Year retrospective · 1990s

1994

1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1994th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 994th year of the 2nd millennium, the 94th year of the 20th century, and the 5th year of the 1990s decade.

Recorded events

10

top entries

Notable births

30

Notable deaths

30

Decade

1990s

Timeline

Defining events of 1994

  1. 1994 In a friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two U.S. Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two U.S. Army helicopters, killing 26 people.

    Accidental attack on friendly forces

    In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy or hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while engaging an enemy, long range ranging errors or inaccuracy. Accidental fire not intended to attack enemy or hostile targets, and deliberate firing on one's own troops for disciplinary reasons is not called friendly fire, and neither is unintentional harm to civilian or neutral targets, which is sometimes referred to as collateral damage.

  2. 1994 Marrakesh Agreement relating to foundation of World Trade Organization is adopted.

    April 1994 international free trade agreement signed in Marrakech, Morocco

    The Marrakesh Agreement, manifested by the Marrakesh Declaration, was an agreement signed in Marrakesh, Morocco, by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, marking the culmination of the eight-year-long Uruguay Round and establishing the World Trade Organization, which officially came into being on 1 January 1995.

  3. 1994 A Douglas DC-3 ditches in Botany Bay after takeoff from Sydney Airport. All 25 people on board survive.

    Airliner and military transport aircraft family

    The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner that was manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It had a lasting effect on the airline industry from the 1930s through World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved, 14-bed sleeper version of the Douglas DC-2.

  4. 1994 China Airlines Flight 140 crashes at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board.

    1994 aviation accident in Nagoya, Japan

    China Airlines Flight 140 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport to Nagoya Airport in Nagoya, Japan.

  5. 1994 South Africa begins its first multiracial election, which is won by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress.

    Country in Southern Africa

    South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. Its nine provinces are bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres of coastline that stretches along the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini; and it encloses Lesotho. Covering an area of 1,221,037 square kilometres, the country has a population of over 63 million people, making it the sixth-most populated country in Africa.

  6. 1994 South African general election: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution comes into force.This marked the end of Apartheid.

    First South African election held under nonracial, universal suffrage

    General elections were held in South Africa between 26 and 29 April 1994. The elections were the first in South Africa in which citizens of all races could vote, bringing an end to the herrenvolk democracy that had existed since the 1950s and marking the country's first election under universal suffrage. The election was conducted under the direction of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), and marked the culmination of the four-year process that ended apartheid.

  7. 1994 Former Central Intelligence Agency counterintelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving US secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.
  8. 1994 Formula One racing driver Roland Ratzenberger is killed in a crash during the qualifying session of the San Marino Grand Prix run at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari outside Imola, Italy.
  9. 1994 Three people are killed when KLM Cityhopper Flight 433 crashes at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
  10. 1994 The Rwandan genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.

Arrivals

Born in 1994

Siobhan Hunter 1994– Scottish footballer (born 1994)
Brandon Montour 1994– Canadian ice hockey player (born 1994)
Eric Bailly 1994– Ivorian footballer (born 1994)
Isabelle Drummond 1994– Brazilian actress (born 1994)
Guido Rodríguez 1994– Argentine footballer (born 1994)
Saoirse Ronan 1994– American-born Irish actress (born 1994)
Sehun 1994– South Korean rapper (born 1994)
Kahraba 1994– Egyptian footballer (born 1994)
Brodie Grundy 1994– Australian rules footballer
Shaunae Miller-Uibo 1994– Bahamian sprinter (born 1994)
Alanna Goldie 1994– Canadian fencer (born 1994)
Yang Hongseok 1994– South Korean singer and actor

Farewells

Died in 1994

Robert Doisneau French photographer
Sam B. Hall American judge
Salimuzzaman Siddiqui Pakistani organic chemist (1897–1994)
Roger Wolcott Sperry American neuropsychologist, neurobiologist and Nobel laureate
Betty Furness American actress, consumer advocate, and special assistant to the president (1916-1994)
Marc Fitch English historian
Richard Nixon President of the United States from 1969 to 1974
Masutatsu Ōyama Founder of Kyokushin Karate (1923–1994)
Frank Wells American film studio executive (1932–1994)
Roland Ratzenberger Austrian racing driver (1960–1994)
Richard Scarry American author and illustrator (1919–1994)
François Rozet Canadian actor

On the charts

Culture of 1994

By month

Across the calendar of 1994

Step through

Adjacent years

Keep going

More to explore