The Early 2000s

Economics

2008 saw a worldwide financial crisis, which was contributed to heavily by the American mortgage crisis. This was caused by quickly rising home prices, specifically in the US, and risky high price mortgages. Around 2007, the market peaked and began to fall. This financial crisis led into a recession. This period of market decline lasted from 2007-2009.

Wars (US Specific)

The War on Terror and the War in Afghanistan began in 2001 post the September 11 attacks. The US also led an invasion of Iraq, leading to the Iraq war that went from 2003 - 2011.

Presidents

George W. Bush was President from 2001-2009, Obama was elected in 2008.

Climate Change

Climate change and global warming became common concerns in the 2000s. Prediction tools, which made significant progress, contributed to this, as well as several studies and organizations bringing climate change to the public and gaining support to counter climate change.

Internet

This decade contained the rise of the internet, allowing faster communication globally. Email became the primary way of sending messages to people instead of sending letters, or "snail mail" as it was called. MySpace was an extremely popular social network, launching in 2003. Amazon's popularity also grew in this time.