File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park
Centennial Olympic Park is a public park located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, owned and operated by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority. It was built by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) as part of the infrastructu ...
in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on board; Eight people die
Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life.
Die may also refer to:
Games
* Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers
Manufacturing
* Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...
in a blizzard on Mount Everest; Dolly the Sheep becomes the first mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
to have been cloned from an adult somatic cell
A somatic cell (from Ancient Greek σῶμα ''sôma'', meaning "body"), or vegetal cell, is any biological cell forming the body of a multicellular organism other than a gamete, germ cell, gametocyte or undifferentiated stem cell. Such cells compo ...
; The Port Arthur Massacre Port Arthur massacre may refer to:
*Port Arthur massacre (China), an 1894 event in which Japanese troops killed several thousand Chinese in the Liaodong Peninsula
*Port Arthur massacre (Australia)
The Port Arthur massacre was a mass shooting t ...
occurs on Tasmania, and leads to major changes in Australia's gun laws; Macarena, sung by Los del Río and remixed by The Bayside Boys, becomes a major dance craze and cultural phenomenon
The bandwagon effect is the tendency for people to adopt certain behaviors, styles, or attitudes simply because others are doing so. More specifically, it is a cognitive bias by which public opinion or behaviours can alter due to particular act ...
; Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was a scheduled flight serving the route Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Brazzaville–Lagos–Abidjan. On 23 November 1996, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 767-200ER, was hijacked en route from Addis Ababa to Nai ...
crash-ditches off of the Comoros Islands
The Comoro Islands or Comoros (Shikomori ''Komori''; ar, جزر القمر , ''Juzur al-qamar''; french: Les Comores) form an archipelago of volcanic islands situated off the southeastern coast of Africa, to the east of Mozambique and northwe ...
after the plane was hijacked
Hijacking may refer to:
Common usage
Computing and technology
* Bluejacking, the unsolicited transmission of data via Bluetooth
* Brandjacking, the unauthorized use of a company's brand
* Browser hijacking
* Clickjacking (including ''like ...
; the 1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
are held in Atlanta, marking the Centennial (100th Anniversary) of the modern Olympic Games., 300x300px, thumb
rect 0 0 200 200 Centennial Olympic Park bombing
The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a domestic terrorist pipe bombing attack on Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, on July 27, 1996, during the 1996 Summer Olympics, Summer Olympics. The blast directly killed ...
rect 200 0 400 200 TWA FLight 800
rect 400 0 600 200 1996 Mount Everest disaster
The 1996 Mount Everest disaster occurred on 10–11 May 1996 when eight climbers caught in a blizzard died on Mount Everest while attempting to descend from the summit. Over the entire season, 12 people died trying to reach the summit, making it ...
rect 0 200 300 400 1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
rect 300 200 600 400 Dolly the Sheep
rect 0 400 200 600 Ethiopian Airlines FLight 961
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was a scheduled flight serving the route Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Brazzaville–Lagos–Abidjan. On 23 November 1996, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 767-200ER, was hijacked en route from Addis Ababa to Nai ...
rect 200 400 400 600 Macarena
rect 400 400 600 600 Port Arthur Massacre Port Arthur massacre may refer to:
*Port Arthur massacre (China), an 1894 event in which Japanese troops killed several thousand Chinese in the Liaodong Peninsula
*Port Arthur massacre (Australia)
The Port Arthur massacre was a mass shooting t ...
1996 was designated as:
* International Year for the Eradication of Poverty
Events
January
*
January 8
Events Pre-1600
* 307 – Emperor Huai of Jin, Jin Huaidi becomes emperor of China in succession to his father, Emperor Hui of Jin, Jin Huidi, despite a challenge from his uncle, Sima Ying.
* 871 – Æthelred I, King of Wessex, Æthel ...
– A
Zairean cargo plane
crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Kinshasa
Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...
, killing 300 people.
*
January 9
Events Pre-1600
* 681 – Twelfth Council of Toledo: King Erwig of the Visigoths initiates a council in which he implements diverse measures against the Jews in Spain.
*1127 – Jin–Song Wars: Invading Jurchen soldiers from the J ...
–
20 – Serious fighting breaks out between Russian soldiers and rebel fighters in
Chechnya
Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...
.
*
January 11 –
Ryutaro Hashimoto, leader of the
Liberal Democratic Party, becomes
Prime Minister of Japan.
*
January 13
Events Pre-1600
* 27 BC – Octavian transfers the state to the free disposal of the Roman Senate and the people. He receives Spain, Gaul, and Syria as his province for ten years.
* 532 – The Nika riots break out, during the racing ...
–
Italy's Prime Minister,
Lamberto Dini, resigns after the failure of all-party talks to confirm him. New talks are initiated by President
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro to form a new government.
*
January 14
Events Pre-1600
*1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence.
*1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary.
1601–1900
*1639 – The "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, Fundamenta ...
–
Jorge Sampaio is elected President of Portugal.
*
January 16
Events Pre-1600
* 27 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.
* 378 – General Siyaj K'ak' conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spear ...
– President of
Sierra Leone Valentine Strasser is deposed by the chief of defence,
Julius Maada Bio. Bio promises to restore power following elections scheduled for February.
*
January 19
** The
''North Cape'' oil spill occurs as an engine fire forces the tugboat ''Scandia'' ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown,
Rhode Island. The ''North Cape'' Barge is pulled along with it and leaks 820,000 gallons of home heating oil.
** An
Indonesian ferry sinks off the northern tip of
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
, drowning more than 100 people.
*
January 20
Events Pre-1600
* 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
* 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
* 1156 &ndas ...
–
Yasser Arafat is re-elected president of the
Palestinian Authority
The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine, .
*
January 21 – France undertakes its
last nuclear weapons test.
*
January 22
Events Pre-1600
* 613 – Eight-month-old Constantine is crowned as co-emperor (''Caesar'') by his father Heraclius at Constantinople.
* 871 – Battle of Basing: The West Saxons led by King Æthelred I are defeated by the Danelaw Vi ...
–
Andreas Papandreou,
Prime Minister of Greece
The prime minister of the Hellenic Republic ( el, Πρωθυπουργός της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας, Prothypourgós tis Ellinikís Dimokratías), colloquially referred to as the prime minister of Greece ( el, Πρωθυ ...
, resigns due to health problems; a new government forms under
Costas Simitis.
*
January 24 – Polish Premier
Józef Oleksy resigns amid charges that he spied for
Moscow. He is replaced by
Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz.
*
January 27
Events Pre-1600
* 98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor; under his rule the Roman Empire will reach its maximum extent.
* 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to becom ...
– Colonel
Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected President of
Niger,
Mahamane Ousmane, in a military coup.
*
January 28 – The
Dallas Cowboys defeat the
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...
27–17 in
Super Bowl XXX
Super Bowl XXX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...
for their fifth Super Bowl victory.
*
January 31
**
Colombo Central Bank bombing: an explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank in
Colombo,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, killing at least 86 people and injuring 1,400.
**
An amateur astronomer from southern Japan discovers
Comet Hyakutake; it will pass very close to the Earth in March.
February
*
February 3
Events Pre-1600
* 1112 – Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
*1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
*1488 – ...
– The 6.6
earthquake near Lijiang in South-west China kills up to 322 people, injures 17,000, and leaves 300,000 homeless.
*
February 5
Events Pre-1600
* 62 – Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy.
* 1576 – Henry of Navarre abjures Catholicism at Tours and rejoins the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion.
* 1597 – A group of early Japanese Christians ar ...
– The Kowloon Station From
Hung Hom Station, the Canton Rail to KCR East Rail.
*
February 6
Events Pre-1600
* 1579 – The Archdiocese of Manila is made a diocese by a papal bull with Domingo de Salazar being its first bishop.
1601–1900
* 1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of ...
–
Birgenair Flight 301, on a charter flight from the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
to
Germany, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the
Dominican Republic, killing all 189 passengers and crew.
*
February 7 –
René Préval succeeds
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide (born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in ...
as President of
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
in the first peaceful handover of power since the nation achieved independence 192 years earlier, in 1804.
*
February 9
** The element
copernicium is created by fusing a
208Pb nucleus with a
70Zn nucleus, forming
278Cn. Given the placeholder name "ununbium", the element is not named until 2010.
** An
IRA ceasefire ends with the
Docklands bombing in London's
Canary Wharf District, killing two people and causing over £85,000,000 worth of damage.
**
Disney formally finalizes its $19 billion acquisition of the
ABC parent,
Capital Cities/ABC Inc.
*
February 10 –
Bosnian Serbs break off contact with the
Bosnian government and with representatives of Ifor, the
NATO localised force, in reaction to the arrest of several Bosnian Serb war criminals.
*
February 14
Events Pre-1600
* 748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.
* 842 – Charles the Bald and Louis ...
– Violent clashes erupt between
Filipino soldiers and
Vietnamese boat people, as the Filipino government attempts to forcibly
repatriate hundreds of Vietnamese
asylum seekers.
*
February 15
Events Pre-1600
* 438 – Roman emperor Theodosius II publishes the law codex Codex Theodosianus
* 590 – Khosrau II is crowned king of Persia.
