Important Historical Events of the year 2020, Year 2020 in History
List of 2020 Major News Events in History, Most Important Historical Events in 2020
What happened in the year 2020?
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 3, 2020 | Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airport, igniting global concerns of a potential armed conflict. |
| January 7, 2020 | The 6.4Mw 2019–20 Puerto Rico earthquakes kill four and injure nine in southern Puerto Rico. |
| January 8, 2020 | Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashes immediately after takeoff at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport; all 176 on board are killed. The plane was shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile. |
| January 11, 2020 | COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei: Municipal health officials in Wuhan announce the first recorded death from COVID-19. |
| January 12, 2020 | Taal Volcano in the Philippines erupts, and kills 39 people. |
| January 13, 2020 | The Thai Ministry of Public Health confirms the first case of COVID-19 outside China. |
| January 15, 2020 | The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare confirms the first case of COVID-19 in Japan. |
| January 16, 2020 | The first impeachment of Donald Trump formally moves into its trial phase in the United States Senate. |
| January 16, 2020 | The United States Senate ratifies the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement as a replacement for NAFTA. |
| January 26, 2020 | A Sikorsky S-76B flying from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport crashes in Calabasas, 30 miles west of Los Angeles, killing all nine people on board, including former five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant. |
| January 29, 2020 | COVID-19 pandemic: The Trump administration establishes the White House Coronavirus Task Force under Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar. |
| January 30, 2020 | The World Health Organization declares the COVID-19 pandemic to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. |
| January 31, 2020 | The United Kingdom's membership within the European Union ceases in accordance with Article 50, after 47 years of being a member state. |
| February 4, 2020 | The COVID-19 pandemic causes all casinos in Macau to be closed down for 15 days.[16] |
| February 5, 2020 | United States President Donald Trump is acquitted by the United States Senate in his first impeachment trial. |
| February 9, 2020 | Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has the army soldiers enter the Legislative Assembly to assist in pushing for the approval for a better government security plan, causing a brief political crisis. |
| February 11, 2020 | COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization officially names the coronavirus outbreak as COVID-19, with the virus being designated SARS-CoV-2. |
| February 23, 2020 | Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old African-American citizen, is shot and murdered by three white men after visiting a house under construction while jogging at a neighborhood in Satilla Shores near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia. |
| February 24, 2020 | Mahathir Mohamad resigned as Prime Minister of Malaysia following an attempt to replace Pakatan Harapan government which triggered 2020 Malaysian political crisis. |
| February 29, 2020 | Joe Biden wins the South Carolina primary election. |
| February 29, 2020 | South Korea reports a record total of 3,150 confirmed cases of COVID-19 during the pandemic. |
| February 29, 2020 | During a demonstration, pro-government colectivos shoot at disputed President and Speaker of the National Assembly Juan Guaidó and his supporters in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, leaving five injured.[37] |
| February 29, 2020 | The United States and the Taliban sign the Doha Agreement for bringing peace to Afghanistan. |
| March 4, 2020 | Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to walk on the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua. |
| March 6, 2020 | 32 people are killed and 81 are injured when gunmen open fire on a ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Islamic State claims responsibility for the attack. |
| March 11, 2020 | The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the COVID-19 virus epidemic a pandemic. |
| March 12, 2020 | The United States suspends travel from Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| March 13, 2020 | President Donald Trump declares the COVID-19 pandemic to be a national emergency in the United States. |
| March 13, 2020 | Breonna Taylor is killed by police officers who were forcibly entering her home in Louisville, Kentucky; her death sparked extensive protests against police brutality. |
| March 16, 2020 | The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 2,997.10, the single largest point drop in history and the second-largest percentage drop ever at 12.93%, an even greater crash than Black Monday (1929). This follows the U.S. Federal Reserve announcing that it will cut its target interest rate to 0–0.25%. |
| March 22, 2020 | Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces the country's largest ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19. |
| March 22, 2020 | Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announces a national lockdown and the country's first ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19. |
| March 23, 2020 | Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the United Kingdom into its first national lockdown in response to COVID-19. |
| March 27, 2020 | North Macedonia becomes the 30th member of NATO. |
| April 2, 2020 | COVID-19 pandemic: The total number of confirmed cases reach one million. |
| April 4, 2020 | China holds a national day of mourning for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease outbreak. |
| April 7, 2020 | COVID-19 pandemic: China ends its lockdown in Wuhan. |
| April 7, 2020 | COVID-19 pandemic: Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly resigns for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic on USS Theodore Roosevelt and the dismissal of Brett Crozier. |
| April 8, 2020 | Bernie Sanders ends his presidential campaign, leaving Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee. |
| April 19, 2020 | A killing spree in Nova Scotia, Canada, leaves 22 people and the perpetrator dead, making it the deadliest rampage in the country's history.[15] |
| April 20, 2020 | For the first time in history, oil prices drop below zero. |
