‘The sight of it is still shocking’: 46 photos that tell the story of the century so far

At the turn of the century there was a modest debate, mainly conducted on the letters pages of the newspapers - back then, still the prime forum for public discussion - as to when, exactly, the new millennium and the 21st century began. Most assumed the start date was 1 January 2000, but dissenters, swiftly branded pedants, insisted the correct date came a year later. As it turned out, both were wrong. The twin towers, 9/11 2001.Photograph: Marty Lederhandler/AP Photograph: Susan Meiselas/Magnum Photos Photograph: Jean-Marc Bouju/AP Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian Photograph: Alessandra Sanguinetti/Magnum Photos Photograph: Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty Images Photograph: © Edward Burtynsky, courtesy of Flowers Gallery, London Photograph: Zoe Roth/Dave Roth Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters Photograph: Bauer-Griffin/GC Images Photograph: Brent Stirton/Getty Images Photograph: © Simon Norfolk Photograph: Kimberly White/Corbis via Getty Images Photograph: Kevin Coombs/Reuters Photograph: Philippe Chancel, courtesy of Eric Franck fine art/Rio fluency/Polka gallery Photograph: Damon Winter/The New York Times/Redux/eyevine Photograph: Nasa/Nature Picture Library/Alamy Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images Photograph: Mainichi Shimbun/Reuters Photograph: Moises Saman/Magnum Photos Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times/Redux/eyevine Photograph: José Palazón/Reuters Photograph: Jérôme Sessini/Magnum Photos Photograph: Ellen DeGeneres/Getty Images Photograph: Massimo Sestini/eyevine Photograph: Nilufer Demir/Dogan News Agency/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Annie Leibovitz /Trunk Archive Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images Photograph: Marcio José Sánchez/AP Photograph: Burhan Özbilici/AP Photograph: Bryan Woolston/Reuters Photograph: © Andreas Gursky/DACS, 2025, courtesy of Sprüth Magers Photograph: @ Giulio Di Sturco Photograph: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Samir Hussein/WireImage Photograph: Emilio Morenatti/AP Photograph: Victor J Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images Photograph: Nasa via AP Photograph: Konstantinos Tsakalidis/Bloomberg/Getty Images Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Jon A Juárez Photograph: Emma McIntyre/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images The 21st century began in earnest, at least in the western mind, on a day that no one had circled in their diaries. Out of a clear blue sky, two passenger jets flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 and so inaugurated a new age of anxiety - a period in which we have lived ever since. The historian Eric Hobsbawm had already spoken of the short 20th century, which ran from the start of the first world war in 1914 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It was followed by the long decade of the 90s, which came to resemble a contented pause, a holiday from history , until it was rudely terminated on that bright New York morning. The sight of it is still shocking. Nearly 25 years later, the portrait of an ash-covered sculpture, depicting a businessman and his briefcase, is as unsettling now as when it first appeared. Never mind that he was always a statue. The frozen Manhattan man, intact while everything around him lies in ruins, could be one of the petrified figures of Pompeii, a fully preserved emissary from a previous world: the world before 9/11. For a while, it seemed as if the new era would be entirely defined...

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