* 706 – Byzantine emperor Justinian II has his predecessors Leontios and Tiberi ...
** The American Embassy in
Athens,
Greece, comes under mortar fire.
** Begum
Khaleda Zia is re-elected as Prime Minister of
Bangladesh. The country's second democratic election is marred by low voter turnout, due to several boycotts and pre-election violence, which has resulted in at least thirteen deaths.
** The UK government publishes the
Scott Report.
*
February 17
Events Pre-1600
* 1370 – Northern Crusades: Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights meet in the Battle of Rudau.
* 1411 – Following the successful campaigns during the Ottoman Interregnum, Musa Çelebi, one of the sons of ...
– The 8.2
Biak earthquake strikes the
Papua province of eastern
Indonesia with a maximum
Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe''). A large tsunami followed, leaving 166 people dead or missing and 423 injured.
*
February 24
Events Pre-1600
* 484 – King Huneric of the Vandals replaces Nicene bishops with Arian ones, and banishes some to Corsica.
* 1303 – The English are defeated at the Battle of Roslin, in the First War of Scottish Independence.
* 13 ...
–
Cuban fighter jets shoot down two American aircraft belonging to the Cuban exile group
Brothers to the Rescue. Cuban officials assert that they invaded Cuban airspace.
*
February 25
Events Pre-1600
* 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor.
* 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II.
...
– Two suicide bombs in
Israel kill 25 and injure 80;
Hamas claims responsibility.
*
February 29
**
Faucett Perú Flight 251
Faucett Perú Flight 251 refers to a Boeing 737-200 that was operating a domestic scheduled Lima–Arequipa–Tacna passenger service and crashed on 29 February 1996, while completing the first leg, on approach to Rodríguez Ballón Internation ...
en route from
Lima to Rodriguez Ballon airport crashes into a mountain near
Arequipa
Arequipa (; Aymara and qu, Ariqipa) is a city and capital of province and the eponymous department of Peru. It is the seat of the Constitutional Court of Peru and often dubbed the "legal capital of Peru". It is the second most populated city ...
; all 123 people on board are killed.
** At least 81 people drown when a boat capsizes 120 kilometres east of
Kampala,
Uganda.
** The
Bosnian government declares the end of the
Siege of Sarajevo.
March
*
March 1 –
Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi forces refuse
UNSCOM inspection teams access to five sites designated for inspection. The teams enter the sites only after delays of up to seventeen hours.
*
March 2
** The plane of the Brazilian rock band
Mamonas Assassinas crashes in the
Serra da Cantareira, killing all its members on board. Their short lived and "meteoric" success were celebrated for decades and the members are remembered and celebrated even to the present day in Brazil.
**
1996 Australian federal election
The 1996 Australian federal election was held to determine the members of the Chronology of Australian federal parliaments, 38th Parliament of Australia. It was held on 2 March 1996. All 148 seats of the Australian House of Representatives, Hou ...
: The
Liberal/
National Coalition
A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces.
Formation
According to ''A Gui ...
led by
John Howard defeats the
Labor Government led by
Prime Minister Paul Keating. Howard was sworn in on March 11.
*
March 3 –
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López (; born 25 February 1953) is a Spanish politician who was the prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He led the People's Party (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spain.
A member of the Fre ...
, leader of the
Popular Party, is elected as
Prime Minister of Spain, replacing
Felipe González.
*
March 3–
4 – Two suicide bombs explode in
Israel, killing 32 people. The
Yahya Ayyash Units
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
admit responsibility, and
Palestinian president
Yasser Arafat condemns the killings in a televised address. Israel warns of retaliation.
*
March 6
**
Mesut Yılmaz of
ANAP forms the new government of
Turkey (53rd government).
** A boat carrying market traders capsizes outside
Freetown harbour in
Sierra Leone, killing at least 86 people.
**
Chechen rebels attack the Russian government headquarters in
Grozny; 70 Russian soldiers and policemen and 130 Chechen fighters are killed.
*
March 8 –
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
begins
surface-to-surface missile testing and military exercises off
Taiwanese coastal areas. The
United States government condemns the act as provocation, and the
Taiwanese government warns of retaliation.
*
March 9 –
Jorge Sampaio becomes the new Portuguese president.
*
March 13 –
Dunblane massacre: Unemployed former shopkeeper
Thomas Hamilton walks into the Dunblane Primary School in Scotland and opens fire, killing sixteen infant school pupils and one teacher before committing suicide.
*
March 14
Events Pre-1600
* 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland.
* 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguen ...
– An international peace summit is held in
Egypt in response to escalating terrorist attacks in the Middle East.
*
March 15 –
Fokker
Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 ...
, a major manufacturer of small size
aircraft, goes
bankrupt in
Netherlands.
*
March 16 –
Robert Mugabe is re-elected as President of
Zimbabwe, although only 32% of the electorate actually voted.
*
March 17 –
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
wins the Cricket World Cup by beating
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in the
final.
*
March 18 – The
Ozone Disco Club fire in
Quezon City,
Philippines kills 163 people.
*
March 22 –
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
's Finance Minister
Göran Persson becomes the new
Prime Minister of Sweden.
*
March 23 –
Taiwan (Republic of China) holds its first direct elections for president;
Lee Teng-hui
Lee Teng-hui (; 15 January 192330 July 2020) was a Taiwanese statesman and economist who served as President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the 1947 Constitution and chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) from 1988 to 2000. He was the fir ...
is re-elected.
*
March 24 – The
Marcopper mining disaster on the island of
Marinduque
Marinduque (; ), officially the Province of Marinduque, is an island province in the Philippines located in Southwestern Tagalog Region or Mimaropa, formerly designated as Region IV-B. Its capital is the municipality of Boac. Marinduque lies be ...
,
Philippines takes place.
*
March 25
Events Pre-1600
* 421 – Italian city Venice is founded with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo di Rialto on the islet of Rialto.
* 708 – Pope Constantine becomes the 88th pope. He would be the last pope to vi ...
– The
68th Academy Awards, hosted by
Whoopi Goldberg, are held at the
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in
Los Angeles with ''
Braveheart
''Braveheart'' is a 1995 American historical drama film directed and produced by, and starring Mel Gibson. Gibson portrays Sir William Wallace, a late-13th century Scottish warrior who led the Scots in the First War of Scottish Independence ag ...
'' winning
Best Picture.
*
March 26 – The
International Monetary Fund approves a $10.2 billion loan to
Russia for economic reform.
April
*
April 3
** A
Boeing 737 military jet crashes into a mountain north of Dubrovnik, Croatia. All 35 people on board are killed, including
United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.
** Massacres of
Hutus by
Tutsis in
Burundi
Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...
take place with more than 450 killed within a few days.
** The FBI arrested
Theodore Kaczynski, the suspected Unabomber at his cabin in
Lincoln, Montana.
*
April 6
** Fighting breaks out in
Monrovia,
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
, between various rebel factions struggling for power in the country's interrupted civil war. Several foreign nationals leave the nation.
**
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
authorities begin Operation Hawk, a military offensive against rebels from the
Kurdistan Workers' Party
The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...
in south-east Turkey.
*
April 9 – In a common statement, the
European Union officially recognises the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
*
April 11 – The
Israeli government launches
Operation Grapes of Wrath, consisting of massive attacks on
Lebanon, in retaliation for "terrorist attacks", and sparking off a violent series of retaliations.
*
April 13
Events Pre-1600
*1111 – Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
* 1204 – Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire.
1601–1900
*1612 – In one of the epic samurai ...
–
Mansouri massacre
The Mansouri attack occurred on 13 April 1996, when an Israel Defence Forces helicopter attacked a vehicle in Mansouri, a village in Southern Lebanon, killing two women and four children.
Attack
At 1:30 PM, Abbas Jiha, a farmer and volunteer am ...
: 2 women and 4 children are killed after an Israeli helicopter strikes an ambulance in
Mansouri, Lebanon
Mansouri ( ar, المنصوري) is a village in the Tyre District in South Lebanon.
History
In the 1596 tax records in the early Ottoman era, it was named as a village, ''Mansura'', in the ''nahiya'' (subdistrict) of Tibnin under th ...
.
*
April 16 –
Nabatieh Fawka massacre
The Nabatieh Fawka attack occurred on 16 April 1996, when Israeli warplanes bombed an apartment in the village of Nabatieh Fawka, killing nine people, seven of whom were children.
Context
On September 19, 1994, the village came under attack and ...
: A Israeli strike on a civilian house in
Nabatieh Fawka
Nabatieh Fawka ( ar, النبطية الفوقا), also known as Upper Nabatieh is a Lebanese village in the Nabatieh Governorate. History
In the 1596 tax records in the early Ottoman era, it was named as a village, ''Nabatiyya al-Fawqa'', in t ...
, Lebanon, kills 9 people, including 7 children.
*
April 18
**
Qana massacre: Over 100
Lebanese civilians are killed after Israel shells the
United Nations compound in
Qana. In reaction, an
Islamist group in
Egypt opens fire on a hotel, killing eighteen Greek tourists and injuring seventeen others.
