Faces that shaped the decade

The last decade was a period of turmoil, both on the economic and political fronts.

The decade started with the September 11 attacks, and ended during the the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Through this photo gallery, we bring you a list of people who most shaped the last decade - in politics, economics, business, culture and more.

Barack Obama, came to power in 2008 after a sweeping victory, with a promise of change.

He made history as the first African-American to be sworn in as President of the United States.

On October 9, 2009, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Obama had won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. The award was a surprise to many, including Obama himself.(Photo AP)

Sonia Gandhi is credited to have rebuilt the Congress party as India's largest political party.

She has followed the Nehru-Gandhi legacy and became the party leader in 1998.

In the 2004 elections, she led Congress led UPA to victory, recommending Dr. Manmohan Singh for the post of Prime Minister.

Hu Jintao became China's president in 2003 and played a major role in the economic growth and expansion of China during the global financial crisis and is even known to have adopted an increasingly prominent international role.(AP Photo)

Vladimir Putin, the former KGB man, came to power in 2000 as president Boris Yeltsin's hand-picked successor and remade Russia in his own image.(NYT Photo)

Post the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush as President of US, declared a "war on terror" followed by the Iraq invasion. Bush is credited to have led to the decline in US power as it was in his term that US fell into economic decline.(AP Photo)

Osama bin Laden is the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Towers, which is said to be one of the most significant events of the decade.

The terror attacks became a precursor to US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Al Qaeda leader, Bin Laden has become a prime shaper of international politics as a wave of terror hit several countries this decade and led to the launch of the "war on terror".

Angela Merkel made history by becoming the first female chancellor of Germany in 2005 and is considered the most popular chancellor post-war history. In 2006, Angela Merkel was awarded the ‘Vision for Europe' Award for her contribution toward greater European integration.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a prominent place for himself in world politics, especially in the first half of the decade.

He was widely seen in Britain as former US president George W. Bush's poodle as he followed the US into Iraq in 2003. He was succeeded in 2007 by Gordon Brown.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who took office in 2005, and was re-elected in a controversial poll in 2009, has become known as the symbol of the Islamic Republic's defiance of the west in its pursuit of a nuclear programme.

His political stand, however, has turned many Iranians against their rulers.(NYT Photo)

The Financial Times named ArcelorMittal CEO and NRI billionaire Lakshmi Mittal its 2006 Person of the Year.

In May 2007, he was named one of the "100 Most Influential People" by Time magazine.

In 2009, Forbes Magazine listed Mittal the world's 8th richest person with personal wealth of $19.3 billion. His biggest deal was the purchase of Luxembourg based Arcelor in 2006 to create Arcelor Mittal.

Indra Nooyi joined PepsiCo in 1994 and was named president and CFO in 2001.

Forbes magazine ranked Nooyi third on the 2008 and 2009 list of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women."

She began her career as a product manager with Johnson & Johnson.

Her initiatives at PepsiCo symbolise a combination of the spirit of globalisation and the new generation of women. In 2007, she was chosen as a recipient of the Padma Bhushan award by the government of India.(NYT Photo)

In 2001, Mayawati was named leader of the Bahujan Samajwadi Party, and is known as the champion of the dalits.

She is often called the 'dalit queen'. She plays a key role in national politics as the Chief Minister of India's most populous state with a mission to enlarge her mission of upliftment of the dalit community beyond the boundaries of UP.

CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo has become the measure of the popularisation of financial news, symbolised reporters' emergence as their own brands.

Former US Vice-President Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his extensive work for climate change.

He drew attention to his cause through his 2006 film, An Inconvenient Truth, publicising the potential dangers of global warming.(AP Photo)

Damien Hirst is also known as the “bad boy of British art” as critics call his work superficial and sensational.(NYT Photo)

Mark Zuckerberg revolutionised social networking in 2004.

Today, Facebook has more than 350 million users and is valued at $10 billion, making Mark one of the youngest billionaires.(AP Photo)

Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs is an American businessman, and the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc.

