This article is about the year 1900.

For information about the film, see 1900 (film).

For information about the ICL / ICT computers, see ICT 1900.

Year 1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar, but a leap year starting on Saturday ^[1] of the Julian calendar. As a result, the Julian calendar was 12 days behind the Gregorian calendar until Wednesday, February 28 (O.S. February 16) and has been 13 days behind since Thursday, March 1 (O.S. February 17).

Events of 1900

January

• January 1
  • Hawaii asks for a delegate at the Republican national convention.
  • Nigeria becomes a British electorate.
• January 2
  • The first Electric bus becomes operational in New York City.
  • John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
  • Chicago Canal opens.
• January 3 - British Royal Yacht, Victoria and Albert capsizes as it leaves port.
• January 4 - Strikes in Belgium and Germany lead to mining riots.
• January 5
  • Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.
  • Dr Henry A. Rowland of Johns Hopkins University discovers the cause of the Earth's magnetism.
• January 6
  • It is reported that millions are starving in India.
  • Boers attack Ladysmith - over 1000 people were killed.
• January 8 - United States President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.
• January 9
  • The first through train runs from Cairo to Khartoum.
  • Influenza strikes London.
• January 10 - Lord Roberts becomes Army chief in the Boer War.
• January 12 - In Gupta, three and a quarter million people are receiving famine relief.
• 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 15 - The Hippodrome theatre opens in the Charing Cross Roads in London.
  • The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounced its claims to the Samoan islands.
  • George Griffin becomes the first Australian ever to be killed in the Boer War.
• January 17
  • Brigham H. Roberts is refused a seat in the United States House of Representatives because of his Polygamy.
  • US takes Wake Island, an important cable link between Hawaii and Manila.
  • Yaqui Indians in Texas proclaim independence from Mexico.
• January 23 - 5000 Austrian miners go on strike.
• January 24
  • Battle of Spion Kop in Second Boer War.
  • The governments in London and Pretoria begin negotiations to end the Second Boer War.
• January 26 - The Labor League Conference opens in Sydney, Australia with plans to form a Federal Labor Party.
• 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 - United Kingdom forces fighting Boers in South Africa ask for reinforcements.
• January 31 - An outbreak of the bubonic plague intensifies in cities throughout Australia.

February

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

• February 1 - Western Australia refuses to join the Federation unless given 5 years of fiscal freedom.
• February 2 - First performance of Gustave Charpentier's opera, Louise.
• February 3
  • Gubernatorial candidate William Goebel is assassinated in Frankfort, Kentucky. Former Secretary of State Caleb Powers was later found guilty in a conspiracy to kill Goebel.
  • Strikers in Aachen, Vienna and Brussels demand an 8 hour working day and higher wages.
• February 5
  • Britain and the United States sign a treaty for the building of a Central American shipping canal through Nicaragua.
  • The British House of Commons vote of censure over the Britain's handling of the Second Boer War is defeated by a majority of 213.
• February 6 - The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
• February 8 - British troops are defeated by Boers at Ladysmith, South Africa.
• February 9 - Dwight F. Davis creates the Davis Cup tennis tournament.
• February 11 - Second Boer War: Colonel Hannay begins invasion of Orange Free State with march from Orange River to Ramdam.
• February 12 - Meeting held in Mile End, London to protest against the Second Boer War ends in uproar.
• February 14
  • Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.
  • Second Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State in the Battle of Paardeberg.
• February 15 the Siege of Kimberley is lifted.
• February 16 - Appearance of "Savrola (A Tale of Revolution in Laurania)", the first (and only) novel of Winston Churchill.
• February 17 - Battle of Paardeberg in the Second Boer War.
• February 18
  • Harry Vardon becomes world golf champion.
• February 19 - Alfred von Tirpitz says the German fleet "must be strong enough to ensure its mastery of the North Sea".
• February 23
  • Second Boer War: Battle of Hart's Hill - In South Africa the Boers and British troops battle.
  • The bubonic plague in Australia continues to cause deaths - last case reported was fatal.
• February 26 - The Grand Theatre, Islington is destroyed by fire.
• February 27
  • The British Labour Party is formed.
  • Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje.
  • Ramsay MacDonald appointed secretary of newly formed British Labour Party.
• February 28 - British forces are reinforced in Ladysmith by the arrival of cavalry as the Boers began to retreat.

