Life Timeline

For those born August 15, 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
Year 31

You were born in August 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.

1991
Beginnings

Around the time you were born, the Soviet Parliament voted to suspend all Communist Party activities within the Soviet Union.

In December 2011, Alan Taylor published a photo essay looking back at the fall of the Soviet Union.

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.

2007

Jack Plunkett / Invision / AP

Contemporaries

In 2007, Tyler, the Creator, who was born the same year as you, co-founded the alternative hip-hop collective Odd Future.

In April 2015, Spencer Kornhaber wrote about why physical albums will never die.

2009
Coming of age

Around your 18th birthday, rioting between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese killed at least 156 people in China.

In March 2014, Heather Timmons wrote about terrorist attacks casued by ethnic tensions between Uighurs and Han Chinese.

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.

2025
Forecasts

By the time you turn 33, the World Bank predicts that the U.S. dollar will lose its global dominance.

In February 2012, Charles A. Kupchan wrote about the world's emerging economies, and how the world will look by 2050.

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: