Table of Contents

History & Politics

Articles covering historical events and political developments of 2010.

Topic	Description
2010 Haiti Earthquake	A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck near Port-au-Prince on January 12, killing an estimated 100,000–316,000 people and displacing 1.5 million in one of the deadliest natural disasters of the twenty-first century.
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill	The April 20 explosion on BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig caused the largest accidental marine oil spill in history, releasing 4.9 million barrels into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days.
Arab Spring / Tunisia Jasmine Revolution	Mohamed Bouazizi’s December 17 self-immolation in Sidi Bouzid sparked protests that toppled Ben Ali’s government on January 14, 2011, and ignited the wider Arab Spring.
2010 Copiapó Mining Accident and Rescue	A cave-in at the San José mine trapped 33 miners 700 meters underground for 69 days; all were rescued alive on October 13 in a globally watched operation viewed by an estimated 1 billion people.
2010 Pakistan Floods	Unprecedented monsoon flooding from late July inundated about one-fifth of Pakistan, affecting roughly 20 million people and causing over $10 billion in damage in one of the century’s largest natural disasters by people affected.
WikiLeaks Diplomatic Cables Release	WikiLeaks began publishing 251,287 classified U.S. State Department cables on November 28, exposing candid diplomatic assessments worldwide in the largest disclosure of classified U.S. documents to that point.