Important Historical Events of the year 1992, Year 1992 in History
List of 1992 Major News Events in History, Most Important Historical Events in 1992
What happened in the year 1992?
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 3, 1992 | CommutAir Flight 4821 crashes on approach to Adirondack Regional Airport, in Saranac Lake, New York, killing two people. |
| January 6, 1992 | President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia flees the country as a result of the military coup. |
| January 9, 1992 | The Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaims the creation of Republika Srpska, a new state within Yugoslavia. |
| January 9, 1992 | The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail. They discovered two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12. |
| January 16, 1992 | El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City, Mexico ending the 12-year Salvadoran Civil War that claimed at least 75,000 lives. |
| January 17, 1992 | During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II. |
| January 20, 1992 | Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320-111, crashes into a mountain near Strasbourg, France, killing 87 of the 96 people on board. |
| January 22, 1992 | Rebel forces occupy Zaire's national radio station in Kinshasa and broadcast a demand for the government's resignation. |
| January 22, 1992 | Space Shuttle program: The space shuttle Discovery launches on STS-42 carrying Dr. Roberta Bondar, who becomes the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist in space. |
| February 1, 1992 | The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal disaster case. |
| February 4, 1992 | A coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez. |
| February 7, 1992 | The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union. |
| February 12, 1992 | The current Constitution of Mongolia comes into effect. |
| February 15, 1992 | Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced in Milwaukee to 15 terms of life in prison. |
| February 15, 1992 | Air Transport International Flight 805 crashes in Swanton, Ohio, near Toledo Express Airport, killing all four people on board. |
| February 17, 1992 | First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Armenian troops massacre more than 20 Azerbaijani civilians during the Capture of Garadaghly. |
| February 26, 1992 | First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Khojaly Massacre: Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead. |
| February 29, 1992 | First day of Bosnia and Herzegovina independence referendum. |
| March 1, 1992 | Bosnia and Herzegovina declares its independence from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. |
| March 2, 1992 | Start of the war in Transnistria. |
| March 2, 1992 | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, San Marino, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, all of which (except San Marino) were former Soviet republics, join the United Nations. |
| March 6, 1992 | The Michelangelo computer virus begins to affect computers. |
| March 12, 1992 | Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. |
| March 13, 1992 | The Mw 6.6 Erzincan earthquake strikes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). |
| March 17, 1992 | Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires: Car bomb attack kills 29 and injures 242. |
| March 17, 1992 | A referendum to end apartheid in South Africa is passed 68.7% to 31.2%. |
| March 22, 1992 | USAir Flight 405 crashes shortly after takeoff from New York City's LaGuardia Airport, leading to a number of studies into the effect that ice has on aircraft. |
| March 22, 1992 | Fall of communism in Albania: The Democratic Party of Albania wins a decisive majority in the parliamentary election. |
| March 31, 1992 | The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California. |
| March 31, 1992 | The Treaty of Federation is signed in Moscow. |
| April 2, 1992 | In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison. |
| April 2, 1992 | Forty-two civilians are massacred in the town of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina. |
| April 5, 1992 | Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru, dissolves the Peruvian congress by military force. |
| April 5, 1992 | Peace protesters Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sučić are killed on the Vrbanja Bridge in Sarajevo, becoming the first casualties of the Bosnian War. |
| April 6, 1992 | The Bosnian War begins. |
| April 8, 1992 | Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries. |
| April 9, 1992 | A U.S. Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison. |
| April 12, 1992 | The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland; the resort and its park's name are subsequently changed to Disneyland Paris. |
| April 17, 1992 | The Katina P is deliberately run aground off Maputo, Mozambique, and 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean. |
| April 22, 1992 | A series of gas explosions rip through the streets in Guadalajara, Mexico, killing 206. |
| April 27, 1992 | The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, is proclaimed. |
| April 27, 1992 | Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history. |
| April 27, 1992 | The Russian Federation and 12 other former Soviet republics become members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. |
| April 29, 1992 | Riots in Los Angeles, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 63 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed. |
| May 7, 1992 | Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise. |
| May 7, 1992 | Space Shuttle program: The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission, STS-49. |
