As we reach the end of 2021, it has once again become time to take a look back at what has happened during the year. While news feeds worldwide have unfortunately once again been dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, there are plenty of other things that have taken place throughout the past year. In this article, we will dive into some of the happenings of 2021, spanning from politics and history to science and culture, before finishing off with a look into what the coming year may bring.
It has likely not escaped anyone that the year came off to a dramatic start, as the storming of the United States Capitol took place on the 6th of January. Thousands of rioters in support of then-President Donald Trump had gathered, with the aim of overturning the 2020 election results by disrupting the joint-session of Congress that would formalise the victory of then President-elect Joe Biden. Pushing through police officers and barriers, the mob eventually breached the building itself, causing the Senate to be evacuated, while members of Congress were trapped inside the House of Representatives. Eventually, the police managed to regain control over the building, and Congress could resume its process. In Indonesia, the world's oldest cave painting of an animal, depicting a pig, was discovered on the 13th. Two days later, the Dutch government, with Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the helm, resigned after having falsely accused thousands of families of welfare fraud, requiring them to pay money back. On the 17th, opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, who is known for his efforts to oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government, was arrested immediately upon his return to Russia. His arrest, which is politically motivated, sparked widespread protests in the country, prompting both international political leaders and human rights organisations to call for his immediate release. After the dramatic start to the month, Joe Biden was finally inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States on the 20th, making Kamala Harris the first female, first black, and first South Asian vice president in the history of the country.
February saw yet another dramatic event, as the military performed a coup d'état in Myanmar on the 1st, overthrowing the democratically elected government and removing President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi from power. The coup sparked large-scale protests in the country, resulting in the killings of hundreds and the detention of thousands of people by the police and military. While the military junta has since announced that new democratic elections will be held in 2023, the situation in the country remains volatile. On the 3rd, engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US announced that they had managed to transform spinach into sensors, capable of sending emails when detecting explosive materials in groundwater, as part of groundbreaking so called plant nanobionic research. Four days later, abortion was legalised in Thailand, following a Constitutional Court-ruling last year that declared parts of the abortion statutes unconstitutional. On the 15th, Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala became both the first woman and the first African to serve as director-general of the World Trade Organization. Three days later, the NASA 2020 Mars mission, consisting of the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter drone, landed on Mars, soon beginning their exploration of the planet's Jezero Crater.
March came off to a dark start, as British woman Sarah Everard was kidnapped, raped, and subsequently killed by a police officer on her way home in London, sparking widespread outrage and calls for action to end violence against women. Later during the month, a group of researchers released an article in which they asserted that it is likely that the world has now reached a peak in twin births, with a record number of 1.6 million per year. On the 14th, acclaimed American singer Beyoncé became the female artist with the most Grammy wins ever (28 in total), after winning another four awards at this year's ceremony. On the 20th, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the country's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, a human rights treaty aimed at preventing and combatting violence against women. Citing concerns of the supposed “hijacking” of the convention by people who want to “normalise homosexuality” and promote divorce, he argued that its continued implementation would undermine the country's so called family values. Towards the end of the month, the Suez Canal, which is one of the busiest sea routes in the world, ended up being completely blocked for six days after the grounding of the cargo ship Ever Given. The ship's grounding caused a build-up of over two hundred vessels, leading to a considerable disruption of global trade. Initially, Egyptian authorities had seized Ever Given and required the owners to pay a fine of 916 million dollars for the obstruction, but eventually released the ship in July after a settlement was reached.
April began with the announcement of the discovery of an ancient, lost “golden city” near Luxor in Egypt. The city, which was built 3400 years ago, is incredibly well-preserved, and gives archeologists a golden (no pun intended!) opportunity to learn more about the lives of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his son Akhenaten, who ruled in an era of extraordinary wealth, power, and luxury. On the 18th, twelve football clubs announced that they were creating a new European Super League, immediately prompting international condemnation from both fans, other clubs, and politicians, eventually causing nine clubs to withdraw within the following days, with the remaining three suspending the project a few days later due to the legal dispute that ensued. On the 19th, Raúl Castro resigned as the First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, marking the end of the 62-year rule by the Castro brothers in Cuba. Two days later, Indonesian navy submarine KRI Nanggala sank in the Bali Sea, killing all 53 people on board. On the last day of the month, Australia issued a ban on citizens returning from India amidst concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, making it a criminal offence to do so, thus stranding 8000 people who were prevented from going home.
