Events
January 1899
*
January 1
January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
** Spanish rule ends in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, concluding 400 years of the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
in the Americas.
**
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
and
Staten Island become administratively part of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
*
January 2 –
**
Bolivia sets up a customs office in
Puerto Alonso, leading to the Brazilian settlers there to declare the
Republic of Acre
es, República del Acre
, conventional_long_name = Republic of Acre
, common_name = Acre
, status = Unrecognized state
, era =
, government_type = Presidential republic
, event_start ...
in a revolt against Bolivian authorities.
**The first part of the
Jakarta Kota–Anyer Kidul railway
The railway between Jakarta and Anyer Kidul is a railway connecting several places in the province of Banten to Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. It was constructed between 1899 and 1900 in the Dutch colonial age, during which it was als ...
on the island of
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
is opened between Batavia Zuid (
Jakarta Kota) and
Tangerang
Tangerang ( Sundanese: , ) is a city in the province of Banten, Indonesia. Located on the western border of Jakarta, it is the third largest urban centre in the Greater Jakarta metropolitan area after Jakarta and Bekasi; the sixth largest city ...
.
*
January 3 – Hungarian Prime Minister
Dezső Bánffy fights an inconclusive duel with his bitter enemy in parliament, Horánszky Nándor.
*
January 4 –
**U.S. President
William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
's declaration of December 21, 1898, proclaiming a policy of benevolent assimilation of the Philippines as a United States territory, is announced in Manila by the U.S. commander, General
Elwell Otis
Elwell Stephen Otis (March 25, 1838 – October 21, 1909) was a United States Army general who served in the American Civil War, Indian Wars, the Philippines late in the Spanish–American War and during the Philippine–American War.
Biography
...
, and angers independence activists who had fought against Spanish rule.
**The
American Society of Landscape Architects
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is a professional association for landscape architects in the United States. The ASLA's mission is to advance landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education, and fellowship ...
, still in existence 123 years later, is founded.
*
January 5
Events Pre-1600
*1477 – Battle of Nancy: Charles the Bold is defeated and killed in a conflict with René II, Duke of Lorraine; Burgundy subsequently becomes part of France.
1601–1900
* 1675 – Battle of Colmar: The French a ...
– A fierce battle is fought between American troops and Filipino defenders at the town of
Pililla
Pililla (), officially the Municipality of Pililla ( tgl, Bayan ng Pililla), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Rizal, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 71,535 people. It is surrounded by farms, small m ...
on the island of Luzon. The Filipinos retreat to the mountains at Tanay.
*
January 6 –
Lord Curzon
George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), styled Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and then Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative statesman ...
becomes
Viceroy of India
The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...
.
*
January 7 – ''
The Lucky Star
''The Lucky Star'' is an English comic opera, in three acts, composed by Ivan Caryll, with dialogue by Charles H. Brookfield (revised by Helen Lenoir) and lyrics by Adrian Ross and Aubrey Hopwood. It was produced by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Co ...
'', an English
comic opera
Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue.
Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...
composed by
Ivan Caryll
Félix Marie Henri Tilkin (12 May 1861 – 29 November 1921), better known by his pen name Ivan Caryll, was a Belgian-born composer of operettas and Edwardian musical comedies in the English language, who made his career in London and later ...
and produced by the
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. The ...
premieres at the
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy P ...
in London for the first of 143 performances.
*
January 8 – The
Association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
club
SK Rapid Wien
Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...
is founded in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
.
*
January 9 –
**After a
successful revolt against the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
by the inhabitants of the island of
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
, the area, which joins Greece, gets its first constitution, with provisions for a provincial legislature with 138 Christian deputies and 50 Muslim deputies.
**
George F. Hoar
George Frisbie Hoar (August 29, 1826 – September 30, 1904) was an American attorney and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1877 to 1904. He belonged to an extended family that became politically prominen ...
, a U.S. Senator for Massachusetts, speaks out in the Senate against American expansion into the Philippines. The text of Hoar's is sent by cable to
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
at a cost of $4,000, and is later cited by Ambassador John Barrett on January 13, 1900, as an incitement to Filipino attacks on U.S. troops.
*
January 10 – The
Tau Kappa Epsilon
Tau Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as or Teke, is a social college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, making the Fraternity an interna ...
fraternity is founded, at
Illinois Wesleyan University
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockford ...
in
Bloomington, Illinois.
*
January 11
Events Pre-1600
* 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams—the Blues and the Greens—in the Hippodrome escalates into violence.
* 630 – Conquest of Mecca: The prophet Muha ...
– The Steel Plate Transferrers' Association, the first labor union for workers skilled in
siderography (the engraving and mass reproduction of steel plates for newspaper printing) is established. After changing its name to the International Association of Siderographers, it had 80 members at its peak. It dissolves in 1991, with only eight members left.
*
January 12
Events Pre-1600
* 475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire.
* 1528 – Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already rei ...
– A massive rescue by the
Lynmouth Lifeboat Station, using 100 men and requiring the transport of the lifeboat ''Louisa'' over land and then out to sea, succeeds in saving all 18 men aboard. The event is later made famous in the children's book ''The Overland Launch''.
*
January 13 – The
Canadian Northern Railway
The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton.
Man ...
is established, on January 13, 1899
*
January 14 –
**The
White Star Line
The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between t ...
ship
RMS ''Oceanic'', at the time the largest British ocean liner up to that time, is launched from the
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
port of
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
in front of over 50,000 people. It will begin its maiden voyage on September 6.
**The British four-masted sailing ship ''Andelana''
capsize
Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel fro ...
s during a storm in
Commencement Bay
Commencement Bay is a bay of Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington. The city of Tacoma is located on the bay, with the Port of Tacoma occupying the southeastern end. A line drawn from Point Defiance in the southwest to Browns Point in ...
off the coast of the U.S. state of
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, with the loss of all 17 of her crew.
*
January 15 – The name of
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
is changed by the new U.S. military government to "Porto Rico". It will not be changed back until May 17, 1932.
*
January 16 – Eduardo Calceta is appointed as Chief of the Army (''Jefe General'') of the rebel Philippine Republic army by Emilio Aguinaldo.
*
January 17
Events Pre-1600
*38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
* 1362 – Saint Marcellus' flood kills at least 25,000 people on ...
– The United States takes possession of
Wake Island
Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of T ...
in the Pacific Ocean.
*
January 18
Events Pre-1600
* 474 – Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later.
* 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
* 1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chi ...
– The General Assembly of the U.S. state of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
begins the task of filling the U.S. Senate seat of
Matthew Quay
Matthew Stanley "Matt" Quay (September 30, 1833May 28, 1904) was an American politician of the Republican Party who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1887 until 1899 and from 1901 until his death in 1904. Quay's control ...
, who had recently resigned after being indicted on criminal charges. After 79 ballots and three months, no candidate has a majority, and the General Assembly refuses to approve the governor's appointment of a successor, and the seat remains vacant for more than two years. The Pennsylvania experience later leads to the
17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to provide for U.S. Senators to be directly elected by popular vote, rather than by the state legislatures.
*
January 19
Events Pre-1600
* 379 – Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to ''Augustus'', and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.
* 649 – Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrend ...
–
**The
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ( ar, السودان الإنجليزي المصري ') was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt in the Sudans region of northern Africa between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day ...
is formed (it is disbanded in
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...
).
**Future film producer
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn (born Szmuel Gelbfisz; yi, שמואל געלבפֿיש; August 27, 1882 (claimed) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer. He was best known for being the founding contributor an ...
, born in Poland and later a resident of Germany and England, arrives in the United States at the age of sixteen as Szmuel Gelbfisz.
*
January 20 – The
Schurman Commission
The Schurman Commission, also known as the First Philippine Commission, was established by United States President William McKinley on January 20, 1899, and tasked to study the situation in the Philippines and make recommendations on how the U.S. ...
is created by U.S. President
William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
to study the issue of the American approach to he sovereignty of the Philippines, ceded to the U.S. on December 10 by Spain. The five-man group, chaired by
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
President
Jacob Schurman, later concludes that the Philippines will need to become financially independent before a republic can be created.
*
January 21
Events Pre-1600
* 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.
* 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when ...
**
Opel Motors opens for business in Germany.
** The
Malolos Constitution
The Political Constitution of 1899 ( es, Constitución Política de 1899), informally known as the Malolos Constitution, was the constitution of the First Philippine Republic. It was written by Felipe Calderón y Roca and Felipe Buencamino as ...
is ratified in the
Province of Bulacan
Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan ( tl, Lalawigan ng Bulacan), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan ...
by the
Revolutionary Government of the Philippines
A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.
...
.
*
January 22 – The leaders of six Australian colonies meet in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, to discuss the confederation of Australia as a whole.
*
January 23
Events Pre-1600
* 393 – Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.
* 971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.
*1264 & ...
**
Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in, as President of the
First Philippine Republic
The Philippine Republic ( es, República Filipina), now officially known as the First Philippine Republic, also referred to by historians as the Malolos Republic, was established in Malolos, Bulacan during the Philippine Revolution against ...
.
**
Mubarak Al-Sabah
Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah (1837 – 28 November 1915) ( ar, الشيخ مبارك بن صباح الصباح) "the Great" ( ar, مبارك الكبير) was the seventh ruler of the Sheikhdom of Kuwait from 18 May 1896 until his death on 18 Novem ...
, the emir of
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
, signs the
Anglo-Kuwaiti Agreement of 1899
The Anglo-Kuwaiti Agreement of 1899 was a secret treaty signed between the British Empire and the Sheikhdom of Kuwait on 23 January 1899. Under its provisions Britain pledged to protect the territorial integrity of Kuwait in return for restricting ...
a secret treaty with the British Empire to accept
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...
status for the Middle Eastern sheikdom in return for British protection of Kuwaiti territory.
** The British
Southern Cross Expedition
The ''Southern Cross'' Expedition, otherwise known as the British Antarctic Expedition, 1898–1900, was the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, and the forerunner of the more celebrated journeys of Robert Falcon Sc ...
crosses the
Antarctic Circle
The Antarctic Circle is the most southerly of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of Earth. The region south of this circle is known as the Antarctic, and the zone immediately to the north is called the Southern Temperate Zone. So ...
.
*
January 24
Events Pre-1600
* 41 – Claudius is proclaimed Roman emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they assassinate the previous emperor, his nephew Caligula.
* 914 – Start of the First Fatimid invasion of Egypt.
*1438 – The Cou ...
– The
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) is a private medical school with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and additional locations in Suwanee, Georgia (PCOM Georgia) and Moultrie, Georgia (PCOM South Georgia).
Founded ...
, one of the oldest medical schools in the United States, is founded.
*
January 25 – The city of
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.
Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...
is saved from disaster by seven firemen and one volunteer civilian who disobey orders and stop
"El Polverin", a fire near the U.S. Army's store of explosive artillery. A
"Monument to the Heroes of El Poverin" is later erected in their honor.
*
January 26
Events Pre-1600
* 661 – The Rashidun Caliphate is effectively ended with the assassination of Ali, the last caliph.
*1531 – The 6.4–7.1 Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people.
* 1564 – The Council of Tren ...
–
**U.S. Representative
George Henry White
George Henry White (December 18, 1852 – December 28, 1918) was an American attorney and politician, elected as a Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina's 2nd congressional district between 1897 and 1901. He later became a banker ...
of
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
, the only African-American in Congress at the time, delivers his first major speech, speaking out against disenfranchisement of black voters and proposing that the number of representatives from a U.S. state should be based on the number of persons of voting age who actually cast ballots, rather than population. "
**German inventor
Karl Ferdinand Braun
Karl Ferdinand Braun (; 6 June 1850 – 20 April 1918) was a German electrical engineer, inventor, physicist and Nobel laureate in physics. Braun contributed significantly to the development of radio and television technology: he shared the ...
, who will later share the 1909
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
with
Guglielmo Marconi, receives British Patent No. 1899-1862 for his wireless radio invention "Telegraphy without directly connected wire".
*
January 27 –
Camille Jenatzy of France becomes the first man to drive an automobile more than 80 kilometers per hour, almost breaking the 50 mph barrier when he reaches an unprecedented speed of in his CGA Dogcart racecar. Jenatzy's speed is more than 20% faster than the January 17 mark of set by
.
*
January 28
Events Pre-1600
* 98 – On the death of Nerva, Trajan is declared Roman emperor in Cologne, the seat of his government in lower Germany.
* 814 – The death of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, brings about the accession ...
**At a time when U.S. Senators are elected by the state legislature rather than by ballot, wealthy businessman
William A. Clark
William Andrews Clark Sr. (January 8, 1839March 2, 1925) was an American politician and entrepreneur, involved with mining, banking, and railroads.
Biography
Clark was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He moved with his family to Iowa in 1 ...
is elected U.S. Senator after offering
bribes to most of the members. The U.S. Senate refuses to seat him after evidence of the bribery is revealed.
**The
League of Peja
The League of Peja ( sq, Lidhja e Pejës), also known as League of İpek or Besa-Besë (Pledge for a Pledge) between Albanians, was an Albanian political organization established in 1899 in the city of İpek (now Peja), Kosovo Vilayet, Ottoman ...
