Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium[citation needed],[3] because of a tendency to group the years according to decimal values, as if non-existent year zero were counted. According to the Gregorian calendar, these distinctions fall to the year 2001, because the 1st century was retroactively said to start with the year AD 1. Since the Gregorian calendar does not have year zero, its first millennium spanned from years 1 to 1000 inclusively and its second millennium from years 1001 to 2000. (For further information, see century and millennium.)
The year 2000 is sometimes abbreviated as "Y2K" (the "Y" stands for "year", and the "K" stands for "kilo" which means "thousand").[4][5] The year 2000 was the subject of Y2K concerns, which were fears that computers would not 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
January 6 – The last naturally conceived Pyrenean ibex is found dead, apparently killed by a falling tree.[6]
February 9 – Torrential rains in Africa led to the worst flooding in Mozambique in 50 years, which lasted until March and killed 800 people.
February 13 – Final Peanuts comic is printed in newspapers, preceded by author Charles M. Schulz's death the night before. It was the most popular comic strip in history, running for 50 years.[13]
February 29 – A rare century leap year date occurs. Usually, century years are common years due to not being exactly divisible by 400. 2000 is the first such year to have a February 29 since the year 1600, making it only the second such occasion since the Gregorian Calendar was introduced in 1582. The next such leap year will occur in 2400.
March 10– The NASDAQ Composite Index reaches an all-time high of 5,048.[17] Two weeks later, the NASDAQ-100, S&P 500, and Wilshire 5000 reach their peaks prior to the Dot-com bubble, ending a bull market run that had lasted over 17 years.
July 2 – France defeats Italy 2–1 after extra time in the final of the European Championship, becoming the first team to win the World Cup and European Championship consecutively.
September 7–14–Fuel protests take place in the United Kingdom, with refineries blockaded, and supply to the country's network of petrol stations halted.
September 26– The Greek ferry Express Samina sinks off the coast of the island of Paros; 80 out of a total of over 500 passengers perish in one of Greece's worst sea disasters.
The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper exposes Japanese archeologist Shinichi Fujimura as a fraud; Japanese archaeologists had based their treatises on his findings.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong formally negotiate Japan-Singapore Economic Agreement for a New Age Partnership (JSEPA).[34]
October 26 – Pakistani authorities announce that their police have found an apparent mummy of an alleged Persian Princess in the province of Balochistan, Pakistan. The governments of Iran, Pakistan as well as the Taliban of Afghanistan all claim the mummy until Pakistan announces it is a modern-day forgery in April 2001.[35]
Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute. "Kingdom of Serbia/Yugoslavia". A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, since 1776. United States Department of State. Archived from the original on February 11, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
