Political upheaval and an overwhelming desire for change made 2016 the year of the unexpected.
The United Kingdom got the ball rolling by voting to leave the European Union in a shock referendum result. David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister shortly after.
In the United States election, the Republican Presidential Nominee, Donald Trump won. During one of three live-televised debates, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton criticised his relationship with women. But sure enough, after securing votes in a swathe of crucial states, Mr Trump won, addressing his supporters at a rally in New York City.
Brazil's first female president, Dilma Rousseff, was thrown out of office by the country's senate after a gruelling impeachment trial. Ms Rousseff remained defiant throughout the trial, declaring her innocence in August.
In Australia, an eight-week election campaign was described as the most boring in living memory. Malcolm Turnbull's double-dissolution election, hoped to strengthen his government's representation in the parliament, backfired - with the Coalition barely forming a minority government.
Overseas, acts of terror continued to change the lives of innocent people during 2016. Gunmen armed with automatic weapons and explosive belts staged an horrific attack at Istanabul's Ataturk Airport in June. Horrific scenes unfolded in Nice on Bastille Day when 84 people were mowed down by a truck while watching a fireworks display. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls described it as a terrorist attack. And in Orlando, a shooting at a nightclub killed 49 people, prompting calls for restrictions on buying guns in the US.
Mobile phone app Pokemon Go was unleashed onto the public in July. It's since declined from a peak of 27 million daily downloads, to 700,000. And Earthlings looked to the sky to observe the Supermoon.
In sport, Rio fulfilled its hosting duties for the 31st Olympiad, despite concerns about the spread of the mosquito-borne zika virus.
Natural disasters wreaked havoc throughout the year. Towns and villages were rocked by tremors in central Italy where 300 people were killed by a quake in August. Cyclone Winston wiped out entire villages across many remote islands in Fiji in March, killing 40 people. Torrential rain and floods disrupted travel across the United Kingdom and at least five people died when waters rose in Germany and France in June.
In the arts world, revered United States songwriter Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first songwriter ever to win it.
2016 also farewelled many musicians, actors and writers.