** Two days before the NFL draft, Nebraska
Quarterback Brook Berringer
Brook Warren Berringer (July 9, 1973 – April 18, 1996) was an American quarterback for the University of Nebraska football team in the mid-1990s. Berringer came to Nebraska from Goodland, Kansas, and played a backup role to Tommie Frazier. He wa ...
is killed when the plane he is piloting crashes in an alfalfa field. During the 1996 NFL draft, the league held a moment of silence for Berringer, who was expected to be selected by the
Denver Broncos.
*
April 18–
19 – Two consecutive tornados hit
Decatur, Illinois
Decatur ( ) is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois, with a population of 70,522 as of the 2020 Census. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Ce ...
, causing approximately $10.5 million in damage. The April 19 tornado also hits
Urbana __NOTOC__
Urbana can refer to:
Places Italy
*Urbana, Italy
United States
*Urbana, Illinois
**Urbana (conference), a Christian conference formerly held in Urbana, Illinois
*Urbana, Indiana
* Urbana, Iowa
*Urbana, Kansas
* Urbana, Maryland
*Urbana, ...
and
Ogden.
*
April 21
Events Pre-1600
*753 BC – Romulus founds Rome ( traditional date).
* 43 BC – Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is murdered ...
– A
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
in Italy proclaims a new center-left government headed by
Romano Prodi, replacing
Silvio Berlusconi.
*
April 24 – At the urging of
Yasser Arafat, the
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establ ...
drops its clause calling for the removal of
Israel. The Israeli government responds by dropping a similar clause concerning the existence of
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
.
*
April 26 – Shanghai Five group, predecessor of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, is created with the signing of the Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions in
Shanghai by the heads of states of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
*
April 28
**
Port Arthur massacre (Australia):
Martin Bryant kills 35 people at the
Port Arthur tourist site in
Tasmania.
**
Bhai Pheru bus bombing
The Bhai Pheru bus bombing was a bombing targeting a bus in Bhai Pheru (now Phool Nagar), Pakistan killing 52 and injuring 26.
Bombing
On 28 April 1996, a bus picked up passengers at Kot Radha Kishan bus stop in Bhai Pheru. The bus (FDJ 9176) was ...
: A bomb explodes in
Bhai Pheru
Phool Nagar (Punjabi and ur, ), previously Bhai Pheru ( ur, بھائی پھیرو), is a city of the Kasur District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The city is named after the former Minister of the area Rana Phool Muhammad Khan.
Location
...
,
Punjab,
Pakistan, killing more than 60 people.
May
* May –
Iraq disarmament crisis: UNSCOM supervises the destruction of Al-Hakam, Iraq's main production facility of biological warfare agents.
*
May 9
** South Africa's
National Party pulls out of the coalition government formed two years earlier, and the
African National Congress assumes full political control.
**
Ugandan president
Yoweri Museveni wins a landslide victory in the country's first direct presidential elections, securing 75% of the vote.
*
May 10
Events Pre-1600
* 28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China.
*1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edw ...
**
1996 Everest disaster
The 1996 Mount Everest disaster occurred on 10–11 May 1996 when eight climbers caught in a blizzard died on Mount Everest while attempting to descend from the summit. Over the entire season, 12 people died trying to reach the summit, making it ...
: A sudden storm engulfs
Mount Everest with several climbing teams high on the mountain, leaving eight people dead. By the end of the month, at least four other climbers die in the worst season of fatalities on the mountain to date.
** The Australian government introduces a nationwide ban on the private possession of both
automatic
Automatic may refer to:
Music Bands
* Automatic (band), Australian rock band
* Automatic (American band), American rock band
* The Automatic, a Welsh alternative rock band
Albums
* ''Automatic'' (Jack Bruce album), a 1983 electronic rock ...
and
semi-automatic rifles, in response to the
Port Arthur massacre Port Arthur massacre may refer to:
*Port Arthur massacre (China), an 1894 event in which Japanese troops killed several thousand Chinese in the Liaodong Peninsula
*Port Arthur massacre (Australia)
The Port Arthur massacre was a mass shooting t ...
.
*
May 11
Events 1601–1900
*1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is Assassination of Spencer Perceval, assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons.
*1813 – William Lawson (explorer), William Lawson, Grego ...
– After takeoff from
Miami, a fire started by improperly handled
oxygen canisters in the cargo hold of
Atlanta-bound
ValuJet Flight 592 causes the
Douglas DC-9 to crash in the
Florida Everglades
The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...
, killing all 110 people on board.
*
May 13 – Severe
thunderstorms and a
tornado in
Bangladesh kill 600 people.
*
May 17–
28 –
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...
, leader of the
Bharatiya Janata Party, is elected as
Prime Minister of India
The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...
, replacing
P. V. Narasimha Rao
Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer, statesman and politician who served as the 9th prime minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He is known for introducing various liberal reforms to Indi ...
of the
Indian National Congress. However, the party does not receive an overall majority and Vajpayee resigns thirteen days later rather than face a no confidence vote and is replaced by the
United Front leader,
Deve Gowda
Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda (; born 18 May 1933 in) is an Indian politician from the state of Karnataka. He served as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 11th Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1 June 1996 to 21 Apri ...
.
*
May 18 – The
X Prize Foundation launches the $10,000,000
Ansari X Prize.
*
May 21
** The ''
MV Bukoba
MV ''Bukoba'' was a Lake Victoria ferry that carried passengers and cargo along Tanzania's Lake Victoria between the Tanzanian ports of Bukoba and Mwanza City. MV ''Bukoba' was built in about 1979 and had capacity for 850 tons of cargo and 430 p ...
'' sinks in
Tanzanian waters in
Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...
, killing nearly 1,000 people in one of Africa's worst maritime disasters.
** The
Trappist Martyrs of Atlas are executed.
*
May 23 – Members of the
Armed Islamic Group in
Algeria kill seven French
Trappist monks, after talks with French government concerning the imprisonment of several GIA sympathisers break down.
*
May 27
Events Pre-1600
* 1096 – Count Emicho enters Mainz, where his followers massacre Jewish citizens. At least 600 Jews are killed.
* 1120 – Richard III of Capua is anointed as Prince two weeks before his untimely death.
* 1153 &ndash ...
–
: Russian President
Boris Yeltsin meets with
Chechnya
Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...
n rebels for the first time and negotiates a ceasefire for the dispute.
*
May 28 –
Albania's general election of
May 26 is declared unfair by international monitors, and the ruling
Democratic Party under President Muhannad Ibrahim is charged by the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe with rigging the elections. Several hundred protestors gather in
Tirana to demonstrate against the election result.
*
May 30
Events Pre-1600
* 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres ...
– The
Likud Party, led by
Benjamin Netanyahu, wins a narrow victory in the
Israeli general election.
June
* June –
Iraq disarmament crisis: As Iraq continues to refuse inspectors access to a number of sites, the United States fails in its attempt to build support for military action against Iraq in the UN Security Council.
*
June 1–
3 – The Czech Republic's first general election ends inconclusively. Prime Minister
Václav Klaus and his incumbent
Civic Democratic Party emerge as the winners, but are unable to form a majority government. President
Václav Havel refuses to invite Klaus to form a coalition.
*
June 4 – The space
rocket Ariane 5
Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It is launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It has been used to deliver payloads int ...
explodes forty seconds after takeoff in
French Guiana. The project costs European governments $7,500,000,000 over eleven years.
*
June 6
Events Pre-1600
* 913 – Constantine VII, the eight-year-old illegitimate son of Leo VI the Wise, becomes nominal ruler of the Byzantine Empire under the regency of a seven-man council headed by Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos, appointed b ...
–
Leighton W. Smith, Jr. resigns as
NATO commander in the face of increasing criticism.
*
June 8–
30 –
England hosts the
UEFA Euro 1996 football tournament, which is won by
Germany.
*
June 11
** An explosion in a
São Paulo suburban shopping centre kills 44 people and injures more than 100.
** A peace convoy carrying
Chechen separatist leaders and international diplomats is targeted by a series of remotely controlled land mines; eight people are killed.
*
June 15 – In
Manchester, UK, an
IRA bomb injures over 200 people and devastates a large part of the city centre.
*
June 28
Events Pre-1600
* 1098 – Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul at the battle of Antioch.
* 1360 – Muhammed VI becomes the tenth Nasrid king of Granada after killing his brother-in-law Ismail II.
* 1461 – ...
** A new government is formed in
Turkey, with
Necmettin Erbakan of
Refah Partisi becoming Prime Minister of the coalition government, and Deputy/Foreign Minister
Tansu Çiller of the
True Path Party succeeding him after two years.
** The
Constitution of Ukraine is signed into law.
*
June 29
**
The Prince's Trust concert is held in
Hyde Park, London, and is attended by 150,000 people.
The Who headlines the event in their first performance since 1989.
** An explosion in a firecrackers factory in
Sichuan Province, China kills at least 52 people and injures 83 others.
*
June 30
**
Costas Simitis is elected president of the
Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Greece.
**
Bosnian Serb leader
Radovan Karadžić relinquishes power to his deputy,
Biljana Plavšić.
July
* July
**
Iraq disarmament crisis: U.N. Inspector
Scott Ritter attempts to conduct surprise inspections on the Republican Guard facility at the airport but is blocked by
Iraqi officials.