, organized by
Haxhi Zeka
Haxhi Zekë Byberi mostly known as Haxhi Zeka ( tr, Haci Zeka; 20 December 1832 – 21 February 1902) was an Albanian nationalist leader, a member of the League of Prizren, while in 1899 he was part of the establishment and leadership of the Le ...
to lobby for a Kosovar Albanian state within the Ottoman Empire, attracts 450 delegates to its first convention, held at the city of
Peja, now in the Republic of Kosovo.
*
January 29
Events
Pre-1600
* 904 – Sergius III is elected pope, after coming out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
* 946 – Caliph Al-Mustakfi is blinded and deposed by Emir Mu'izz al-Dawla, rul ...
– A lawyer for the estate of
John W. Keely, an inventor who had persuaded investors in his Keely Motor Company that an automobile could be created that would operate from Keely's "induction resonance motion motor" that had achieved
perpetual motion, reveals that the late Mr. Keely's motor had been a fraud, and that the widow knew nothing of it.
*
January 30 –
Dimitar Grekov
Dimitar Panayotov Grekov () (14 September 1847 – 7 May 1901) was a leading Bulgarian liberal politician who also served as Prime Minister.
A native of Bolgrad in Bessarabia (now Bolhrad, Ukraine), Grekov was educated at a French legal ...
is appointed as
Prime Minister of Bulgaria by
King Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I ( es, Fernando I; 10 March 1503 – 25 July 1564) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1556, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1526, and Archduke of Austria from 1521 until his death in 1564.Milan Kruhek: Cetin, grad izbornog sabo ...
, but removed from office less than 10 months later on October 13.
*
January 31
Events Pre-1600
* 314 – Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as successor to the late Pope Miltiades.
*1208 – The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker II of Sweden and his rival, Prince Eric, whose victory puts him on the ...
–
Cherokee Nation voters in the
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...
(later the U.S. state of
Oklahoma) approve a proposition to allot Cherokee lands and to dissolve the Cherokee government, but the U.S. Congress never ratifies the results.
February 1899
*
February 1 –
**
Ranavalona III
Ranavalona III (; 22 November 1861 – 23 May 1917) was the last sovereign of the Kingdom of Madagascar. She ruled from 30 July 1883 to 28 February 1897 in a reign marked by ultimately futile efforts to resist the colonial designs of the go ...
, who had been the
Queen of Madagascar
This article lists the Imerina monarchs, from the earliest origins of the Merina monarchy until the French conquest of the Merina Kingdom during the Second Madagascar expedition.
Early monarchs in the Merina line
Below is a list of the line ...
until being deposed on February 28, 1897, is sent into exile by French colonial authorities, along with the rest of the royal family. She departs on the ship ''Yang-Tse'' on a 28-day trip to
Marseilles.
**The
Suntory whisky distiller in
Japan is opened by Shinjiro Torii in
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...
as a store selling imported wines.
*
February 2 – The participants in the Australian Premiers' Conference, held in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, agree that Australia's capital (
Canberra) should be located between Sydney and Melbourne.
*
February 3 –
Kansas University's new
college basketball team, coached by the game's inventor, Dr.
James Naismith
James Naismith (; November 6, 1861November 28, 1939) was a Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United States, he wrote ...
, plays its first game, and is defeated by the
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...
team of
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...
, 16 to 5.
*
February 4 –
**The
Philippine–American War begins as hostilities break out in Manila.
**
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
's poem "
The White Man's Burden
"The White Man's Burden" (1899), by Rudyard Kipling, is a poem about the Philippine–American War (1899–1902) that exhorts the United States to assume colonial control of the Filipino people and their country.Hitchens, Christopher. ''Bl ...
" is first published, appearing in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' of London. A response to the United States occupation of the Philippine Islands, and exhorting members of the
White race
White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view.
Description of populations as ...
to be responsible for benevolent civilizing of the world's
"non-white" people, the poem is reprinted in ''
The New York Sun
''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New Yor ...
'' the next day.
*
February 5 – The
first major battle of the Philippine–American War concludes with the capture by the U.S. of the
San Juan River Bridge that connects
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
and
San Juan. U.S. Army General
Arthur MacArthur Jr.
Arthur MacArthur Jr. (June 2, 1845 – September 5, 1912) was a lieutenant general of the United States Army. He became the military Governor-General of the American-occupied Philippines in 1900; his term ended a year later due to clashes w ...
directs troops of the U.S. Army Eighth Corps to victory over Filipino troops commanded by General
Antonio Luna
Antonio Narciso Luna de San Pedro y Novicio Ancheta (; October 29, 1866 – June 5, 1899) was a Filipino army general who fought in the Philippine–American War before his assassination in 1899.
Regarded as one of the fiercest generals of hi ...
. In the two-day battle, 55 U.S. soldiers and 238 Filipino soldiers are killed.
*
February 6 – A peace treaty between the United States and Spain is ratified by the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
by a vote of 57 to 27 to end the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (cloc ...
.
*
February 7
Events Pre-1600
* 457 – Leo I becomes the Eastern Roman emperor.
* 987 – Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II.
* 1301 &nd ...
–
Elections are held in Greece for the 235 seats of the Hellenic Parliament. Supporters of the late
Charilaos Trikoupis
Charilaos Trikoupis ( el, Χαρίλαος Τρικούπης; 11 July 1832 – 30 March 1896) was a Greek politician who served as a Prime Minister of Greece seven times from 1875 until 1895.
He is best remembered for introducing the vote of c ...
win 110 seats, 8 short of a majority, and Trikoupis's successor,
Georgios Theotokis
Georgios Theotokis ( el, Γεώργιος Θεοτόκης, 1844 in Corfu – 12 January 1916 in Athens) was a Greek politician and Prime Minister of Greece, serving the post four times. He represented the Modernist Party or ''Neoteristikon Ko ...
forms a government as Prime Minister.
*
February 8
Events Pre-1600
* 421 – Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
*1238 – The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.
* 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al ...
– Protesting against the government of Russia breaks out at
Saint Petersburg University
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...
and mounted police violently respond to the group, causing a riot.
*
February 9
Events Pre-1600
* 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
* 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland.
*1539 – The first recorded race is held ...
– The
Dodge Commission exonerates the U.S. Department of War from responsibility in the
United States Army beef scandal The United States Army beef scandal was an American political scandal caused by the widespread distribution of extremely low-quality, heavily adulterated beef products to U.S Army soldiers fighting in the Spanish–American War. General Nelson Mil ...
, where meatpacking companies supplied low-grade, putrefied beef to American soldiers during the Spanish American War and caused an unquantified number of cases of food poisoning. While War Secretary
Russell Alger
Russell Alexander Alger (February 27, 1836 – January 24, 1907) was an American politician and businessman. He served as the 20th Governor of Michigan, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Secretary of War.
He was supposedly a distant relation of author H ...
is not accused of criminal negligence, the Commission implies that he was incompetent and he is later forced to resign.
*
February 10
Events Pre-1600
* 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.
* 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, spar ...
–
**U.S. Army troops, supported by bombardment from the warships ''Charleston'' and ''Monandock'', defeat Filipino forces in the
Battle of Caloocan
The Battle of Caloocan was one of the opening engagements of the Philippine–American War, and was fought between a U.S. force under the command of Arthur MacArthur Jr. and Filipino defenders commanded by Antonio Luna in 1899. American troops ...
and get control of the Manila to Dagupan railway. Colonel W. S. Metcalfe is later accused by some of his men of having ordered the shooting of Filipino soldiers taken prisoner.
**Future U.S. President
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
and his fiancée
Lou Henry, both 24, are married at her parents' home in
Monterey, California, and depart the next day for a 14-month stay in China, where Hoover works as a mining engineer.
*
February 11 – The coldest temperature recorded up to that time in the continental United States is set as
Fort Logan, Montana
Fort Logan and Blockhouse is a site on the National Register of Historic Places located near White Sulphur Springs, Montana. It was added to the Register on October 6, 1970. The blockhouse is all that remains of the fort structures. It was resto ...
records a low of .
*
February 12
Events Pre-1600
*1404 – The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sophie performed the first post-mortem autopsy for the purposes of teaching and demonstration at the Heiligen–Geist Spital in Vienna.
*1429 – English forces under ...
– The
Great Blizzard of 1899
The Great Blizzard of 1899, also known as the Great Arctic Outbreak of 1899 and the St. Valentine's Day Blizzard, was an exceptionally severe winter weather event that affected most of the United States, particularly east of the Rocky Mountains ...
strikes the east coast of the United States, causing subzero temperatures as far south as southern
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
for two days and destroying the citrus fruit crop that year.
*
February 13 – In New York, the White Star ocean liner
SS ''Germanic'', already laden with ice and snow during its voyage from Liverpool, becomes even more weighed down after disembarking its passengers when the New York City blizzard strikes. With of added weight, the ship begins to list sideways and additional weight enters cargo doors that had been opened for refuelling. ''Germanic'' remains on the bottom New York Harbor for more than a week while salvaging goes on, then requires refurbishing for three months, but becomes operational again.
*
February 14 –
Voting machine
A voting machine is a machine used to record votes in an election without paper. The first voting machines were mechanical but it is increasingly more common to use '' electronic voting machines''. Traditionally, a voting machine has been defi ...
s are approved by the
U.S. Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...
, for use in federal
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
s.
*
February 15 – The
February Manifesto
The February Manifesto, also known as His Imperial Majesty's Graceful Announcement (decree collection 3/1899) was a legislative act given by Emperor of Russia Nicholas II on 15 February 1899, defining the legislation order of laws concerning the Gr ...
is issued by the
Emperor of Russia, decreeing that a veto by the
Diet of Finland
The Diet of Finland ( Finnish ''Suomen maapäivät'', later ''valtiopäivät''; Swedish ''Finlands Lantdagar''), was the legislative assembly of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1809 to 1906 and the recipient of the powers of the Swedish Ri ...
may be overruled in legislative matters concerning the interest of all Russia, including
autonomous Finland. The manifesto is viewed as unconstitutional and a coup d'état by many Finns, who have come to consider their country a separate constitutional state in its own right, in union with the Russian Empire. Furthermore, the manifesto also fails to elaborate the criteria that a law has to meet in order to be considered to concern Russian imperial interests, and not an internal affair of Finland (affairs over which the Diet's authority is supposed have remained unaltered), leaving it to be decided by the autocratic Emperor. This results in Finnish fears that the Diet of Finland may be overruled arbitrarily.
*
February 16
Events Pre-1600
*1249 – Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire.
*1270 – Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Kar ...
–
**
Félix Faure
Félix François Faure (; 30 January 1841 – 16 February 1899) was the President of France from 1895 until his death in 1899. A native of Paris, he worked as a tanner in his younger years. Faure became a member of the Chamber of Deputies for ...
, the
President of France
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...
since 1895, dies of a stroke in his office while engaged in sexual activity with his mistress,
Marguerite Steinheil
Marguerite Jeanne "Meg" Japy Steinheil, Baroness Abinger (16 April 1869 – 17 July 1954) was a French woman known for her many love affairs with important men. She was present at the death of President Félix Faure, who was rumored to have ...
.
**
Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur
Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur (Reykjavík Football Club), often shortened to KR or KR Reykjavík, is an Icelandic football club based in the Vesturbær district of the capital, Reykjavík.
KR is the oldest and most successful club in Icelandi ...
, the first
Association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
club in
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
, is established in the island's capital,
Reykjavík
Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...
.
*
February 17 – The research vessel
SS ''Southern Cross'', on
an Antarctic expedition led by
Carsten Borchgrevink
Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink (1 December 186421 April 1934) was an Anglo-Norwegian polar explorer and a pioneer of Antarctic travel. He inspired Sir Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen, and others associated with the Hero ...
, arrives at
Cape Adare and begins unloading 90 sledge dogs— the first ever on the continent and two Norwegian
Sámi
The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are a Finno-Ugric-speaking people inhabiting the region of Sápmi (formerly known as Lapland), which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Murmansk Oblast, Ru ...
crewmen,
Per Savio
Per John Savio (16 October 1879 – 10 October 1905) was a Norwegian polar explorer and dog sled driver. As a member of the Southern Cross expedition, ''Southern Cross'' expedition 1898–1900, Savio together with Ole Must were the first t ...
and Ole Must, who become the first humans to spend the night in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
. Over the next 12 days, the rest of the 31-man crew brings in supplies builds a temporary settlement.
*
February 18
Events Pre-1600
* 1229 – The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.
*1268 & ...
– The National Assembly of France elects a new President to fill out the remainder of the late President Faure's term. Senate President
Émile Loubet
Émile François Loubet (; 30 December 183820 December 1929) was the 45th Prime Minister of France from February to December 1892 and later President of France from 1899 to 1906.
Trained in law, he became mayor of Montélimar, where he was not ...
wins the vote, 483 to 278, against Prime Minister
Jules Méline
Félix Jules Méline (; 20 May 183821 December 1925) was a French statesman, Prime Minister of France from 1896 to 1898.
Biography
Méline was born at Remiremont. Having taken up law as his profession, he was chosen a deputy in 1872, and in 1 ...
.
*
February 19 – In Venezuela, the former Minister of War, Major General
Ramón Guerra, angry with the reforms of President
Ignacio Andrade
Ignacio Andrade Troconis (31 July 1839 – 17 February 1925), was a military man and politician.[ ...]
, proclaims the state of
Guárico
)
, anthem = '' Himno del Estado Guárico''
, image_map = Guarico in Venezuela.svg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Location within Venezuela
, pushpin_map =
, pushpin_map_a ...
as an independent territory. President Andrade orders General Augusto Lutowsky to crush the rebellion and Guerra flees to Colombia, but later comes back as Minister of War.
