2000s

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bochiouc4t This article is about the decade starting at the beginning of 2000 and ending at the end of 2009. For the century or millennium starting in 2001, see the links below.

Centuries:	20th Century - 21st century - 22nd century
Decades:	1970s 1980s 1990s - 2000s - 2010s 2020s 2030s
Years:	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

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The decade as a whole

The 2000s decade in its most obvious sense refers to the decade spanning from 2000 to 2009. So far, the 2000s has been marked generally with an escalation of the social issues the world inherited from the 1990s and the post-Cold War era which included the rise of terrorism, the rapid expansion of communications and telecommunications with cell phones and the Internet, international pop culture, and the rapid, exponential expansion of globalization on an unprecedented scale. Politically, the 2000s has been almost entirely dominated by the War on Terrorism, with major terrorist attacks including the World Trade Center attack, the Moscow Theatre Siege, the Madrid train bombings, the Beslan school hostage crisis, the 2005 London bombings, and the October 2005 New Delhi bombings. In the news almost daily, especially in North America and Europe, the war on terrorism dominates headlines weekly. The controversy of the War on Terror, its consequences, and justifications, or lack thereof, have led to a politically and socially divided world. The 2000s have also witnessed the incredible economic growth of the world's two most populous nations, India and China, and the ramifications their growth has had on the western world.

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Names of the decade

In contrast to the decades from 1920 to 1999, which are called "The Twenties", "The Nineties", and the like; the 2000s has had no generally-accepted name, although it is usually referred to awkwardly as the "Two Thousands".

It is also occasionally termed, in historical contexts, the "turn of the millennium" or "turn of the century" (or "turn of the new century," since the idea of 1900 being the "turn of the century" is still fresh in people's minds). This terminology would probably seem silly, however, if used in an informal context.

Other names include the "Noughties", the "New Nineties", the "Double-O's", and the "Aughts".

The United Nations General Assembly declared the decade of 2000-2009 as the "International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World."

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Criticisms of the Decade

The 2000s are so far not a highly regarded decade by most people in the world as many find the 1990s to have been a much more prosperous time and look fondly upon earlier decades such as the 1960s and 1980s.

Common criticisms of the decade include a bad economy, the slowing of the tech boom even despite innovations such as broadband Internet and the Ipod, pop music, television, and movies lacking creativity, the disappointing similarity with the 1990s the decade holds, and the War on Terror and criticisms of President George W. Bush.

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Events and trends

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Technology

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A huge jump in broadband internet usage, from 6% of U.S. internet users in June, 2000 to what one study predicts will be 62% by 2010.
Boom in music downloading and the use of data compression to quickly transfer music over the Internet, with a corresponding rise of portable digital audio players typified by Apple Computer's iPod.
Digital cameras become very popular due to rapid decreases in size and cost while photo resolution steadily increases. Sales of film reel cameras diminish greatly as a result.
Google search engine increases trafficability of the internet and "to Google" becomes a verb.
Due to an increase in ability to store data, USB flash drives begin to replace zip disks and 3.5-inch diskettes.
Graphic cards become powerful enough to render nearly photo-realistic scenes in real time.
Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 become the ubiquitous industry standard in personal computer software. Open source and free software continues to be a notable but minority interest, with versions of GNU/Linux gaining in popularity, as well as the Mozilla Firefox web browser.
Liquid crystal displays begin displacing cathode ray tubes.
Major advances in Hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, Escape, and the Honda Insight.
Greater interest in future energy development due to global warming and the potential exhaustion of crude oil.
Blogs, portals, and wikis become common electronic dissemination methods for professional amateurs and businesses to conduct knowledge management.
Wikipedia began, and grew rapidly.
DVDs replace VCR technology as the common standard at video stores.
Wireless networks become commonplace in homes, education institutes and urban public spaces.
LASIK eye surgery becomes popular as costs and potential risk decreases and results further improve.
OLED (Organic light-emitting diode) technology revolutionizes display technology, making it possible to "print" screens on everyday objects.
Home automation and home robotics become popular in North America; iRobot's "Roomba" is the most successful domestic robot and has sold 1.2 million units.
GPS (Global Positioning System) becomes very popular especially in the tracking of items or people, and the use in cars.
RFID (Radio Frequency ID) becomes widely used in retail giants such as Wal-Mart, as a way to track items and automate stocking and keeping track of items.
DVRs (Digital Video Recorders), typified by TiVo, allow consumers to modify content they watch on TV, and to record TV programs and watch them later, leading to problems as consumers can fast-forward through commercials, making them useless.
Self-serve kiosks become very widely available, used for all kinds of shopping, airplane boarding passes, hotel check-ins, fast food, and car rental.
Internet usage surpasses TV viewing in 2004.
Emerging use of robotics in medicine, particularly for surgery.
Many more computers and other technologies incorporated into vehicles such as Xenon HID headlights, GPS, DVD players, self-diagnosing systems, advanced pre-collision safety systems, memory systems for car settings, back-up sensors and cameras, in-car media systems, MP3 player compatibility, USB drive compatibility, keyless start and entry, satellite radio, voice-activation, cellphone connectivity, adaptive headlights, HUD (Head-Up-Display), infrared cameras, and Onstar (on GM models).
Peer-to-peer technology use: internet telephony (Skype), file-sharing.
Deceleration in the technology industry compared to the rapid growth of the 1990s.