** The
Indian government officially renames the city of Madras, restoring the name
Chennai.
*
July 1
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Tiberius Julius Alexander orders his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor.
* 552 – Battle of Taginae: Byzantine forces under Narses defeat the Ostrogoths in Italy, and the ...
** The
Northern Territory in Australia legalises voluntary
euthanasia
Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering.
Different countries have different eut ...
.
**
German orthography reform of 1996 agreed internationally.
*
July 3 –
Boris Yeltsin is
re-elected as
President of Russia after the second round of elections.
*
July 5 –
Dolly the sheep, the first
mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
to be successfully
cloned from an adult
cell, is born at the
Roslin Institute in
Midlothian
Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...
,
Scotland,
UK.
*
July 11 – Arrest warrants are issued for
Bosnian Serb war criminals
Radovan Karadžić and
Ratko Mladić by the
Russell Tribunal in
The Hague.
*
July 12 –
Hurricane Bertha: made landfall in
North Carolina as a Category 2 storm, causing $270 million in damage ($ in present-day terms) to the United States and its possessions and many indirect deaths.
*
July 16 – An outbreak of
E. coli
''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...
food poisoning
Foodborne illness (also foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the spoilage of contaminated food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food,
as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease) ...
in Japan results in 6,000 children being ill, including two deaths, after a group of school children eat contaminated lunches.
*
July 17
** The
Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa) is constituted.
** Paris- and Rome-bound
TWA Flight 800 (
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022.
After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...
) explodes off the coast of
Long Island, New York
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...
, killing all 230 people on board.
*
July 19
** The
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
in
Atlanta, United States, begin.
**
Bosnian Serb President
Radovan Karadžić resigns from public office in
Republika Srpska after being indicted for
war crimes.
*
July 21 – The
Saguenay Flood
The Saguenay flood (french: Déluge du Saguenay) was a series of flash floods on July 19 and 20, 1996 that hit the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada. It was the biggest overland flood in 20th-century Canadian history.
History ...
, one of Canada's most costly
natural disaster
A natural disaster is "the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community". A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves some econ ...
s, is caused by flooding on the
Saguenay River in
Quebec.
*
July 24 – The
Dehiwala train bombing
The Dehiwala train bombing was a terrorist attack carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the rush hour of July 24, 1996.
Incident
The Dehiwala train bombing resulted in 64 civilian deaths and wounding 400 others. T ...
kills 56 commuters outside
Colombo.
*
July 25 – The
Tutsi-led
Burundi
Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...
an army performs a
coup and reinstalls previous president
Pierre Buyoya, ousting current president
Sylvestre Ntibantunganya.
*
July 27
** The
Centennial Olympic Park bombing
The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a domestic terrorist pipe bombing attack on Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, on July 27, 1996, during the 1996 Summer Olympics, Summer Olympics. The blast directly killed ...
at the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
kills one person and injures 111.
** Indonesian government forces
attacked the head office of the
Indonesian Democratic Party, which was being occupied by supporters of recently ousted party leader
Megawati Sukarnoputri
Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri (; born 23 January 1947) is an Indonesian politician who served as the fifth president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004. She previously served as the eighth Vice President of Indonesia, vice president f ...
.
August
* August
** The first three-parent baby is conceived in New Jersey through
mitochondrial donation
Mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT), sometimes called mitochondrial donation, is the replacement of mitochondria in one or more cells to prevent or ameliorate disease. MRT originated as a special form of in vitro fertilisation in which some or ...
.
** The
invasive species
An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...
Asian long-horned beetle is found in New York City.
*
August 1
**
Sarah Balabagan returns to the
Philippines.
** A pro-democracy demonstration supporting
Megawati Sukarnoputri
Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri (; born 23 January 1947) is an Indonesian politician who served as the fifth president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004. She previously served as the eighth Vice President of Indonesia, vice president f ...
in
Indonesia is broken up by riot police.
*
August 4 – The
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
conclude.
*
August 6
Events Pre-1600
*1284 – The Republic of Pisa is defeated in the Battle of Meloria by the Republic of Genoa, thus losing its naval dominance in the Mediterranean.
* 1538 – Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada ...
–
NASA announces that the
Allan Hills 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from
Mars, may contain evidence of primitive lifeforms; further tests are inconclusive.
*
August 7 – Heavy rains kill more than 80 campers near
Huesca, Spain.
*
August 9 –
Boris Yeltsin is sworn in at the
Kremlin
The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...
for a second term as
President of Russia.
*
August 13 – Data sent back by the
Galileo
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
space probe indicates there may be
water on one of
Jupiter's moons.
*
August 14
Events Pre-1600
* 74 BC – A group of officials, led by the Western Han minister Huo Guang, present articles of impeachment against the new emperor, Liu He, to the imperial regent, Empress Dowager Shangguan. The articles, enumerating t ...
– A rocket ignited during a
fireworks display in
Arequipa
Arequipa (; Aymara and qu, Ariqipa) is a city and capital of province and the eponymous department of Peru. It is the seat of the Constitutional Court of Peru and often dubbed the "legal capital of Peru". It is the second most populated city ...
,
Peru knocks down a high-tension power cable into a dense crowd, electrocuting 35 people.
*
August 15 –
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...
is nominated for
President of the United States, and
Jack Kemp
Jack French Kemp (July 13, 1935 – May 2, 2009) was an American politician and a professional football player. A member of the Republican Party from New York, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bu ...
for vice president, at the
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...
in
San Diego,
California.
*
August 16
Events Pre-1600
* 1 BC – Wang Mang consolidates his power in China and is declared marshal of state. Emperor Ai of Han, who died the previous day, had no heirs.
* 942 – Start of the four-day Battle of al-Mada'in, between the Hamdan ...
–
Brookfield Zoo,
Chicago. After a 3-year-old boy falls into the deep gorilla enclosure,
Binti Jua, a female lowland
gorilla sits with the injured boy until his rescue.
*
August 21
Events Pre-1600
* 959 – Eraclus becomes the 25th bishop of Liège.
* 1140 – Song dynasty general Yue Fei defeats an army led by Jin dynasty general Wuzhu at the Battle of Yancheng during the Jin–Song Wars.
*1169 – Battle o ...
** Former State President of South Africa,
F. W. de Klerk
Frederik Willem de Klerk (, , 18 March 1936 – 11 November 2021) was a South African politician who served as state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president from 1994 to 1996 in the democratic government. As South A ...
, makes an official apology for crimes committed under
Apartheid to the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission in
Cape Town.
** In the UK, Queen
Elizabeth II issues
letters patent
Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...
on divorced former wives of British princes, taking away from the ex-wives the attribute and style of
Royal Highness. With that
Sarah, Duchess of York as well as
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...
legally cease to be Royals, but they remain as non-royal Duchess and Princess.
*
August 23 –
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
writes "The Declaration of Jihad on the Americans Occupying the Country of the Two Sacred Places," a call for the removal of American military forces from Saudi Arabia.
*
August 26 –
Civil Rights Movement historian
Randy Kryn and 10 others are arrested by the
Federal Protective Service while protesting in a demonstration at the
Kluczynski Federal Building
The Kluczynski Federal Building is a skyscraper in the downtown Chicago Loop located at 230 South Dearborn Street. The 45-story structure was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and completed in 1974 as the last portion of the new Federal Center ...
in downtown
Chicago during
that year's Democratic National Convention.
*
August 28 – Their Royal Highnesses, the Prince and Princess of Wales, are formally divorced at the
High Court of Justice in London. Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales is restyled
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...
, due to the Queen's
letters patent
Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...
issued a week earlier.
*
August 29
** U.S. President
Bill Clinton and Vice President
Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
are re-nominated at the
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...
in
Chicago.
** A Russian
Tupolev 154 jetliner
crashes into a mountain as it approaches the airport at
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...
, Norway, killing all 141 people on board.
*
August 31 –
Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi forces launch an offensive into the northern
No-Fly Zone and capture Arbil.
September
*
September 2 – A permanent peace agreement is signed at the
Malacañan Palace between the
Government of the Philippines and the
Moro National Liberation Front.
*
September 3 – The United States launches
Operation Desert Strike
The 1996 cruise missile strikes on Iraq, codenamed Operation Desert Strike, were joint United States Navy–United States Air Force strikes conducted on 3 September against air defense targets in southern Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq, in response to a ...
against
Iraq in reaction to the attack on Arbil.
*
September 4 – The
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia attack a military base in
Guaviare, Colombia, starting three weeks of
guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...
that will claim the lives of at least 130
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
ns.
*
September 5 –
Hurricane Fran makes landfall near
Cape Fear,
North Carolina as a
Category 3 storm with sustained winds. Fran caused over $3 billion in damages ($ in present-day terms) and killed 27 people, mainly in North Carolina. The name "Fran" was retired due to the extensive damage.
*
September 10 –
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) signed (it will be ratified 180 days after ratification by 44 Annex 2 countries).
*
September 13 –
Alija Izetbegović is elected President of
Bosnia and Herzegovina in the country's first election since the
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
.
*
September 20 – Leader of
Pakistani opposition party
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...
Murtaza Bhutto is killed during a gunfight with police.
