- Africa
Aldabra Atoll inscribed by UNESCO
The raised coral atoll, home to the world's largest giant-tortoise population, was added to the World Heritage List for its outstanding natural value.
Era: An Extraordinary Natural Heritage
Sources: Aldabra Atoll — World Heritage List · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Seychelles' Aldabra Atoll — decades as a UNESCO World Heritage Site · Seychelles News Agency
- Asia
Shibam, the 'Manhattan of the desert', is listed
The Old Walled City of Shibam, famed for its towering mud-brick high-rise houses in the Wadi Hadramawt, was inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Era: Unification and the Republic of Yemen
Sources: Old Walled City of Shibam · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Africa
Vallée de Mai inscribed by UNESCO
Praslin's palm forest, where the coco de mer grows wild, was recognised as a World Heritage Site for its unique flora.
Era: An Extraordinary Natural Heritage
Sources: Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve — World Heritage List · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Welcome to the Vallée de Mai · Seychelles Islands Foundation
- Europe
Sarajevo Winter Olympics
Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympic Games, a high point of confidence for the multi-ethnic socialist republic less than a decade before war engulfed the city.
Era: The Second World War and Socialist Bosnia
Sources: Bosnia and Herzegovina: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Upper Volta renamed Burkina Faso
On the first anniversary of the revolution, the country is renamed Burkina Faso — 'land of upright (honest) people' — with a new flag and anthem.
Era: Sankara's Revolution and the Birth of Burkina Faso
Sources: Thomas Sankara · Wikipedia, History of Burkina Faso · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Europe
Vatican City inscribed as a World Heritage Site
UNESCO inscribed the entire State of Vatican City as a World Heritage Site, recognising Saint Peter's, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums as a cultural patrimony of universal value.
Era: Vatican II, the Modern Papacy and a World Patrimony
Sources: Vatican City (World Heritage List, no. 286, inscribed 1984) · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Historic Centre of Rome and the Holy See properties enjoying extraterritorial rights · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Asia
Petra inscribed as a World Heritage Site
UNESCO inscribed Petra on the World Heritage List as a unique artistic achievement and an outstanding architectural ensemble of the early centuries BCE and CE.
Era: The Nabataeans and the Rose-Red City of Petra
Sources: Petra · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Asia
Old City of Sanaa joins the World Heritage List
UNESCO inscribed the Old City of Sanaa, inhabited for more than 2,500 years and renowned for its multi-storey rammed-earth tower-houses and early mosques.
Era: Unification and the Republic of Yemen
Sources: Old City of Sana'a · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Africa
Inscribed as a World Heritage Site
UNESCO inscribed Great Zimbabwe National Monument as a World Heritage Site, recognising it as a unique testimony to the Bantu civilisation of the Shona between the 11th and 15th centuries.
Era: Great Zimbabwe and the gold trade
Sources: Great Zimbabwe National Monument · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Oceania
Te reo Māori made official
The Māori Language Act 1987 recognised te reo Māori as an official language and created a commission to promote it, a landmark in the post-1970s Māori cultural renaissance.
Era: The Māori renaissance and bicultural New Zealand
Sources: Te reo Māori — the Māori language · Te Ara — The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Waitangi Tribunal — Te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi · Te Ara — The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
- Asia
Seoul Summer Olympics
Seoul hosts the Summer Olympics, showcasing South Korea's recovery and helping cement its turn toward democracy and global engagement.
Era: Democratization and Modern South Korea
Sources: Seoul 1988 Olympic Games · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Korea (history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
Culture & Ideas in the 1980s
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged culture and ideas — art, language, science and learning, narrowed to the 1980s — 11 of them, drawn from 9 nations, running from 1982 to 1988. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 11
- Nations
- 9
- Earliest
- 1982
- Latest
- 1988
- Africa
- 4
- Asia
- 4
- Europe
- 2
- Oceania
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.