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Science

The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission successfully reached the surface of Mars, and sent detailed data and images of the landscape there back to Earth.
The Human Genome Project was completed. (2000)
SpaceshipOne made the first privately-funded human spaceflight. (June 21, 2004)
National Geographic and IBM fund a research project which traces every living human down to a "Scientific Adam". Human Geneology Project

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War, peace and politics

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Major controversy over U. S. presidential election (November 7-December 13, 2000)
September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center and Virginia's Pentagon killing almost 3000 people. A resultant change in stance towards international terrorism (See New Era and War on Terror) has ripple effects on the USA's foreign policy and military strategy.
Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002 against Hugo ChÃ¡vez
U.S. invasion of Afghanistan to depose the Taliban regime in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks (September 18, 2001 – July 18, 2003).
The Convention on the Future of Europe proposing first European constitution (i.e., of the EU). The Constitution is rejected by French and Dutch electorate in 2005 leading to political crisis in EU.
East Timor gains official independence from Indonesia. (May 20, 2002)
International Criminal Court established, used for judging war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide (July 1, 2002)
American 2003 invasion of Iraq
Darfur conflict in Sudan
"Orange Revolution" in Ukraine leads to election of Viktor Yushchenko as President after initial election victory of incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is annulled due to vote-rigging
Revolution in Kyrgyzstan overthrows government of President Askar Akayev
Beslan school hostage crisis, in which multinational terrorists take a school in Beslan, Russia hostage and subsequently kill 344 people including children (September 1, 2004)
United States expands international influence, in particular in the Middle East The US also hold a number of war games pertaining to the Strait of Taiwan in preparation for a possible war with the People's Republic of China over a Taiwanese secession. China and Russia display a strategic relationships during a simulated "humanitarian" crisis in the same region during Peace Mission 2005.
Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro and his conservative Liberal Democratic Party are re-elected in a landslide election in September 2005, mainly due to a booming Japanese economy and Junichiro's plans to privatise the Japanese postal service.
In 2005, Early elections in Germany produce the first Grand Coalition for the country in almost forty years. After weeks of talks, the center-left Social Democrats and center-right Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union agree to let conservative Angela Merkel become chancellor. She is first chancellor to be from eastern Germany, as well as the country's first female chancellor.

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Economics

Globalization: Transnational companies become more pervasive, and anti-globalization protests occur frequently during meetings of IMF and WTO, especially in the early 2000s.
The euro becomes legal tender in twelve European Union countries in 2002. It's the largest monetary union in history. The euro eases trade in the Eurozone.
The NASDAQ, the American Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange closed for six days after the September 11th, 2001 attacks the longest close since the Great Depression in 1929.
Major downturn in the value of dot-com shares, with occasional exceptions (Google's IPO on August 13, 2004)
The US dominance over the world economy continues, but economically rising nations like China, show signs of becoming contending world powers.
Significant oil price rises. Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline opens on 25 May 2005, potentially removing the dependence of the United States and other Western nations on Middle Eastern oil.
Enron and other major accounting and corporate governance scandals prompt reviews of corporate government legislation worldwide (eg Sarbanes-Oxley Act)
The 1990s stock market boom ends in Mid-March to Early September.

