2021 was less of a dumpster fire that the year 2020 was, but it was still a pretty crappy year (compared to awesomeness that was the years of the 2010s). However, every year has events that are notable and 2021 had no shortage of them.
Here’s a list of 21 Notable Events in 2021
1. Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the United States Capitol
Trump’s supporters disrupted the certification of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election and forced Congress to evacuate on the 6th of January 2021. More than 2,000 rioters entered the U.S. Capitol, caused more than $2.7 million in damages and 5 people died during the ensuing riot. This did not change the election result though, President Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th U.S. President on the 20th of January of this year. On the 8th of January 2021, Twitter banned Donald Trump permanently “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”
2. Bernie Sanders and his mittens went viral
A frame from the inauguration of Joe Biden showing Bernie Sanders seated in a folding chair wearing patterned mittens and a jacket reminiscent of the one in the “I am once again asking” meme went viral, with the image captioned or edited into other images, most commonly popular movie scenes. These mittens raised $1.8 million for Vermont charities.
3. A cargo ship got stuck in the Suez Canal
On 23 March 2021, an enormous container ship (Evergreen) blocked this key shipping canal, This ship single-handedly disrupted the global economy and captured the world’s attention.
The 220,000 tonne ship got stuck in a single-lane stretch of the canal, about six kilometers (3.7 miles) North of the Southern entrance (near the city of Suez) and held up an estimated $60 billion in trade. The ship’s unintended blockade caused the global public to take a sudden interest in global shipping and sparked a massive bunch of memes on social media.
Yeah sex is good but have you ever got your boat stuck in the Suez Canal and blocked 10% of the world’s trade?
— Dr. Parik Patel, BA, CFA, ACCA Esq. (@ParikPatelCFA) March 25, 2021
4. The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan
In 2020 then President Donald Trump struck a deal with the Taliban. The agreement was the United States would withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the 1st of May 2021. 2 weeks before this deadline, Trump’s successor, President Joe Biden ordered that a complete withdrawal should be completed by the 11th of September (on the 20th anniversary of 9/11).
As the withdrawal proceeded, the Afghanistan national army collapsed and the Taliban overran the country. Kabul fell on the 15th of August, trapping thousands of foreigners in the capital city. The U.S. launched a massive effort to evacuate stranded Americans by the 31st of August (a deadline set by the Taliban).
The U.S. withdrawal ended on the 30th of August 2021, leaving behind more than one hundred U.S. citizens and as many as 300,000 Afghans who may have qualified for expedited US visas. Biden called the withdrawal an “extraordinary success.” Most Americans disagreed and his public approval ratings hit new lows.
The U.S. spent more than $2.3 trillion on Afghanistan over two decades (roughly $300 million a day for twenty years). More than 2,500 U.S. service members and 4,000 U.S. civilian contractors died in the war and an estimated 170,000 Afghans lost their lives.
5. Germany’s Angela Merkel left office
Merkel (who was the first female German chancellor) became the first chancellor to leave power on her own terms. She was in office from 2005. She stepped down on the 8th of December 2021 (when Olaf Scholtz was sworn in as the new German chancellor).
6. SpaceX launched the first all-civilian spaceflight
The company led by the billionaire Elon Musk launched a historic trip to orbit with the first-ever all-civilian crew on the 15th of September 2021. The flight (which was dubbed Inspiration4) was a privately chartered spaceflight by Billionaire Jared Isaacman. The four people aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule were Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski, and Dr Sian Proctor.
7. The Tokyo Olympics finally happened
As I mentioned earlier, 2020 truly was a dumpster fire of a year. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the olympics were actually postponed for a year (for the first time in history). The event was still labelled as Tokyo 2020 (for branding and marketing purposes) and was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021.
8. NASA landed another Rover on Mars
Confirmation that the rover (Perseverance) successfully landed on Mars was received on 18 February 2021. It left the Earth’s atmosphere on the 30th of July 2020. The rover has a similar design to its predecessor (Curiosity). It was moderately upgraded though. Perseverance carried seven primary payload instruments, nineteen cameras, and two microphones. The cost of the planned 11 year mission is estimated at $2.75 billion.
9. More than 80 Series aired their final episodes in 2021
I am not listed all of them in this post, but the list of noteworthy TV shows that ended in 2021 includes Superstore, Shameless, MacGyver, Mom, Last Man Standing, NCIS: New Orleans, Black Lightning, Queen of the South, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Younger, Final Space, Conan, Bosch, Van Helsing, Atypical, Judge Judy, A.P. Bio, Lucifer, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Narcos: Mexico, Supergirl, F is For Family, Lost in Space and Money Heist.
