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2004

Calendar year From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2004th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 4th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 5th year of the 2000s decade.

Quick facts

2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations,[1] and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).[2]

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Population

The world population on January 1, 2004, was estimated to be 6.462 billion people and increased to 6.545 billion people by January 1, 2005.[3] An estimated 136.6 million births and 53.2 million deaths took place in 2004.[3] The average global life expectancy was 67.7 years, an increase of 0.3 years from 2003.[3] The estimated number of global refugees decreased from 9.59 million to 9.24 million by the end of the year.[4] Afghanistan was the largest source of refugees, with approximately 2.1 million people.[5]

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Conflicts

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There were 32 armed conflicts in 2004 that resulted in at least 25 fatalities, all of which involved violent non-state actors.[6][7] Seven of these resulted in at least 1,000 fatalities: the Colombian conflict, the Iraqi insurgency, the Kashmir insurgency, the Nepalese Civil War, the Second Chechen War in Russia, the Second Sudanese Civil War, the Sudanese War in Darfur, and the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency in Uganda.[8]

The Iraqi insurgency emerged in Iraq in 2004 and carried out attacks against the US-backed caretaker government.[9] It was initially confined to the Sunni Triangle, but it expanded to other areas throughout the year with two suicide bombings in Iraqi Kurdistan on February 1 and a conflict with the Shia Mahdi Army in April.[10] Conflicts with al-Qaeda continued in 2004, primarily in Pakistan along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border.[11] An Islamic militant uprising also took place in northern Nigeria.[9] Although the Second Congo War had ended, insurgencies continued within the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Ituri and in Kivu.[12] Globally, two major rebel groups acted for the first time in 2004: the National Revolutionary Front for the Liberation and Reconstruction of Haiti successfully brought about the resignation of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, while the Islamic Jihad Union was defeated in its attempt to overthrow the government of Uzbekistan.[9]

The War in Darfur escalated significantly in Sudan with debate over whether its mass killings constituted a genocide.[13] The Burundian Civil War was complicated as factionalism divided the CNDD-FDD and tentative peace agreements with the government were opposed by the National Forces of Liberation.[14] The Nepalese Civil War escalated as the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) abducted over one thousand people to train as fighters and the Nepalese government established civilian militias.[15] The frozen conflict between Georgia and the breakaway state of South Ossetia escalated in July and August until a ceasefire was signed on August 18.[16] The Second Chechen War continued in 2004 with a bombing that killed Russian-backed Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov.[17]

Two major peace agreements were made in 2004: one between Senegal and the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance, and one between Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement.[18] A ceasefire was established in Uganda after the Ugandan military made significant gains over the Lord's Resistance Army.[19] A 2003 ceasefire held in the Kashmir conflict, bringing about the conflict's first full year without military action in roughly a decade, although an insurgency continued in the region.[16] Disarmament of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia began in November during the Colombian conflict, but fighting with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia continued and the Colombian government launched its Plan Patriota mobilization program.[20]

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Events

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Culture

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Media

2004 was a year marked by many popular and highly grossing film releases such as Shrek 2, Spider Man 2, The Incredibles, The Passion of the Christ and Howl's Moving Castle. 2004 was also the year where Toho Studios would release Godzilla's 50th anniversary movie, Godzilla: Final Wars, the last Godzilla movie until Legendary Entertainment's Godzilla in 2014, and the last Japanese Godzilla movie until Shin Godzilla in 2016.

Many shows would debut and end in 2004, with Friends airing its final episode on May 6, 2004 after nearly a decade on air, and Lost airing its first episode on September 22 of the same year. Tsuburaya Productions would air the highly controversial Ultraman Nexus, the 17th entry of the Ultra Series on October 2, 2004. Though the series was poorly received when it first began its broadcast, it is now seen as one of the best entries of the Ultra Series.

The gaming industry would see the release of many FPS and sequel games in 2004, with some of the most famous being Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas[98] Halo 2,[99] Metroid Prime 2: Echoes,[100] Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door,[101] and Half Life 2.[102] These titles are considered some of the greatest video games of all time.[103][104][105][106] The Nintendo DS also released this year, which grew to become the best-selling handheld console of all time.

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Births and deaths

Nobel Prizes

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References

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