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Culture and religion

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The vast proliferation of information technology and digital media leads to many cultural paradigm shifts as people grapple with information overload. Generation Y (Millennials) are said to be adept at these technological developments.
Reality television becomes a well-established sector of the television programming industry. Nightly news broadcasts continue to lose viewership to 24-hour internet news coverage. Changing television habits that involve increased use of the internet and the preponderance of TiVo make marketers rethink the paradigm of the 30-second TV ad. Viral marketing, and product placement within reality television shows and movies are some increasingly used alternatives. Spam is used as an alternative, irritating many.
European society continues to become more secular; in contrast, religious groups increase their political influence in the United States and the Middle East.
The divisive US presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 leads to commentators describing the country as split between Red States and Blue States.
April 2, 2005: Pope John Paul II dies at age 84; succeeded by Pope Benedict XVI on April 24.
Same-sex marriage becomes a major cultural issue in developed countries. In 2001, the Netherlands becomes the first country to allow gay couples to wed. This is followed by Belgium in 2003, and by Canada and Spain in 2005. In 2004, Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to permit same-sex marriage.

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Other

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2002–2003: SARS virus outbreak, most notably in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore and Toronto.
February 1, 2003: The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry, killing all seven astronauts onboard, prompting investigation into NASA communication abilities and safety. Space shuttle flight resumes in late 2005, only to be suspended again.
Major earthquake rocks the ancient city of Bam, in Iran. Cost over 50,000 lives.
On December 26, 2004, a major earthquake and ensuing tsunami causes devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, The Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean. As of January 2005 the death toll is estimated to be nearly 290,000, prompting the largest humanitarian response for a natural disaster in history.
Methamphetamine use skyrockets while crime rates in the U.S. and use of most other drugs drops.
Extended alcohol sales becomes popular public policy in US and UK.
Bird flu spreads through South East Asia; countries begin preparing for a potential bird flu epidemic, fearing that it could mutate into a form that could transfer easily from person to person and kill millions of people. Bird flu spreads rapidly into Europe in October 2005.
Criticism of Vladimir Putin's governmental policies and reforms mount and a backlash of Soviet-nostalgia occurs in Russia.
On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina strikes southeastern Louisiana, U.S., killing 1,300 people and devastating the city New Orleans and the Mississippi coast. People and life later return to New Orleans, but many analysts expect that New Orleans will never return to the way it was before.
A major earthquake in Kashmir kills close to 80,000 people on October 8, 2005, devastating Kashmir and forcing the mass evacuation of mountain towns as winter approaches.
Arctic sea ice cover reaches record lows; global warming continues to be a major concern.
National Social Norms Resource Center established in U.S.
DWI Courts introduced in U.S.
The 2005 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season becomes the most active on record. First use of the Greek

naming system after traditional names exhausted.

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Trends and Fashion

Fashion slowly becomes less grungy and more excessive as the wearing of flannel by people under 30 declines and acid-washed jeans and shaggy hair become again commonplace for boys and men. For girls and women hoop earrings, originally popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, return to style circa 2004.

Wearing baseball caps backwards peacefully falls out of style, in favor of wearing them sideways or forwards. Sunglasses begin to become less widespread as a fashion statement.

Increase of tattoos, which began to be popular around 1994

Big and poofy hair makes large return, such as the Afro and perm.

Fad diets such as Atkins popular; "less is more" a common statement in 1990s and 2000s

Slang words used often in the 2000s (some predate the decade)include "Sweet", "Retarded", "Gay", "Crunk", "Wanksta", "Awesome", and "Tight".

Cell phones become a necessity to teenagers and often a fashion statement as opposed to a preppie toy. As the phones can also be potentially used as a "tracking device", many teenagers and young adults try to avoid having worrisome or over-protective parents know they have one.

