The World in 1990 the year Mandela walked free
2.6MInternet users
1:1East German marks swapped
1stWeb page written at CERN
$1.16Gallon of gas (US)
$4.23Movie ticket (US)
$3.80US minimum wage per hour
248MPeople in the US census
1stAfrican team in the last eight
80%Seats won by Suu Kyi (Burma)
About 2.6 million people used the internet in 1990. Picture a packed 50,000-seat stadium. Only about 25 people in it had ever been online.
Life back then

Music fans carried a Walkman and rewound cassettes with a pencil. Kids everywhere wanted a Game Boy, the small grey handheld from Japan that was about a year old. Home computers were still rare, and the internet belonged to universities and the military. If you missed a TV show, you set the VCR or waited for a rerun, and calling a friend meant hoping they were home.
The year in 8 events
- ๐Jan 31 Moscow gets its first McDonald's, on Pushkin Square. Soviet customers queue for hours and about 30,000 are served on day one.
- โFeb 11 Nelson Mandela walks free after 27 years in South African prisons.
- ๐ญApr 24 The Hubble Space Telescope launches from Florida aboard the US shuttle Discovery.
- ๐ฅ๏ธMay 22 Microsoft releases Windows 3.0, the first Windows to become a huge hit.
- โฟJul 26 The Americans with Disabilities Act becomes law, requiring ramps, lifts and access at work.
- ๐ชAug 2 Iraq invades Kuwait. The crisis soon leads to the Gulf War.
- ๐งฑOct 3 East and West Germany officially become one country again.
- ๐๏ธNov 22 Margaret Thatcher says she will resign after 11 years as UK prime minister.