- — North America:
The Special Period begins
The Soviet collapse ends Cuba's subsidies and trade; Castro declares a special period of rationing and austerity as GDP contracts sharply.
Era: Special Period, Thaw, and the Present
Sources: Cuba since 1991 · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Asia:
Rapid post-war reconstruction
International teams capped the burning wells and Kuwait restored oil output to pre-war capacity within about a year, while the UN set up a commission for Iraqi reparations.
Era: Reconstruction and Modern Kuwait
Sources: Towering Infernos: The Kuwait Oil Fires · Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, Kuwait: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Asia:
The herding collectives are dismantled
All negdels, the state herding collectives, are dismantled and their assets, including livestock, are parcelled out to former employees. Herder households rise from about 70,000 in 1990 to about 200,000 by the end of the decade, and livestock numbers grow as families try to secure their livelihoods.
Era: Democratic Mongolia
Sources: Livestock-based Industry (Chapter 3) · Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto
- — South America:
- — North America:
NAFTA and the Zapatista uprising
The North American Free Trade Agreement takes effect as the Zapatistas rise in Chiapas; a peso crisis follows that December.
Era: Modern Mexico: The PRI Era to Today
Sources: Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
Zafiro oil field discovered
Mobil and partners discovered the major Zafiro oil field offshore Bioko Island in March 1995, the find that opened Equatorial Guinea's petroleum era.
Era: Obiang, oil, and inequality
Sources: Zafiro Oil Field, Bioko Island, Gulf of Guinea · NS Energy, Equatorial Guinea becomes an oil producer · Oil & Gas Journal
- — Europe:
The Celtic Tiger
From the mid-1990s, foreign direct investment and the single market fuelled rapid growth, the 'Celtic Tiger', turning one of western Europe's poorer countries into one of its most prosperous.
Era: The Republic, Europe and the Northern Question
Sources: Benefits of EU membership for Ireland · European Commission, Representation in Ireland
- — Europe:
Accession to the European Economic Area
Liechtenstein joined the European Economic Area, integrating into the European single market as an EFTA state while remaining outside the European Union and preserving its Swiss customs union.
Era: A Wealthy Microstate: Finance, the ICJ Case and the Modern Constitution
Sources: History of Liechtenstein · Embassy of the Principality of Liechtenstein, Washington D.C., The History of the Princely House of Liechtenstein · Fürstenhaus von Liechtenstein (official Princely House), Advantages of the customs and monetary union with Switzerland · Liechtenstein Finance
- — Africa:
Oil production begins
The Zafiro field came on-stream in August 1996, less than eighteen months after discovery, launching Equatorial Guinea as an oil producer; output later peaked in the hundreds of thousands of barrels a day.
Era: Obiang, oil, and inequality
Sources: Zafiro Oil Field, Bioko Island, Gulf of Guinea · NS Energy, Equatorial Guinea becomes an oil producer · Oil & Gas Journal
- — Asia:
North Field LNG development
Qatar invested heavily in liquefied natural gas from its offshore North Field, becoming the world's leading LNG exporter and reaching among the highest per-capita incomes globally.
Era: The Gas Boom: Hamad, Al Jazeera and New Wealth
Sources: Qatar: History (Persian Gulf, Oil, Gas) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Asia:
Asian financial crisis and IMF rescue
A regional financial crisis forces South Korea to seek a major IMF bailout; sweeping reforms follow under President Kim Dae-jung.
Era: Democratization and Modern South Korea
Sources: Kim Dae-Jung · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Korea (history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
Katse and Mohale dams completed
The Katse Dam (Phase 1A) and then the Mohale Dam are completed, sending Lesotho's mountain water to South Africa's Vaal system in exchange for royalties.
Era: The Kingdom in the Sky
Sources: The Lesotho Highlands Water Project is 40 years old and going strong · The Conversation, Lesotho · Wikipedia, Lesotho Highlands Water Project II — environmental and social assessment · African Development Bank
- — North America:
Atlantic LNG begins exports
The Atlantic LNG plant at Point Fortin started production, confirming Trinidad and Tobago's shift from oil to natural gas and making it a major global LNG exporter.
Era: A modern energy nation
Sources: Historical Facts on the Petroleum Industry of Trinidad and Tobago · Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, Trinidad and Tobago
Economy & Trade in the 1990s
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged economy and trade — trade, currency, industry and resources, narrowed to the 1990s — 13 of them, drawn from 12 nations, running from 1991 to 1999. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 13
- Nations
- 12
- Earliest
- 1991
- Latest
- 1999
- Asia
- 4
- Africa
- 3
- North America
- 3
- Europe
- 2
- South America
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.