*
September 22 – The
Panhellenic Socialist Movement under the leadership of
Costas Simitis succeeds in the 1996 Greek legislative election.
*
September 24 – U.S. President Bill Clinton signs the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the
United Nations.
*
September 27 – In
Afghanistan, the
Taliban capture the capital city of
Kabul, after driving out President
Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader
Mohammad Najibullah.
*
September 29 – The
Nintendo 64 is released in North America.
October
*
October 2 – Aeroperú Flight 603 crashes into the Pacific Ocean when the instruments fail just after takeoff from
Lima Airport, killing all 70 people on board.
* October 6 – The government of New Zealand agrees to pay $130 million worth of compensation for the loss of land suffered by the Māori people, Māori population between the years of 1844 and 1864.
* October 22 – A fire at La Planta prison in southwest Caracas, Venezuela, kills thirty prisoners.
* October 24 – The First Congo War begins.
* October 31 – TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais Flight 402 crashes into a densely populated area of
São Paulo, killing all 96 people on board.
November
* November –
Iraq disarmament crisis: UNSCOM inspectors uncover buried prohibited missile parts. Iraq refuses to allow UNSCOM teams to remove remnants of missile engines for analysis outside of the country.
* November 5 – 1996 United States presidential election: Incumbent Democratic Party (United States), Democratic President
Bill Clinton defeats his Republican Party (United States), Republican challenger,
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...
and Reform Party of the United States of America, Reform Party candidate Ross Perot.
* November 7
** A Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale, category 4 1996 Andhra Pradesh cyclone, cyclone strikes Andhra Pradesh, India, killing at least 1,000 people.
**
NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor.
* November 8 – All 144 people on board a Nigerian-owned Boeing 727 die after the aircraft ADC Airlines Flight 086, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while approaching Lagos Murtala Muhammed International Airport, airport.
* November 12 – Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, collides in mid-air with Kazakhstan Airlines Il-76 in New Delhi, India, resulting in the loss of 349 lives.
* November 17
** A bomb explodes in Kaspiysk, Russia, killing 32 people.
** Emil Constantinescu is elected as President of Romania.
* November 18 – Frederick Chiluba is re-elected as President of Zambia.
* November 19
** Martin Bryant is sentenced to 35 consecutive sentences of life imprisonment plus 1,035 years without parole for murdering 35 people in a shooting spree in
Tasmania earlier this year.
** Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Organization (CTBTO) established.
** ''STS-80'': Space Shuttle Columbia conducts the longest mission of the Space Shuttle program.
* November 20 – The 1996 Garley Building fire occurred in Hong Kong, resulting in 41 deaths and 81 injuries.
* November 21 – A propane Humberto Vidal explosion, explosion at the Humberto Vidal shoe store and office building in San Juan, Puerto Rico kills 33 people.
* November 23
** The Angola, Republic of Angola officially joins the World Trade Organization as ''Angola''.
**
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was a scheduled flight serving the route Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Brazzaville–Lagos–Abidjan. On 23 November 1996, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 767-200ER, was hijacked en route from Addis Ababa to Nai ...
is hijacked, then crashes into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 125.
* November 25 – An ice storm strikes the U.S. killing 26 directly and hundreds more from accidents. A powerful windstorm blasts Florida with winds gusts up to 90 mph.
December
* December 9 – Jerry Rawlings is re-elected as President of Ghana.
* December 11 – Tung Chee-hwa is appointed to become the new leader of Hong Kong after it reverts to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997, at the end a 99-year lease to the United Kingdom.
* December 13 – Ghanaian diplomat Kofi Annan is elected by the United Nations Security Council the next Secretary-General of the United Nations.
* December 17 – The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement takes 72 hostages in the Japanese Embassy in
Lima,
Peru.
* December 25 – At least 283 migrants drown in the Sinking of F174, sinking of ''F174'' near Capo Passero (Sicily).
* December 26
** The 1996–97 strikes in South Korea, largest strike in South Korean history begins.
** Six-year-old Death of JonBenét Ramsey, JonBenét Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado.
* December 27 –
Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram Air Base, solidifying their buffer zone around
Kabul.
* December 29 – Guatemala and the leaders of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity sign a peace accord that ends the 36-year Guatemalan Civil War.
* December 30 – In the Indian state of Assam, a passenger train is bombed by Bodo people, Bodo separatists, killing 26.
Births
January
* January 2 – Xiaoyu Yu, Chinese figure skater
* January 3 – Florence Pugh, English actress
* January 5
** Maxim Baldry, English actor
** Tyler Ulis, American basketball player
* January 6
** Courtney Eaton, Australian actress
** Harmanpreet Singh, Indian hockey player
* January 7 – Helly Shah, Indian actress
* January 10 – Anna Sztankovics, Hungarian swimmer
*
January 11 – Leroy Sané, German footballer
* January 12 – Ella Henderson, English singer
* January 15 – Dove Cameron, American actress and singer
*
January 16
Events Pre-1600
* 27 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.
* 378 – General Siyaj K'ak' conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spear ...
** Anastasia Grishina, Russian artistic gymnast
** Jennie (singer), Jennie, South Korean singer and rapper
* January 17 – Nile Wilson, British artistic gymnast
*
January 19 – Taylor Bennett (rapper), Taylor Bennett, American rapper
*
January 21 – Marco Asensio, Spanish footballer
*
January 24 – Patrik Schick, Czech footballer
*
January 31 – Joel Courtney, American actor
February
* February 1 – Ahmad Abughaush, Jordanian taekwondo athlete
* February 2 – Harry Winks, English footballer
*
February 5
Events Pre-1600
* 62 – Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy.
* 1576 – Henry of Navarre abjures Catholicism at Tours and rejoins the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion.
* 1597 – A group of early Japanese Christians ar ...
– Zeng Siqi, Chinese artistic gymnast
*
February 7
** Aaron Ekblad, Canadian ice hockey player
** Mai Hagiwara, Japanese singer
*
February 9
** Jimmy Bennett, American actor
** Kelli Berglund, American actress
** Chungha (singer), Chungha, South Korean singer and dancer
* February 11 – Lucas Torreira, Uruguayan footballer
* February 13 – Muhammad Rian Ardianto, Indonesian badminton player
*
February 14
Events Pre-1600
* 748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.
* 842 – Charles the Bald and Louis ...
** Lucas Hernandez, French footballer
** Viktor Kovalenko (footballer), Viktor Kovalenko, Ukrainian footballer
*
February 17
Events Pre-1600
* 1370 – Northern Crusades: Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights meet in the Battle of Rudau.
* 1411 – Following the successful campaigns during the Ottoman Interregnum, Musa Çelebi, one of the sons of ...
– Sasha Pieterse, South African-born American actress
* February 19 – Ashnikko, American singer and rapper
* February 20 – Mabel (singer), Mabel, English singer
* February 21
** Noah Rubin (tennis), Noah Rubin, American tennis player
** Sophie Turner, English actress
* February 23 – D'Angelo Russell, American basketball player
*
February 25
Events Pre-1600
* 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor.
* 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II.
...
– Emel Dereli, Turkish shot putter
* February 28 – Shi Yuqi, Chinese badminton player
March
*
March 1 – Ye Shiwen, Chinese swimmer
* March 5 – Emmanuel Mudiay, Congolese professional basketball player
** Michael Evans Behling, American actor
*
March 6
** Christian Coleman, American sprinter
** Timo Werner, German footballer
** Yan Han (figure skater), Yan Han, Chinese figure skater
*
March 8 – Emil Imre, Hungarian short track speed skater
*
March 9 – Giorgio Minisini, Italian synchronized swimmer
*
March 14
Events Pre-1600
* 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland.
* 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguen ...
– Janai Haupapa, Canadian rugby league player
*
March 23 – Alexander Albon, Thai racing driver
*
March 24
** Valentino Lazaro, Austrian footballer
** Myles Turner, American basketball player
*
March 26 – Kathryn Bernardo, Filipina actress
* March 27 – Rosabell Laurenti Sellers, Italian-American actress
* March 28
** Benjamin Pavard, French footballer
** Xie Siyi, Chinese diver
* March 31 – Kira Hagi, Romanian actress
April
* April 2
** Polina Agafonova, Russian figure skater
** Matheus Santana, Brazilian swimmer
*
April 3 – Sarah Jeffery, Canadian actress
* April 4 – Austin Mahone, American singer-songwriter and actor
*
April 9 – Giovani Lo Celso, Argentinian footballer
* April 10
** Andreas Christensen, Danish footballer
** Thanasi Kokkinakis, Australian tennis player
** Loïc Nottet, Belgian singer
*
April 11
** Dele Alli, English footballer
** Summer Walker, American singer
* April 12 – Polina Korobeynikova, Russian figure skater
* April 14 – Abigail Breslin, American actress
*
April 16 – Anya Taylor-Joy, actress
* April 17 – Dee Dee Davis, American actress
* April 22 – Wendy Sulca, Peruvian singer
* April 23 – Álex Márquez, Spanish motorcycle racer
*
April 24 – Ashleigh Barty, Australian tennis player
* April 25
** Mack Horton, Australian swimmer
** Allisyn Ashley Arm, American actress
* April 27
** Tejan Koroma, American Football Player
*
April 28 – Tony Revolori, American actor
* April 29 – Katherine Langford, Australian actress
May
* May 2 – Julian Brandt, German footballer
* May 3 – Alex Iwobi, Nigerian footballer
* May 4
** Arielle Gold, American snowboarder
** Pelayo Roza, Spanish sprint canoeist.
* May 8 – 6ix9ine, American rapper
*
May 10
Events Pre-1600
* 28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China.
