1900

Years: 1897 1898 1899 - 1900 - 1901 1902 1903
Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s - 1900s - 1910s 1920s 1930s
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1900 in art 1900 in film 1900 in literature 1900 in music 1900 in science 1900 in sports 1900 in Canada List of state leaders in 1900 List of religious leaders in 1900 List of international organization leaders in 1900

Table of contents

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Notes

Events

January 1 – Nigeria becomes British protectorate
January 2 - John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
January 2 - Chicago Canal opens.
January 5 - Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.
January 6 - It is reported that millions are starving in India.
January 6 - Boers attack Ladysmith - over 1000 people killed
January 8 - United States President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.
January 13 – Kaiser of Germany declares that German is the command language in the German army
January 14 - Premier presentation of opera Tosca in Rome - actors have received death threats and nameless letters
January 16 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounced its claims to the Samoan islands
January 24 – Battle of Spion Kop in Second Boer War
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 8 founding teams.
January 30 - United Kingdom forces fighting Boers in South Africa ask for reinforcements.
February 3 - Gubernatorial candidate William Goebels is assassinated in Frankfort, Kentucky. Former-Secretary of State Caleb Powers was later found guilty in a conspiracy to kill Goebels.
February 7 - The British Labour Party is formed
February 8 - British troops are defeated by Boers at Ladysmith, South Africa
February 9 - Richard Wigginton Thompson, congressman
February 14 - Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.
February 14 - Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State
February 17 – Battle of Paardeberg in the Second Boer War
February 22 - Hawaii officially becomes a territory of the United States.
February 23 - Boer War: Battle of Hart's Hill - In South Africa the Boers and British troops battle.
February 27 - Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje.
February 27 - Ramsay MacDonald appointed secretary of newly formed British Labour Party
February 28 - British Labour Party founded
March 3 - Mining strike ends in Germany
March 6 - A coal mine explosion in West Virginia traps 50 coal miners.
March 9 - Women in Germany demand right to participate in university entrance exams
March 11 - Boer War: Boer leader Paul Kruger's peace overtures are rejected by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Lord Salisbury.
March 13 - Boer Wars: British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State.
March 13 - In France, length of a workday for women and children is limited to 11 hours by law
March 14 - The Gold Standard Act is ratified placing United States currency on the gold standard.
March 16 - Sir Arthur Evans discovers the ruins of Knossos on Crete
March 24 - New York City Mayor Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
April 1 - Every French policeman is assigned to carry a gun
April 4 - Anarchist shoots at the Prince of Wales during his visit to Belgium in the birthday celebrations of the king of Belgium
April 14 – Paris World Exhibition opened
May 1 - Explosion of blasting powder in coal mine in Scofield, Utah kills 200
May 17 - Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking
May 17 – Boxers destroy three villages near Peking and kill 60 Chinese Christians
May 18 - Boer delegation travels to USA to ask for assistance
May 18 - The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
May 21 – Russia invades Manchuria
May 23 - Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African American to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (awarded for heroism in the Battle of Fort Wagner during the American Civil War).
May 24 - Boer War: British annex Orange Free State as Orange River Colony.
May 25 - Boer soldiers vote for the continuance of the war
May 28 - Boxers attack Belgian personnel in the Fengtai railway station
May 29 - Chinese government condemns Boxers
May 30 - British under Lord Robert occupy Johannesburg
May 30 - Boxers occupy Tientsin
May 31 - “Peacekeepers” from various European countries arrive in China
May 31 - Boer War: British take Johannesburg
June 1 – Carry Nation demolishes 25 saloons in Medicine Lodge
June 5 - Boer War: British soldiers take Pretoria, South Africa.
June 14 - Hawaii becomes a United States territory.
June 14 - The Reichstag approves a second law that allows the expansion of the German navy.
June 30 - Piers of North German Lloyd Steamship line burned in Hoboken, New Jersey – 326 dead
July 2 - First zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany
July 5 - Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act passes British Parliament
July 9 - Queen Victoria gives royal assent to Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act
July 29 - In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by Italian-born anarchist Gaetano Bresci.
July 30 - The Duke of Albany becomes Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as Karl Eduard following the death of his uncle, Duke Alfred
July 13 - Boxer Rebellion: In China, Tientsin is retaken by European Allies from the rebelling Boxers.
August 27 - British defeat Boer commandos at Bergendal
September 8 - 1900 Galveston Hurricane: A large hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 6,000 people.
September 17 - Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.
November 6 - U.S. presidential election, 1900: Republican incumbent William McKinley is reelected by defeating Democrat challenger William Jennings Bryan.

Births

January 5 - Yves Tanguy, Surrealist painter (d. 1955)
January 8 - Serge Poliakoff, Russian painter (d. 1969)
January 27 - Admiral Hyman Rickover, American admiral, proponent of the "nuclear Navy" (d. 1986)
January 28 - Heinrich Kesten, author (d. 1996)
February 4 - Jacques Prevert, lyricist and author (d. 1977)
February 5 - Adlai Stevenson, politician (d. 1965)
February 11 - Thomas Hitchcock Jr, polo player (d. 1944)
February 11 - Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (d. 2002)
February 22 - Luis Buñuel, film director (d. 1983)
February 28 - Wolfram Hirth, pilot and designer of aircrafts (d. 1959)
March 9 - Howard Aiken, computing pioneer
March 13 - George Seferis, Nobel prize-winning poet (d. 1971)
March 19 - Frédéric Joliot, scientist
March 23 - Erich Fromm, psychologist, philosopher (d. 1980)
March 29 - John McEwen, eighteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1980)
March 31 - Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester
April 5 - Spencer Tracy, actor (d. 1967)
April 25 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, physicist
April 26 - Charles Richter, geophysicist, inventor (d. 1985)
April 30 - Cecily Lefort, SOE agent, WW II heroine, executed by the Nazis (d. 1945)
May 1 - Ignazio Silone, Italian author; in Abruzzo region of Italy
May 12 - Helene Weigel, actress (d. 1971)
May 17 - Ruhollah Khomeini (d. 1989)
May 28 - Tommy Ladnier, jazz musician (d. 1939)
June 15 - Paul Mares, jazz musician (d. 1949)
June 29 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer
July 13 - George Lewis, jazz musician (d. 1969)
August 3 - Ernie Pyle, American journalist
August 4 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, queen of King George VI of the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
August 6 - Cecil H. Green, founder of Texas Instruments (d. 2003)
August 10 - Arthur Espie Porritt, New Zealand politician and athlete (d. 1994)
August 22 - Sergei Ozhegov, Russian lexicographer (d. 1964)
August 25 - Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, German medical doctor and biochemist
August 26 - Hellmuth Walter, engineer and inventor (d. 1980)
September 6 - W.A.C. Bennett, British Columbia politician (d. 1979)
November 8 - Charlie Paddock, American athlete
December 3 - Ulrich Inderbinen, mountain guide (d. 2004)

Deaths

April 30 - John Luther Jones, better known as Casey Jones, train wreck
May 18 - Jean Gaspard Felix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher
June 5 - Stephen Crane, American author; in Badenweiler, Baden, Germany
July 19 - King Umberto I of Italy; (assassinated) in Monza, near Milan, Italy
July 30 - Duke Alfred of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, second son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom
August 25 - Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher, writer; in Germany
September 23 - William Marsh Rice philanthropist, founder of Rice University; (murdered) in New York City
November 30 - Oscar Wilde, British author, playwright; in Paris, France

Notes

1900 is not a leap year even though the number is divisible by 4. It is one of the dropped leap years of the Gregorian Calendar.
1900 is also the title of a film by Bernardo Bertolucci, released in 1976. It follows two men from different classes in Italy from 1900 to 1945, showing the rise of fascism and communism and their effects on the main characters. It is an epic film by anybody's standards, in that in its original release it was over 6 hours in length although it was cut to 4 hours for release in the USA.