2004
Indian Ocean Tsunami
A magnitude-9.1 earthquake off Sumatra unleashed tsunamis that radiated across the Indian Ocean at jet speed, striking Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand within hours. Two hundred and thirty thousand people died in fourteen countries. There was no warning system. The disaster, captured on tourist cameras, produced the largest international relief effort in history.
Facebook founded in a dorm
Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard roommates launched a directory for ranking and stalking classmates from a cramped Cambridge dorm room. Within a year it had eaten the Ivy League, within four the planet. The friend request, the news feed, the like button: a generation's social grammar invented and enforced from a single Palo Alto office.
EU expands eastward
Ten countries, mostly former satellites of the Soviet Union, joined the European Union in a single Brussels ceremony, the largest expansion in the bloc's history. Polish plumbers, Estonian engineers, and Hungarian students suddenly had the legal right to live and work anywhere from Lisbon to Helsinki. The continent's Cold War geography, frozen for four decades, dissolved overnight.
Madrid train bombings
Ten backpack bombs detonated on commuter trains during the Madrid morning rush hour, killing 193 people and wounding nearly two thousand in Spain's worst terrorist attack. The Aznar government blamed Basque separatists; voters, suspecting an al-Qaeda revenge for Spain's participation in Iraq, threw the conservatives out three days later. Spain withdrew its troops within weeks.
Beslan school siege
Chechen militants seized a school in North Ossetia on the first day of classes, herding more than eleven hundred children, parents, and teachers into a wired-up gymnasium rigged with explosives. Russian forces stormed the building three days later in a chaotic assault. At least 334 hostages died, nearly half of them children. Putin tightened his grip on the Caucasus.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 2004?
Saeculum lists 5 curated events from 2004. The most significant is Indian Ocean Tsunami: A magnitude-9.1 earthquake off Sumatra unleashed tsunamis that radiated across the Indian Ocean at jet speed, striking Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India…
What era was 2004 part of?
2004 falls within the Contemporary (2001-2026). Networks, climate, and the new uncertainty.
Which regions saw notable events in 2004?
The curated events from 2004 span Southeast Asia, North America and Europe.