At the beginning of May, Pandora became the first company to release a jewellery collection using only lab-created diamonds. On the same day, Malian woman Halima Cisse gave birth to nonuplets (nine babies!) in Morocco, in only the third case known worldwide. On the 23rd, Belarus forced a Ryanair plane bound for Lithuania to make an emergency landing, in order to detain journalist and activist Roman Protasevich. Belarusian authorities had claimed there was a bomb on board, making the pilots redirect the flight to Minsk so that Protasevich, who is known for his opposition towards President Alexander Lukashenko's authoritarian rule, could be arrested. In a landmark decision three days later, oil company Royal Dutch Shell was ordered by a court in The Hague to cut its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030, after a successful attempt by seven environmental organisations and more than 17000 citizens to sue the company for its contribution to global warming. On the 28th, the discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of 215 children from a so called residential school, in which indigenous children were forcefully placed to facilitate assimilation during the 19th and 20th centuries, was announced by Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation Chief Rosanne Casimir in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A month later, a similar discovery was made at another former residential school, containing the remains of 761 people, most of them Indigenous children, in the province of Saskatchewan. Both of these finds are a stark reminder of the systemic racism, discrimination, and injustice that Indigenous peoples have faced (and continue to face) in Canada, sparking public outrage across the nation.
At the beginning of June, representatives of the so called G7 countries made a historic agreement to implement a global minimum tax rate of 15%. A month later, 130 countries signed a plan made by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to make such a tax a reality. The step that now remains before implementation can take place is each country's parliament's approval of the plan. On the 7th, Russian scientists were able to bring 24000-year old frozen multicellular organisms found in Siberia back to life after having them thawed. On the 25th, US police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison for the murder of George Floyd last year, whose death sparked huge protests against racism and police brutality across the world, under the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. In Slovakia, a prototype flying car named AirCar completed a 35-minute flight between Nitra and Bratislava airports, paving the way for a possible commercial development of such cars in the future. On the same day, the 28th, the Supreme Court in Mexico decriminalised the use of cannabis by adults, thus opening up for more liberal drugs legislation in the country.
At the beginning of July, the world's biggest sandcastle, standing at 21.16 metres tall and containing almost 5000 tons of sands, was completed in the small seaside town of Blokhus in Denmark. On that same day, the 7th, Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in his own home, sparking the declaration of a state of emergency across the country. On the 11th, British entrepreneur Richard Branson became the first person to enter space in his own private spaceship, followed by American entrepreneur Jeff Bezos nine days later. During a three-day period in mid-July, heavy rainfall, linked to climate change, caused severe flooding across Central Europe, killing at least 242 people and forcing tens of thousands to leave their homes. On the 21st, the world's fastest train, a maglev bullet train with a top speed of 600 kilometres per hour, made its debut in Qingdao, China. On the same day, the world's first 3D-printed school opened in Malawi, paving the way for the method to be used across the continent as a fast and cheap way to build much-needed social infrastructure.
In August, the world's eyes were directed at Afghanistan, where the Taliban managed to capture the capital of Kabul on the 15th, thus overtaking the country. Amidst the chaos that ensued, the US and UK started evacuating a number of different groups of people via the Hamid Karzai International Airport, including foreign diplomatic staff, military personnel, foreign civilians, Afghan allies, as well as Afghan journalists and human rights activists, amounting to a total of 123000 people. On the same day, rain was recorded for the first time at the highest point of Greenland's ice sheet, at the same time as the above-freezing temperatures caused more than 872800 square metres of ice to melt. On the 24th, the United Nations stated that Madagascar was on the brink of the world's first “climate change famine”, with more than 30000 people already suffering from extreme hunger due to the complete lack of rain for the past four years. On the 30th, the US completed their withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan after 20 years in the country. Their presence has been continuously criticised both nationally and internationally; however, the decision to withdraw has been met with equal criticism. Their withdrawal is largely held to have enabled the Taliban to take over the country again, with catastrophic consequences for the population as a result. Finally, on the same day, Algeria became the last country in the world to ban leaded petrol, which toxicity has caused severe illness and the deaths of millions of people worldwide since its introduction in 1923.
At the beginning of September, El Salvador became the first country in the world to make crypto-currency bitcoin a national currency, in a move that has largely been met with negative reactions from the country's population. On the 15th, spaceflight company SpaceX, founded by South African entrepreneur Elon Musk, launched the first crew consisting of only civilians (that is, people who are not astronauts) into space, completing a three-day orbit around Earth. Five days later, the first edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein from 1818 was sold for 1.17 million dollars, setting a new record for a printed work written by a woman. On the 26th, federal elections were held in Germany. The Social Democrats came out on top, leading to a shift in power after 16 years of Christian Democratic Union-rule with Chancellor Angela Merkel at the helm. The next day, it was reported that electric vehicles had outsold diesel vehicles for the first time in Europe during the month of August, indicating a shift towards more climate-friendly car ownership in the near future.