*
February 20 – Discussions among members of a joint Anglo-American commission, set up by U.S. President
William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
and Canadian Prime Minister
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier, ( ; ; November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime minis ...
to resolve the
Alaska boundary dispute
The Alaska boundary dispute was a territorial dispute between the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which then controlled Canada's foreign relations. It was resolved by arbitration in 1903. The dispute had existed ...
, end abruptly after it is clear that the U.S. will not make any concessions. In response, Laurier makes clear that there will be no further concessions with the U.S. in trade.
*
February 21
Events Pre-1600
*452 or 453 – Severianus, Bishop of Scythopolis, is martyred in Palestine.
* 1245 – Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery.
*1440 – The Pru ...
–
**
Gdadebo II, the
Alake of Egba in what is now southeast Nigeria, signs an agreement with the British Governor of
Lagos Colony
Lagos Colony was a British colonial possession centred on the port of Lagos in what is now southern Nigeria. Lagos was annexed on 6 August 1861 under the threat of force by Commander Beddingfield of HMS Prometheus who was accompanied by the Ac ...
to lease lands for construction of a new railway from Aro to
Abeokuta
Abeokuta is the capital city of Ogun State in southwest Nigeria. It is situated on the east bank of the Ogun River, near a group of rocky outcrops in a wooded savanna; north of Lagos by railway, or by water. , Abeokuta and the surrounding a ...
.
**The British freighter
SS ''Jumna'', with the capacity to carry more than 500 people, but hauling a load of coal with minimal crew, is last seen passing
Rathlin Island at Northern Ireland. Bound from
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
to deliver a shipment of coal to
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
, it never arrives and is never seen again.
**The
Vicksburg National Military Park
Vicksburg National Military Park preserves the site of the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg, waged from March 29 to July 4, 1863. The park, located in Vicksburg, Mississippi (flanking the Mississippi River), also commemorates the greater ...
is established in Mississippi to preserve the battlefield of the
Battle of Vicksburg
The siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mis ...
that was fought in 1863 during the American Civil War.
*
February 22
Events Pre-1600
* 1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
* 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferd ...
–
Convention Hall
Convention Hall was a convention center in Kansas City, Missouri that hosted the 1900 Democratic National Convention and 1928 Republican National Convention.
It was designed by Frederick E. Hill and built at the corner of 13th and Central and cos ...
, which later hosts two national political conventions, opens in
Kansas City, Missouri with a concert by the band of
John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa ( ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to dis ...
. The building burns down less than 14 months later.
*
February 23 – In France,
Paul Déroulède
Paul Déroulède (2 September 1846 – 30 January 1914) was a French author and politician, one of the founders of the nationalist League of Patriots.
Early life
Déroulède was born in Paris. He was published first as a poet in the magazine '' ...
and
Jules Guérin
Jules Guérin (14 September 1860 – 10 February 1910) was a French journalist and anti-Semitic activist. He founded and led the Antisemitic League of France (), an organisation similar to the , and edited the French weekly (Paris, 1896–190 ...
of the right-wing
Ligue des Patriotes attempt to persuade General
Georges-Gabriel de Pellieux to lead a coup d'état during the funeral of the late president Félix Faure in order to overthrow President Loubet. General Pellieux refuses to participate. Later in the year, Déroulède and Guérin are indicted for conspiracy against the government and banished from France.
*
February 24 – The works of Catholic priest and theologian
Herman Schell
Jakob Herman Schell (28 February 1850 – 31 May 1906) was a German philosopher and theologian. He was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1873, he became Professor of theology in 1888.
Biography
Schell attended the Gran ducal Lyceum of Frei ...
, including the recently published ''Der Katholicismus als Princip des Fortschritts'' and ''Die neue Zeit und der alte Glaube''are placed by the Roman Catholic Church on its
Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the list of banned books.
*
February 25 – In an accident at Grove Hill,
Harrow, London
Harrow () is a large town in Greater London, England, and serves as the principal settlement of the London Borough of Harrow. Lying about north-west of Charing Cross and south of Watford, the entire town including its localities had a popula ...
, England, Edwin Sewell becomes the world's first driver of a petrol-driven vehicle to be killed; his passenger, Maj. James Richer, dies of injuries three days later.
*
February 26 –
Dezső Bánffy resigns as
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary, at the time a partner in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, and is succeeded by
Kálmán Széll
Kálmán Széll de Duka et Szentgyörgyvölgy (8 June 1843 – 16 August 1915) was a Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1899 to 1903.
Early career
He was born in the ancient Hungarian noble family Széll de Du ...
.
*
February 27 – Japanese immigration to
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
, primarily the nation of
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
, begins as the ship ''Sakura Maru'' departs from
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...
with 790 men employed by the Morioka-shokai Sugar Company. The group arrives in
Callao on April 3.
*
February 28 – U.S. President William McKinley approves a law increasing the pension to American Civil War veterans, both Union and Confederate, to $25.00 per month.
March 1899
*
March 1
Events Pre-1600
*509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia.
* 293 – Emperor Diocletian ...
– In
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, Capt.
George Roos-Keppel makes a sudden attack on a predatory band of
Chamkanni The Chamkani ( ps, څمکني ''tsamkanī''), also transliterated as Tsamkani or Samkani. In Paktia or Tribal dialect Chamkani is transliterated as Tsekmani or Sekmani, is a Pashtun tribe 4th son of Ghoryakhel confederation. They are mainly based i ...
s that have been raiding in the Kurram Valley, and captures 100 prisoners with 3,000 head of cattle.
*
March 2
Events Pre-1600
* 537 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoth army under king Vitiges begins the siege of the capital. Belisarius conducts a delaying action outside the Flaminian Gate; he and a detachment of his '' bucellarii'' are almost cut o ...
–
Mount Rainier National Park
Mount Rainier National Park is an American national park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state. The park was established on March 2, 1899, as the fourth national park in the United States, preservi ...
is established, in the U.S. state of
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
.
*
March 3
Events Pre-1600
* 473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
* 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan.
* 1575 & ...
–
Guglielmo Marconi conducts radio beacon experiments on Salisbury Plain in England and notices that radio waves are being reflected back to the transmitter by objects they encounter, one of the early steps in the potential for developing
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
.
*
March 4
Events Pre-1600
*AD 51 – Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title '' princeps iuventutis'' (head of the youth).
* 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia.
* 852 – Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a st ...
–
Cyclone Mahina strikes
Bathurst Bay, Queensland. A 12 meter high wave reaches up to 5 km inland, leaving over 400 dead (the deadliest
natural disaster in Australia's history).
*
March 5 –
George B. Selden sells the rights to his patent for an internal combustion engine to the
Electric Vehicle Company
Electric Vehicle Company was an American automobile holding company and early pioneering manufacturer of automobiles.
History
The Electric Vehicle Company was founded September 27, 1897 as a holding company of battery-powered electric vehicle ...
, and he and the company then claim a royalty on all automobiles using such an engine.
*
March 6
Events Pre-1600
* 12 BCE – The Roman emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the emperor.
* 632 – The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada') of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
* 845 & ...
– German chemist
Felix Hoffmann patents
aspirin
Aspirin, also known as acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to reduce pain, fever, and/or inflammation, and as an antithrombotic. Specific inflammatory conditions which aspirin is used to treat inc ...
, and
Bayer registers its name as a trademark.
*
March 7 – The Provisional Law on the Judiciary is issued in the Philippines to provide for the selection of a Chief Justice.
*
March 8
Events Pre-1600
* 1010 – Ferdowsi completes his epic poem ''Shahnameh''.
*1126 – Following the death of his mother, queen Urraca of León, Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of León.
* 1262 – Battle of Hausbergen between bou ...
– The Frankfurter Fußball-Club Victoria von 1899 (predecessor of
Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...
Association football club) is founded.
*
March 9
Events Pre-1600
* 141 BC – Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne over the Han dynasty of China.
* 1009 – First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg.
* 1226 &nda ...
–
Japan promulgates its
commercial code, the Shōhō, to take effect on June 16. The Shōhō, as amended applies to Japanese business today.
["Commercial and Corporate Law in Japan", by Harald Baum and Eiji Takahashi, in ''History of Law in Japan Since 1868'' (Brill, 2005) p. 355]
*
March 10
Events Pre-1600
* 241 BC – First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates: The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.
* 298 – Roman Emperor Maximian concludes his campaign in North Africa and makes a ...
–
**The U.S. state of
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
enacts its
general corporation act that makes it the most important jurisdiction in United States corporate law.
**At the
Battle of Balantang, the U.S. Army sustains 400 casualties in an attack by Philippine troops under the command of Pascual Magbanua.
*
March 11
Events Pre-1600
* 222 – Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander.
* 843 – Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the ven ...
–
**A
wireless distress signal is sent for the first time by a patrol boat to aid the endangered British cruiser ''Elbe''. The Morse code distress signal is heard by the lighthouse near
Ramsgate Lifeboat Station, which sends a lifeboat to the rescue.
**
Waldemar Jungner
Ernst Waldemar Jungner (19 June 1869 – 30 August 1924) was a Swedish inventor and engineer. In 1898 he invented the nickel-iron electric storage battery (NiFe), the nickel-cadmium battery (NiCd), and the rechargeable alkaline silver-cadmium ...
files the patent application for the first
alkaline battery
An alkaline battery (IEC code: L) is a type of primary battery where the electrolyte (most commonly potassium hydroxide) has a pH value above 7. Typically these batteries derive energy from the reaction between zinc metal and manganese dioxide, ...
and receives Swedish patent number 11132.
*
March 12 –
Encinal County, Texas
Encinal County was a former Texas county. Its area is now completely contained in the present Webb County.
History
Encinal County was established on February 1, 1856 and was to consist of the eastern portion of present-day Webb County. The l ...
, created on February 1, 1856, near the U.S. city of
Laredo on the condition that it would create a
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
, is discontinued and annexed into neighboring
Webb County
Webb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 267,114. Its county seat is Laredo. The county was named after James Webb (1792–1856), who served as secretary of the treasury, secreta ...
. The largest town in the area,
Bruni, has less than 400 people.
*
March 13
Events Pre-1600
*624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.
*1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War.
*1591 – At the Battle of Tond ...
–
Chelan County, Washington is created from
Okanogan and
Kittitas counties for the area around
Wenatchee
Wenatchee ( ) is the county seat and largest city of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925, and was estimated to have increased to 34,360 as of 2019. Located in the north-central part ...
.
*
March 14 –
**After
a civil war breaks out in
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
between
Malietoa Tanumafili I
Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili I (1879 – 5 July 1939) was the Malietoa in Samoa from 1898 until his death in 1939.
Personal and political life
Tanumafili was born in 1880 to Malietoa Laupepa and Sisavai‘i Malupo Niuva‘ai. He attended the Lon ...
(recognized by Germany, the UK and the U.S.) and rebels who recognize
Mata'afa Iosefo as the island's king, the
USS ''Philadelphia'' takes control of the capital at
Apia
Apia () is the capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō'') of Tuamasaga.
...
.
**
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
's
Kaiser Wilhelm II
, house = Hohenzollern
, father = Frederick III, German Emperor
, mother = Victoria, Princess Royal
, religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United)
, signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...
takes direct command of the
Imperial Navy.
*
March 15
Events Pre-1600
*474 BC – Roman consul Aulus Manlius Vulso celebrates an ovation for concluding the war against Veii and securing a forty years' truce.
* 44 BC – The assassination of Julius Caesar takes place.
* 493 – Odo ...
–
Santa Cruz County is established in the southeast corner of
Pima County
Pima County ( ) is a county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,043,433, making it Arizona's second-most populous county. The county seat is Tucson, where most of the populati ...
around the city of
Nogales (built across from the border of the larger Mexican city of
Nogales, Sonora
Heroica Nogales (), more commonly known as Nogales, is a city and the county seat of the Municipality of Nogales. It is located on the northern border of the Mexican state of Sonora. The city is abutted on its north by the city of Nogales, Arizo ...
) in the U.S. territory of Arizona.
*
March 16
Events Pre-1600
* 934 – Meng Zhixiang declares himself emperor and establishes Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang.
*1190 – Massacre of Jews at Clifford's Tower, York.
* 1244 – Over 200 Cathars who refuse ...
– Memorial ceremonies are held for the burial of the late German hero
Otto von Bismarck and his wife,
Johanna von Puttkamer
Johanna Friederike Charlotte Dorothea Eleonore, Princess of Bismarck, Duchess of Lauenburg (née von Puttkamer; 11 April 1824 – 27 November 1894) was a Prussian noblewoman and the wife of the 1st Chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck.
Earl ...
with their re-interment at the
Bismarck Mausoleum
The Bismarck Mausoleum is the mausoleum of Prince Otto von Bismarck and his wife Johanna von Puttkamer. It is on the Schneckenberg hill just outside Friedrichsruh, Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany. Bismarck was the first Chancellor of Ge ...
, now a tourist attraction at
Friedrichsruh
Friedrichsruh () is a district in the municipality of Aumühle, Herzogtum Lauenburg district, Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany. Friedrichsruh manor is known as a residence of the princely House of Bismarck, mainly of Chancellor Otto von Bi ...
in
Aumühle
Aumühle () is a municipality in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany, about 21 km (14 mi) east of Hamburg. Its Friedrichsruh district is home to the family estate and mausoleum of Otto von Bismarck.
