2000 was designated the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium. There is a tendency to group the years according to decimal values, as if the nonexistent year zero were counted. According to the Gregorian calendar, these distinctions fall to the year 2001. The 1st century back then was also retroactively said to start with year AD 1. Since the Gregorian calendar doesn't have year zero, its first millennium spanned from years 1 to 1000 inclusively and its second millennium from years 1001 to 2000. For more information, seecentury andmillennium.
The year 2000 is sometimes abbreviated as Y2K. The Y stands for year, and the K stands for kilo which means "thousand."
The year 2000 was the subject of Y2K concerns, which were fears that computers wouldn't shift from 1999 to 2000 correctly. However, by the end of 1999, many companies had already converted to new, or upgraded, existing software. Some even obtained Y2K certification. As a result of massive effort, relatively few problems occurred.
January 1 - To most people, it was the first day of the21st century and3rd millennium. However, there are some people who argue that both distinctions happened a year later, on January 1, 2001.
April 22 –Brazil officially celebrates its 500th anniversary, with protests, especially from native and black populations.
April 22 – In a predawn raid, federal agents seize 6-year oldElián González from his relatives' home inMiami, Florida and fly him to hisCuban father inWashington, DC, ending one of the most publicized custody battles in U.S. history.
July 2 –Vicente Fox is elected President ofMexico, as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party), ending 71 years of PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) rule.
July 10 – In southernNigeria, a leaking petroleum pipeline explodes, killing about 250 villagers who were scavenginggasoline.
July 18 –Sussex police launch a murder investigation after the body of a girl found nearPulborough is confirmed to be that ofSarah Payne, who was reported missing onJuly 1.
July 21–23 –26th G8 summit; issues include AIDS, the 'digital divide', and halving world poverty by 2015.
July 22 –News of the World urges its readers to sign a petition forSarah's Law, new legislation in response to the murder of Sarah Payne, which would give parents the right to know whether a convictedpaedophile was living in their area.
August 3 – Rioting erupts on thePaulsgrove estate inPortsmouth,Hampshire,England, after more than 100 people besiege the home of a block of flats allegedly housing a convictedpaedophile. This is the latest vigilante violence against suspected sex offenders since the beginning of the "naming and shaming" anti-paedophile campaign by thetabloidnewspaperNews of the World.
September 26 – The Greek ferryExpress Samina sinks off the coast of the island ofParos; 80 out of more than 500 passengers die in one of Greece's worst sea disasters.
September 28 – Israeli opposition leaderAriel Sharon visits theTemple Mount, protected by a several-hundred-strong Israeli police force. Palestinian riots erupt, leading to a full-fledged armed uprising (called theAl-Aqsa Intifada by sympathizers and theOslo War by opponents).
October 21 – FifteenArab leaders convene inCairo,Egypt, for their first summit in 4 years; theLibyan delegation walks out, angry over signs the summit will stop short of calling for breaking ties withIsrael.
November 17 – A catastrophiclandslide in Log pod Mangartom,Slovenia, kills 7, and causes millions ofSIT of damage. It is one of the worst catastrophes inSlovenia in the past 100 years.
December 31 – Strictly speaking, it was the last day of the2nd millennium and20th century in the Gregorian calendar, but according to Popular Culture, the last day of these two distinctions was December 31, 1999.
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