October began with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists' publication of a set of 11.9 million documents leaked from financial companies, known as the Pandora Papers, containing information on offshore financial activities involving 35 current and former world leaders, as well as 100 billionaires, celebrities, and business leaders. Notable names included in the papers are former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Colombian singer Shakira, American tech company Apple, French former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn, British singer Elton John, and American clothing company Nike. On the 5th, an independent commission report requested by the Roman Catholic Church was published, estimating that over 216000 minors, most of them boys, have been abused by the clergy in France since 1950. The report is the newest addition to a list of several other similar reports conducted in other countries, documenting allegations of abuse within an organisation that has faced numerous scandals involving sexual misconduct over the past decades. The following day, the World Health Organisation endorsed a malaria vaccine for the first time, after a successful pilot program conducted in Africa found it to be effective, thus paving the way for a rollout of such vaccines across the continent. On the 25th, the military in Sudan launched a coup against the government, placing Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok under house arrest and subsequently detaining numerous government ministers, members of political parties, lawyers, journalists, and activists. Towards the end of November, an agreement was signed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in which he promised to restore the transition to civilian rule, starting with the reinstatement of Hamdok as the country's prime minister. Three days later, the largest drug bust to ever have taken place in Asia was conducted in Laos, resulting in the seizure of 55 million methamphetamine tablets and 1.5 tons of crystal meth.
At the beginning of November, Swedish pop group ABBA released their first new album, titled Voyage, since their split 39 years ago, topping the UK album chart just a week later. On the 12th, American pop artist Britney Spears was finally freed of her almost 14-year-long conservatorship by a court in Los Angeles. The decision came after a long legal battle, advanced by the popular #FreeBritney-movement, to regain control over her person and finances. The conservatorship, which gave her father, Jamie Spears, full control over his daughter's life, has been fraught with alleged abuse, negatively impacting the mental health of the singer and finally leading to its termination this year. A week later, Austria became the first country in the world to make covid-19 vaccination mandatory, starting from the 1st of February next year, amidst concerns about low vaccination rates and a growing number of covid cases. On the 30th, the Caribbean island country of Barbados officially became a republic, removing Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state, and instead installing Dame Sandra Mason, who up until then had served as governor-general, as the country's first ever president. The country's prime minister, Mia Mottley, later announced that renowned Barbadian artist Rihanna would be named a national hero, earning her the right to be addressed as “The Right Excellent” for the rest of her life. On the same day, Sweden finally got its first female prime minister in Magdalena Andersson, who up until then had served as the country's minister of finance during the past eight years of Social Democrat-rule.
On the first day of December, Israel's Tel Aviv was rendered the most expensive city in the world for the first time, ahead of Paris and Singapore, in the yearly ranking conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit. On the 6th, the US announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, with New Zealand, the UK, Canada, and Australia soon following suit. Citing concerns over human rights abuses in the province of Xinjiang, the Biden administration argued that not attending would enable them to “send a clear message”. The move was condemned by Beijing, with spokesman Liu Pengyu being quoted as saying that “[n]o-one would care about whether these people come or not”. On the 7th, same sex marriage was legalised in Chile, making it the 31st country in the world to do so. On the 15th, American author, professor, and activist Gloria Jean Watkins, better known as bell hooks, passed away at the age of 69. She was famous for her writings on the intersectionality of race, capitalism, gender, and has influenced many scholars to conduct research in the same vein. Two days later, the discovery of the first ever real millipede, with over 1300 legs, was announced by scientists in Western Australia. As we reach the current date of the 20th of December, more than 8.4 billion doses of covid-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide, resulting in 46.6% of the world's population having been fully vaccinated.
As you can see, a lot of things have happened during the year, in spite of the continued focus on the coronavirus pandemic among both politicians, the media, and the public. With covid-19 vaccinations underway, hopes of 2021 becoming a better year than 2020 might have been high at the start of the year, but as 2021 comes to a close, it is evident that things have not turned out the way we would have liked. Vaccination rates are steadily increasing, but so are the numbers of cases. With the new omicron variant now spreading the virus faster than ever, we can only hope that 2022 will be the year in which we start learning to live with corona – instead of dying from it.
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