Geography
Aumühle lies on the ...
. Bismarck, who had died on July 30, had been buried along with his wife at the estate of his home in Varzin, now the city of
Warcino
Warcino (german: Varzin) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kępice, within Słupsk County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland.
Geography
The settlement lies in Farther Pomerania on the left bank of the Wieprza river, ...
in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
.
*
March 17
Events Pre-1600
* 45 BC – In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
* 180 – Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of ei ...
– A fire kills 86 people at the
Windsor Hotel in New York City.
*
March 18
Events Pre-1600
* 37 – Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ''(aka Caligula = Little Boots)'' emperor.Tacitus, ''Annals'' V.10.
* 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Ara ...
–
Phoebe, the ninth-known moon of the planet
Saturn is discovered by U.S. astronomer
William Pickering from analysis of photographic plates made by a Peruvian observatory seven months earlier, the first discovery of a satellite photographically.
*
March 19
Events Pre-1600
* 1277 – The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire.
* 1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen en ...
–
**One of the first labor unions for government employees is formed with the organization in
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
of the
Copenhagen Municipal Workers' Union
**The Battle of
Taguig
Taguig (), officially the City of Taguig ( fil, Lungsod ng Taguig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in Metro Manila, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 886,722 people. Located in the northwestern shores of ...
takes place in the Philippines as the USS ''Laguna de Bay'' bombards the
Katipunan
The Katipunan, officially known as the Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan or Kataastaasan Kagalang-galang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK; en, Supreme and Honorable Association of the Children of the Nation ...
stronghold.
*
March 20
Events Pre-1600
* 673 – Emperor Tenmu of Japan assumes the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Palace of Kiyomihara in Asuka.
* 1206 – Michael IV Autoreianos is appointed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
* 1600 – The Link ...
– At
Sing Sing
Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north of ...
prison in
Ossining, New York,
Martha M. Place becomes the first woman to be executed in an
electric chair
An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...
.
*
March 21
Events Pre-1600
* 537 – Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the ''Vivarium'', by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas an ...
– The
Eden Theatre in
La Ciotat
La Ciotat (; oc, label= Provençal Occitan, La Ciutat ; in Mistralian spelling ''La Ciéutat''; 'the City') is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southern France. It is the southeasternmost ...
, a small city in France near
Marseilles, lays a claim to being the first
cinema
Cinema may refer to:
Film
* Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography
* Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image
** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking
...
as brothers
Auguste Lumière
Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière (19 October 1862 – 10 April 1954) was a French engineer, industrialist, biologist, and illusionist. During 1894–1895, he and his brother Louis invented an animated photographic camera and projecti ...
and
Louis Lumière present their short film, ''L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat'' ("The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat") to 250 surprised spectators. The action film shows a steam train pulling into
La Ciotat station
Gare de La Ciotat is a railway station serving the town La Ciotat, Bouches-du-Rhône department, southeastern France. It is situated on the Marseille–Ventimiglia railway, and is served by trains between Marseille, Toulon and Hyères. , passengers coming out of the cars, and departing passengers climbing on.
*
March 22
Events Pre-1600
* 106 – Start of the Bostran era, the calendar of the province of Arabia Petraea.
* 235 – Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century.
* 871 – Æthelr ...
– The coronation of
Malietoa Tanumafili I
Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili I (1879 – 5 July 1939) was the Malietoa in Samoa from 1898 until his death in 1939.
Personal and political life
Tanumafili was born in 1880 to Malietoa Laupepa and Sisavai‘i Malupo Niuva‘ai. He attended the Lon ...
as King of Samoa takes place. He had become the Malieota of the South Pacific island when his father died on August 22.
[''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (June 1899), pp. 539-542]
*
March 23
Events Pre-1600
*1400 – The Trần dynasty of Vietnam is deposed, after one hundred and seventy-five years of rule, by Hồ Quý Ly, a court official.
*1540 – Waltham Abbey is surrendered to King Henry VIII of England; the last rel ...
– The U.S. cruiser USS ''Philadelphia'' and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS ''Porpoise'' and HMS ''Royalist'' bombard rebel-held villages in Samoa after an attack on
Apia
Apia () is the capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō'') of Tuamasaga.
...
.
*
March 24
Events Pre-1600
* 1199 – King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6.
*1387 – English victory over a Franco- Castilian-Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate o ...
–
**The U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, acting as arbitrator of a boundary dispute between Argentina and Chile, awards the disputed territory to Chile.
**
George Dewey
George Dewey (December 26, 1837January 16, 1917) was Admiral of the Navy, the only person in United States history to have attained that rank. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War, with ...
is made
Admiral of the U.S. Navy.
*
March 25 – The rowing team of
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
wins the
annual boat race against
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
for the first time in a decade, finishing ahead of Oxford by 3 1⁄4 lengths on the
Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
. Oxford had won the race nine times in a row from 1890 to 1898.
*
March 26
Events Pre-1600
* 590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
*1021 – On the feast of Eid al-Adha, the death of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, kept secret for six weeks, ...
– In the first major action in the Malolos Campaign in the
Philippine–American War, 90 Filipino soldiers are killed in the
Battle of the Meycauayan bridge
*
March 27
Events Pre-1600
*1309 – Pope Clement V imposes excommunication and interdiction on Venice, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Venice, which had seized on Ferrara, a papal fiefdom.
* 1329 – Pope John XXII ...
**
Guglielmo Marconi successfully transmits a radio signal across the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
.
** In the
Battle of Marilao River, Filipino forces under the personal command of
Emilio Aguinaldo,
President of the Philippines
The president of the Philippines ( fil, Pangulo ng Pilipinas, sometimes referred to as ''Presidente ng Pilipinas'') is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of t ...
, fail to prevent troops of the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
crossing the river.
*
March 28
Events Pre-1600
* AD 37 – Roman emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, bestowed on him by the Senate.
* 193 – After assassinating the Roman Emperor Pertinax, his Praetorian Guards auction off the throne to Di ...
–
Alfred Martineau becomes the new
French colonial governor of
French Somaliland in northeast Africa, now the
Republic of Djibouti
Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...
*
March 29
Events Pre-1600
* 845 – Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving.
* 1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of ...
– The
First Philippine Republic
The Philippine Republic ( es, República Filipina), now officially known as the First Philippine Republic, also referred to by historians as the Malolos Republic, was established in Malolos, Bulacan during the Philippine Revolution against ...
relocates its capital from
Malolos
Malolos, officially the City of Malolos ( fil, Lungsod ng Malolos), is a 1st class component city and capital of the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 261,189 people.
It is the capital city ...
to
San Isidro, Nueva Ecija
San Isidro, officially the Municipality of San Isidro,( tgl, Bayan ng San Isidro), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Nueva Ecija, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 54,372 people.
The municipality is bo ...
as the government flees an invasion of U.S. forces.
*
March 30
Events Pre-1600
* 598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro- Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague.
*1282 &ndash ...
– The British steamer ''Stella'' sinks in the English Channel with the loss of 80 people after wrecking against
Les Casquets
Les Casquets or (The) Casquets ( ) is a group of rocks eight miles (13 km) northwest of Alderney in the Channel Islands; they are administered by the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The rocks are part of an underwater sandstone ridge. Other part ...
, a group of rocks near the Channel Islands.
*
March 31 –
**The United Kingdom announces that it has completed the purchase of rights to occupy the Kingdom of Tonga.
**In the
Philippine–American War,
Malolos
Malolos, officially the City of Malolos ( fil, Lungsod ng Malolos), is a 1st class component city and capital of the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 261,189 people.
It is the capital city ...
, capital of the
First Philippine Republic
The Philippine Republic ( es, República Filipina), now officially known as the First Philippine Republic, also referred to by historians as the Malolos Republic, was established in Malolos, Bulacan during the Philippine Revolution against ...
, is
captured by American forces.
April 1899
*
April 1
Events Pre-1600
* 33 – According to one historian's account, Jesus Christ's Last Supper is held.
* 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
*1081 – Alexios I Ko ...
– The
Second Battle of Vailele
The Second Battle of Vailele was fought during the Second Samoan Civil War in 1899. British, American and Samoan forces loyal to Prince Tanu were defeated by a superior force of Samoan rebels loyal to Mata'afa Iosefo. Fighting occurred at the fo ...
takes place in
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
as rebels loyal to King
Mata'afa Iosefo force the retreat of American and British troops assisting Samoans loyal to
Prince Tanumafili.
*
April 2
Events Pre-1600
* 1513 – Having spotted land on March 27, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León comes ashore on what is now the U.S. state of Florida, landing somewhere between the modern city of St. Augustine and the mouth of the St. J ...
– The
Hamburg America Line
The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), known in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. Among those involved in its development were prominent citi ...
cruise ship
SS ''Graf Waldersee'' begins its maiden voyage.
*
April 3
Events Pre-1600
* 686 – Maya king Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ahk' assumes the crown of Calakmul.
*1043 – Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England.
*1077 – The Patriarchate of Friûl, the first Friulian state, is created.
* ...
– The ship ''Sakura Maru'' brings 790
Japanese immigrants
The Japanese diaspora and its individual members, known as Nikkei (日系) or as Nikkeijin (日系人), comprise the Japanese emigrants from Japan (and their descendants) residing in a country outside Japan. Emigration from Japan was recorded a ...
to the
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
vian port of
Callao as the first persons from
Japan to be accepted to live in
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
.
*
April 4 –
**Cuba's General Assembly voted to disband the Cuban army and to dissolve to accept U.S. sovereignty.
**The German Imperial Navy warship
SMS ''Jaguar'', which will be scuttled after losing the 1914
Siege of Tsingtao
The siege of Tsingtao (or Tsingtau) was the attack on the German port of Tsingtao (now Qingdao) in China during World War I by Japan and the United Kingdom. The siege was waged against Imperial Germany between 27 August and 7 November 1914. ...
, begins service.
*
April 5 – A team of five European geologists and 30 African laborers sets out from Northern Rhodesia to explore the minerals of central Africa for the British company
Tanganyika Concessions, Ltd. (TCL). Discovering that the most valuable copper deposits are in the
Congo Free State, TCL makes an unsuccessful attempt to purchase full rights from King Leopold of Belgium.
*
April 6
Events Pre–1600
*46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.
* 402 – Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
*13 ...
– In an elaborate military ceremony, 336 of the 385 American soldiers killed in the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (cloc ...
are
interred
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
at the
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
.
*
April 7
Events Pre-1600
* 451 – Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning the town.
* 529 – First ''Corpus Juris Civilis'', a fundamental work in jurisprudence, is issued by Eastern Roman Empe ...
– The
Shootout at Wilson Ranch, the last major gunfight of the
Wild West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...
era in the U.S., takes place in
Tombstone, Arizona
Tombstone is a historic city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1877 by prospector Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It became one of the last boomtowns in the American frontier. The town gr ...
. Brothers William Halderman and Thomas Halderman, kill two lawmen. They will later be hanged on November 16, 1900.
*
April 8 – ''
The Victors
"The Victors" is the fight song of the University of Michigan. Michigan student Louis Elbel wrote the song in 1898 after the football team's victory over the University of Chicago, which clinched an undefeated season and the Western Conferen ...
'', the famous
fight song
A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...
for
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
sports, is premiered at
Ann Arbor, Michigan by
John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa ( ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to dis ...
and his band. A student orchestra had played the music three days earlier for a smaller student audience.
*
April 9
Events Pre-1600
* 193 – The distinguished soldier Septimius Severus is proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum.
* 475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (''Enkyklikon'') to the bishops of his empire, su ...
–
**In
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
,
King Chwa II Kabalega of the
Bunyoro
Bunyoro or Bunyoro-Kitara is a Bantu kingdom in Western Uganda. It was one of the most powerful kingdoms in Central and East Africa from the 13th century to the 19th century. It is ruled by the King ('' Omukama'') of Bunyoro-Kitara. The cur ...
kingdom, a leader of the fight against British colonial occupation, is taken prisoner after being shot in a battle near
Hoima
Hoima is a city in the Western Region of Uganda. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial center of Hoima District. It is also the location of the palace of the Omukama of Bunyoro.
Location
Hoima is approximately , by road, nort ...
. Kabalega is exiled to the
Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...
in the South Pacific ocean and remains there until 1923.
**The Greek ship ''Maria'' sinks after a collision with the British steamer ''Kingswell'' in the Mediterranean and 45 people drown.
**The
Battle of Santa Cruz begins in the Philippines between U.S. Army troops and nationalists of the
First Philippine Republic
The Philippine Republic ( es, República Filipina), now officially known as the First Philippine Republic, also referred to by historians as the Malolos Republic, was established in Malolos, Bulacan during the Philippine Revolution against ...
. After a two day battle, 93 Filipino fighters and one American soldier are dead.
*
April 10
Events Pre-1600
* 428 – Nestorius becomes the Patriarch of Constantinople.
* 837 – Halley's Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (5.1 million kilometres/3.2 million miles).
* 140 ...
–
Seven people are shot and killed in a gun battle at the Springside Mine at
Pana, Illinois
Pana is a small town in Christian County, Illinois, United States. A small portion is in Shelby County. The population was 5,199 at the 2020 census.
History
The area around Pana was first organized as Stone Coal Precinct in 1845. The county's ...
