Featured moment
Fall of the Berlin Wall
After 28 years, East Germans were allowed to cross the border, marking the symbolic end of the Cold War.
Walls fall down.
The Berlin Wall collapsed, the Game Boy made gaming portable, and the World Wide Web was conceived.
The Cost of Living in 1989
Gallon of Gas
$1.15
Loaf of Bread
$0.71
Gallon of Milk
$2.66
World Population
5.23 billion
Featured moment
Nintendo Game Boy Launches
Bundled with Tetris, the portable 8-bit console dominated the handheld market for a decade and sold 118 million units.
Featured moment
World Wide Web Invented
Tim Berners-Lee wrote a proposal for an information management system at CERN, the blueprint for the Web.
The wider picture
More from 1989
A few more things worth remembering.
World Events
Tiananmen Square Protests
The Chinese government brutally cracked down on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing, resulting in the iconic "Tank Man" photo.
Cinema & TV
Batman Released
Tim Burton's dark take on Batman shattered box office records and sparked massive "Batmania" merchandising.
World Events
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
The tanker struck a reef in Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil in a devastating environmental disaster.
Cinema & TV
The Simpsons Premieres as a Full Series
The first full-length episode ("Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire") aired, beginning the longest-running American sitcom.
Cinema & TV
Seinfeld Premieres
The "show about nothing" debuted on NBC, eventually becoming the defining sitcom of the 1990s.
Gaming
SimCity Released
Will Wright's city-building simulator pioneered a new genre of open-ended software toys.
You arrivedin 1989.
The longer view
This was only the opening scene.
Follow the world as it changed around you, from 1989 to today.