MP3 players (such as the iPod) become very common as they become more powerful and easier to use.

Generation Y supplants Gen X as current youth generation.

Interracial dating and relationships become more common in the US, however the double standard of black male-white female pairings and white male-asian female pairings largely continues to persist.

Strong cultural similarities with the 1990s as the pop culture of that decade continues to be trendy and cherished by the 2000s youth as exampled by the success of Mariah Carey and Green Day in the mid-2000s and by the fact that the Nineties receive only minimal backlash among current youth.

A very strong nostalgia for the 1980s emerges, and as a result many things from the 80s are "brought back" and certain aspects of the decade become cool again such as New Wave music. Nontheless, the 2000s' kinship with the 1990s prevents a complete acceptance of the 80s.

Poker becomes a craze, as many Americans are enticed by online poker rooms and games with their friends and neighbors. The World Series of Poker aired on ESPN becomes a huge success.

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Music

Rap music, especially of the post-gangsta and crunk varieties, reaches new heights of popularity, surpassing even the early 1990s in presence and begins to overtake rock and roll as the music of the youth. Popular and definitive artists include Eminem, Jay Z, Nelly, 50 Cent, Ja Rule, DMX, OutKast, and Kanye West.

Nu metal, an offshoot of grunge and old school hip hop, popular early in the decade but dates itself by about 2003.

Pop-punk, pioneered by late 90s band Blink 182, rises in popularity throughout the decade, becoming a staple of Gen Y culture. The similar if not identical Emo trend emerges.

Pop R&B continues to be popular, fueled further by combination with Rap.

Crunk becomes a household word in 2003 when Lil' Jon popularizes the genre.

Pop country begins to slip in popularity in the mid-2000s as singers like Faith Hill and Shania Twain no longer top the charts, but it maintains a niche in Middle America.

Teen pop of the late 90s variety rises and falls in popularity between 1999 and 2002, although maintains a strong media presence afterward and morphes into more adult-oriented music such as Kelly Clarkson.

Rock bands begin to ditch the Grunge image in favor of more avant-garde and traditional forms of rock music while keeping so-called "Alternative Rock" ethos, beginning around 2002. (see Emo)

Fall of dance music from pop charts in United States, despite ruling the clubs.

Underground hip hop thrives on Internet with the likes of Atmosphere and Aesop Rock.

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Film

The two Spider-Man movies make a huge impact on popular culture. The scene in the movieSpider-Man where Mary Jane kisses Spider-Man upside down becomes a commonly spoofed scene on many shows. Being two of the biggest movies of the decade, much anticipation builds around the time of the release of these movies.

Movie remakes and sequels hit an all-time high, causing many to complain that originality in Hollywood is at an all-time low.

Decline in ticket sales due to general lack of quality films and decline of the general moviegoing experience, as movie theaters keep ticket prices high and increase the duration of advertisements before movies, in some cases going as long as 20 minutes. Other trends emerge, such as the decreasing cost and increasing size of quality home theater displays along with the availability mail-based movie rental services, most notably Netflix, which offered an unlimited number of DVD rentals for a fixed price per month. Movie executives attempted to place some of the blame on online piracy due to the advent of BitTorrent, however its effect has been disupted, as some claim that those who download these movies would not have paid to see them in the first place.

Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, comic book movies, and the new Star Wars movies dominate the box office. The high profitability of these franchises arguably has much to do with the lack of investment and quality in newer and more original films in the 2000s.

The Matrix very influential on special effect styles (ie: 'bullet-time', dramatic effects in slow motion).

Disney abandons traditional 2D animation in 2005, with Home on the Range being the last 2D Disney movie. Chicken Little becomes the first movie of Disney's 3D era.

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Video Games

Video games begin to approach real-looking graphics as the GameCube, Playstation, and Xbox series push the bounds on technology, beginning around the end of the year 2000.

Halo (2001) and Halo 2 (2004) massive successes

Grand Theft Auto games very popular, controversy about their violence and disrespect appears

Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube, Ported to PS2) gets great reviews (Nintendo Power: 10/10, IGN 9.8/10)

Xbox Power adapters catch fire, Microsoft replaces them for no charge.