| May 7, 1992 | Three employees at a McDonald's Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first "fast-food murder" in Canada. |
| May 9, 1992 | Armenian forces capture Shusha, marking a major turning point in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. |
| May 9, 1992 | Westray Mine disaster kills 26 workers in Nova Scotia, Canada. |
| May 13, 1992 | Li Hongzhi gives the first public lecture on Falun Gong in Changchun, People's Republic of China. |
| May 17, 1992 | Three days of popular protests against the government of Prime Minister of Thailand Suchinda Kraprayoon begin in Bangkok, leading to a military crackdown that results in 52 officially confirmed deaths, hundreds of injuries, many disappearances, and more than 3,500 arrests. |
| May 21, 1992 | After 30 seasons Johnny Carson hosted his penultimate episode and last featuring guests (Robin Williams and Bette Midler) of The Tonight Show. |
| May 22, 1992 | Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations. |
| May 23, 1992 | Italy's most prominent anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three body guards are killed by the Corleonesi clan with a half-ton bomb near Capaci, Sicily. His friend and colleague Paolo Borsellino will be assassinated less than two months later, making 1992 a turning point in the history of Italian Mafia prosecutions. |
| May 24, 1992 | The last Thai dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, resigns following pro-democracy protests. |
| May 24, 1992 | The ethnic cleansing in Kozarac, Bosnia and Herzegovina begins when Serbian militia and police forces enter the town. |
| June 3, 1992 | Aboriginal land rights are recognised in Australia, overturning the long-held colonial assumption of terra nullius, in Mabo v Queensland (No 2), a case brought by Torres Strait Islander Eddie Mabo and leading to the Native Title Act 1993. |
| June 8, 1992 | The first World Oceans Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. |
| June 15, 1992 | The United States Supreme Court rules in United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it is permissible for the United States to forcibly extradite suspects in foreign countries and bring them to the United States for trial, without approval from those other countries. |
| June 17, 1992 | A "joint understanding" agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II). |
| July 7, 1992 | The New York Court of Appeals rules that women have the same right as men to go topless in public. |
| July 10, 1992 | In Miami, former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug and racketeering violations. |
| July 18, 1992 | A picture of Les Horribles Cernettes was taken, which became the first ever photo posted to the World Wide Web. |
| July 19, 1992 | A car bomb kills Judge Paolo Borsellino and five members of his escort. |
| July 20, 1992 | Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia. |
| July 22, 1992 | Near Medellín, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes from his luxury prison fearing extradition to the United States. |
| July 23, 1992 | A Vatican commission, led by Joseph Ratzinger, establishes that limiting certain rights of homosexual people and non-married couples is not equivalent to discrimination on grounds of race or gender. |
| July 23, 1992 | Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia. |
| July 31, 1992 | The nation of Georgia joins the United Nations. |
| July 31, 1992 | Thai Airways International Flight 311 crashes into a mountain north of Kathmandu, Nepal killing all 113 people on board. |
| July 31, 1992 | China General Aviation Flight 7552 crashes during takeoff from Nanjing Dajiaochang Airport, killing 108. |
| August 11, 1992 | The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota opens. At the time the largest shopping mall in the United States. |
| August 12, 1992 | Canada, Mexico and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). |
| August 20, 1992 | In India, Meitei language (officially known as Manipuri language) was included in the scheduled languages' list and made one of the official languages of the Indian Government.[9][10][11] |
| August 22, 1992 | FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shoots and kills Vicki Weaver during an 11-day siege at her home at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. |
| August 24, 1992 | Hurricane Andrew makes landfall in Homestead, Florida as a Category 5 hurricane, causing up to $25 billion (1992 USD) in damages. |
| August 30, 1992 | The 11-day Ruby Ridge standoff ends with Randy Weaver surrendering to federal authorities. |
| September 2, 1992 | The 7.7 Mw Nicaragua earthquake affected the west coast of Nicaragua. With a .mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}Ms–Mw disparity of half a unit, this tsunami earthquake triggered a tsunami that caused most of the damage and casualties, with at least 116 killed. Typical runup heights were 3–8 meters (9.8–26.2 ft). |
| September 11, 1992 | Hurricane Iniki, one of the most damaging hurricanes in United States history, devastates the Hawaiian Islands of Kauai and Oahu. |
| September 12, 1992 | NASA launches Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-47 which marked the 50th shuttle mission. On board are Mae Carol Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, Mamoru Mohri, the first Japanese citizen to fly in a US spaceship, and Mark Lee and Jan Davis, the first married couple in space. |
| September 12, 1992 | Abimael Guzmán, leader of the Shining Path, is captured by Peruvian special forces; shortly thereafter the rest of Shining Path's leadership fell as well. |
| September 14, 1992 | The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declares the breakaway Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia to be illegal. |