March

• March 2
  • The Pope condemns Boer War.
  • Groups of officials inspect towns around Australia in order to find the new Federal capital.
• March 3
  • Mining strike ends in Germany.
  • Classes open at The Training School for Christian Workers, which would become Azusa Pacific University.
• March 5 - Two U.S. cruisers are sent to Central America to protect US 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 traps 50 coal miners.
• March 7 - Fire at Buckingham Palace destroys part of its roof.
• March 8 - Rejoicing in London as Queen Victoria makes one of her rare visits.
• March 9 - Women in Germany demand right to participate in university entrance exams.
• March 13 - In the Second Boer War, Frederick Robert's British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State.
• March 14
  • Boer leader Paul Kruger's peace overtures are rejected by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Lord Salisbury.
  • Botanist Hugo de Vries rediscovers Mendel's laws of heredity.
• March 15
  • Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Lord Salisbury rejects U.S. President William McKinley's offer to mediate in the Boer War.
  • The Gold Standard Act is ratified placing United States currency on the gold standard.
• March 16 - Sir Arthur Evans purchases the land on which the ruins of Knossos on Crete reside, for further excavation.
• March 19
  • In London, public subscription for new Government Boer War loan is £335m - 11 times the amount asked.
  • The British archaeologist Arthur Evans begins to unearth some of the palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete.
• March 24 - New York City Mayor Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
• March 25 - The War of the Golden Stool erupts in the Ashanti Kingdom of West Africa between the Ashanti and British colonial forces.
• March 27
  • Arrival of a Russian fleet in Korea causes concern to Japanese government.
  • India in crisis as millions starve. The country turns to the Colonial Government for help as food supplies run out.
• March 28 - Over 1,000 tonnes of filth is removed from demolished Sydney, Australia buildings in areas that were effected by the bubonic plague outbreak.
• March 31 - In France, the length of a workday for women and children is limited to 11 hours by law.

April

• April 1
  • Every French policeman is assigned to carry a gun.
  • Irish Guards formed by Queen Victoria
  • King George of Greece becomes absolute monarch of Crete.
• 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 opens.
• April 22 - French forces defeat and kill Rabih az-Zubayr in the battle of Kousséri, thus guaranteeing French domination of Chad.
• April 26 - Great Lumber Fire of Ottawa-Hull.
• April 30 - Hawaii becomes an official U.S. territory

May

• May 1 - Explosion of blasting powder in coal mine in Scofield, Utah kills 200
• May 2 - Oscar II, King of Sweden, declares support for Britain at the time of the Second Boer War.
• May 14 - The second (II) Modern Olympic Games opens in Paris.
• May 17
  • Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking
  • Boxers destroy three villages near Peking and kill 60 Chinese Christians
• May 18
  • Boer delegation travels to USA to ask for assistance
  • 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 Medal of Honor (awarded for heroism in the Battle of Fort Wagner during the American Civil War).
• May 24 - Second 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 - Boxers occupy Tientsin
• May 31
  • Peacekeepers from various European countries arrive in China
  • British under Lord Robert occupy Johannesburg

June

• June 1 - Carrie Nation demolishes 25 saloons in Medicine Lodge
• June 5
  • Boer War: British soldiers take Pretoria, South Africa.
  • The German Cruise liner, Deutschland III sets a new speed record.
• June 14 - The Reichstag approves a second law that allows the expansion of the German navy.
• June 20 - The Boxers gather about 20,000 people near Peking and kill hundreds of European citizens, including the German ambassador.
• June 30 - Piers of North German Lloyd Steamship line burned in Hoboken, New Jersey - 326 dead

July

• July 2 - First zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany
• July 5
  • Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act passes British Parliament
  • West Ham United Football Club founded.
• July 9 - Queen Victoria gives royal assent to Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act
• July 13 - Boxer Rebellion: In China, Tientsin is retaken by European Allies from the rebelling Boxers
• July 19 - The first line of the Métro is inaugurated in Paris.
• July 25 - Robert Charles Riots in New Orleans
• 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 Carl Eduard following the death of his uncle, Duke Alfred

Australia, founded July 9, 1900.

August

• August 14 - An international contingent of troops, under British command, invades Peking and frees the Europeans taken hostage.
• August 27 - British defeat Boer commandos at Bergendal

September

• September 1 - Rasmussen College opens in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and offers its first classes.
• September 8 - Galveston Hurricane of 1900: a powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people.
• September 13 - Philippine-American War: Filipino resistance fighters defeat a larger American column in the Battle of Pulang Lupa.
• September 17 - Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.
• September 25 - In the United Kingdom general election, the recently-formed Labour Party gains two seats, with Keir Hardie becoming MP for Merthyr Tydfil. Winston Churchill is elected to Parliament for the first time.

