TIME's Annual Journey: 1989

1989: The Year that Changed the World

From the Berlin Wall to the Web, from Tiananmen Square to a moment in South Africa, from an oil spill to a banned book — how a year of both hope and despair transformed our planet forever Read More »

Video: A GPS Tour of the Berlin Wall

Much of the infamous Berlin Wall has been torn down, but visitors who want to find its original path can use a hand-held GPS Wall Guide More »
Multimedia: 1989 in Pictures and Why It Matters

From the Berlin Wall to Tiananmen Square, how a year of hope and despair transformed our planet forever More »
Multimedia: Tiananmen at 20: Photographing 'Tank Man'

Photographer Stuart Franklin recounts the 1989 uprising and the extraordinary events that led to the making of his iconic photograph More »
MULTIMEDIA: Gay Rights Timeline

Gay relationships were recognized, if not legal, as far back as 7th Century BC Greece. But the history of gay rights activism really heated up in the 20th Century More »
Photos: Remembering Tiananmen Square

On the morning of June 4, 1989, months of student protests were violently quashed by China's soldiers in the heart of Beijing, leaving a legacy that the world will not soon forget More »
Photos: Japan Then and Now

In 1989, Japan reveled in excess and seemed poised to rule the world. Twenty years later, the Japanese economy has been looking down for so long it's hard to remember the days when salarymen and capsule hotels captured the world's imagination More »
Photos: The Dalai Lama: Six Decades of Spiritual Leadership

The Dalai Lama may be stepping away from his long-standing role leading negotiations with Beijing on Tibet's future, but his role as Tibetans' spiritual leader will not change More »
Photos: The Cultural Icons of 1989

Who made us laugh and cry in 1989? TIME recalls some of the world's leading lights More »
Photos: The Berlin Wall

The Rise and Fall of the barrier between East and West More »
More Stories: Fearless Fashion in the Former East Germany

A new Berlin exhibition celebrates the young designers who rebelled against the official East German sense of fashion to make clothes that were about art, imagination and the courage of creativity More »
Top Ten Grossing Movies of 1989

What can you remember about the most popular movies of 1989? Bats, ghosts and kids cropped up as did some of Hollywood's biggest stars More »
Top Ten Sporting Moments

Sports weren't so different twenty years ago: we still marveled at great plays, awesome players and the plain spoken truth that games bring us closer together, irrespective of victory or defeat More »
Top Ten Music

Twenty years on, the likes of Madonna, Janet Jackson and even New Kids On The Block are still — ahem — Hangin' Tough. Bobby Brown and Debbie Gibson? Not so much. Here's a look at the top five selling albums and singles in the last year of the '80s More »
Top Ten Quotes

A momentous year of change threw up some quotations which retain their importance many years on More »