, between striking white union coal miners, and African-Americans hired as strikebreakers by the company.
Five of the dead are black, including the wife of one of the non-union miners, along with one white miner and a white sheriff's deputy.
*
April 11
Events Pre-1600
* 491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I.
*1241 – Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi.
*1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: Franco-Ferrare ...
– U.S. President William McKinley declares the Spanish-American War to be at an end as the
Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France:
Treaties
1200s and 1300s
* Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade
* Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France
* Trea ...
between the U.S. and Spain goes into effect. Ratifications are exchanged between McKinley and French Ambassador
Jules Cambon
Jules-Martin Cambon (5 April 1845 – 19 September 1935) was a French diplomat and brother to Paul Cambon. As the ambassador to Germany (1907–1914) he worked hard to secure a friendly détente. He was frustrated by French leaders such as Raym ...
on behalf of Spain.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
, the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
and
Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
are ceded to the U.S. and
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
becomes an American protectorate.
*
April 12
Events Pre-1600
* 240 – Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I.
* 467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
* 627 – King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to ...
–
Bolivia's President
Severo Fernández
Severo Fernández Alonso Caballero (15 August 1849 in Sucre – 12 August 1925) was a Bolivian lawyer and politician who served as the 24th president of Bolivia from 1896 to 1899 and as the tenth vice president of Bolivia from 1892 to 1896. ...
is overthrown in a
military coup d'état led by General
José Manuel Pando
José Manuel Inocencio Pando Solares (27 December 1849 – 17 June 1917) was a Bolivian soldier, politician and explorer. He was also the 25th President of Bolivia from 1899 to 1904. During his government, the Acre War (1899-1903) began, in wh ...
.
*
April 13 – The British freighter ''
City of York
The City of York is a unitary authority area with city status in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. The district's main settlement is York, and it extends to the surrounding area including the town of Haxby and the villages of ...
'' departs from the U.S. port of
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
with a crew of 27 and a cargo of Oregon timber bound for
Fremantle in Australia, but never reaches its destination, wrecking on the reefs at
Rottnest Island
Rottnest Island ( nys, Wadjemup), often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a island off the coast of Western Australia, located west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class ...
on July 12.
*
April 14
Events Pre-1600
* 43 BC – Legions loyal to the Roman Senate, commanded by Gaius Pansa, defeat the forces of Mark Antony in the Battle of Forum Gallorum.
* 69 – Vitellius, commanding Rhine-based armies, defeats Roman emperor Otho ...
–
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
troops in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
attack the
Walled City of Kowloon on orders of colonial Governor
Henry Blake Henry Blake may refer to:
* Sir Henry Arthur Blake (1840–1918), British colonial administrator and Governor of Hong Kong
* Henry Blake (baseball) (1874–1919), American baseball player
* Henry Blake (lighthouse keeper) (1837–1871), American ...
, based on intelligence that Chinese Imperial Army troops have been stationed behind the walls to subvert Britain's
1898 lease. By April 19, the British commander discovers that the Chinese troops had already departed and that only 150 civilians remain.
*
April 15
Events Pre-1600
* 769 – The Lateran Council ends by condemning the Council of Hieria and anathematizing its iconoclastic rulings.
* 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscar ...
– Students at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
steal the
Stanford Axe
The Stanford Axe is a trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Big Game, a college football match-up between the University of California Golden Bears and the Stanford University Cardinal. The trophy consists of an axe-head mounted on a larg ...
from
Stanford University, yelling at leaders following a baseball game, thus establishing the Axe as a symbol of the rivalry between the schools.
*
April 16
Events Pre-1600
* 1457 BC – Battle of Megido - the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail.
* 69 – Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Otho commits suicide.
* 73 – Masad ...
–
**
Voting is held in Spain for the 402 seats of the
Congreso de los Diputados
The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid.
It has 350 members elect ...
, and the
Conservative Union wins a majority with 233 members.
Voting for the Senate of Spain takes place on April 30.
**Britain formally claims possession of the "
New Territories
The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...
" as an extension of its lease of Hong Kong to cover the area south of the Sham Chun River and 230 island in Kowloon Bay.
* April 17 – The 1899 Southern Rhodesian Legislative Council election, first elections for the 10-member Legislative Council of the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), limited to European candidates and voters.
* April 18 – The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 goes into effect, creating 32 counties of Ireland (six which would become Northern Ireland) and abolishes the county corporate, counties corporate of Carrickfergus (barony), Carrickfergus and Drogheda.
* April 19 – France adds the French protectorate of Laos, Kingdom of Laos, a
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...
since 1893, to the existing colony of French Indochina.
* April 20 – The controversial ballet ''Le Cygne (ballet), Le Cygne'', choreographed by Mariquita (dancer), Madame Mariquita and written by Catulle Mendès, premieres at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, but is considered by critics to be too sexually explicit.
* April 21 – The nova V606 Aquilae is first observed from Earth as seen within the constellation Aquila (constellation), Aquila. It fades within six months.
* April 22 – In aid of the Royal Niger Company, the British Army begins an invasion of Esanland, in southwestern Nigeria, to halt the resistance of the Esan people, Esan chiefs still resistant to European rule. After Benin King Ologbosere is overcome, the British attack the kingdom at Ekpoma.
* April 23 – The steamship ''General Whitney'' sinks off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida. While everyone on board escapes in lifeboats, one of the boats capsizes, drowning the captain and 16 other crew.
* April 24 – The Scottish ship ''Loch Sloy'' is wrecked off the coast of Australia's Kangaroo Island, drowning 32 of the 35 people on board.
* April 25 – 1899 Bulgarian parliamentary election, Voting is held for the 169-seat National Assembly (Bulgaria), National Assembly in Bulgaria, and the Liberal Party (Radoslavists), Radoslava Party wins a majority.
* April 26 – Jean Sibelius's ''Symphony No. 1 (Sibelius), First Symphony'' premieres in Finland at Helsinki.
* April 27 – In Australia, the Apostolic Church of Queensland receives formal recognition as a religious denomination.
* April 28 – The United Kingdom and the Russian Empire sign the Anglo-Russian Agreement formalizing their spheres of influence in China, essentially agreeing that Britain will not seek railway concessions north of the Great Wall of China, and Russia will avoid doing the same in the Yangtze, Yangtze River valley in southern China.
* April 29 –
Camille Jenatzy of Belgium becomes the first person to drive faster than 100 kilometers per hour, powering his electric CITA Number 25 racecar, ''La Jamais Contente'' at at a track at Achères, Yvelines, Achères, near Paris.
* April 30 – In the Philippines, the U.S. establishes a
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...
over the Republic of Negros, a semi-independent government for Negros, Negros Island, separate from the rest of the Philippine Islands. The Republic exists until its annexation to the rest of the U.S. territory on April 20, 1901.
May 1899
* May 1 – U.S. Navy Admiral
George Dewey
George Dewey (December 26, 1837January 16, 1917) was Admiral of the Navy, the only person in United States history to have attained that rank. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War, with ...
reports that 10 officers and crew of the ship USS Yorktown (PG-1), USS ''Yorktown'' have been taken prisoner by the Philippine republic.
[''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (June 1899), pp. 664-669]
* May 2 – The Thailand, Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand) cedes its province of Luang Prabang (now Laos) to France.
* May 3 –
**Francisco Silvela becomes the new Prime Minister of Spain after the resignation on March 7 of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, Práxedes Sagasta in the wake of Spain's loss of its overseas territories during the Spanish-American War.
**The Ferencvárosi TC
Association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
club is founded in Budapest.
* May 4 –
**The thoroughbred horse Manuel, ridden by Fred Taral, wins the 25th running of the 1899 Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Derby.
**Inventor John Matthias Stroh applies for the patent for his new invention, the "Stroh violin", a stringed musical instrument with an amplifying horn attached. British Patent No. GB9418 is granted on March 24, 1900.
* May 5 – The village of Stirling, Alberta is founded in Canada as a Mormon colony of 30 American settlers from Richfield, Utah, led by Theodore Brandley
* May 6 – The first democratic elections in Philippine history are held in for a municipal government for Baliuag in the province of Bulacan.
* May 7 – The capital of the
First Philippine Republic
The Philippine Republic ( es, República Filipina), now officially known as the First Philippine Republic, also referred to by historians as the Malolos Republic, was established in Malolos, Bulacan during the Philippine Revolution against ...
is moved by President
Emilio Aguinaldo from Manolos to Angeles City
* May 8 – In the French West African colony of Niger, French Army Captain Voulet–Chanoine Mission, Paul Voulet carries out the massacre of the Hausa people, Hausa inhabitants of the village of Birni-N'Konni in retaliation for the continued resistance of Sarraounia, Queen Sarraounia.
* May 9 – The first KNVB Cup of the Royal Dutch Football Association is won by RAP (football club), RAP Amsterdam in extra time, 1 to 0, over HVV Den Haag.
* May 10 – Finnish farmworker Karl Emil Malmelin kills seven people with an axe at the Simola croft in the village of Klaukkala.
* May 11 – Alberto Santos-Dumont attempts the first test flight of his List of Santos-Dumont aircraft, Airship No. 2, but rain cools the hydrogen during the ship's inflation and a gust of wind blows it into nearby trees, where it is destroyed.
* May 12 – The first trade union for railway employees in Sweden, the Swedish Railway Employees' Union, ''Svenska Järnvägsmannaförbundet'' (Sweden Railworkers' League) is founded. It lasts until 1970, when it merges into a labor union of Swedish government employees.
* May 13 –
**A train wreck near Reading, Pennsylvania kills 28 people and injures 50.
**The Esporte Clube Vitória Association football club is founded in Salvador, Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.
* May 14 – The three time world champion Club Nacional de Football is founded in Montevideo,
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
.
* May 15 – A clue to the fate of the British freighter ''Pelican'', which disappeared in October 1897 along with 40 crew, is found in a message in a bottle that washes ashore at Portage Bay, Alaska.
* May 16 –
**British troops in the leased Chinese territory of Hong Kong take control of the city of Kowloon.
**The last Spaniards remaining in the Philippine Islands, after the cession to the U.S., depart from the island of Basilan.
* May 17 – In the Philippines, U.S. Army troops capture the city of
San Isidro, Nueva Ecija
San Isidro, officially the Municipality of San Isidro,( tgl, Bayan ng San Isidro), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Nueva Ecija, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 54,372 people.
The municipality is bo ...
, where Philippine Republic president Aguinaldo had moved his capital, but find that the insurgents had already left.
* May 18 – The First Hague Peace Conference is opened in The Hague by Willem de Beaufort, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
* May 19 – The U.S. Army captures Tawi-Tawi, the southernmost island in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
.
[''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (July 1899)](_blank)
, pp. 25-29
* May 20 –
**Jacob German, a New York City cab driver, becomes the first motor vehicle operator in the U.S. to be arrested for speeding when he is caught driving his electric taxi , more than twice the speed limit on Lexington Avenue.
**The American Physical Society is founded at a meeting at Columbia University in New York by 36 physicists, with a mission ""to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics."
* May 21 –
**The crew of the Royal Navy ship HMS ''Narcissus'' sights a large sea creature estimated to be long in the Mediterranean Sea near Algeria and reports that it propels itself by means of "an immense number of fins", as well as being able to spout water from several points on its body. The creature is not seen again after the lone encounter.
**The town of Porazava, Porosow in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
(now Porazava in Belarus) is destroyed by fire.
* May 22 – The unrecognized Jungle Nation, República Selvática— the "Jungle Republic" is proclaimed by Peruvian Army Colonel Emilio Vizcarra in three provinces in Northern Peru located within the Amazon rainforest, Department of Loreto, Loreto, Department of San Martín, San Martín and Department of Ucayali, Ucayali. The "republic" is reincorporated into Peru after Vizcarra's death on February 27, 1900.
* May 23 – Major General Henry Ware Lawton, Henry W. Lawton and his troops arrive in Manolos, capital of the First Philippine Republic, after a 120-mile march in 20 days that had captured 28 towns with a loss of only six men.
* May 24 –
**Jules Massenet's ''Cendrillon'', the first opera based on the fairy tale of Cinderella, premieres in Paris at the theater of the Opéra-Comique.
**The 80th birthday of Queen Victoria is celebrated throughout the British Empire.
* May 25 –
**Pope Leo XIII issues the encyclical ''Annum sacrum'', declaring 1900 to be a Holy Year and directing Roman Catholic churches worldwide to carry out the consecration of all human beings to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
**A fire in the Candian city of Saint John, New Brunswick, destroys 150 buildings and renders over 1,000 people homeless.
* May 26 – The guns of the British warship HMS ''Scylla'', commanded by Captain Percy Scott, hit their targets 56 out of 70 times after Percy and his crew solve the problem of aiming a ship cannon on rolling seas.
* May 27 –
**Rangers F.C., commonly called the Glasgow Rangers and one of the most successful soccer football teams in the Scottish Football League, is incorporated.
**Maurice Ravel's Shéhérazade (Ravel), Shéhérazade Overture, is given its first public performance,
* May 28 – General Vicente Álvarez (general), Vicente Álvarez forms the short-lived Republic of Zamboanga in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
on a peninsula on the island of Mindanao. The nation exists until 1903 when it is consolidated by the U.S. to the rest of the Philippine territory.
* May 29 – The Spanish system of courts in the Philippines, closed since the American occupation began, is revived under U.S. sovereignty and regulation.