| September 16, 1992 | The trial of the deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega ends in the United States with a 40-year sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering. |
| September 16, 1992 | Black Wednesday: The British pound is forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism by currency speculators and is forced to devalue against the German mark. |
| September 17, 1992 | An Iranian Kurdish leader and his two joiners are assassinated by political militants in Berlin. |
| September 18, 1992 | An explosion rocks Giant Mine at the height of a labor dispute, killing nine replacement workers in Yellowknife, Canada. |
| September 25, 1992 | NASA launches the Mars Observer. Eleven months later, the probe would fail while preparing for orbital insertion. |
| September 28, 1992 | A Pakistan International Airlines flight crashes into a hill in Nepal, killing all 167 passengers and crew. |
| September 29, 1992 | Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello is impeached. |
| October 2, 1992 | Military police storm the Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil during a prison riot. The resulting massacre leaves 111 prisoners dead. |
| October 4, 1992 | The Rome General Peace Accords end a 16-year civil war in Mozambique. |
| October 4, 1992 | El Al Flight 1862 crashes into two apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 39 on the ground. |
| October 9, 1992 | The Peekskill meteorite, a 27.7 pounds (12.6 kg) meteorite crashed into a parked car in Peekskill, New York |
| October 12, 1992 | A 5.8 earthquake occurred in Cairo, Egypt. At least 510 died. |
| October 17, 1992 | Having gone to the wrong house, Japanese student Yoshihiro Hattori is killed by the homeowner in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. |
| October 18, 1992 | Merpati Nustantara Airlines Flight 5601 crashes into Mount Papandayan near the town of Garut in West Java, Indonesia, killing 31. |
| October 24, 1992 | The Toronto Blue Jays become the first Major League Baseball team based outside the United States to win the World Series. |
| October 27, 1992 | United States Navy radioman Allen R. Schindler, Jr. is murdered by shipmate Terry M. Helvey for being gay, precipitating debate about gays in the military that results in the United States' "Don't ask, don't tell" military policy. |
| November 3, 1992 | Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton defeats Republican President George H. W. Bush and Independent candidate Ross Perot in the 1992 United States presidential election. |
| November 11, 1992 | The General Synod of the Church of England votes to allow women to become priests. |
| November 13, 1992 | The High Court of Australia rules in Dietrich v The Queen that although there is no absolute right to have publicly funded counsel, in most circumstances a judge should grant any request for an adjournment or stay when an accused is unrepresented. |
| November 14, 1992 | In poor conditions caused by Cyclone Forrest, Vietnam Airlines Flight 474 crashes near Nha Trang, killing 30.[11][12] |
| November 16, 1992 | The Hoxne Hoard is discovered by metal detectorist Eric Lawes in Hoxne, Suffolk. |
| November 20, 1992 | In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage. |
| November 21, 1992 | A major tornado strikes the Houston, Texas area during the afternoon. Over the next two days the largest tornado outbreak ever to occur in the US during November spawns over 100 tornadoes. |
| November 23, 1992 | The first smartphone, the IBM Simon, is introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. |
| November 24, 1992 | China Southern Airlines Flight 3943 crashes on approach to Guilin Qifengling Airport in Guilin, China, killing all 141 people on board. |
| November 25, 1992 | The Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with effect from January 1, 1993. |
| November 27, 1992 | For the second time in a year, military forces try to overthrow president Carlos Andrés Pérez in Venezuela. |
| December 3, 1992 | The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea, carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil, runs aground in a storm while approaching A Coruña, Spain, and spills much of its cargo. |
| December 3, 1992 | A test engineer for Sema Group uses a personal computer to send the world's first text message via the Vodafone network to the phone of a colleague. |
| December 4, 1992 | Somali Civil War: President George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 U.S. troops to Somalia in Northeast Africa. |
| December 6, 1992 | The Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, India, is demolished, leading to widespread riots causing the death of over 1,500 people. |
| December 8, 1992 | The Galileo spacecraft flies past Earth for the second time. |
| December 9, 1992 | American troops land in Somalia for Operation Restore Hope. |
| December 14, 1992 | War in Abkhazia: Siege of Tkvarcheli: A helicopter carrying evacuees from Tkvarcheli is shot down, resulting in at least 52 deaths, including 25 children. The incident catalyses more concerted Russian military intervention on behalf of Abkhazia. |
| December 21, 1992 | A Dutch DC-10, flight Martinair MP 495, crashes at Faro Airport, killing 56. |
| December 22, 1992 | During approach to Tripoli International Airport, a Boeing 727 operating as Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103 collides in mid-air with a Libyan Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23, killing 157 people. |
| December 29, 1992 | Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tries to resign amidst corruption charges, but is then impeached. |
| December 31, 1992 | Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. |