*1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edw ...
– Tyus Jones, American basketball player
*
May 11
Events 1601–1900
*1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is Assassination of Spencer Perceval, assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons.
*1813 – William Lawson (explorer), William Lawson, Grego ...
– Andrés Cubas, Argentinian footballer
* May 14
** Martin Garrix, Dutch DJ and producer
** Pokimane, Imane Anys, Canadian Twitch streamer
* May 15 – Birdy (singer), Birdy, English singer and songwriter
*
May 17 – Ryan Ochoa, American actor and musician
* May 19 – Lakshmi Menon (actress), Lakshmi Menon, Indian film actress
*
May 18 – Yuki Kadono, Japanese snowboarder
*
May 23 – Katharina Althaus, German ski jumper
*
May 30
Events Pre-1600
* 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres ...
** Aleksandr Golovin (footballer), Aleksandr Golovin, Russian footballer
** Lucki, American rapper
* May 31 – Normani, American singer
June
*
June 1 – Tom Holland, English actor
* June 3 – Han Tianyu, Chinese short track speed skater
* June 7 – Christian McCaffrey, American football player
* June 10 – Wen Junhui, Chinese singer and actor
* June 12
**Annalisa Cochrane, American actress
**Davinson Sánchez, Colombian footballer
* June 13
** Kingsley Coman, French footballer
** Kodi Smit-McPhee, Australian actor
*
June 15 – Aurora (singer), Aurora, Norwegian singer
* June 16 – Lily Zhang, American table tennis player
* June 17 – Godfred Donsah, Ghanese footballer
* June 18 – Alen Halilović, Croatian footballer
* June 19 – Larisa Iordache, Romanian artistic gymnast
* June 22
** Hugo Calderano, Brazilian table tennis player
** Kong Sang-jeong, South Korean short track speed skater
* June 24 – Harris Dickinson, English actor, writer, and director
* June 27 – Lauren Jauregui, American singer
*
June 28
Events Pre-1600
* 1098 – Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul at the battle of Antioch.
* 1360 – Muhammed VI becomes the tenth Nasrid king of Granada after killing his brother-in-law Ismail II.
* 1461 – ...
** Milot Rashica, Kosovar footballer
** Donna Vekić, Croatian tennis player
July
*
July 1
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Tiberius Julius Alexander orders his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor.
* 552 – Battle of Taginae: Byzantine forces under Narses defeat the Ostrogoths in Italy, and the ...
– Adelina Sotnikova, Russian figure skater
*
July 3 – Kendji Girac, French singer
*
July 5 – Risa Shōji, Japanese figure skater
* July 7 – Ivan Ljubic, Austrian footballer
* July 10 – Moon Ga-young, South Korean actress
*
July 11
** Alessia Cara, Canadian singer-songwriter
** Andrija Živković, Serbian footballer
* July 18 – Yung Lean, Swedish rapper and record producer
* July 20 – Ben Simmons, Australian basketball player
August
*
August 1
** Arisa Higashino, Japanese badminton player
** Cymphonique Miller, American actress and singer
* August 2 – Simone Manuel, American swimmer
* August 5
** Francesca Deagostini, Italian artistic gymnast
** Mai Murakami, Japanese artistic gymnast
* August 10 – Evan Evagora, Australian actor
* August 12 – Arthur Melo, Arthur, Brazilian footballer
*
August 14
Events Pre-1600
* 74 BC – A group of officials, led by the Western Han minister Huo Guang, present articles of impeachment against the new emperor, Liu He, to the imperial regent, Empress Dowager Shangguan. The articles, enumerating t ...
– Brianna Hildebrand, American actress
*
August 16
Events Pre-1600
* 1 BC – Wang Mang consolidates his power in China and is declared marshal of state. Emperor Ai of Han, who died the previous day, had no heirs.
* 942 – Start of the four-day Battle of al-Mada'in, between the Hamdan ...
– Caeleb Dressel, American swimmer
* August 19
** Almoez Ali, Sudanese-Qatari footballer
** Laura Tesoro, Belgian singer and actress
* August 20 – Axell Hodges, American motocross competitor
* August 24 – Kenzō Shirai, Japanese gymnast
* August 27
** Femke Van den Driessche, Belgian cyclist found guilty of mechanical doping
** Ebru Topçu, Turkish footballer
*
August 28 – Kim Se-jeong, South Korean singer and actress
* August 30
** Gabriel Barbosa, Brazilian footballer
** Chen Dequan, Chinese short track speed skater
September
* September 1 – Zendaya, American actress and singer
*
September 3 – Joy (singer), Joy, South Korean singer and actress
*
September 5 – Sigrid (singer), Sigrid, Norwegian singer
* September 9 – Jaïro Riedewald, Dutch footballer
* September 12 – Colin Ford, American actor
*
September 13
** Playboi Carti, American rapper
** Lili Reinhart, American actress
September 16 – Baka Prase, Serbian YouTuber, rapper, gamer, and entertainer
* September 17
** Duje Ćaleta-Car, Croatian footballer
** Ella Purnell, English actress
** Esteban Ocon, French Formula 1 Driver
* September 23
** Lee Hi, South Korean singer-songwriter
** Evgeny Rylov, Russian swimmer
* September 25 – Mie Nielsen, Danish swimmer
*
September 27 – Maxwel Cornet, French-Ivorian footballer
* September 28 – Michael Ronda, Mexican actor and singer
October
* October 1
** Shenseea, Jamaican Singer
* October 3 – Kelechi Iheanacho, Nigerian footballer
* October 4 – Ella Balinska, English actress
* October 5 – Sevn Alias, Dutch rapper
* October 7 – Lewis Capaldi, Scottish singer-songwriter
* October 8 – Sara Takanashi, Japanese ski jumper
* October 9
** Jacob Batalon, American-Filipino actor
** Bella Hadid, American model
* October 10 – Oscar Zia, Swedish singer and songwriter
* October 13
** Joshua Wong, Hong Kong student activist and politician
** Đỗ Mỹ Linh, Vietnamese model
* October 15 – Zelo, Korean singer
* October 20 – Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Indonesian badminton player
* October 24
** Jaylen Brown, American basketball player
** Kyla Ross, American gymnast
* October 28 – Lee June-hyoung, South Korean figure skater
* October 30
** Devin Booker, American basketball player
** Mizuki Fukumura, Japanese singer
November
* November 1
** Sean Gelael, Indonesian racing driver
** Lil Peep, American rapper (d. 2017)
**Daniela Melchior, Portuguese actress
** Jeongyeon, South Korean singer
* November 4 – Michael Christian Martinez, Filipino figure skater
* November 7
** André Horta, Portuguese footballer
** Lorde, New Zealand singer-songwriter
* November 9
** Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên, Vietnamese swimmer
** Momo Hirai, Japanese singer and dancer
* November 11
** Adam Ounas, French-born Algerian footballer
** Tye Sheridan, American actor
* November 14 – Borna Ćorić, Croatian tennis player
* November 16 – Brendan Murray, Irish singer
* November 17 – Ruth Jebet, Bahraini long-distance runner
* November 18
** Akram Afif, Qatari footballer
** Noah Ringer, American actor
** Sorn (singer), Sorn, South Korean based singer
* November 19 – Liliána Szilágyi, Hungarian swimmer
* November 20 – Denis Zakaria, Swiss footballer
* November 22
** Hailey Baldwin, American model and socialite
** JuJu Smith-Schuster, American football player
* November 23
** James Maddison, English footballer
** Anna Yanovskaya, Russian ice dancer
* November 26 – Louane (singer), Louane Emera, French singer and actress
* November 27 – Felix Kashweka, Zambian journalist and publicist
* November 29 – Gonçalo Guedes, Portuguese footballer
December
* December 1 – Pradyumn Karthic, the indian chad was born.
* December 4 – Daria Svatkovskaya, Russian artistic gymnast
* December 6 – Stefanie Scott, American actress and singer
* December 10
** Joe Burrow, American football player
** Kang Daniel, South Korean singer
* December 11
** Eliza McCartney, New Zealand track and field athlete
** Hailee Steinfeld, American actress, model and singer
** Jack Griffo, American actor
* December 12
** Lucas Hedges, American actor
** Oliver Askew, American racing driver
** Rajinikanth, Indian Actor
* December 14 – Li Zijun, Chinese figure skater
* December 15 – Oleksandr Zinchenko (footballer), Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ukrainian footballer
* December 16 – Wilfred Ndidi, Nigerian footballer
* December 17 – Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Russian figure skater
* December 19 – Franck Kessié, Ivorian footballer
* December 21 – Kaitlyn Dever, American actress
* December 28 – Alfred Kipketer, Kenyan middle-distance runner
* December 29
** Dylan Minnette, American actor, singer and musician
** Sana (singer), Sana, Japanese singer
* December 30
** Stephanie Del Valle, Puerto Rican musician, model and beauty queen
** Zack Baun, American Football Player
Deaths
January
* January 1 – Arleigh Burke, American naval officer (b. 1901)
* January 5 – Yahya Ayyash, Palestinian shaheed (b. 1966)
* January 7
** Károly Grósz, 51st Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1930)
** Tarō Okamoto, Japanese artist (b. 1911)
*
January 8
Events Pre-1600
* 307 – Emperor Huai of Jin, Jin Huaidi becomes emperor of China in succession to his father, Emperor Hui of Jin, Jin Huidi, despite a challenge from his uncle, Sima Ying.
