1991

Facts and Events That Happened in This Year

Dec 26

Jack Ruby's gun, which was used to kill Lee Harvey Oswald, sold for $220,000 in an auction.

Dec 25

Mikhail Gorbachev resigned from his position as Prime Minister of the Soviet Union.

Dec 20

A Palestinian couple was convicted of first-degree murder for the honor killing on their daughter.

Dec 8

The Commonwealth of Independent States was formed by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

Dec 5

Ukraine elected its first President since the nation gained its independence from the Soviet Union.

Dec 4

Pan American World Airways ceased operations.

Nov 24

STS 44 Atlantis 10 was launched into space.

Oct 27

Turkmenistan declared independence from the Soviet Union.

Oct 18

American independent adventure movie 'My Own Private Idaho,' starring River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves, was released.

Sep 24

American rock band 'Nirvana' released their second album called Nevermind.

Sep 17

Linus Torvalds released the first version of the Linux operating system kernel for free on the Internet.

Sep 10

Nirvana released their lead single, 'Smells like Teen Spirit,' which is often dubbed the 'anthem for apathetic kids' of Generation X.

Sep 9

Tajikistan declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

Sep 2

The United States announced its recognition of Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania's independence as individual countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Aug 31

Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

Aug 27

Moldova declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

Aug 25

Belarus declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

Aug 24

Ukraine separated from the Soviet Union, marking this day as Ukraine’s Independence Day.

Aug 20

Estonia claimed its independence from USSR.

Aug 18

North Carolina, US, was hit by hurricane Bob.

Aug 8

The Warsaw Radio Mast in Poland malfunctioned and collapsed.

Aug 4

Greek-owned cruise ship 'Oceanos' sank off the coast of South Africa due to uncontrollable flooding.

Jul 30

Metallica released their single 'Enter Sandman.'

Jul 22

American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer admitted to murdering 17 people.

Jul 1

Court TV was launched on American cable television.

Jun 29

A 5.6 magnitude earthquake dubbed the 'Sierra Madre Earthquake' occurred in South California and caused around $40 million in damages.

Jun 23

Sonic the Hedgehog was released for the Sega Genesis in North America.

Jun 19

Drug lord Pablo Escobar handed himself into the police.

Jun 15

The second-largest volcano eruption of the 20th Century happened in the Philippines.

Jun 10

The last episode of David Lynch's original Twin Peaks aired.

Jun 5

NASA's STS-40 became the first spaceflight with three women to be launched into space.

May 18

Northern Somalia declared its independence, becoming the unrecognized de facto Republic of Somaliland.

May 13

Apple released its Macintosh System 7.0.

Apr 9

The Republic of Georgia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

Mar 31

A referendum in the Republic of Georgia took place to vote on the country's independence.

Mar 6

The first computers were affected by the Michelangelo virus, which activated annually on March 6.

Mar 3

Los Angeles police brutally beat an unarmed Rodney King with batons up to 60 times.

Feb 23

President H. W. Bush gave Iraq the ultimatum that they had 24 hours to get their forces out of Kuwait or face war.

Jan 12

US Congress gave George H. W. Bush the authority to declare war on Iraq.