Contemporary · North America · Technology
2001
Wikipedia launches
January 15, 2001
Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger flipped a switch on a free encyclopedia that any stranger could edit, hosted on a single server. Experts predicted vandalism and chaos. Instead a strange volunteer civilization assembled itself, article by article, in dozens of languages, becoming within a decade the planet's default reference and a quiet rebuke to gatekeeping.
In context
Also in 2001 (5 other events on record)
- September 11 attacks · North America · War
- War in Afghanistan begins · Central Asia · War
- China joins the WTO · East Asia · Politics
- Apple unveils the iPod · North America · Technology
- Nepal royal massacre · South Asia · Politics
Before and after in North America
Before and after in Technology
Era
Contemporary (2001–2026), one of 196 events from that era on Saeculum.
Sources