* May 30 – Female outlaw Pearl Hart robs a stage coach southeast of Globe, Arizona.
* May 31 –
** The Harriman Alaska Expedition is launched.
** Bloemfontein Conference, The Bloemfontein Conference commences between Paul Kruger and Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, Sir Alfred Milner in the Orange Free State, but ends in failure after six days.
June 1899
* June 2 – American outlaws Robert L. Parker (Butch Cassidy) and Harry A. Longabaugh ("The Sundance Kid") commit their first armed robbery as "Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, The Wild Bunch", stopping a Union Pacific train near Wilcox, Wyoming, with accomplices Harvey Logan and Elzy Lay, and steal more than $30,000 worth of cargo.
* June 3 –
**France's Court of Cassation orders a reopening of the Dreyfus affair, 1894 conviction for treason of French Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus after evidence of a wrongful conviction is made public, and directs that Dreyfus be returned to France after five years of imprisonment on Devil's Island off of the coast of South America.
**The United States and Spain resume diplomatic relations, as U.S. President McKinley receives the Duke of Arcos as the new Minister for Spain.
* June 4 – The
President of France
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...
,
Émile Loubet
Émile François Loubet (; 30 December 183820 December 1929) was the 45th Prime Minister of France from February to December 1892 and later President of France from 1899 to 1906.
Trained in law, he became mayor of Montélimar, where he was not ...
, is assaulted at the Longchamp Racecourse while watching the annual Grand Steeplechase. His attacker, Fernand de Christiani, who beats him with a cane while Loubet is sitting in the grandstand. De Christiani receives a four-year prison sentence nine days later.
* June 5 – General
Antonio Luna
Antonio Narciso Luna de San Pedro y Novicio Ancheta (; October 29, 1866 – June 5, 1899) was a Filipino army general who fought in the Philippine–American War before his assassination in 1899.
Regarded as one of the fiercest generals of hi ...
, Commander of the Philippine Revolutionary Army, is assassinated along with his chief aide, Colonel Paco Román, after being lured to Cabanatuan by President
Emilio Aguinaldo.
* June 6 – The U.S. military government of the Philippines directs that the 1885 Alien Contract Labor Law, which prohibits the importation of foreign workers into the United States, be applied to bringing persons other than Americans into the Philippines.
* June 7 – The Automobile Club of America is founded by a group of racers attending a meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, with a purpose of promoting "the sport of automobilism".
* June 8 –
**The Statue of Frederick Douglass (Rochester, New York), Frederick Douglass Monument, the first statue in the U.S. to memorialize a specific African-American person, in unveiled in Frederick Douglass, Douglass's hometown of Rochester, New York.
**Saint Gemma Galgani experiences stigmata in the form of Five Holy Wounds, wounds corresponding to those sustained by Jesus Christ during his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion; her family physician concludes that Galgani's stigmata were actually self-inflicted wounds from a sewing needle.
* June 9 – American boxer James J. Jeffries wins the world heavyweight boxing championship when he knocks out Cornwall, Cornish-born Bob Fitzsimmons in the 11th round of a bout at Coney Island, New York, Coney Island at Brooklyn, New York.
* June 10 –
**Under the terms of the Samoa Tripartite Convention, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States form a colonial government to administer a
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...
over the islands of
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
, with each nation providing an administrative consul to decide on the island's relations with foreign powers. The government lasts less than nine months, and Germany annexes the western part of Samoa on March 1, 1900, leaving the U.S. to control what is now American Samoa.
**French classical composer Ernest Chausson dies at the age of 44, not long after his career begins to flourish, when his bicycle crashes into a brick wall as he is riding down a hill. The death is ruled to be an accident, although later biographers speculate that Chausson committed suicide.
* June 11 – Pope Leo XIII issues a declaration of the consecration of the entire human race, whether Christian or non-Christian, to the Sacred Heart, Sacred Heart of Jesus. The consecration follows the issuance of his papal encyclical ''Annum sacrum'', declaring 1900 to be a Holy Year and directing all Roman Catholic churches in the world to implement the Prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart during the period of June 9 to June 11, 1899. At the time, an estimated 1.6 billion people are on Earth.
* June 12 –
**The 1899 New Richmond tornado, New Richmond tornado completely destroys the town of New Richmond, Wisconsin, killing 117 and injuring more than 200.
**List of Prime Ministers of France, France's Prime Minister Charles Dupuy and his cabinet announce their resignations after losing a vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies.
* June 13 – The village of Herman, Nebraska, with a population of 319, is destroyed by a tornado and 40 people are killed.
* June 14 – Hiram M. Hiller Jr., William Henry Furness III and Alfred Craven Harrison Jr. set off on their third research expedition to gather archeological, cultural, zoological, and botanical specimens for museums, with a focus on South Asia and Australia.
* June 15 –
**Sweden's Department of Foreign Affairs hosts a conference for delegates from Germany, Denmark, Norway, the UK, the Netherlands, Russia and Sweden to make agreements on fishing in the Arctic Ocean, the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.
**Jardine Cycle & Carriage, Cycle & Carriage, one of the largest companies in Singapore, is founded.
* June 16 –
**
Japan's
commercial code, the Shōhō, goes into effect after having been promulgated on March 9. The Shōhō, as amended, applies to Japanese business today.
[ The new code replaces the Kyu-shoho that had come into force on July 1, 1893.
**The United States and Barbados sign a trade treaty.]
* June 17 – David Hilbert creates the modern concept of geometry, with the publication of his book ''Grundlagen der Geometrie'', released on this date at Göttingen.
* June 18 – The Federación Libre de Trabajadores is created in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
by anarchists Santiago Iglesias, Ramón Romero Rosa and Eduardo Conde as a Anarchism in Puerto Rico#Anarchists vs. American government, resistance movement against the United States.
* June 19 –
**The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ( ar, السودان الإنجليزي المصري ') was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt in the Sudans region of northern Africa between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day ...
is created in northeast Africa to be as a territory to be administered jointly by Egypt and the United Kingdom, through an Egyptian governor-general appointed with consent of the UK, although in practice it becomes administered as part of the British Empire. The arrangement will continue for more than 50 years until the overthrow of the Egyptian monarchy in 1952 and the granting of independence to the Republic of Sudan in 1956.
**Edward Elgar's ''Enigma Variations'' premieres in London.
* June 20 –
**Voters in the British colony of New South Wales overwhelmingly approve a resolution to join the proposed Federation of Australia.
**The right-wing nationalist movement ''Action Française'' is formed in France
* June 21 –
**"Treaty 8", the most comprehensive of the eleven Numbered Treaties, is signed between the British Crown on behalf of Canada, with various Cree groups of the First Nations in Canada, First Nations (Kapawe'no First Nation, Kapawe'no, Sucker Creek Cree First Nation, Sucker Creek Cree, Driftpile First Nation, Driftpile, Swan River First Nation, Swan River), ceding of land in the northern parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia, as well as a portion of the Northwest Territories, to the Canadian government.
* June 22– Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau forms a new government to become List of Prime Ministers of France, Prime Minister of France
* June 23 –
**William H. Thompkins, Dennis Bell (Medal of Honor), Dennis Bell, Fitz Lee (Medal of Honor), Fitz Lee and George H. Wanton are awarded the Medal of Honor for their heroism in the Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (cloc ...
during the rescue of a stranded landing party while under enemy fire. The four men, all members of the Buffalo Soldiers of the U.S. Army, become the last African-Americans to be selected for the Medal of Honor for more than half a century.
**The Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand) and the Russian Empire sign a Declaration of Jurisdiction, Trade and Navigation at Bangkok.
* June 24 –
**Spain cedes its last Pacific Ocean colonies, the Caroline Islands (now part of the Federated States of Micronesia, Mariana Islands#Spanish exploration and control, the Ladrone islands of Ladrone (now part of the Mariana Islands), and Palau, to Germany.
**The Australia national rugby union team plays its first game, 1899 British Lions tour to Australia, a 13-3 loss to at team representing Great Britain.
* June 25 – Three Denver newspapers publish a story (later proved to be a fabrication) that the Chinese government under the Guangxu Emperor is going to demolish the Great Wall of China.
* June 26 – Joseph Chamberlain, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, sets into motion the Second Boer War after receiving an appeal from the British Cape Colony in South Africa to help British subjects oppressed in the South African Republic, Transvaal Republic. Chamberlain declares "We have reached a critical point in the history of the Empire," and war begins on October 11.
* June 27 –
**The paperclip is patented by Johan Vaaler, a Norwegian inventor.
**A. E. J. Collins, a 13-year-old schoolboy, completes four afternoons of cricket with the highest-ever recorded individual score, 628 not outs. Collins never plays first-class cricket and is killed in action in 1914 during World War One, but his record will stand for 117 years until a 15-year old boy in India, Pranav Dhanawade scores 1,009 not out in 2016.
* June 28 – In Nigeria, British authorities publicly hang King Ologbosere Irabor outside of the courthouse at Benin City, days after he was captured and convicted of ordering the massacre of a party dispatched by the British consul.
* June 29 – The mayor of Muskegon, Michigan, James Balbirnie, is assassinated by a disappointed office-seeker, J. W. Tayer, who then kills himself.[''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (August 1899)]
* June 30 – ''Mile-a-Minute Murphy'' earns his nickname after he becomes the first man to ride a bicycle for in under a minute, on Long Island while being paced by a Long Island Railroad engine. Murphy pedals his bike one mile in 57.8 seconds for an average speed of 62.28 miles per hour.
July 1899
* July 1 – The International Council of Nurses is founded in London, at a meeting of the Matron's Council of Great Britain and Ireland.
* July 2 – Pope Leo XIII venerates four missionaries who were executed in Asia as martyrs of the Roman Catholic Church. Jean-Charles Cornay will be canonized as a saint in 1988, while Paul Liu Hanzuo, Peter Lieou and Louis Gabriel Taurin Dufresse will be canonized 100 years after their veneration by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 2000.
* July 3 – Swiss-born American boxer Frank Erne wins the world lightweight championship by defeating champion Kid Lavigne, George "Kid" Lavigne in a decision after 20 rounds in Buffalo, New York.
* July 4 – The most famous skeleton of a dinosaur ever found intact, a Diplodicus, is discovered at the Sheep Creek Quarry in the western United States near Medicine Bow, Wyoming. The expedition team, financed by Andrew Carnegie for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and led by William Harlow Reed, bestows the name "Dippy" on the ''Diplodicus carnegii'', which becomes well known after Carnegie has plaster cast replicas made for donation to museums all over the world. The diplodicus dinosaurs are estimated to have roamed in North America more than 152,000,000 years ago.
* July 5 –
**In Chicago, the first American juvenile justice system, juvenile court in the United States, the Cook County Circuit Court Juvenile Justice Division, hears its first cases with R. S. Tuthill as its judge.
**The 1895 Trade and Navigation agreement between the Japanese and Russian empires goes into effect, with each country was given "a full freedom of ship and cargo entrance to all places, ports, and rivers on the other country's territory."
* July 6 – An assassin attempts to kill Milan I of Serbia, Milan Obrenović, who had been King of Serbia before abdicating in 1889, and had more recently been appointed by his son, Alexander I of Serbia, King Alexander, as Commander-in-chief of the Serbian Army. General Obrenović is uninjured, but begins a campaign to seek out and arrest the radicals in Serbia.
* July 7 – The Great Lakes Group, The Great Lakes Towing Company (GLT), now part of The Great Lakes Group, is incorporated by John D. Rockefeller and William G. Mather to acquire more than 150 tugboats to control shipping in four of the North American Great Lakes (Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie and Lake Superior) and quickly builds a monopoly on Great Lakes traffic.
* July 8 – In the U.S., the Lorelei Fountain, sculpted by Ernst Herter from white marble, is unveiled in the Bronx in New York City across from the Bronx County Courthouse.
* July 9 – The Latin American Plenary Council, called by Pope Leo XIII on December 25 for the Roman Catholic bishops of lands in Central America and South America to address the question of "how to guard the interests of the Latin race", closes in Rome after six weeks. The bishops agree that Catholics should not "to celebrate with heretics" (specifically, non-Catholics) in religious ceremonies or to attend heretic church services, on pain of excommunication; that every republic in Latin America should have "a truly Catholic University" for education in the "sciences, literature and the good arts"; that missionary work to the Indian populations is "the grave duty of the ecclesiastical as well as civil authority to carry civilization to the tribes that remain faithless"; and that priests should be encouraged to study at the Pius Latin American Seminary in Rome.
* July 10 –
**British colonial authorities in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan give control of the Red Sea port of Suakin to Sudan, after having agreed on January 19 that Egypt would have the right to administer commerce there.
**The Allegan (meteorite), Allegan meteorite, a H chondrite crashes to Earth and lands in Allegan County, Michigan, southwestern Michigan's Allegan County in the U.S.
* July 11 – In Turin in Italy, Giovanni Agnelli and eight investors form the Italian automobile manufacturer Fiat Automobiles, F.I.A.T. (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, the Italian Automobile Manufacturers of Turin), producers of the Fiat motor vehicles.
* July 12 – The British freight ship ''City of York
The City of York is a unitary authority area with city status in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. The district's main settlement is York, and it extends to the surrounding area including the town of Haxby and the villages of ...
'' sinks after striking reefs at Rottnest Island
Rottnest Island ( nys, Wadjemup), often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a island off the coast of Western Australia, located west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class ...