* 871 – Æthelred I, King of Wessex, Æthel ...
– François Mitterrand, French politician, 21st President of France (b. 1916)
* January 15
** Les Baxter, American musician and composer (b. 1922)
** Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho, Moshoeshoe II, King of Lesotho (b. 1938)
* January 17 – Barbara Jordan, American lawyer, educator, politician and civil rights activist (b. 1936)
* January 18
** Leonor Fini, Argentine artist (b. 1908)
** Endel Puusepp, Estonian pilot (b. 1909)
** N. T. Rama Rao, Indian actor, producer, director, editor and politician (b. 1923)
*
January 19 – Don Simpson, American film producer (b. 1943)
*
January 20
Events Pre-1600
* 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
* 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
* 1156 &ndas ...
– Gerry Mulligan, American musician (b. 1927)
* January 25 – Jonathan Larson, American composer and playwright (b. 1960)
*
January 28
** Joseph Brodsky, Russian-born American Nobel poet (b. 1940)
** Jerry Siegel, American cartoonist (b. 1914)
February
* February 2 – Gene Kelly, American actor and dancer (b. 1912)
*
February 3
Events Pre-1600
* 1112 – Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
*1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
*1488 – ...
– Audrey Meadows, American actress (b. 1922)
* February 4 – Alfredo Nobre da Costa, 106th Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1923)
*
February 6
Events Pre-1600
* 1579 – The Archdiocese of Manila is made a diocese by a papal bull with Domingo de Salazar being its first bishop.
1601–1900
* 1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of ...
– Guy Madison, American actor (b. 1922)
*
February 7 – Boris Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (b. 1925)
*
February 9 – Adolf Galland, German general (b. 1912)
* February 11
** Kebby Musokotwane, Prime Minister of Zambia (b. 1946)
** Bob Shaw, Irish science fiction writer (b. 1931)
* February 12 – Ryōtarō Shiba, Japanese novelist (b. 1923)
* February 13 – Martin Balsam, American actor (b. 1919)
*
February 14
Events Pre-1600
* 748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.
* 842 – Charles the Bald and Louis ...
** Eva Hart, British Titanic survivor (b. 1905)
** Bob Paisley, English football manager (b. 1919)
* February 16 – Pat Brown, American politician (b. 1905)
* February 20
** Solomon Asch, Polish-American psychologist (b. 1907)
** Audrey Munson, American model and actress (b. 1891)
** Toru Takemitsu, Japanese composer (b. 1930)
* February 21 – Morton Gould, American musician and composer (b. 1913)
* February 23
** William Bonin, American serial killer (b. 1947)
** Helmut Schön, German football player and manager (b. 1915)
*
February 25
Events Pre-1600
* 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor.
* 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II.
...
– Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian activist and actor (b. 1940)
* February 26 – Mieczysław Weinberg, Polish composer (b. 1919)
* February 27 – Sarah Palfrey Cooke, American tennis player (b. 1912)
March
*
March 2
** Jacobo Majluta Azar, 47th President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1934)
** Lyle Talbot, American actor (b. 1902)
*
March 3
** Marguerite Duras, French author and director (b. 1914)
** John Krol, American cardinal (b. 1910)
* March 4 – Minnie Pearl, American comedian (b. 1912)
* March 5
** Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, 5th President of Bangladesh (b. 1918)
** Whit Bissell, American actor (b. 1909)
*
March 9 – George Burns, American comedian and actor (b. 1896)
* March 10 – Ross Hunter, American film producer (b. 1920)
* March 11 – Vince Edwards, American actor (b. 1928)
* March 12 – Gyula Kállai, 48th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1910)
*
March 13
** Lucio Fulci, Italian film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor (b. 1927)
** Krzysztof Kieślowski, Polish film director (b. 1941)
*
March 17 – René Clément, French film director (b. 1913)
*
March 18 – Odysseas Elytis, Greek writer (b. 1911)
* March 19
** Virginia Henderson, American nurse and theorist (b. 1897)
** Chen Jingrun, Chinese mathematician (b. 1933)
*
March 22 – Robert F. Overmyer, American astronaut (b. 1936)
*
March 25
Events Pre-1600
* 421 – Italian city Venice is founded with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo di Rialto on the islet of Rialto.
* 708 – Pope Constantine becomes the 88th pope. He would be the last pope to vi ...
– Lola Beltrán, Mexican singer, actress, and television presenter (b. 1932)
*
March 26
** Edmund Muskie, American politician (b. 1914)
** David Packard, American engineer (b. 1912)
* March 31 – Jeffrey Lee Pierce, American musician (b. 1958)
April
*
April 3 –
Ron Brown, American politician (b. 1941)
* April 4 – Barney Ewell, American athlete (b. 1918)
*
April 6 – Greer Garson, British-American actress (b. 1904)
* April 8 – Ben Johnson (actor), Ben Johnson, American actor and stuntman (b. 1918)
*
April 13
Events Pre-1600
*1111 – Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
* 1204 – Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire.
1601–1900
*1612 – In one of the epic samurai ...
– James Burke (gangster), James Burke, Irish-American gangster (b. 1931)
*
April 16 – Lucille Bremer, American actress and dancer (b. 1917)
*
April 18 – Bernard Edwards, American bass player (b. 1952)
* April 20 – Christopher Robin Milne, English author and bookseller (b. 1920)
*
April 21
Events Pre-1600
*753 BC – Romulus founds Rome ( traditional date).
* 43 BC – Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is murdered ...
– Dzhokhar Dudayev, Chechen politician and President of Ichkeria (b. 1944)
* April 23 – P. L. Travers, British actress, journalist, novelist and writer (b. 1899)
* April 25 – Saul Bass, American graphic designer (b. 1920)
*
April 26 – Stirling Silliphant, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1918)
*
April 28 – Siti Hartinah, 2nd First Lady of Indonesia (b. 1923)
May
* May 1 – David M. Kennedy (politician), David M. Kennedy, American politician, businessman (b. 1905)
* May 2 – Emile Habibi, Palestinian Israeli writer and politician (b. 1922)
* May 3 – Jack Weston, American actor (b. 1924)
* May 6 – Leo Joseph Suenens, Belgian cardinal (b. 1904)
*
May 11
Events 1601–1900
*1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is Assassination of Spencer Perceval, assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons.
*1813 – William Lawson (explorer), William Lawson, Grego ...
**Nnamdi Azikiwe, 1st President of Nigeria (b. 1904)
** Scott Fischer, American mountaineer (b. 1955)
** Rob Hall, New Zealand mountaineer (b. 1961)
**Andy Harris (mountain guide), Andrew Harris, New Zealand mountaineer (b. 1964)
**1996 Mount Everest disaster, Doug Hansen, American mountaineer (b. 1949)
**Yasuko Namba, Japanese mountaineer (b. 1949)
**1996 Mount Everest disaster, Tsewang Samanla, Indo-Tibetan Border police officer and mountaineer (b. 1957)
**1996 Mount Everest disaster, Tsewang Paljor, Indo-Tibetan Border police officer and mountaineer (b. 1968)
**1996 Mount Everest disaster, Dorje Morup, Indo-Tibetan Border police officer and mountaineer (b. 1948)
**Ademir de Menezes, Brazilian footballer (b. 1922)
*
May 17 – Johnny "Guitar" Watson, American singer, songwriter and musician (b. 1935)
* May 19 – John Beradino, American baseball player and actor (b. 1917)
* May 20 – Jon Pertwee, British actor (b. 1919)
*
May 23 – Sim Iness, American Olympic athlete (b. 1930)
* May 24
** John Abbott (actor), John Abbott, English actor (b. 1905)
** Jacob Druckman, American composer (b. 1928)
* May 25 – Bradley Nowell, American musician (b. 1968)
* May 29 – Tamara Toumanova, Russian-American dancer and actress (b. 1919)
* May 31 – Timothy Leary, American writer and social activist (b. 1920)
June
*
June 1 – Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, 6th President of India (b. 1913)
* June 2
** John Alton, American cinematographer (b. 1901)
** Pilar Lorengar, Spanish soprano (b. 1928)
* June 3 – Peter Glenville, English film director (b. 1913)
*
June 6
Events Pre-1600
* 913 – Constantine VII, the eight-year-old illegitimate son of Leo VI the Wise, becomes nominal ruler of the Byzantine Empire under the regency of a seven-man council headed by Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos, appointed b ...