| April 22, 2020 | Four police officers are killed after being struck by a truck on the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne while speaking to a speeding driver, marking the largest loss of police lives in Victoria Police history. |
| May 9, 2020 | The COVID-19 recession causes the U.S. unemployment rate to hit 14.9 percent, its worst rate since the Great Depression. |
| May 22, 2020 | Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303 crashes in Model Colony near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 98 people. |
| May 26, 2020 | Protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd erupt in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, before becoming widespread across the United States and around the world. |
| May 30, 2020 | The Crew Dragon Demo-2 launches from the Kennedy Space Center, becoming the first crewed orbital spacecraft to launch from the United States since 2011 and the first commercial flight to the International Space Station. |
| July 1, 2020 | The United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement replaces NAFTA. |
| July 13, 2020 | After a five-day search, the body of American actress and singer Naya Rivera is recovered from Lake Piru, where she drowned in California. |
| July 30, 2020 | NASA's Mars 2020 mission was launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. |
| August 4, 2020 | At least 220 people are killed and over 5,000 are wounded when 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate explodes in Beirut, Lebanon. |
| August 5, 2020 | Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the 'Bhoomi Pujan' or land worship ceremony and lays the foundation stone of Rama Mandir in Ayodhya after a Supreme Court verdict ruling in favour of building the temple on disputed land. |
| August 7, 2020 | Air India Express Flight 1344 overshoots the runway at Calicut International Airport in the Malappuram district of Kerala, India, and crashes, killing 21 of the 190 people on board. |
| August 10, 2020 | Derecho in Iowa becomes the most costly thunderstorm disaster in U.S. history. |
| August 13, 2020 | Israel–United Arab Emirates relations are formally established. |
| August 15, 2020 | Russia begins production on the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine. |
| August 16, 2020 | The August Complex fire in California burns more than one million acres of land.[12] |
| August 20, 2020 | Joe Biden gives his acceptance speech virtually for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. |
| August 24, 2020 | Erin O’Toole is elected leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. |
| September 4, 2020 | Pope Benedict XVI becomes the longest-lived pope, 93 years, four months, 16 days, surpassing Pope Leo XIII, who died in 1903. |
| September 15, 2020 | Signing of the Bahrain–Israel normalization agreement occurs in Washington, D.C., normalizing relations between Israel and two Arab nations, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. |
| September 27, 2020 | Second Nagorno-Karabakh war: Azerbaijan launched an offensive against the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh, inhabited predominantly by ethnic Armenians.[16] |
| October 8, 2020 | Second Nagorno-Karabakh War: Azerbaijan twice deliberately targeted the Church of the Holy Savior Ghazanchetsots of Shusha.[5][6] |
| October 29, 2020 | Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party and of the Opposition in the United Kingdom is suspended from the Labour Party following his response to findings from the EHRC on the issue of antisemitism within the party. |
| October 30, 2020 | A magnitude 7.0 earthquake strikes the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, triggering a tsunami. At least 119 people die mainly due to collapsed buildings. |
| October 31, 2020 | Berlin Brandenburg Airport opens its doors after nearly 10 years of delays due to construction issues and project corruption. |
| November 3, 2020 | The 2020 United States presidential election takes place between Democratic Joe Biden and Republican incumbent President Donald Trump. On November 7, Biden was declared the winner. |
| November 7, 2020 | Joe Biden is elected the 46th president of the United States. |
| November 9, 2020 | Second Nagorno-Karabakh War: An armistice agreement is signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia.[10] |
| November 10, 2020 | Armenia and Azerbaijan sign a ceasefire agreement, ending the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, and prompting protests in Armenia.[8][9][10] |
| November 11, 2020 | Typhoon Vamco makes landfall in Luzon and several offshore islands, killing 67 people. The storm causes the worst floods in the region since Typhoon Ketsana in 2009.[7] |
| November 15, 2020 | Lewis Hamilton wins the Turkish Grand Prix and secures his seventh drivers' title, equalling the all-time record held by Michael Schumacher. |
| November 18, 2020 | The Utah monolith, built sometime in 2016 is discovered by state biologists of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. |
| November 27, 2020 | Iran's top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, is assassinated near Tehran. |
| November 27, 2020 | Days after the announcement of its discovery, the Utah monolith is removed by recreationists. |
| November 28, 2020 | Over seven hundred civilians are massacred by the Ethiopian National Defense Force and Eritrean Army in Aksum, Ethiopia. |
| December 1, 2020 | The Arecibo Telescope collapsed. |
| December 2, 2020 | Cannabis is removed from the list of most dangerous drugs of the international drug control treaty by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.[8][9][10] |
| December 11, 2020 | The Food and Drug Administration issues an Emergency Use Authorization on the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the first COVID-19 vaccine to be approved by the agency. |
| December 14, 2020 | A total solar eclipse is visible from parts of the South Pacific Ocean, southern South America, and the South Atlantic Ocean. |
| December 21, 2020 | A great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurs, with the two planets separated in the sky by 0.1 degrees. This is the closest conjunction between the two planets since 1623. |
| December 25, 2020 | An explosion in Nashville, Tennessee occurs, leaving three civilians in the hospital. |
| December 29, 2020 | A large explosion at the airport in the southern Yemeni city of Aden kills at least 22 people and wounds 50. |
| December 29, 2020 | A magnitude 6.4 earthquake hits near the town of Petrinja in Sisak-Moslavina County, Croatia, killing 7 people. |
| December 31, 2020 | The World Health Organization issues its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine.[17] |