, off the coast of Western Australia, due to a misunderstanding of signal flare fired from Wadjemup Lighthouse, the island's lighthouse. The ship, which was nearing the end of a 90-day voyage from the U.S. (San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
) to Fremantle, Western Australia, evacuates its 26 crew in two lifeboats, but one of the boats overturns and 11 men, including Captain Phillip Jones, drown.
* July 13 – A tornado kills 13 people in the U.S. village of Herman, Nebraska.
* July 14 – The first Republic of Acre
es, República del Acre
, conventional_long_name = Republic of Acre
, common_name = Acre
, status = Unrecognized state
, era =
, government_type = Presidential republic
, event_start ...
is declared by former Spanish journalist Luis Gálvez Rodríguez de Arias in the Amazon jungle in South America, and lasts for nine months.
* July 15 –
**Japan's first comprhensive copyright law takes effect and, on the same day, Japan agrees to join the Berne Convention on respect of copyright laws of other nations.
**General Emilio Aguinaldo, who has commanded the Filipino resistance against the Spanish government, informs the U.S. Army General Thomas M. Anderson that he intends to assume authority for the Philippine Islands in areas conquered by the Filipinos from the Spaniards.
* July 16 – The first soccer football game in El Salvador between two organized teams takes place at the Campo Marte field in Santa Ana, El Salvador, Santa Ana, where a local team hosts a team of players from San Salvador. The Santa Ana team wins, 2 to 0.
* July 17
** NEC Corporation is organized as the first Japanese joint venture with foreign capital.
** In the Battle of Togbao, the French Henri Bretonnet, Bretonnet–Solomon Braun, Braun mission is destroyed, in the North African kingdom of Chad, by the warlord Rabih az-Zubayr.
** The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation takes effect, ending extraterritoriality and the unequal status of Japan in foreign commerce.
* July 18 – The patent for the first sofa bed (a foldable bed frame that can be stored under the cushions of a couch) is taken out by African-American inventor Leonard C. Bailey. He receives U.S. Patent No. 629,286 on June 2, 1900.
* July 19 – U.S. Secretary of War Russell A. Alger submits his resignation at the request of U.S. President McKinley, following public outrage over the United States Army beef scandal The United States Army beef scandal was an American political scandal caused by the widespread distribution of extremely low-quality, heavily adulterated beef products to U.S Army soldiers fighting in the Spanish–American War. General Nelson Mil ...
, in which the War Department purchased tainted beef for soldiers during the Spanish-American War.
* July 20 – A white lynch mob in Tallulah, Louisiana carries out the killing of five white Italian shopkeepers from Sicily who had opened stores in the town to sell produce and meat, after accusations that the Sicilians were driving the American stores out of business. None of the suspects in the lynching are prosecuted.
* July 21 – The Newsboys' strike of 1899, Newsboys' strike takes place, when the Newsies of New York go on strike (until August 2).[''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (September 1899) pp. 277-280]
* July 22 – The torture and lynching of Frank Embree takes place in the town of Fayette, Missouri, after Embree, a black 19-year-old man, is accused by a mob of raping a white 14-year-old girl. Shortly after Embree has received 100 lashes from a whip, a photographer takes Embree's photo, followed by another one after Embree's hanging.
* July 23 – The city of Washington DC retires its short-lived Cable car (railway), cable car system, the day after Columbia Railway Company converts exclusively to electric powered cars
* July 24 – In the first trade treaty signed by the U.S. after the passage of the Dingley Act, which authorizes the U.S. President to negotiate reductions of tariffs up to 20% if the other side does the same, France and the United States sign an agreement for a 20% reduction of France's existing tariffs on 635 of 654 specific items, in return for the U.S. reduction between 5% and 20% of duty fees on 126 items.
* July 25 – France's Minister of War levies out punishments against officers who participated in the Dreyfus affair, removing General Georges-Gabriel de Pellieux from his duties as Military Governor of Paris, and removing General Oscar de Négrier from the War Council.
* July 26 – The List of presidents of the Dominican Republic, President of the Dominican Republic, dictator Ulises Heureaux, is assassinated during a visit to the city of Moca, Dominican Republic, Moca. Vice President Wenceslao Figuereo succeeds to the office.[
* July 27 – Gold is discovered in Nome, Alaska, leading to the Nome Gold Rush.
* July 28 – The All Cubans, a team of professional baseball players from Cuba, begins a barnstorming tour of games against white and black teams, starting with a 12-4 win over a local team at Weehawken, New Jersey
* July 29 – The first international Peace Conference ends, with the signing of the First Hague Convention.
* July 30 – The Harriman Alaska Expedition ends successfully.
* July 31 – Duke of York Island (Antarctica), Duke of York Island, outside ]Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
, is discovered by explorer Carsten Borchgrevink
Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink (1 December 186421 April 1934) was an Anglo-Norwegian polar explorer and a pioneer of Antarctic travel. He inspired Sir Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen, and others associated with the Hero ...
and the British Southern Cross Expedition
The ''Southern Cross'' Expedition, otherwise known as the British Antarctic Expedition, 1898–1900, was the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, and the forerunner of the more celebrated journeys of Robert Falcon Sc ...
.
August 1899
* August 1 – 1899 Carrabelle hurricane, A hurricane destroys all but nine homes in the small U.S. town of Carrabelle, Florida
* August 2 – The first attack on an offshore oil installation in the United States takes place off the coast of Santa Barbara, California near Montecito, California, Montecito, when a mob of outraged citizens demolishes an oil rig.
* August 3 – The John Marshall Law School (Chicago), John Marshall Law School is founded in Chicago.
* August 4 – Japan rescinds its policy of extraterritoriality privileges to western nations that had operated consular courts to try cases against western nationals under western law. The British Court for Japan closes at the end of the year.
* August 5 – Automotive mechanic Henry Ford, with the help of 12 investors, incorporates the Detroit Automobile Company. While the company will fail after 17 months, it establishes Detroit, Michigan, as the site for U.S. car manufacturing and the mistakes learned help Ford have more success with the Ford Motor Company.
* August 6 – Near Stratford, Connecticut, 36 people are killed when a trolley falls off of a trestle and lands upside down in a pond 40 feet below. On the same day, the collapse of a ferry dock in Mount Desert Island, Maine, drowns 20-people.
* August 7 –
**The retrial of French Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus opens at Rennes.
**Governance of the island of Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
, under the administration of the United States Department of the Navy, begins with USS Richard P. Leary#Namesake, Admiral Richard P. Leary as the first U.S. Naval Governor.
* August 8 – The 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane, San Ciriaco hurricane strikes Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
, recently annexed by the United States, and leaves 250,000 people homeless. The official death toll is later listed as 3,369 people.
* August 9 – The Seats for Shop Assistants Act 1899 is given royal assent in the United Kingdom, providing, for the first time, a respite for workers required to remain standing for long periods of time.
* August 10 – Marshall Taylor, Marshall "Major" Taylor wins the world professional cycling championship in Montreal, securing his place as the first African American world champion in any sport.
* August 11 – The "Black Heavyweight Championship" of boxing is won by Frank Childs in a six-round win over Klondike (boxer), Klondike Haynes.
* August 12 – South African Republic General Jan Smuts makes a final initiative to avert the outbreak of what will become the Second Boer War with Britain, meeting in Pretoria with the British charge d'affaires, Conyngham Greene.
* August 13 – The battle for the Philippine city of Angeles City, Angeles begins when the U.S. Army's VIII Corps, led by Major General Arthur MacArthur Jr.
Arthur MacArthur Jr. (June 2, 1845 – September 5, 1912) was a lieutenant general of the United States Army. He became the military Governor-General of the American-occupied Philippines in 1900; his term ended a year later due to clashes w ...
, fights Philippine forces led by Brigadier General Maximino Hizon. The U.S. captures the area, the future site of Clark Air Base, Clark Air Force Base, by August 16.
* August 14 – French attorney Fernand Labori is wounded in an assassination attempt while serving as the defense lawyer for in the retrial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
* August 15 – The Automobile Club of America, first automobile owners association in the U.S., is incorporated.
* August 16 –
**Hobson City, Alabama, the oldest exclusively African American municipality in the United States, is incorporated in Calhoun County, Alabama, Calhoun County with a population of 400 black residents. As of 2020, the town remains 92% African American. At the time, only two other "all black" towns exist in the U.S., Lincolnville, South Carolina and Princeton, North Carolina.
**Western outlaw Tom Ketchum, Tom "Black Jack" Ketchum is badly wounded in a poorly-planned attempt to commit a train robbery by himself. He is captured the next day, has an arm amputated, and is executed in a poorly-planned hanging in 1901.
* August 17 –
**Emperor Gojong of Korea issues the 9-article International Declaration declaring that, as "the great emperor of Korea", he has "infinite military authority" as well as absolute power to enact laws.
**The 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane, San Ciriaco hurricane makes landfall in North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
's Outer Banks, completely destroying the town of Diamond City, North Carolina, Diamond City.
* August 18 –
**An explosion at a coal mine in Wales kills 25 miners.[
**Rasmus Midgett of the United States Life-Saving Service single-handedly saves the 10 surviving crew of the freighter SS ''Priscilla''
* August 19 – A bill to construct the proposed Dortmund-Rhine Canal in Germany, supported by Kaiser Wilhelm II, failed overwhelmingly in the lower house of parliament, with 225 against and only 147 in favor.
* August 20 – The Kiram–Bates Treaty is signed in the ]Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
by Jamalul Kiram II, Sultan of Sulu, and U.S. Army Brigadier General John C. Bates, with U.S. forces recognizing the autonomy of local governments in the Sulu Archipelago (within the Mindanao island group) in return for the Sultan's assistance in suppressing attacks on U.S. forces.
* August 21 – Sir Edmund Antrobus, 4th Baronet, Sir Edmund Antrobus, owner of the land on Salisbury Plain upon which Stonehenge stands in England, offers to sell the land to the British government for £125,000. After Sir Edmund's death in 1915, his brother Cosmo will have the land auctioned for £6,600.[''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'']
(October 1899) pp. 407-410
* August 22 – The earliest major motorcycle race in the U.S. takes place at the Harford Avenue Colosseum in Baltimore, Maryland, with three teams of motor-powered tandem bicycles competing. The team of Henri Fournier and Charles Henshaw wins the race.
* August 23 –
**In Darien, Georgia, the "Delegal riot" takes place when hundreds of armed African-American residents surround the McIntosh County, Georgia, McIntosh County Jail to prevent the transfer of Henry Delegal, a black man charged with rape, to prevent the possibility of Delegal being lynched. The Georgia State militia is sent in to disband the rioters (21 of whom are convicted of inciting a riot) and to oversee Delegal's safe transfer. Delegal is later acquitted of the rape charge.
**The first ship-to-shore test of a wireless radio transmission is made from the U.S. lightship ''LV 70'' with the sending of Morse code signals to a receiving station near San Francisco. The tests are made over 17 days with the ship also sending carrier pigeons to carry the message transmitted in order to verify the accuracy of the transmission.
* August 24 – France's Minister of Commerce, Alexandre Millerand, decrees a change in regulations to extend the right to workers' compensation to cover all profit-making establishments.
* August 25 – Two convicted murderers, Cyrus A. Brown and Matthew Craig, become the first white men to be legally executed in what is now the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The two are hanged together at Muskogee, Oklahoma, Muskogee in the Creek Nation section of the U.S. Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...
* August 26 – The largest ship in the world, the White Star ocean liner RMS ''Oceanic'', is delivered to Liverpool from the shipyards in Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
, 11 days before its maiden voyage scheduled for September 6.
* August 27 – U.S. engineers, aided by local Sudanese workers, complete the installation of the prefabricated Atbara railroad bridge over the Nile River near Khartoum after outbidding British construction companies, marking a turning point in British leadership worldwide in construction. Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, Lord Kitchener, commander of the British Army force in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, remarks at the ceremony, "... as Englishmen failed, I am delighted that our cousins across the Atlantic stepped in. This bridge is due to their energy, ability and power to turn out work of magnitude in less time than anybody else. I congratulate the Americans on their success in the erection of a bridge in the heart to Africa."
* August 28 – At least 512 people are killed when a debris hill from the Sumitomo Besshi copper mine at Niihama, Shikoku, Japan, collapses after heavy rain; 122 houses, a smelting factory, hospital and many other facilities are destroyed.
* August 29 – General Juan Isidro Jimenes, whose ship had stopped in Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
while he was on his way to Santo Domingo to become the new President of the Dominican Republic, is arrested by order of U.S. Military Governor Leonard Wood after coming ashore at Santiago de Cuba. Jimenes would soon be released and would become the President on November 15, 1899.
* August 30 – After taking over the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic, Santiago de los Caballeros, revolutionists proclaim Horacio Vásquez as the Central American nation's President in rebel-controlled territory. At the same time in the capital at Santo Domingo, President Wenceslao Figuereo steps down after only five weeks in office and prepares to leave the city as the rebels approach.
* August 31 – The Olympique de Marseille association football club is founded in France.
September 1899
* September 1 – The ''National Theatre (Oslo), Nationaltheatret'', Norway's national theater, is inaugurated
* September 2 – In the Battle of Karari at Sudan between the British Army, led by Lord Kitchener, and Sudanese troops commanded by the Mahdi Khalifa Abdullah, 11,000 Sudanese are killed and 1,600 wounded.
