Year retrospective · 1990s

1991

1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1991st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 991st year of the 2nd millennium, the 91st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1990s decade.

Recorded events

10

top entries

Notable births

30

Notable deaths

30

Decade

1990s

Timeline

Defining events of 1991

  1. 1991 Italian ferry MS Moby Prince collides with an oil tanker in dense fog off Livorno, Italy, killing 140.

    1991 maritime disaster

    The Moby Prince disaster was a major maritime accident resulting in 140 deaths. It occurred in the late evening of Wednesday 10 April 1991, in the harbour of Livorno, Italy. It is the worst disaster in the Italian merchant navy since World War II.

  2. 1991 A rare tropical storm develops in the South Atlantic Ocean near Angola, the first to be documented by satellites.

    Tropical cyclones in the South Atlantic Ocean

    South Atlantic tropical cyclones are unusual weather events that occur in the Southern Hemisphere. Strong wind shear, which disrupts the formation of cyclones, as well as a lack of weather disturbances favorable for development in the South Atlantic Ocean, make any strong tropical system extremely rare, and Hurricane Catarina in 2004 is the only recorded South Atlantic hurricane in history. Storms can develop year-round in the South Atlantic, with activity peaking during the months from November through May.

  3. 1991 The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President following its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.

    Country in Eastern Europe and West Asia

    Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region on the coast of the Black Sea. It is located at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia, and is today generally regarded as part of Europe. It is bordered to the north and northeast by Russia; to the west by the Black Sea, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan.

  4. 1991 Rita Johnston becomes the first female Premier of a Canadian province when she succeeds William Vander Zalm (who had resigned) as Premier of British Columbia.

    Premier of British Columbia in 1991

    Rita Margaret Johnston is a Canadian politician in British Columbia. Johnston became the first female premier in Canadian history when she succeeded Bill Vander Zalm in 1991 to become the 29th premier of British Columbia, serving for seven months. She was a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1983 to 1991, and served in the Vander Zalm ministry as part of the British Columbia Social Credit Party (Socred) caucus, including as deputy premier from 1990 to 1991.

  5. 1991 Fifty-five tornadoes break out in the central United States. Before the outbreak's end, Andover, Kansas, would record the year's only F5 tornado.

    Tornado outbreak in Kansas and Oklahoma

    From April 26 to 27, 1991, multiple supercells across Oklahoma and Kansas led to a regional tornado outbreak. Forced by a potent trough and focused along a dryline, these distinct thunderstorms moved northeast through a moist and highly unstable environment. A total of 55 tornadoes were confirmed, many of which were strong, F2 or greater on the Fujita scale.

  6. 1991 Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-39, the first unclassified shuttle mission for the United States Department of Defense.

    Space Shuttle orbiter (1984–2011)

    Space Shuttle Discovery is a retired American Space Shuttle orbiter. The spaceplane was one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984.

  7. 1991 A cyclone strikes the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 miles per hour (249 km/h), killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as ten million homeless.
  8. 1991 The 7.0 Mw  Racha earthquake affects Georgia with a maximum MSK intensity of IX (Destructive), killing 270 people.
  9. 1991 Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania.
  10. 1991 Forty-one people are taken hostage inside a Good Guys! Electronics store in Sacramento, California. Three of the hostage takers and three hostages are killed.

Arrivals

Born in 1991

Duván Zapata 1991– Colombian footballer (born 1991)
Thiago Alcântara 1991– Spain international footballer (born 1991)
Cédric Bakambu 1991– Footballer (born 1991)
Brennan Poole 1991– American racing driver (born 1991)
Lionel Carole 1991– French footballer (born 1991)
Oliver Norwood 1991– English footballer (born 1991)
Magnus Pääjärvi 1991– Swedish ice hockey player (born 1991)
Jazz Richards 1991– Welsh footballer
Josh Gordon 1991– American football player (born 1991)
Daiki Arioka 1991– Japanese singer, actor, tarento and model (born 1991)
Javier Fernández López 1991– Spanish figure skater
Nolan Arenado 1991– American baseball player (born 1991)

Farewells

Died in 1991

Martha Graham American dancer and choreographer (1894–1991)
Jaime Guzmán Chilean politician (1946–1991)
Kevin Peter Hall American actor (1955–1991)
Martin Hannett Musical artist & record producer (1948–1991)
Natalie Schafer American actress (1900–1991)
Stanley Hawes British-born documentary film producer and director
Steve Marriott English guitarist and singer (1947–1991)
Don Siegel American filmmaker (1912–1991)
Willi Boskovsky Austrian violinist and conductor
Leo Arnaud French-American arranger and composer (1904–1991)
Carmine Coppola American composer (1910–1991)
A. B. Guthrie American novelist, screenwriter, historian, and literary historian

On the charts

Culture of 1991

By month

Across the calendar of 1991

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