Life Timeline

For those born April 2, 1991.

Not your birthday? Find your timeline here.

1990
Before you were born

You're one of the first people who's never lived in a world without the World Wide Web.

In October 2015, Adrienne LaFrance wrote about the disappearance of published content—including a Pulitzer finalist's 34-part investigative series—from the internet.

1991
Beginnings

Around the time you were born, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 687 to set post-Gulf War terms for Iraq.

In March 2003, Stuart Taylor Jr. examined the diplomatic legal justification behind the second Iraq War.

1991
Year 31

You were born in April of 1991. This year, The Atlantic celebrates its 160th birthday, making it 5 times as old as you.

The year you were born, Witold Rybczynski wrote about the history of work and leisure time.

2001

Jason Redmond / AP

The 9/11 Attacks

At 10 years old, you were part of the generation most shaped by 9/11.

The conflicts and displacements touched off around the world by the attacks have been reverberating for the majority of your life. “This ‘war’ [on terrorism] will never be over,” wrote James Fallows, a few years after the towers fell.

2003
Half a life ago

Your life can be divided into two halves: before and after the iTunes Store.

In January 2013, Rebecca Greenfield wrote that the future of the iTunes Store lies not in music, but in apps.

2004

Paramount

The teenage years

This is what Hollywood thought teenagers looked like the year you became one.

Mean Girls was released in 2004.

2004

David Allio / Reuters

Contemporaries

In 2004, Emma Roberts, who was born the same year as you, began starring in the Nickelodeon series Unfabulous.

In September 2014, Kevin O'Keeffe wrote about Roberts's role as Addie in the series.

2009
Coming of age

Around your 18th birthday, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck near the city of L'Aquila in central Italy.

In November 2014, Nicholas St. Fleur wrote about the acquittal of Italian seismologists who were blamed for the fatalities in the quake.

2010

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

The Arab Spring

When you turned 19, you witnessed the revolutionary fervor that transformed the Arab world in 2010, a movement led by your generation.

When 26-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire, he ignited a tinderbox of protests that continue to roil the Middle East, and kindled the beginnings of democracy in Tunisia.

2050
Forecasts

By the time you turn 58, economist Jim O'Neill predicts that drug-resistant infections will kill one person every three seconds.

But it's possible to prevent that. In May 2016, Ed Yong wrote about the recommended steps to avert a post-antibiotic apocalypse.

Today
History in the making

History is happening all around you, every day.

The Atlantic is here to help you process it, in stories like these: