1900

This article is about the year 1900. For other uses, see 1900 (disambiguation).

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	18th century – 19th century – 20th century
Decades:	1870s  1880s  1890s  – 1900s –  1910s  1920s  1930s
Years:	1897 1898 1899 – 1900 – 1901 1902 1903

1900 in topic:
Humanities
Archaeology – Architecture – Art – Literature – Music
By country
Australia – Canada – France – Germany – Mexico – South Africa – US – UK
Other topics
Rail Transport – Science – Sports
Lists of leaders
Colonial Governors – State leaders
Birth and death categories
Births – Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments – Disestablishments
Works category
Works
v · Gregorian calendar	1900 MCM
Ab urbe condita	2653
Armenian calendar	1349 ԹՎ ՌՅԽԹ
Assyrian calendar	6650
Bahá'í calendar	56 – 57
Bengali calendar	1307
Berber calendar	2850
British Regnal year	63 Vict. 1 – 64 Vict. 1
Buddhist calendar	2444
Burmese calendar	1262
Byzantine calendar	7408 – 7409
Chinese calendar	己亥年十二月初一日 (4536/4596-12-1) — to — 庚子年十一月初十日 (4537/4597-11-10)
Coptic calendar	1616 – 1617
Ethiopian calendar	1892 – 1893
Hebrew calendar	5660 – 5661
Hindu calendars
- Bikram Samwat	1956 – 1957
- Shaka Samvat	1822 – 1823
- Kali Yuga	5001 – 5002
Holocene calendar	11900
Iranian calendar	1278 – 1279
Islamic calendar	1317 – 1318
Japanese calendar	Meiji 33 (明治33年)
Korean calendar	4233
Minguo calendar	12 before ROC 民前12年
Thai solar calendar	2443
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Year 1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. As a result, the Julian calendar was 12 days behind the Gregorian until Wednesday, February 28 (O.S. February 16) and has been 13 days behind since Thursday, March 1 (O.S. February 17). It was the 1900th year of the Anno Domini or the Common Era designation, the 900th year of the 2nd millennium, and the last year of the 19th century but the first year of the 1900s.

Events

January

Main article: January 1900

• January 1 – Hawaii asks for a delegate at the U.S. Republican National Convention.
• January 2
  • The first electric bus becomes operational in New York City.
  • U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote American trade with China.
• January 3 – The United States Census estimates the country's population to be about 70 million people.
• January 4 – Strikes in Belgium and Germany lead to mining riots.
• January 5
  • The Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.
  • Dr. Henry A. Rowland of Johns Hopkins University announces a theory about the cause of the Earth's magnetism.
• January 6 – Second Boer War: Boers attack the town of Ladysmith, South Africa, killing over 1,000 people.
• January 8 – President William McKinley of the United States places Alaska under military governance.
• January 9 – The first through passenger train goes from Cairo to Khartoum.
• January 14
  • The opera Tosca premieres in Rome, Italy.
  • The U.S. Senate accepts the British-German treaty of 1899, in which the United Kingdom renounced its claims to the American Samoa portion of the Samoan Islands.
• January 17 – Brigham H. Roberts of Utah is not seated by the U.S. House of Representatives because of his plural marriage.
• January 23 – 5,000 Austrian miners go on strike.

Second Boer War: Boers at Spion Kop, 1900

• January 24 – The Second Boer War: At the Battle of Spion Kop, Boer troops defeat the British Army.
• January 26 – The Labor League Conference opens in Sydney, Australia, with plans to form a Federal Labor Party. This is spelled "Labor" even in Australia.
• January 27 – Boxer Rebellion: Foreign diplomats in Peking, China demand that the Boxer rebels be disciplined.
• January 29 – The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs is organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with eight founding teams.
• January 30 – Governor William Goebel of Kentucky shot by several assassins.

February

Main article: February 1900

Plaque recording the location of the formation of the British Labour Party in 1900.

• February 1 – Western Australia announced its refusal to join the Australian Federation unless it is given five more years of fiscal freedom.
• February 3
  • Governor William Goebel of Kentucky dies of wounds after being shot by several assassins on January 30. Goebel, who had prevailed in a dispute over the winner of the election in November 1899, had been sworn in on his deathbed. The former Secretary of State of Kentucky Caleb Powers is later found guilty in the conspiracy to kill Goebel.
  • Strikers in Aachen, Vienna, and Brussels demand an eight-hour working day and higher wages.
• 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.
  • Second Boer War: The British House of Commons' vote of censure over the British government's handling of the war is defeated.
• February 6 – The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
• February 8 – Second Boer War: British troops are defeated by the Boers at Ladysmith.
• February 9 – Dwight F. Davis creates the Davis Cup tennis tournament.
• February 14
  • Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.
  • Second Boer War – Battle of Paardeberg: 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.
• February 15 – Second Boer War: The Siege of Kimberley is lifted.
• February 17 – Second Boer War: Battle of Paardeberg: British troops defeat the Boers.
• February 27
  • The British Labour Party is formed.
  • Second Boer War: British military leaders accept the unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje.
  • Ramsay MacDonald is appointed secretary of the newly formed British Labour Party.
  • FC Bayern Munich, football club, is founded.

March

Main article: March 1900

• March 2 (beginning) – Groups of officials inspect towns around Australia in order to find a location the new Federal capital.
• March 5 – Two U.S. Navy cruisers are sent to Central America to protect American interests in a dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
• March 6
  • "Baby-farmer" Ada Williams is hanged at Newgate Prison for murdering a 21-month old girl.
  • A coal mine explosion in West Virginia kills 50 miners.
• March 7 – A fire at Buckingham Palace destroys part of its roof.
• March 8 – Londoners celebrate as Queen Victoria makes a rare visit to the city.
• March 9 – Women in Germany demand the right to participate in university entrance exams.
• March 14 – The botanist Hugo de Vries rediscovers Mendel's Laws of Heredity.
• March 15 – The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing the United States currency on the gold standard.
• March 16 – The 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.
• March 24 – The Mayor of New York, Van Wyck, breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that will link Manhattan with Brooklyn.
• March 27 – The arrival of a Russian naval fleet in Korea causes concern to the Imperial Japanese government.
• March 28 – Over 1,000 tonnes of waste are removed from demolished buildings in Sydney, Australia, in areas affected by an outbreak of the bubonic plague.
• March 31 – In France, the length of a legal workday for women and children is limited to 11 hours.

April

Main article: April 1900

• April 1
  • The Irish Guards are formed by Queen Victoria.
  • King George of Greece becomes absolute monarch of Crete.
• April 4 – An anarchist shoots at the Prince of Wales during his visit to Belgium.
• April 14 – The Paris World Exhibition opens.
• April 22 – Battle of Kousséri: French forces secure their domination of Chad. Warlord Rabih az-Zubayr is defeated and killed.
• April 26 – The Great Lumber Fire of Ottawa–Hull kills 7 and leaves 15,000 homeless.
• April 30 – Hawaii becomes an official U.S. territory.

May

Main article: May 1900

• May 1 – An explosion of blasting powder in coal mine in Scofield, Utah kills 200.
• May 14 – The second Modern Olympic Games opens in Paris (as part of the Paris World Exhibition).
• May 17
  • Second Boer War: British troops relieve the Mafeking.
  • Boxer Rebellion: Boxers destroy 3 villages near Peking and kill 60 Chinese Christians.
• May 18 – The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
• May 21 – Russia invades Manchuria.
• May 23 – Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in 1863, as the first African American to have been awarded this medal.
• May 24 – Second Boer War: The British annex the Orange Free State as the Orange River Colony.
• May 28 – Boxer Rebellion: The Boxers attack Belgians in the Fengtai railway station.
• May 29 – N'Djamena, the capital city of Chad, is founded as Fort-Lamy by French commander Émile Gentil.
• May 31 – Boxer Rebellion: Peacekeepers from various European countries arrive in China.

June

Main article: June 1900

• June 1 – Carrie Nation begins her crusade to demolish saloons.
• June 5 – Second Boer War: British soldiers take Pretoria.
• June 14 – The Reichstag approves a second law that allows the expansion of the German navy.
• June 20 – Boxer Rebellion: Boxers gather about 20,000 people near Peking and kill hundreds of European citizens, including the German ambassador.
• June 30 – A wharf fire at the docks in Hoboken, New Jersey owned by the North German Lloyd Steamship line spreads to German passenger ships Saale,
  July 9: Australia, founded.