November 21, 2004: Nintendo releases dual screen, WIFI ready, mic equipped, touch screen handeld, the Nintendo DS, which, after an okay launch, begins to get top rated games (Meteos, Kirby Canvas Curse, Trauma Center: Under the Knife, etc.).

The Nintendo WIFI Connection (WFC), Nintendo's online service, launches November 2005 along with Mario Kart DS (IGN 9.5/10).

Sony releases the PSP (suffers from nuemerous dead pixles and mediocre launch titles, now mainly used for homebrew) to compete with the DS.

Next Generation Systems: Nintendo chooses to focus on Innovation in their console, code-named Nintendo Revolution (coming in 2006, <$300), while Microsoft (Xbox 360, $400 and up) and Sony (Playstation 3, at least $500, most think much higher) choose to make consoles that have better graphics and PC-like features.

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Television and Radio

Reality TV shows, such as The Apprentice, Survivor, and The Amazing Race have become extremely popular, beginning in the year 2000. Big Brother began the craze in Europe a year earlier in the fall of 1999. The rise of Reality to the main networks was one of the first trends that differentiated 2000s television from that of the 1990s. As early as the second season (2000-2001) of Reality TV the trend began to receive criticism by some.

Popular and definitive TV shows include Lost (2004-), the short-lived Chappelle's Show (2003-2005), Survivor (2000-), South Park (1997-), Family Guy (1999-2002, 2005-), 24 (2001-), Spongebob Squarepants (1999-), CSI (1999-), and Desperate Housewives (2004-). 1990s TV shows The Simpsons (1989-), Friends (1994-2004), Law and Order (1990-) and The Real World (1992-) remain varyingly definitive into the 2000s.

The popular series LOST spawns many copycats in the mid-2000s, including Ghost Whisperer and Invasion.

Continued trend of animated sitcoms as traditional sitcoms such as Family Matters and Third Rock From The Sun decline in number.

Medical TV shows, which rose to popularity in the mid-1990s with ER, are in vogue, along with crime shows.

Rise of media violence, sex, and language decreases with the 2004 Janet Jackson incident at the Super Bowl. The FCC made their censorship rules more conservative at this point.

The Nineties sitcom Friends ends in a similar fashion to the end of Cheers in 1993.

Nickelodeon nearly abandons the live action shows it had in the 1980s and 1990s in favor of Nicktoons. This ends towards the middle of the decade, as the network adds live action fare such as Drake and Josh (2004-), Unfabulous (2004-), and Zoey 101 (2005-). In addition, the network begins to skew to a younger audience than in previous years, cancelling programs popular among teenagers, such as Invader Zim and As Told By Ginger, in favor of programs for younger adolescents, such as All Grown Up, Unfabulous, and Zoey 101.

Disney Channel shifts from classic Disney programming to live action shows in late 1990s and early 2000s (see Zoog Disney), while turning towards original cartoons beginning in 2001 with The Proud Family.

Japanimation becomes focus of Cartoon Network and a staple of children's programming, along with more adult-oriented material (see Animatrix and Adult Swim).

The Simpsons remains incredibly popular despite being nearly 20 years old, but has worn out the welcome of some who believe it's no longer funny or representative of the times.

Family Guy returns with new episodes in May of 2005 after a 3-year cancellation as many people bought the DVDs of the original 1999-2002 run.

Talk radio shows such as Al Franken, Coast to Coast AM and Rush Limbaugh keep people on the AM dial.

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Sports

Basketball dips somewhat in popularity with the loss of Michael Jordan and the Kobe Bryant controversy; football continues to become more popular, while professional soccer makes inroads into the United States and Canada.
Baseball in the United States undergoes controversy due to steroids; stars such as Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, ranked #1 and #2 in single-season home runs, are suspected to have used steroids, while others such as Jason Giambi and Rafael Palmeiro are confirmed to have been using the drugs.
Beach volleyball becomes an increasingly popular sport worldwide, establishing its first generation of superstars and branching out into large inland cities.