The Rwandan genocide begins. The assassination of Rwandan President, Juvénal Habyarimana, and Burundian President, Cyprien Ntaryamira, triggered a mass slaughter of ethnic Tutsis with up to 1 million victims.

The first commercial communications satellite is launched. Intelsat I, also known as Early Bird, facilitated the first live TV broadcast of a spacecraft splashdown when Gemini 6 landed in the Atlantic Ocean.

A team of aviators begins the first round-the-world flight in history. Four aircraft left Seattle on a westbound route around the globe. 157 days later, two of them reached the same location.

Robert Peary allegedly becomes the first person to reach the North Pole. Peary's claim has never been verified and is widely contested. The first undisputed journey to the North Pole was the 1948 Soviet Sever-2 expedition.

The first modern Olympic Games are opened in Athens. 241 athletes from 14 countries took part in the First Olympiad. The event took place over 1500 years after the last ancient Olympic Games, which originated in Olympia in south-western Greece.