein takes place in 2075.
• Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix, is set in 2005-06, 2057, and mainly 2085.

Decades and years

Decades and years

21st century 19th century←20th century← ↔ →22nd century→23rd century

1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

2020s 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029

2030s 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 2036 2037 2038 2039

2040s 2040 2041 2042 2043 2044 2045 2046 2047 2048 2049

2050s 2050 2051 2052 2053 2054 2055 2056 2057 2058 2059

2060s 2060 2061 2062 2063 2064 2065 2066 2067 2068 2069

2070s 2070 2071 2072 2073 2074 2075 2076 2077 2078 2079

2080s 2080 2081 2082 2083 2084 2085 2086 2087 2088 2089

2090s 2090 2091 2092 2093 2094 2095 2096 2097 2098 2099

2100s 2100 2101 2102 2103 2104 2105 2106 2107 2108 2109

Centuries and millennia

Millennium Century

BC

4th 40th 39th 38th 37th 36th 35th 34th 33rd 32nd 31st

3rd 30th 29th 28th 27th 26th 25th 24th 23rd 22nd 21st

2nd 20th 19th 18th 17th 16th 15th 14th 13th 12th 11th

1st 10th 9th 8th 7th 6th 5th 4th 3rd 2nd 1st

AD

1st 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th

2nd 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th

3rd 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th

4th 31st

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