From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the year 1997. For the band, see
1997 (band) .
From left, clockwise: the
movie set of
Titanic , the
highest-grossing movie in history at the time;
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is published;
Comet Hale-Bopp passes by
Earth and becomes one of the most observed
comets of the
20th century ;
Golden Bauhinia Square , where
sovereignty of
Hong Kong is
handed over from the
United Kingdom to the
People's Republic of China ; the
Central European flood kills 114 people in the
Czech Republic ,
Poland , and
Germany ;
Korean Air Flight 801 crashes during heavy
rain on
Guam , killing 229;
Mars Pathfinder and
Sojourner land on
Mars ; flowers left outside
Kensington Palace following the
death of Diana, Princess of Wales , in a car crash in
Paris .
Calendar year
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
1997 .
1997 (
MCMXCVII ) was a
common year starting on Wednesday of the
Gregorian calendar , the 1997th year of the
Common Era (CE) and
Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 997th year of the
2nd millennium , the 97th year of the
20th century , and the 8th year of the
1990s decade.
Calendar year
Events
January
February
March
March 4 – U.S. President
Bill Clinton bans federal funding for any research on
human cloning .
March 7 – In
Sri Lanka , the
Tamil Tigers
overrun a military base and kill over 100 Sri Lankan troops.
March 13
March 16 –
Sandline affair : On
Bougainville Island in
Papua New Guinea , soldiers of commander
Jerry Singirok arrest
Tim Spicer and his
mercenaries of the
Sandline International .
March 18 – The tail of a Russian
An-24 charter plane
breaks off while en route to Turkey , causing the plane to crash, killing all 50 on board, and resulting in the grounding of all An-24s.
March 21 – In
Zaire ,
Étienne Tshisekedi is appointed prime minister; he ejects supporters of
Mobutu Sese Seko from his cabinet.
March 22 – The
Comet Hale–Bopp makes its closest approach to Earth.
March 24 – The
69th Academy Awards , hosted by
Billy Crystal , are held at the
Shrine Auditorium in
Los Angeles , with
The English Patient winning
Best Picture . During the event, the
DVD format is launched in the United States.
March 24 –
26 – In
San Diego , 39
Heaven's Gate cultists commit
mass suicide at their compound.
March 26 –
Julius Chan resigns as prime minister of Papua New Guinea, effectively ending the
Sandline affair .
[8]
April
May
May 1 –
Tony Blair becomes
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom , as the
Labour Party wins the
1997 United Kingdom general election and returns to government for the first time in 18 years.
[10]
May 3 –
Katrina and the Waves win the
Eurovision Song Contest 1997 for the United Kingdom with "
Love Shine a Light ".
May 9 – The first genetically modified three-parent baby is born.
[11]
May 10 – The 7.3 Mw
Qayen earthquake strikes eastern
Iran with a maximum
Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme ). At least 1,567 were killed and 2,300 were injured.
May 11 –
IBM 's
Deep Blue defeats
Garry Kasparov in the
last game of the rematch, the first time a computer beats a
chess World champion in a match.
May 12
The Russian–
Chechen Peace Treaty is signed.
An
F1-rated tornado strikes downtown
Miami , causing $525,000 in damages. Pictures and videos of this tornado made news headlines around the world.
May 15 – The United States government acknowledges existence of the
"Secret War" in Laos (
1953 –
1975 ) during the
Vietnam War , and dedicates the
Laos Memorial in honor of
Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.
[12]
May 16
May 17 – Troops of
Laurent Kabila march into
Kinshasa .
May 23
May 25 – A
military coup in
Sierra Leone replaces President
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major
Johnny Paul Koroma .
May 27 – The
second-deadliest tornado of the 1990s hits in
Jarrell, Texas , killing 27 people.
May 31 – The 13-kilometer
Confederation Bridge , the world's longest bridge spanning ice-covered waters, opens between
Prince Edward Island and
New Brunswick , Canada.
June
June 1
June 2 – In
Denver ,
Colorado ,
Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995
Oklahoma City bombing .
June 10 –
Khmer Rouge leader
Pol Pot orders the killing of his defense chief,
Son Sen , and 11 of Sen's family members, before Pol Pot flees his northern stronghold.
June 11 – In the United Kingdom, the
House of Commons votes for a total ban on
handguns .