Steve Jobs ushered in the digital era by unveiling the iPod, iTumes Music Store and in 2007, the iPhone.(NYT photo)

Rwanda President Paul Kagame has played a pivotal role in rebuilding Rwanda after the 1994 genocide and also in the light of the Congo wars.(AP photo)

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is the most popular president in Brazilian history. His economic policies have led to the International Monetary Fund predicting Brazil to be the fifth-biggest economy before 2020.(Photo NYT)

Abdul Qadeer Khan is known to be the architect of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme and was put under house arrest for sharing nuclear information with Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Under Lloyd Blankfein's direction, Goldman Sachs emerged from the worst financial crisis in more than 70 years, as the world's most powerful investment bank.(NYT Photo)

Warren Buffett spent much of the decade burnishing a legacy as a statesman, a philanthropist and a tireless cheerleader of the US economy. He made a $31 billion donation to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and came to be known as the “Sage of Omaha”. (NYT Photo)

Known as the face of the subprime crisis, AngeloMozilo is the former head of one of the largest mortgage lenders in the US, Countrywide.(NYT Photo)

The head of Celtel, Mo Ibrahim showed that it was possible to build a world class company with a clean reputation in Africa.

Jeffrey Preston "Jeff" Bezos is the founder, president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Amazon.com. Amazon is ending the decade as the world's largest internet retailer, with a presence in seven countries with sales upto $23 billion.(NYT Photo)

Once Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsk was arressted in October 2003 for fraud for illegally securing control of state-owned oil.(AFP Photo)

Co-founders Larry Page, president of products, and Sergey Brin, president of technology, brought Google to life in September 1998.

They led to the internet revolution with their company policy being “do no evil” and “make the world a better place”.

What started off as a search engine now encompasses may other products and is now synonomous with the internet.(AP Photo)

At the age of 24, Tiger Woods had won 14 major championships and became the richest and most recognised sports star in the world.

His clean cut image has been tarnished off-late and in the light of recent events, he plans to take a break from golf.

Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams co-founded Twitter in October 2006. This entreprenuer-engineer team turned a simple idea into a social networking revolution.(AP Photo)

Margaret Cushing "Meg" Whitman was president and chief executive officer of eBay from March 1998 to March 2008. She was brought into eBay in 1998 when the revenues were $5 million and left ten years later when sales had risen to $8 billion.(NYT Photo)

Ben Bernanke played a pivotal role to tame the global financial crisis of 2007-09.

Many economists believe his leadership was decisive in helping to avert a second Great Depression.(NYT Photo)

A champion of laissez-faire capitalism, Alan Greenspan stepped down in 2006 after 18 years as a legend in the economic world.(NYT Photo)

Jean-Claude Trichet, European Central Bank president since November 2003, has put euro on the world map.(AP photo)

Melinda French Gates is an American philanthropist. She is the co-founder and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Musicians Jay Z and Beyonce, are also known as hip hops first couple with a combined networth of $265 million and record sales topping 100 million. They were key in making hip-hop a global cultural phenomenon.

JK Rowling is a world renowned writer thanks to her Harry Potter novel series.

Adored by adults and children, the Harry Potter series is valued at more than 7 billion pounds gloabally.

The seven books have been translated into more than 65 languages have sold over 400 million copies worldwide.

Richard Dawkins is one of Britain's most visible scientists since he published The Selfish Gene in 1976, and particularly for championing evolutionary theory and atheism.

Oprah Gail Winfrey is an American television host, producer, and philanthropist, best known for her multi-award winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history.

She has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century and the greatest black philanthropist in American history.(NYT Photo)

Johannes "John" Hendrikus Hubert de Mol is a Dutch media tycoon. He developed the highly popular reality television series "Big Brother" in 1997-1999 with his own production company.

Hayao Miyazaki has revilutionised animated filmmaking. His film, Spirited Away, won the Oscar for the best animated feature in 2002.

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum helped to establish the emirate as the leading business hub in the Middle East and a rare economic success story in the Arab world.

Liu Mingkang, head of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, has been instrumental in restoring the banks to financial health, which has underpinned another decade of rapid economic growth.

Junichiro Koizumi is a charismatic leader of the Liberal Democratic party who forced Japan to embrace market liberalisation.