October

• October - The Norwegian inventor Johann Vaaler demands a patent for his invention, the paperclip.

November

• November 3
  • The first automobile show in the United States opened at New York's Madison Square Garden under the auspices of the Automobile Club of America.
  • Panama's separation from Colombia.
  • Construction of Brookings Hall begins marking the start of the construction of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition
• November 6 - U.S. presidential election, 1900: Republican incumbent William McKinley is reelected by defeating Democrat challenger William Jennings Bryan.

December

• December 7 - Max Planck, in his house at Grunewald, on the outskirts of Berlin, discovers the law of black body emission.
• December 18 - The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook Narrow-gauge (2 ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing Billy Railway) in Victoria, Australia opened for traffic.

Undated

• U.S. New Haven, CT Louis Lassen of Louis' Lunch makes the first modern-day hamburger sandwich.
• New Zealand inventor, Ernest Godward invents and patents an egg-beater that could prepare eggs for a sponge cake in three and a half minutes, previously it took 15.

World population

• World population: 1,650,000,000
  • Africa: 133,000,000
  • Asia: 947,000,000
  • Europe: 408,000,000
  • Latin-America: 74,000,000
  • Northern America: 82,000,000
  • Oceania: 6,000,000

Births

January-June

• January 2 - William Haines, American actor (d. 1973)
• January 4 - James Bond (ornithologist) (d. 1989)
• January 5 - Yves Tanguy, French painter (d. 1955)
• January 16 -Edith Frank, German-Dutch mother of Anne Frank (d. 1945)
• January 25 - Theodosius Dobzhansky, Geneticist, evolutionary biologist (d. 1975)
• January 23 - William Ifor Jones, Welsh conductor and organist (d. 1988)
• January 26 - Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
• January 27 - Hyman Rickover, American admiral (d. 1986)
• January 30 - Martita Hunt, actress (d. 1969)
• February 4 - Jacques Prévert, French lyricist and author (d. 1977)
• February 5 - Adlai Stevenson, American politician (d. 1965)
• February 11 - Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (d. 2002)
• February 12 - Roger J. Traynor, American judge (d. 1983)
• January 16 - Edith Frank, Anne Frank's mother (d. 1944)
• February 19 - Giorgos Seferis, Greek writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
• February 22 - Luis Buñuel, Spanish film director (d. 1983)
• February 28 - Wolfram Hirth, German pilot and aircraft designer (d. 1959)
• March 4 - Herbert Biberman, Jewish American screenwriter and film director (d. 1971)
• March 9 - Howard Aiken, American computing pioneer (d. 1973)
• March 19 - Frédéric Joliot, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1958)
• March 23 - Erich Fromm, German-born psychologist and philosopher (d. 1980)
• March 29 - John McEwen, eighteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1980)
• March 31 - Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (d. 1974)
• April 2 - Roberto Arlt, Argentine writer (d. 1942)
• April 5 - Spencer Tracy, American actor (d. 1967)
• April 8 - Marie Byles, first female solicitor in New South Wales, Australia (d. 1979)
• April 16 - Polly Adler, Russian author (d. 1962)
• April 21 - Hans Fritzsche, Nazi official (d. 1953)
• April 25 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
• April 26 - Charles Richter, American geophysicist and inventor (d. 1985)
• April 27 – August Koern, Estonian statesman and diplomat (d. 1989)
• April 30 - Cecily Lefort, English World War II heroine (executed) (d. 1945)
• May 1 - Ignazio Silone, Italian author (d. 1978)
• May 12 - Helene Weigel, Austrian actress (d. 1971)
• May 15 - Zheng Ji, Chinese nutritionist and biochemist
• May 17 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of Iran (d. 1989)
• May 23 - Hans Frank, Nazi official (d. 1946)
• May 27 - Uładzimir Zylka, Belarusian poet (d. 1933)
• May 28 - Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (heart attack) (d. 1939)
• June 3 - Rolland Fisher, American temperance activist (d. 1982)
• June 4 - George Watkins, owner of rookie MLB batting average record (d. 1970)
• June 5 - Dennis Gabor, Hungarian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
• June 7 - Glen Gray, American saxophonist and leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra (d. 1963)
• June 15 - Paul Mares, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1949)
• June 17 - Martin Bormann, Nazi official (d. 1945)
• June 29 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer (d. 1944)