** Kusuo Kitamura, Japanese Olympic swimmer (b. 1917)
** George Davis Snell, American Nobel geneticist (b. 1903)
* June 10 – Jo Van Fleet, American actress (b. 1914)
*
June 11 – Brigitte Helm, German actress (b. 1908)
*
June 15 – Ella Fitzgerald, American singer (b. 1917)
* June 19
** Hillevi Rombin, Swedish actress and beauty queen (b. 1933)
** Edvin Wide, Swedish middle- and long-distance runner (b. 1896)
* June 23
** Ray Lindwall, Australian cricketer (b. 1921)
**
Andreas Papandreou,
Prime Minister of Greece
The prime minister of the Hellenic Republic ( el, Πρωθυπουργός της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας, Prothypourgós tis Ellinikís Dimokratías), colloquially referred to as the prime minister of Greece ( el, Πρωθυ ...
(b. 1919)
* June 26 – Veronica Guerin, Irish journalist (b. 1958)
* June 27 – Albert R. Broccoli, American film producer (b. 1909)
*
June 28
Events Pre-1600
* 1098 – Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul at the battle of Antioch.
* 1360 – Muhammed VI becomes the tenth Nasrid king of Granada after killing his brother-in-law Ismail II.
* 1461 – ...
– Kwan Tak-hing, Hong Kong actor (b. 1905)
July
*
July 1
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Tiberius Julius Alexander orders his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor.
* 552 – Battle of Taginae: Byzantine forces under Narses defeat the Ostrogoths in Italy, and the ...
– Margaux Hemingway, American fashion model and actress (b. 1954)
*
July 3 – Raaj Kumar, Indian film actor (b. 1926)
* July 9
** Eno Raud, Estonian writer (b. 1928)
** Sergey Kuryokhin, Russian pianist, composer, improvisor, performance artist and actor (b. 1954)
* July 13 – Pandro S. Berman, American film producer (b. 1905)
* July 15 – Dana Hill, American actress (b. 1964)
*
July 17 – Paul Touvier, French Nazi collaborator (b. 1915)
* July 20 – František Plánička, Czech footballer (b. 1904)
*
July 21
** Luana Anders, American actress (b. 1938)
** Herb Edelman, American actor (b. 1933)
* July 22 – Jessica Mitford, British-American author, journalist and political campaigner (b. 1917)
* July 23 – Jean Muir (actress), Jean Muir, American actress (b. 1911)
*
July 27 – Jane Drew, English architect (b. 1911)
* July 28 – Roger Tory Peterson, American naturalist and artist (b. 1908)
* July 30 – Claudette Colbert, American actress (b. 1903)
August
*
August 1
** Mohamed Farrah Aidid, Somali military commander and politician (b. 1934)
** Frida Boccara, French singer (b. 1940)
** Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish-Swiss Nobel chemist (b. 1897)
* August 2
** Michel Debré, 99th Prime Minister of France (b. 1912)
** Obdulio Varela, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1917)
*
August 6
Events Pre-1600
*1284 – The Republic of Pisa is defeated in the Battle of Meloria by the Republic of Genoa, thus losing its naval dominance in the Mediterranean.
* 1538 – Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada ...
– Hernán Siles Zuazo, 46th President of Bolivia (b. 1914)
* August 8 – Nevill Francis Mott, English Nobel physicist (b. 1905)
* August 11
** Rafael Kubelík, Czech-born Swiss conductor (b. 1914)
** Baba Vanga, Bulgarian mystic, clairvoyant and herbalist (b. 1911)
* August 12 – Viktor Hambardzumyan, Armenian scientist (b. 1908)
*
August 13
** António de Spínola, 14th President of Portugal (b. 1910)
** David Tudor, American pianist and composer (b. 1926)
*
August 26 – Alejandro Agustín Lanusse, 37th President of Argentina (b. 1918)
* August 27 – Greg Morris, American actor (b. 1933)
* August 30 – Christine Pascal, French actress, director and screenwriter (b. 1953)
September
* September 1 – Vagn Holmboe, Danish composer (b. 1909)
* September 7 – Bibi Besch, American actress (b. 1942)
* September 9
** Ruggero Mastroianni, Italian film editor (b. 1929)
** Bill Monroe, American musician (b. 1911)
*
September 10 – Joanne Dru, American actress (b. 1922)
* September 12 – Ernesto Geisel, Brazilian general, 29th President of Brazil (b. 1907)
*
September 13 – Tupac Shakur, American rapper (b. 1971)
* September 14 – Juliet Prowse, American dancer and actress (b. 1936)
* September 16
** McGeorge Bundy, American academic (b. 1919)
** Gene Nelson, American dancer and actor (b. 1920)
* September 17 – Spiro Agnew, 39th Vice President of the United States (b. 1918)
* September 18 – Annabella (actress), Annabella, French actress (b. 1907)
*
September 20
**
Murtaza Bhutto, Pakistani politician (b. 1954)
** Paul Erdős, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1913)
** Max Manus, Norwegian resistance fighter (b. 1914)
*
September 22
** Mohamed Ben Ahmed Abdelghani, 1st Prime Minister of Algeria (b. 1927)
** Dorothy Lamour, American actress (b. 1914)
*
September 24 – Zeki Müren, Turkish singer, composer, songwriter, actor and poet (b. 1931)
* September 26
** Nicu Ceaușescu, Romanian politician (b. 1951)
** Pavel Sudoplatov, Soviet spy (b. 1907)
** Geoffrey Wilkinson, English Nobel chemist (b. 1921)
*
September 27 –
Mohammad Najibullah, President of Afghanistan (b. 1947)
*
September 29 – Shūsaku Endō, Japanese author (b. 1923)
October
* October 4 – Silvio Piola, Italian footballer (b. 1913)
* October 5 – Seymour Cray, American computer scientist (b. 1925)
* October 11
** Renato Russo, Brazilian singer (b. 1960)
** William Vickrey, Canadian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
* October 12
** René Lacoste, French tennis player (b. 1904)
** Roger Lapébie, French racing cyclist (b. 1911)
* October 13 – Beryl Reid, British actress (b. 1919)
* October 19 – Shamsuddin Qasemi, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar and politician (b. 1935)
* October 24 – Artur Axmann, German Nazi leader (b. 1913)
* October 31 – Marcel Carné, French film director (b. 1909)
November
* November 1 – J. R. Jayewardene, 2nd President of Sri Lanka (b. 1906)
* November 2 – Eva Cassidy, American vocalist (b. 1963)
* November 3
** Jean-Bédel Bokassa, 2nd President of the Central African Republic and Emperor of Central Africa (b. 1921)
** Abdullah Çatlı, Turkish nationalist (b. 1956)
* November 6 – Tommy Lawton, English footballer and manager (b. 1919)
* November 14
** Joseph Bernardin, American cardinal (b. 1928)
** Virginia Cherrill, American actress (b. 1908)
* November 15 – Alger Hiss, American diplomat (b. 1904)
* November 18 – Zinovy Gerdt, Russian actor (b. 1916)
* November 21 – Abdus Salam, Pakistani Nobel physicist (b. 1926)
* November 22 – María Casares, French-Spanish actress (b. 1922)
* November 26 – Paul Rand, American graphic designer (b. 1914)
* November 27 – Gertrude Blanch, American mathematician (b. 1897)
* November 28 – Don McNeill (tennis), Don McNeill, American tennis player (b. 1918)
* November 30 – Tiny Tim (musician), Tiny Tim, American musician (b. 1932)
December
* December 3 – Babrak Karmal, President of Afghanistan (b. 1929)
* December 7 – José Donoso, Chilean writer (b. 1924)
* December 9 – Mary Leakey, British archaeologist (b. 1913)
* December 10 – Faron Young, American singer (b. 1932)
* December 11 – Willie Rushton, English comedian, actor and cartoonist (b. 1937)
* December 13 – Cao Yu, Chinese playwright (b. 1910)
* December 16 – Quentin Bell, English biographer and art historian (b. 1910)
** Laurens van der Post, South African author (b. 1906)
* December 17 – Stanko Todorov, Bulgarian communist politician (b. 1920)
* December 18 – Irving Caesar, American lyricist (b. 1895)
* December 19 – Marcello Mastroianni, Italian actor (b. 1924)
* December 20
** Amata Kabua, 1st President of the Marshall Islands (b. 1928)
** Carl Sagan, American astronomer (b. 1934)
* December 30
** Lew Ayres, American actor (b. 1908)
** Jack Nance, American actor (b. 1943)
Nobel Prizes
* Nobel Prize in Physics, Physics – David M. Lee, Douglas D. Osheroff, Robert Coleman Richardson, Robert C. Richardson
* Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry – Robert Curl, Sir Harold Kroto, Richard Smalley
* Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Medicine – Peter C. Doherty, Rolf M. Zinkernagel
* Nobel Prize in Literature, Literature – Wisława Szymborska
* Nobel Peace Prize, Peace – Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and José Ramos-Horta
* Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel – James Mirrlees, William Vickrey
Right Livelihood Award
* Herman Daly, The Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia, Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad and George Vithoulkas
References
1996 Year in Review– CNN
{{DEFAULTSORT:1996
1996,
Leap years in the Gregorian calendar