Directory

1900 CE

The Galveston hurricane devastates Texas, killing about 8,000 people; The Siege of the International Legations becomes the climax of the Boxer Rebellion; The 1900 Summer Olympics are held in Paris; The Exposition Universelle showcases innovation in Paris; The Russian invasion of Manchuria heightens tensions in East Asia; The Thanksgiving Day Disaster kills 23 during San Francisco's Big Game; The Zeppelin LZ 1 makes its first flight; The Battle of Paardeberg marks a major Second Boer War victory; Umberto I of Italy is assassinated.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 14 – The U.S. Senate accepts the British-German Treaty of 1899, in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the American Samoa portion of the Samoan Islands.source
  • February 5 – The United Kingdom and the United States sign a treaty for the building of a Central American shipping canal across Central America in Nicaragua.source
  • February 6 – The International Arbitration Court at The Hague is created, when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.source
  • May 18 – The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.source
  • May 24 – Second Boer War: The British annex the Orange Free State, as the Orange River Colony.source
  • June 14 – The Reichstag approves the second of the German Naval Laws allowing expansion of the Imperial German Navy.source
  • July 9 – The Federation of Australia is enacted, marking the unification of its colonies into a single country.source
  • September 12 – Admiral Fredrik von Otter becomes Prime Minister of Sweden.source
  • October 9 – The Cook Islands become a territory of the United Kingdom.source
  • October 24 – 1900 United Kingdom general election: voting concludes with the Unionists led by the Marquess of Salisbury re-elected.source
  • October 25 – The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.source
  • November 6 – 1900 United States presidential election: Republican incumbent William McKinley is re-elected by defeating Democratic challenger William Jennings Bryan in a rematch.source
  • November 7 – 1900 Canadian federal election: Liberal incumbent Sir Wilfrid Laurier is reelected by defeating Conservative leader Sir Charles Tupper again after having done that in the 1896 Canadian federal election.source
  • December 19 – Hopetoun Blunder: The first Governor-General of Australia, John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, appoints Sir William Lyne premier of the new state of New South Wales, but he is unable to persuade other colonial politicians to join his government, and is forced to resign.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 6 – Second Boer War: Boers attempt to end the Siege of Ladysmith, which leads to the Battle of Platrand.source
  • January 24 – Second Boer War: Battle of Spion Kop – Boer troops defeat the British Army.source
  • January 27 – Boxer Rebellion: Foreign diplomats in Peking, Qing dynasty China, demand that the Boxer rebels (who oppose foreign interests in the country) be disciplined.source
  • January 31 – Datu Muhammad Salleh, leader of the Mat Salleh Rebellion in North Borneo, is shot dead in Tambunan.source
  • February 8 – Second Boer War: British troops defeat the Boers at Ladysmith, South Africa.source
  • February 15 – Second Boer War: The Siege of Kimberley is lifted.source
  • February 17 – Second Boer War: Battle of Paardeberg – British troops defeat the Boers.source
  • February 27 – Second Boer War: British military leaders accept the unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronjé.source
  • April 22 – Battle of Kousséri: French forces secure their domination of Chad. Warlord Rabih az-Zubayr is defeated and killed.source
  • May 17 – Second Boer War: The British Army relieves the Siege of Mafeking.source
  • May 17 – Boxer Rebellion: Boxers destroy three villages near Peking and kill 60 Chinese Christians.source
  • May 21 – The Chinese province of Manchuria is invaded by the Russian Empire.source
  • May 28 – Boxer Rebellion: Boxers attack Belgians in the Fengtai railway station.source
  • May 31 – Boxer Rebellion: Peacekeepers from various European countries arrive in China, where they eventually unite with Japanese forces.source
  • June 11 – 1899–1900 peasant unrest in Bulgaria starts to turn passive.source
  • June 17 – Boxer Rebellion: Battle of Dagu Forts – Naval forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance capture the Taku Forts, on the Hai River estuary in China.source
  • June 20 – Boxer Rebellion: Boxers gather about 20,000 people near Peking, and kill hundreds of European citizens, including the German ambassador.source
  • July 29 – King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by Italian-born anarchist Gaetano Bresci in Monza.source
  • August 14 – Boxer Rebellion: An international contingent of troops, under British command, invades Peking and frees the European hostages.source
  • September 13 – Philippine–American War: Battle of Pulang Lupa – Filipino resistance fighters defeat a detachment of American soldiers.source
  • September 17 – Philippine–American War: Battle of Mabitac – Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat the Americans.source
  • November 29 – Herbert Kitchener succeeds Frederick Roberts as commander-in-chief of the British forces in South Africa and implements a scorched earth strategy.source
  • December 5 – The final Anglo-Ashanti War, "War of the Golden Stool", is declared over. Most of the British troops and Governor James Willcocks depart the city of Kumasi.source
  • December 24 – Boxer Rebellion Demands: The foreign powers present their 12 conditions for reform to the Chinese Imperial government, including the payment of a large indemnity.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 2 – U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote American trade with China.source
  • February 16 – The British-sponsored Southern Cross Expedition led by Carsten Borchgrevink achieves a new Farthest South of 78° 50'S, making the first landing at the Great Ice Barrier.source
  • March 5 – Two U.S. Navy cruisers are sent to Central America to protect American interests in a dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.source
  • March 16 – British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans purchases the land on Crete on which the ruins of the Palace of Knossos stand. He begins to unearth some of the palace three days later.source
  • May – American explorer Robert Peary is the first person to sight Kaffeklubben Island.source
  • July 12 – The new German cruise liner SS Deutschland breaks the record for the Blue Riband on her maiden transatlantic voyage with an average speed of 22.4 kn km/h.source