July-December

• July 4 - Robert Desnos, French poet (d. 1945)
• July 6 - Frederica Sagor Maas, American playwright, essayist and author
• July 13 - George Lewis, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1968)
• July 29 - Eyvind Johnson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
• August 3 - Ernie Pyle, American journalist (d. 1945)
• August 4 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, queen of George VI of the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
• August 6 - Cecil H. Green, British-born geophysicist and businessman (d. 2003)
• August 10 - Arthur Espie Porritt, New Zealand politician and athlete (d. 1994)
• August 11 - Philip Phillips, American archaeologist (d. 1994)
• August 18 - Glenn Albert Black, American archaeologist (d. 1964)
• August 19
  • Colleen Moore, American actress (d. 1988)
  • Gilbert Ryle, British philosopher (d. 1976)
• August 22 - Sergei Ozhegov, Russian lexicographer (d. 1964)
• August 25 - Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1981)
• August 26 - Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (d. 1980)
• September 3 - Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland (d. 1986)
• September 6 - W.A.C. Bennett, Canadian politician (d. 1979)
• September 22 - Paul H. Emmett, American chemical engineer (d. 1985)
• September 23 - Louise Nevelson, Ukrainian-born American sculptor (d. 1988)
• September 28 - Boris Efimov, Russian political cartoonist and propaganda artist
• September 29 - Auguste van Pels, German-Dutch mother of Peter van Pels, housemate of Anne Frank (d. 1945)
• October 1 - Tom Goddard, English cricketer (d. 1966)
• October 6 - Stan Nichols, English cricketer (d. 1961)
• October 7 - Heinrich Himmler, Nazi High official and Supreme Commander of the SS (d. 1945)
• October 30 - Ragnar Granit, Finnish neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1991)
• November 4 - Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, Romanian communist activist and sociologist (d. 1954)
• November 5
  • Martin Dies, Jr., American politician (d. 1972)
  • Natalie Schafer, American actress (d. 1991)
• November 8
  • Charlie Paddock, American athlete (d. 1943)
  • Margaret Mitchell, American writer (d. 1949)
• November 11 - Halina Konopacka, Polish athlete (d. 1989)
• November 13 - David Marshall Williams, American inventor (d. 1975)
• November 14 - Aaron Copland, American composer (d. 1990)
• November 16 - Nikolai Pogodin, Soviet playwright (d. 1962)
• November 25 - Rudolf Höß, Nazi war criminal and commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp (d. 1947)
• December 3
  • Ulrich Inderbinen, Swiss mountain guide (d. 2004)
  • Richard Kuhn, Austrian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
• December 4 - John Axon, British railwayman (d. 1957)
• December 12 - Sammy Davis, Sr., American dancer (d. 1988)
• December 20 - Marinus van der Goes van Naters, Dutch politician, At the time of his death in Wassenaar at the age of 104 he was the longest lived politician on record in the world.(d. 2005)

Deaths

January - June

• January 20 - John Ruskin, English writer and social critic (b. 1819)
• January 31 - John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry, Scottish nobleman and boxer (b. 1844)
• February 18 - Clinton L. Merriam, American politician (b. 1824)
• March 6
  • Gottlieb Daimler, German inventor and automotive pioneer (b. 1834)
  • Carl Bechstein, German pianoforte maker. (b. 1826)
• April 5 - Joseph Louis François Bertrand, French mathematician (b. 1822)
• April 19 - James Dawson, Aboriginal Guardian (b. 1806)
• April 24 - George Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, British politician (b.1823)
• April 30 - Casey Jones, American railway engineer (b. 1864)
• May 18 - Jean Gaspard Felix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher (b. 1813)
• June 2 - Samori Ture, West African empire-builder (b. c. 1830)
  • Clarence Cook, American critic and writer (b. 1828)
• June 3 - Mary Kingsley, English explorer and writer (b. 1862)
• June 5 - Stephen Crane, American author (b. 1871)
• June 11 - Belle Boyd, American Confederate spy and actress (b.1843)

July - December

• July 8 - Henry D. Cogswell, American philanthropist (b. 1820)
• July 29 - Umberto I, King of Italy (assassinated) (b. 1844)
• July 31 - Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, second eldest son of Queen Victoria (b. 1844)
• August 10 - Charles Russell, Baron Russell of Killowen, Lord Chief Justice of England (b.1832)
• August 12 - Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian-born chess player (b. 1836)
• August 16 - José Maria Eça de Queiroz, Portuguese writer (b. 1845)