June 13 – A jury sentences
Timothy McVeigh to
death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
June 16 – About 50 people are killed in the
Daïat Labguer (M'sila) massacre in Algeria.
June 21 – The Women's National Basketball Association (
WNBA ) plays its first game at
The Great Western Forum in Los Angeles.
[14]
June 25
June 26 –
Bertie Ahern is appointed as the 10th
Taoiseach of the
Republic of Ireland and
Mary Harney is appointed as the 16th, and first female,
Tánaiste , after their parties,
Fianna Fáil and the
Progressive Democrats respectively, win the
1997 General Election .
July
July – The
1997 Central European flood occurs across Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic.
July 1 – The United Kingdom
hands sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.
July 2 – The Bank of Thailand floats the
baht , triggering the
Asian financial crisis .
[15]
July 4 –
NASA 's
Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of
Mars .
July 5
July 8 –
NATO invites the
Czech Republic ,
Hungary , and
Poland to join the alliance in
1999 .
July 10 – In London, scientists report their
DNA analysis findings from a
Neanderthal skeleton, which support the
out of Africa theory of
human evolution , placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
July 11 –
Thailand 's worst hotel fire at
Pattaya kills 90.
July 13 – The remains of
Che Guevara are returned to
Cuba for burial, alongside some of his comrades. Guevara and his comrades were executed on October 9
1967 in
Bolivia .
July 15 –
Spree killer
Andrew Cunanan shoots fashion designer
Gianni Versace dead outside Versace's
Miami Beach residence.
July 17 – The
F. W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business.
July 25 –
K. R. Narayanan is sworn in as India's 10th president and the first member of the
Dalit caste to hold this office.
July 27 – About 50 are killed in the
Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria.
July 30 – 18 people are killed in the
Thredbo landslide in the
Snowy Mountains resort in Australia.
August
*
August 13 - Trey Parker and Matt Stone's South Park was created for Comedy Central.
September
October
November
November 2 –
Severe Tropical Storm Linda devastates southern
Vietnam and
Thailand , killing 3,275 people.
[25]
November 11 – Telecom companies
WorldCom and
MCI Communications announce a US$37 billion merger to form
MCI WorldCom , the largest merger in U.S. history.
November 12 –
Mary McAleese is elected the eighth
President of Ireland in succession to
Mary Robinson , the first time in the world that one woman has succeeded another as elected
head of state .
November 13 –
Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the
1993 World Trade Center bombing .
November 17 – In
Luxor ,
Egypt , 62 people are killed by 6 Islamic militants outside the
Temple of Hatshepsut .
November 19 – In
Des Moines, Iowa , Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to
septuplets in the second known case where all seven babies are born alive, and the first in which all survive infancy.
November 27 –
NASA 's
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission is launched, the start of the satellite component of the
Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System .
December
December 1 – In the Indian state of
Bihar ,
Ranvir Sena attacks the
CPI(ML) Party Unity stronghold Lakshmanpur-Bathe, killing 63 lower caste people.
December 3 – In
Ottawa, Ontario , Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign a
treaty prohibiting the manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel
land mines . However, the United States, the People's Republic of China, Russia, South Korea and 32 other nations do not sign and/or ratify the treaty.
December 10 – The capital of
Kazakhstan is moved from
Almaty to
Astana .
December 11 – The
Kyoto Protocol is adopted by a
United Nations
committee .
[26]
December 16 – In
Japan , over 700 children suffer
epileptic attacks after watching
an episode of the
Pokémon anime.
December 19
December 21 –
Brazil beats
Australia 6–0 in the
Confederations Cup
final .
December 24 – 50–100 villagers are killed in the
Sid El-Antri massacre in Algeria.
December 27 –
Ulster loyalist
paramilitary leader
Billy Wright is assassinated in
Northern Ireland , inside
Long Kesh prison.
December 29 – Hong Kong begins to kill all the chickens within its territory (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly
influenza strain.
December 30 –
Wilaya of Relizane massacres of December 30, 1997 : In the worst incident in Algeria's insurgency, 400 people from four villages in the wilaya of
Relizane are killed.
Births and deaths
Nobel Prizes
References
^
"Turkey hints at strike on Cypriot missiles" . The Independent . October 23, 2011. Archived from
the original on May 1, 2022. Retrieved March 8, 2021 .
^
"Arafat arrives in Hebron for 'victory' celebration" . CNN World News . January 19, 1997.
