21st century began in 1991 - agree or disagree?

[Escort Rider]

Originally Posted by SHABAZZ310

disagree..

Why? It is the reasoning behind agreement or disagreement which provides the interest and learning possibilities in a discussion.

[SHABAZZ310]

Originally Posted by Escort Rider

Why? It is the reasoning behind agreement or disagreement which provides the interest and learning possibilities in a discussion.

For the 21st century to start in the 1990s would be contrary to actual factual data on what the 21st century actually is… It started in 2001 just like the last century started in the first year of that 100 year cycle and so on…

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by callmemaybe

Two major events took place in 1991.

1) The demise of the Soviet Union
2) The World Wide Web is released

Both of these events could also count for 1989, as the WWW was invented in 1989 and the first changes that led to the Soviet demise, esp the Berlin Wall's opening in 1989.

On the other hand, the Cold War's end goes back to 1979 when the Soviets started their war in Afghanistan, and the origins of the Internet go back to the 1960s.

But really I think 1991 feels like a truer historical boundary than the year 2000 does. I think the trends of today were well set into place by 2000.

Well, technically the 21st century did not begin until the first year of the new millenium... Which would be 2001.

[nightbird47]

If you look at the twentyth century, the dividing like clearly began in the 1890's. The things which would revolutionize our world were in their infancy then. Technology had taken off, though it had not yet become common place. You can't seperate that period from the twentyth century since it wouldn't have been without that time.

The frontier officially closed in the year 1890. The driving force in the Nineteenth century was industry and expansion. By then industry was firmly established, and expansion was done. What caused the Twentyth to be different was in large part that these things had happened. We began to use our economic power and gained on a world scale. And our society changed when there wasn't anywhere to run to anymore.

So you could say the same about that centrury. Before the things which shape and define a century come into play they must be settled and defined. That 'bridge' is the passage way. If you view it as an end of one centrury and time, then it is the fading of that one, but then at the same time its the birth of another one.

The alteration of the dominant politics of the Twentyth took a few years to settle, but they did. And while the anacedients of the internet (from a public point of view) began ten years before on a local basis when PC's began to come into homes, it took a few years before sufficent numbers accepted it and ran with it to the beginnings of the world we see now. So the 90's, are either the end of one space of time, or the beginning of another. Or perhaps we ought to recognize those times as a bridge, something which belongs to both.

The interesting thing is, when you look back at history, how so often the real shifting of society actually copies the calander in centuries, as if that's about the prime lifespan of any one period, at least since technology grew efficient enough that it could be an influence.

[nva79]

I seem to be in the minority here, but I agree with the OP. Some seem to take too literally that he means the 21st Century started in 1991; I (and I believe he) would never say that. Of course it literally started in 2000 (don't get into semantics about 2001). But culturally, politically, and socially, I consider 1991 to be a momentous year that marked the begining of the trends we see now. Someone noted that the fallout wasn't complete and internet hadn't caught on, but that's why it's the begining.

[Johnny Vanderburgh]

The 21st century started in AD 1248.

[callmemaybe]

Originally Posted by nva79

I seem to be in the minority here, but I agree with the OP. Some seem to take too literally that he means the 21st Century started in 1991; I (and I believe he) would never say that. Of course it literally started in 2000 (don't get into semantics about 2001). But culturally, politically, and socially, I consider 1991 to be a momentous year that marked the begining of the trends we see now. Someone noted that the fallout wasn't complete and internet hadn't caught on, but that's why it's the begining.

Yes, obviously I didn't mean literally. But there is actually a thing historians called the 'Short Twentieth Century' which states that the 'true' 20th century in terms of historical trends began in 1914 and ended in 1989 or 1991. I've also heard 1995 being an endpoint.

I really do think the Eighties seems like a different century than the Nineties in a way, because the events up to and including the year 1989/1991 looked backward towards the early to middle part of the 20th century, while events since 1989/1991 have looked forward into the future. It is a watershed, it's not like the world literally transformed into a different place one day, it's more like around 1991 there was an overall turnaround in where the trends were going. Also I notice that the Eighties are treated as already being very antiquated even though they are still mostly less than 30 years ago, while the Nineties are still treated as being fairly contemporaneous.

I don't think the year 2000 itself represented any kind of watershed, you might say September 11 was close, but I'd argue the Gulf War was the beginning of what 9/11 was a continuation of, the energy crisis causing conflict between different spheres of the world. In fact the Gulf War had been in planning since at least the late 1970s.