10. Spider-Man: No Way Home was the biggest movie of 2021
The film grossed more than $1.9 billion worldwide ($804 million in the US alone).
11. Elon Musk became the world’s richest man
This Pretoria-born co-founder of Tesla (who was worth $186 billion at the time) snatched this title from Jeff Bezos (the founder of Amazon) on the 7th of January 2022.
12. The world’s oldest known cave painting was discovered
The 45,000 year old painting of a pig was discovered in Leang Tedongnge cave on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia.
13. Archaeologists discovered the oldest known beer factory
The factory was discovered in Abydos, Egypt. It dates back to the early Dynastic period (3150 BC- 2613 BC). A joint team of American & Eqyptian archaeologists found a number of units containing about 40 pots used to heat a mixture of grain and water to make beer.
14. Parts of the United States, Mexico and Canada experience an extreme Winter Storm
The storm started out in the U.S. Pacific North-West on the 13th of February 2021 and quickly moved into the Southern United States, before moving on to the Mid-Western and North-Eastern United States a couple of days later. The storm impacted over 170 million Americans. More than 9.9 million people in the U.S. and Mexico experienced blackouts.
15. Fagradalsfjall erupted for the first time in 800 years
The eruption started on the 19th of March 2021 and lasted for 6 months. Before the eruption the peninsula on which the volcano is located experienced more than 40,000 earthquakes. The eruption was described as a “tourist eruption”. This term is commonly used by Icelanders for minor volcanic eruptions that can easily be accessed.
16. 337 died in violent protests and looting in South Africa
There was a wave of violent protests (which are referred to as the “July Riots” or “Zuma Riots” between the 9th and the 18th of July 2021 in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces. The riots were sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma for contempt of court. It was the worst violence that South Africa had experienced since the end of Apartheid.
A July 2021 preliminary report meanwhile estimated losses suffered by the province of Gauteng at R3.5 billion, according to the province’s Premier David Makhura. He also added that 14,500 jobs were estimated to have been lost and 30 shopping malls were looted.
A survey carried out by the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2022 estimated the losses in Durban alone to be R70 billion. The survey further stated that 9,500 jobs were placed at risk and 16,000 business were affected.
17. Betty White passed away
The actress’ decadeslong career spanned generations. She began her television career in the late 1930s and starred in shows from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “The Golden Girls,” to “Hot in Cleveland.” She was 99 years old.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Anne Rice, Bob Dole, FW De Klerk, Dean Stockwell, James Michael Tyler (Gunther from Friends), Colin Powell, Norm MacDonalds, Ed Asner, Charlie Watts (the drummer of The Rolling Stones), Richard Donner, Donald Rumsfeld, Charles Grodin, Jim Steinman, DMX, Prince Phillip, George Segal, Larry Flynt, Christoper Plummer, Larry King and Willie Garson also died in 2021.
18. COVID-19 continued to rage
By the end of 2021 more than 280 million cases of COVID-19 and nearly 5.5 million deaths had been reported worldwide (since March 2020).
19. There was Political upheaval in Myanmar, Sudan, Mali and Guinea
On the 1st of February 2021, the National Alliance for Democracy underpinning the civilian government of Myanmar, was stripped of its power and power was transferred back to the military.
In Africa, Sudan was plunged into a political crisis after the military dissolved the Sudanese power-sharing government and declared a state of emergency on 25 October 2021. Africa also witnessed coups in Mali and Guinea. These political developments reflected a trend of political and social instability in many countries.
20. The James Webb Telescope was launched in December 2021
The largest and most powerful space telescope ever developed traveled nearly 1 million miles over 30 days to a stable spot in space. The telescope took another six months to unfold its instruments, align and calibrate. It cost $10 billion to construct. The first full-color images and spectroscopic data were released on 12 July 2022, which also marked the official beginning of Webb’s general science operations.
21. SAVRpak was invented
SavrPak is a biodegradable, single-use square that absorbs moisture from the air inside a container, preventing food from becoming soggy and losing its quality. It addresses the global issue of food waste caused by spoiled or soggy food, particularly in the context of food delivery.
The innovation lies in its ability to keep food fresh during transportation, ensuring it arrives in better condition. The SavrPak must be fully frozen before use, and it can maintain food freshness for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Well, there you have it, 21 notable events in 2021. If I’ve left out something important, feel free to inform via the comment section below. Feedback is appreciated and welcome here.
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