Archived from the original on December 29, 2021. Retrieved December 29, 2021 .
^
"Biography: Madeleine Korbel Albright" . Office of the US Secretary of State. Archived from
the original on February 4, 2016. Retrieved July 9, 2010 .
^ Miller, Marjorie (February 5, 1997).
"Israeli Helicopters Collide in Midair; 73 Soldiers Killed" . Los Angeles Times .
ISSN
0458-3035 .
Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2018 .
^ Amir, Noam; Hashavua, Maariv (February 5, 2016).
"Israel remembers 73 soldiers who died in helicopter disaster 19 years ago" . The Jerusalem Post .
Archived from the original on February 3, 2018. Retrieved February 2, 2018 .
^
National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): NCEI/WDS Global Significant Earthquake Database.
NOAA
National Centers for Environmental Information .
doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K
Archived March 10, 2022, at the
Wayback Machine
^ Aeronautics and Space Report of the President ... Activities . National Aeronautics and Space Council. 1996. p. 1.
^
"Papua New Guinea Head Steps Down After Mutiny" . New York Times . March 26, 1997.
Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2021 .
^ Lara Santoro (April 17, 1997).
"Ex-Nazi's Trial Opens Up Italy's Fascist Past" . Christian Science Monitor .
Archived from the original on December 29, 2021. Retrieved December 29, 2021 .
^
"The Election. The Statistics. How the UK voted on May 1st" . BBC Politics 97 . BBC News.
Archived from the original on March 24, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2020 .
^
"DocGuide" . DocGuide.
Archived from the original on October 12, 2017. Retrieved November 25, 2015 .
^
"Laos, Hmong Veterans of Vietnam War Honored At National Ceremonies" . Businesswire . May 13, 2013. Retrieved May 13, 2024 .
^
130 looters die in fire during Indonesian riot – CNN
Archived 2012-04-06 at the
Wayback Machine . Articles.cnn.com (1997-05-25). Retrieved on 2011-06-12.
^
"Twenty seasons later, a look back at WNBA's first game" . ESPN.com . June 16, 2016.
Archived from the original on October 7, 2019. Retrieved October 7, 2019 .
^ Joseph E. Stiglitz, The roaring nineties: a new history of the world's most prosperous decade (WW Norton & Company, 2004) pp 12–16.
^
"Series of Real-Time Reports involving the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales" . Emergency. 1997. Archived from
the original on May 7, 2008. Retrieved December 9, 2018 .
^ Longman, Jere (September 6, 1997).
"Athens Wins a Vote for Tradition, and the 2004 Olympics" . The New York Times .
Archived from the original on September 18, 2017. Retrieved September 18, 2017 .
^ Chang, Suna; Holmes, Anna (December 26, 1997).
"Take a look back at Princess Diana's impact on 1997" .
Entertainment Weekly .
Archived from the original on January 1, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2018 .
^
"53 die in Algerian massacre" . Daily Dispatch. September 22, 1997. Archived from
the original on February 27, 2005. Retrieved May 11, 2017 .
^
"Church of St Olaf" . Archived from
the original on July 20, 2011.
^
Accident description for McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 LV-WEG Nuevo Berlin at the
Aviation Safety Network . Retrieved on 26 May 2011.
^ Higginbotham, Will (October 4, 2018).
"When the Gray Lady Started Wearing Color" . The New York Times .
Archived from the original on November 25, 2022. Retrieved November 25, 2022 .
^ Larros, Heini; Suhonen, Pete (November 27, 1998).
"Steen Christensen: Pyövelin puheenvuoro" . City-lehti (in Finnish).
Archived from the original on September 24, 2021. Retrieved September 24, 2021 .
^ Palmén, Tiia (June 19, 2016).
"Poliisisurmat järkyttivät Suomea 1997 – kaksi poliisia ammuttiin kadulle" .
Iltalehti (in Finnish).
Archived from the original on October 22, 2018. Retrieved September 24, 2021 .
^ Joint Typhoon Warning Center (2001).
"1997 Annual Tropical Cyclone Report" (PDF) . Archived from
the original (PDF) on June 6, 2011. Retrieved March 22, 2010 .
^
"7 .a Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change" . UN Treaty Database . Archived from
the original on October 8, 2018. Retrieved November 27, 2014 .
External links