2008
Lehman Brothers collapses
The 158-year-old investment bank filed for bankruptcy on a Monday morning, the largest in American history.
Beijing Olympics open
Zhang Yimou's spectacular opening ceremony unfurled five thousand years of Chinese civilization in fireworks, two thousand and eight synchronized drummers…
Mumbai attacks
Ten Lashkar-e-Taiba gunmen arrived by inflatable boat from Karachi and spent three days murdering their way through luxury hotels, a Jewish center…
Obama wins the presidency
A first-term senator with a Kenyan father and a middle name of Hussein became the forty-fourth president of the United States.
Bitcoin whitepaper appears
An anonymous coder calling himself Satoshi Nakamoto posted a nine-page paper to a cryptography mailing list, describing a peer-to-peer electronic cash system…
Sichuan earthquake
A magnitude 7.9 quake shook the mountains of central China, killing nearly 90,000 people and burying entire schools whose shoddy construction, with rebar…
Android arrives
T-Mobile launched the G1, the first phone to run Google's open-source Android operating system, to a modest reception.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 2008?
Saeculum lists 7 events from 2008. The most significant is Lehman Brothers collapses: The 158-year-old investment bank filed for bankruptcy on a Monday morning, the largest in American history.
What era was 2008 part of?
2008 falls within the Contemporary (2001-2026). Networks, climate, and the new uncertainty.
Which regions saw notable events in 2008?
The events from 2008 span North America, East Asia and South Asia.