Religion & Belief

  • June 25 – Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu discovers the Dunhuang manuscripts, a cache of ancient texts that are of great historical and religious significance, in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China, where they have been sealed since the early 11th century.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • March 20 — Thomas Lambert received a patent for the first indestructible type of cylinder records.source
  • July 2 – The first zeppelin airship flight, by Zeppelin LZ 1, is carried out over Lake Constance, near Friedrichshafen, Germany.source
  • July 19 – The first line of the Paris Metro opens.source
  • December 23 – Reginald Fessenden makes the first use of amplitude modulation (the basis for AM radio) for wireless transmission of the human voice, from Cobb Island (Maryland).source
  • December 28 – The first steel produced by electrometallurgy (from an electric furnace) is delivered.source

Science & Discovery

  • March 14 – Botanist Hugo de Vries rediscovers Mendel's laws of heredity.source
  • March 23 – Karl Landsteiner first reports his discovery of an accurate means for classifying a system of blood type, which will universally be referred to as the ABO blood group system and for which he will be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1930.source
  • October 19 – Max Planck first states Planck's law of black-body radiation to a meeting of the German Physical Society in Berlin, marking the birth of modern quantum mechanics. He restates it on December 14.source
  • December 14 – History of quantum mechanics: Max Planck presents his groundbreaking paper on quantum theory to the German Physical Society in Berlin.source
  • December 17 – The Prix Guzman, first and only prize ever offered for communication with extraterrestrial life, is announced in Paris. A prize of 100,000 francs is provided, except for communication with Mars, which is considered too easy.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • March 6 – A coal mine explosion in West Virginia, United States, kills 50 miners.source
  • May 1 – Scofield Mine disaster: An explosion of blasting powder in a coal mine in Scofield, Utah, kills 200 people.source
  • June 30 – Hoboken Docks fire: A wharf fire at the docks in Hoboken, New Jersey, spreads to German passenger ships , and . The fire engulfs the adjacent piers and nearby ships, killing 326 people.source
  • December 16 – The German training frigate Gneisenau, with 450 naval cadets on board, sinks in a storm during exercises off of the Spanish coast at Málaga, drowning 136.source

Climate & Environment

  • September 8 – The 1900 Galveston hurricane, killing around 8,000 people. It is the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history.source

Culture & Society

  • January 14 – Puccini's opera Tosca premieres in Rome.source
  • c. January – The first Michelin Guide is published for French motorists.source
  • February 27 – The British Labour Party is officially established, at a meeting in the Congregational Memorial Hall in London, and Ramsay MacDonald is appointed as its first secretary.source
  • February 27 – FC Bayern, Germany's most successful football club, is founded in Munich.source
  • April 14 – The Exposition Universelle, a world's fair, opens in Paris.source
  • May 14 – The second Olympic Games, Paris 1900, open (as part of the Paris World Exhibition).source
  • May 17 – L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is published in Chicago, the first of Baum's Oz books, chronicling the fictional Land of Oz for children.source
  • May 29 – N'Djamena, the capital city of Chad, is founded as Fort-Lamy by French commander Émile Gentil.source
  • July 1 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria makes a morganatic marriage with Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg.source
  • July 23 – 25 – The First Pan-African Conference is held in London.source

Births

  • March 13 – Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1971)source
  • March 29 – Sir John McEwen, 18th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1980)source
  • April 25 – Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-born American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)source
  • May 10 – Beryl May Dent, English mathematical physicist (d. 1977)source
  • June 5 – Dennis Gabor, Hungarian-born British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)source
  • June 25 – Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, English naval officer and last Viceroy of India (assassinated) (d. 1979)source
  • June 29 – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French aviator and writer (d. 1944)source
  • August 4 – Arturo Umberto Illia, 34th President of Argentina (d. 1983)source
  • August 25 – Sir Hans Krebs, German-born British biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1981)source
  • September 3 – Urho Kekkonen, 8th President of Finland (d. 1986)source
  • September 17 – J. Willard Marriott, American entrepreneur, founder of Marriott International (d. 1985)source
  • September 29 – Miguel Alemán Valdés, 46th President of Mexico, 1946–1952 (d. 1983)source
  • November 8 – Margaret Mitchell, American novelist (Gone With The Wind) (d. 1949)source
  • December 19 – Margaret Brundage, American illustrator (Weird Tales) (d. 1976)source

Deaths

  • January 5 – William A. Hammond, American military physician, neurologist, and 11th Surgeon General of the United States Army (1862–1864) (b. 1828)source
  • January 20 – John Ruskin, English writer, artist, and social critic (b. 1819)source
  • March 29 – Cyrus K. Holliday, cofounder of Topeka, Kansas, 1st president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (b. 1826)source
  • April 30 – Casey Jones dies in fatal train accident after his locomotive, No. 382, plows into the caboose and two fully loaded boxcars of corn and hay of locomotive No. 83.source
  • June 5 – Stephen Crane, American author (b. 1871)source
  • July 9 – Gregorio Grassi, Italian Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic martyr and saint (b. 1833)source
  • August 7 – Wilhelm Liebknecht, German Social Democratic politician (b. 1826)source
  • August 12 – Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian-born chess player, first undisputed World Champion (b. 1836)source
  • August 23 – Kuroda Kiyotaka, Japanese politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1840)source
  • August 25 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, writer (b. 1844)source
  • September 23 – Arsenio Martínez-Campos, Spanish general, revolutionary, and Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1831)source
  • September 23 – William Marsh Rice, American philanthropist, university founder (b. 1816)source
  • October 22 – John Sherman, American politician (b.1823)source
  • December 21 – Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal, Prussian field marshal (b. 1810)source