2.  1900: The first mass-market camera, the “Brownie” is introduced by Kodak. Sold for $1 in USA  1901: The Australian Federation. The colonies unite and Australia becomes a nation. The White Australia Policy is introduced in attempt to formulate the new Australian identity closely aligned with the British.  1902: The Flatiron Building in America is built; American architecture moves to new levels with the invention of the elevator and metal skeletal frames that can bear weight, making skyscrapers a possibility.  1903: The very first Tour de France takes place.  1904: Harvey Hubbell invents the electrical plug and socket.  1905: Japan wins a war against Russia. This is the first time an Asian country has defeated any European country. This marks the rise of Japan.  1906: San Francisco is flattened by a giant earthquake and fire.  **As electricity use becomes more widespread, the revolution of transportation begins; The electric streetcar (or what we now recognize as a tram) becomes widespread in the US.

4.  1910: The NAACP is founded to protect the rights of African Americans.  1910: Japan invades Korea.  1912: The Titanic sinks in the Atlantic and the Oreo cookie is first introduced.  1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated and so World War I breaks out in the Balkans, pitting Britain, France, Italy, Russia, Serbia and Japan against Austria, Germany and Turkey.  1915: William Simmons founds The Ku Klux Klan and Germans use poison gas as a weapon in the war and the battle at Gallipoli begins.  1916: William Boeing founds a company to manufacture airplanes.  1917: Jazz music is first recorded and introduced in the Western world and Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks seize power in Russia.  1918: The Spanish flu pandemic sweeps the world.  1919: The Treaty of Versailles ends WWI.

6.  1920: Women are granted the right to vote in the USA and Prohibition begins.  1921: Mamie Smith records the first Blues record.  1922: King Tutankhamun’s tomb is discovered.  1923: “Talking Movies” are invented. Sound AND picture becomes possible with the first film, The Jazz Singer.  1925: Flapper dresses become fashionable and Hitler publishes Mein Kampf.  1926: A.A. Milne publishes Winnie The Pooh.  1928: Bubble gum and sliced bread is invented, penicillin is discovered and the first Mickey Mouse cartoon is written.  1929: St. Valentine’s Day massacre happens, the first Academy Awards takes place and the stock market crashes, kick-starting The Great Depression.

8.  1930: Pluto is discovered and Stalin begins to collectivize agriculture in the USSR.  1931: The Scottsboro Trials begin, the Empire State Building is completed, likewise the Christ monument in Rio de Janeiro.  1932: Scientists split the atom.  1933: Zippo lighters are introduced.  1934: Adolph Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany, the first concentration camp is established, the Loch Ness monster is first spotted and Prohibition ends in the USA.  1935: Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in the US, Germany passes the Anti-Jewish Nuremburg laws.  1937: Japan invades China.  1939: The Night of Broken Glass initiates the Holocaust and WWII begins.

10.  1941: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor and The Manhattan Project begins.  1942: The t-shirt is introduced.  1945: The first computer is built, Germany surrenders, Hitler commits suicide, the United Nations is established and America drops the A- bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  1946: Bikinis are invented, Cold War begins.  1947: Polaroid cameras are invented.  1949: China becomes a Communist state, NATO is established and the Soviets produce their own A-Bomb.

12.  1950: The first Credit Card is introduced in the US, McCarthy begins his Communist Witch Hunt in America and the Korean War begins.  1951: Colour TV is introduced.  1953: The first Playboy magazine is introduced, likewise DNA is discovered.  1954: Racial segregation is outlawed completely in America.  1955: Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white person on a bus, McDonald’s corporation founded, Disneyland opens.  1956: Hungarian Revolution occurs and Communism in Hungary falls and TV remote control invented.  1958: NASA is founded.  1959: Fidel Castro becomes dictator of Cuba.

14.  1961: The Berlin wall is built.  1962: Cuban missile crisis and Marilyn Monroe is found dead.  1963: Betty Friedan publishes The Feminine Mystique, JFK is assassinated and Martin Luther King Jr makes the “I Have A Dream” speech.  1964: The Beatles become popular in the US, Muhammad Ali becomes a World Heavyweight Champion and Civil Rights Acts passed in the US.  1965: The US sends troops to Vietnam.  1966: Mass draft protests in the USA, student protests sweep across the world.  1967: Che Guevarra dies, first ever heart transplant takes place.  1969: Neil Armstrong sets foot on the moon,Charles Manson is arrested and the rock ‘n’ roll concert at Woodstock takes place.

16.  1970: The Beatles band dismantles, floppy discs are introduced.  1973: Abortion is legalized in the US and the US pulls out of Vietnam.  1975: Microsoft is founded and Arthur Ashe is the first black man to win Wimbeldon.  1977: Elvis is found dead and Star Wars is released.  1978: First test-tube baby is born.  1979: Sony introduces the Walkman.

17.  1980: John Lennon is assassinated; Pac-Man video game is released.  1981: A new plague is identified as AIDS and PCs (Personal Computers) are introduced by IBM.  1982: Michael Jackson does the moonwalk for the first time in front of an audience, E.T. Is released.  1983: Ronald Reagan announces the Star Wars defense plan.  1985: Hole in the Ozone layer is discovered.  1986: Chernobyl Nuclear accident occurs.  1987: DNA is first used to convict criminals.  1989: Communism falls across Eastern Europe.

19.  1991: The Soviet Union collapses.  1993: The use of the Internet grows exponentially.  1994: O.J. Simpson is arrested for double murder and the Rwandan Genocide occurs.  1997: Princess Diana is killed in an accident and scientists clone a sheep successfully.  1998: Titanic becomes the most successful movie ever and Viagra is released onto the market.  1999: Fear of the Y2K Bug sweeps the world.