* September 3 – 1899 Yakutat Bay earthquakes, An 8.2 magnitude earthquake shakes the area around Yakutat Bay in Alaska.
* September 4 – Thomas Brackett Reed, Thomas B. Reed, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, resigns his seat in Congress and the Speaker's office in protest over U.S. President McKinley's support of war with Spain.
* September 5 –
**The first labor and management agreement in Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
is reached between the Danish Federation of Trade Unions and the Danish Employers' Confederation.
**General Horacio Vasquez, leader of a revolution against the Dominican Republic's President Wenceslao Figuereo, arrives at the capital, Santo Domingo and forms a provisional government.
* September 6 – The White Star Line
The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between t ...
's transatlantic crossing, transatlantic ocean liner sails on her maiden voyage. At 17,272 gross register tons and , she is the largest ship afloat, following scrapping of the a decade earlier.
* September 7 – The first parade of automobiles in U.S. history takes place at Newport, Rhode Island.
* September 8 – Eduardo Romana is inaugurated as the President of Peru.[
* September 9 – In the retrial of his court-martial, French Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus is again found guilty of treason and sentenced to serve the remaining 10 years of his prison sentence on Devils Island.][
* September 10 - A week after an 8.2 magnitude quake strikes Alaska, 1899 Yakutat Bay earthquakes, a stronger, 8.5 magnitude earthquake shakes Yakutat Bay.
* September 11 – Northern Arizona University is founded in Flagstaff in the Arizona Territory of the United States, as Northern Arizona Normal School, with 23 students and two professors. More than a century later, the university has almost 30,000 students and 1,100 full time faculty.
* September 12 – American boxer Terry McGovern (boxer), Terry McGovern wins the world bantamweight title by knocking out British boxer Pedlar Palmer in the first round at the Westchester Athletic Club in New York.
* September 13 –
**Real estate agent Death of Henry H. Bliss, Henry Bliss is struck by an electric-powered taxicab and fatally injured after stepping off of a trolley at the intersection of West 74th Street and Central Park West in New York City, becoming the first person in the U.S. to killed by an automobile.
**Halford Mackinder, Cesar Ollier and Josef Brocherel make the first ascent of Batian, at (), the highest peak of Mount Kenya.
**The French Army invades the Sultanate of Zinder in Niger and kills the ruler, Amadou Kouran Daga.
* September 14 – General Cipriano Castro defeats the Venezuelan Army at the battle of Tocuyito and prepares to march to Caracas to overthrow President ]Ignacio Andrade
Ignacio Andrade Troconis (31 July 1839 – 17 February 1925), was a military man and politician.[ ...]
.
* September 15 – Preparing for an attack on Britain's Cape Colony in South Africa from the neighboring South African Republic, Transvaal Republic, British Army Colonel Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Robert Baden-Powell arrives at the border town of Mafeking and begins recruiting volunteers and stockpiling munitions to prepare for Siege of Mafeking, an attack and siege.
* September 16 – In the second annual 1899 VFL Grand Final championship game of the Victorian Football League, defending champ Fitzroy Football Club, Fitzroy narrowly retains the title over Sydney Swans, South Melbourne, 27 to 26.
* September 17 – The strange career of Australian bandit John Francis Peggotty, a diminutive holdup man said to have ridden on an ostrich, ends in the town of Meningie, South Australia when Peggotty's intended victim shoots both the bandit and the ostrich. The body of the ostrich is found, but Peggotty is never seen again.
* September 18 –
**Rail transport in South Korea, Rail transport is inaugurated in Korea with the opening of the Gyeongin Railway from Incheon (at the time called Chemulp'o) to Yeongdeungpo District, Yeongdeungpo (a town located across the Han River from Seoul).
**Scott Joplin's ''Maple Leaf Rag'' is registered for copyright, as ragtime music enjoys mainstream popularity in the United States.
* September 19 –
**Alfred Dreyfus is pardoned in France by the French Ministry of War.[
**The patent for the first water meter is granted to Edwin Ford, the water superintendent for Hartford City, Indiana.
* September 20 – Captain Alfred Dreyfus is released from prison at Rennes.][
* September 21 –
**A special session of the Orange Free State's parliament, the ''Volksraad'', meets at Bloemfontein in South Africa to discuss war with the British Empire. At the same time, three British transports depart from Bombay in India with troops to the Cape Colony in South Africa.][''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'']
(November 1899) pp. 537-540
**The Dominion Line steamer ''Scotsman'' sinks in the Strait of Belle Isle in Canada, killing 15 women and children.
* September 22 –
**1899 Swedish general election, Elections are held in Sweden for the 230-seats of the Riksdag (formerly 182 seats). The Lantmanna Party retains majority control.[
**Following a court-martial in Spain, Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón, Patricio Montojo, who had surrendered the Philippines to U.S. Admiral ]George Dewey
George Dewey (December 26, 1837January 16, 1917) was Admiral of the Navy, the only person in United States history to have attained that rank. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War, with ...
to end the Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (cloc ...
, is relieved of all commands and placed on the reserve list.[
* September 23 – Austria's Chancellor, Franz, Prince of Thun and Hohenstein, Prince Franz von Thun, and his cabinet of ministers all resign.][
* September 24 – A crowd of several thousand men in London disrupts an anti-war demonstration in Trafalgar Square and shouts down the Peace Association speakers as well as hurling "decayed apples and eggs and other missiles."
* September 25 – A Serbian court sentences 30 people convicted for conspiracy to attempt to assassinate the former Milan I of Serbia, King Milan, with the two main leaders being sentenced to death, and 10 others getting 20 year prison sentences.][
* September 26 – General Manuel Guzman Alvarez of the Venezuelan Sucre (state), state of Sucre joins with General Cipriano Castro in a revolt against the Venezuelan government.][
* September 27 – Former U.S. President Benjamin Harrison concludes his special assignment of arguing in favor of Britain before the Anglo-Venezuelan arbitration tribunal.][
* September 28 –
**Austrian auto designer Ferdinand Porsche attracts worldwide attention when his first car, the Porsche P1, wins the Berlin Road Race with such speed that he crosses the finish line 18 minutes ahead of the second-place finisher.
**New Zealand's parliament approves a proposal to send troops to support Britain's Cape Colony in South Africa, while the Orange Free State parliament votes to support the South African Republic (the Transvaal), as Second Boer War, war between the British and the Dutch appears imminent.][
* September 29 – The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) is founded in the U.S. by ]Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (cloc ...
veteran James C. Putnam as the American Veterans of Foreign Service.
* September 30 –
**A 1899 Ceram earthquake, tsunami kills 3,864 people on Seram Island (now part of the Maluku province of Indonesia) after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes at 1:42 in the morning local time. According to a subsequent investigation, the villages of Paulohy-Samasuru and Mani, with a combined population of 2,400 people, are swept away by a wave.
**In Milwaukee, minor league baseball executive Harry Quinn announces History of the American League, an 8-team rival to baseball's 12-team National League, the "American Baseball Association" with an eastern division (New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington) and a western division (Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Detroit).
October 1899
* October 1 –
**Possession of the Mariana Islands in the South Pacific Ocean is formally transferred from Spain to Germany, which purchased the archipelago (with the exception of Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
) from Spain for 837,500 German gold marks (equivalent in 1899 to $4,100,000), and become part of German New Guinea until the end of World War One.
**Felipe Agoncillo, dispatched by the Philippine Revolutionary government to lobby for independence, meets in Washington with U.S. President McKinley and his attempt to be part of peace talks between the United States and Spain is rejected.
* October 2 – The Serbian government ends the state of siege in Belgrade that followed the attempted assassination of Serbia's former King Milan.[
* October 3 – The boundary dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana (now Guyana) is resolved by a binding award from the International Tribunal of Arbitration of five neutral jurists agreed upon by the United Kingdom and the United Venezuelan States.
* October 4 – The South African Republic issues an order to "all White inhabitants" within its protectorate, the Eswatini, Kingdom of Swaziland, to evacuate the area, with the exception of property owners eligible for active military service. British subjects inside Swaziland are evicted and escorted to the border with the Portuguese East African colony of Mozambique
* October 5 – The 7,000 Zulu people, Zulu mineworkers in the Witwatersrand of the South African Republic are assembled by mine recruiter John Sidney Marwick at Johannesburg so that they can be transported home before war breaks out with Britain.
* October 6 – The War Office of the UK alerts the administrators of the 79,000-man British Army Reserve to prepare for drafting of soldiers in preparation for war in South Africa.
* October 7 – U.S. President ]William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
, Canada's Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier, ( ; ; November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime minis ...
and Mexico's Foreign Minister Ignacio Mariscal are hosted at the U.S. city of Chicago for its Autumn Festival.
* October 8 – The South African Republic (ZAR) telegraphs a three-day ultimatum to the U.K., demanding an arbitration of issues and a pullback of troops from the borders between the ZAR and the adjoining Cape Colony, Natal and Bechuanaland by October 11.
* October 9 – The Hanover Congress (1899), Hanover Congress of the Social Democratic Party of Germany begins in Hanover and lasts until October 14.
* October 10 – The French Sudan in west Africa is divided into two smaller administrative units, Middle Niger (which later becomes the nations of Niger and Gambia) and Upper Senegal (which becomes the nations of Senegal and Mali)
* October 11 – In South Africa, the Second Boer War between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the South African Republic, Transvaal and Orange Free State begins as the Boers invade the British colony of Natal.
* October 12 – The Sultan of Turkey issues a decree promising reforms to the persecution of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.[
* October 13 – The Second Boer War extends into the British Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana as the siege of Mafeking begins.
* October 14 – The Boer invasion of the Cape Colony begins with the Siege of Kimberley, siege of Kimberley, Northern Cape, Kimberley.
* October 15 – French Army officer Ferdinand de Béhagle is put to death by Sudanese warlord Rabih az-Zubayr, prompting a French expedition to be led against Rabih.
* October 16 – ''A Chinese Honeymoon'', the first musical theatre, musical to run for more than 1,000 performances, is performed for the first time, making its debut at the Theatre Royal in Hanley, Staffordshire before moving to London.
* October 17 – The Thousand Days' War (''La Guerra de los Mil Días'') begins in the South American nation in Colombia as Colombian Liberal Party soldiers led by General Rafael Uribe Uribe, with the support of aid from Venezuela, begin a fight against the government of National Party president Manuel Antonio Sanclemente. The war will continue for 1,130 days until November 21, 1902.
* October 18 – The Boxer Rebellion begins in China as the Battle of Senluo Temple is fought in China's Shandong province between more than 4,000 Imperial Chinese Army troops and at least 1,000 rebels from the Boxers (group), Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists.
* October 19 –
**In Worcester, Massachusetts, 17-year-old Robert H. Goddard receives his inspiration to develop the first rocket capable of reaching outer space, after viewing his yard from high in a tree and imagining "how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the possibility of ascending to Mars, and how it would look on a small scale, if sent up from the meadow at my feet."
**Boer troops commanded by Johannes Hermanus Michiel Kock, Johannes Kock capture the railway station in the British Natal colony town of Elandslaagte and cut the telegraph line between the British Army headquarters at Ladysmith and the British station at Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal, Dundee.
* October 20 – In the first major clash of the Second Boer War, the Battle of Talana Hill (near Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal, Dundee, Natal), the ]British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
drives the Boers from a hilltop position, but with heavy casualties, including their commanding general Sir Penn Symons.
* October 21 – The Battle of Elandslaagte is fought in Britain's Natal colony as the British Army recaptures the railway station from Boers, then proceeds toward the fortress of Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, Ladysmith. South African General Johannes Hermanus Michiel Kock, Jan Kock is fatally wounded in the battle and dies 10 later while imprisoned at Ladysmith.[''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'']
(December 1899) pp. 662-666
* October 22 – In Spain, an advertisement runs in the sports magazine ''Los Deportes'', paid for by Swiss immigrant History of FC Barcelona#Beginnings of Football Club Barcelona (1899–1922), Hans Gamper, announces that Gamper is seeking to create a soccer football team for Barcelona. The organizational meeting takes place at the Sociedad Los Deportes on November 29, attracting 11 players who form FC Barcelona, Futbol Club Barcelona.
* October 23 –
**The Philippine Independent Church is formed at a conference in Paniqui for the purpose of separating from the Roman Catholic Church.
**The Empire of Austria holds its first automobile race. It is won in Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
by Baron Theodor von Liebig, driving an NW Rennzweier car.
* October 24 –
**The sinking of the ship ''Cisneros'' by the Colombian Navy warship ''Hércules'' drowns more than 200 Liberal rebels during the Battle of Magdalena River in northern Colombia.
**President Steyn of the South African Republic proclaims the annexation of the northern portion of the Cape Colony above the Vaal River.[
* October 25 –
**]José Manuel Pando
José Manuel Inocencio Pando Solares (27 December 1849 – 17 June 1917) was a Bolivian soldier, politician and explorer. He was also the 25th President of Bolivia from 1899 to 1904. During his government, the Acre War (1899-1903) began, in wh ...
, a member of the Federal Government Junta of Bolivia, 1899, three-member junta that has governed Bolivia since April 12, becomes the new President of Bolivia, president.
**Tui Manuʻa Elisala, Elisara Alaalamua is installed as the new Tui Manuʻa or Paramount Chief of the Samoan Islands, Samoan island of Taʻū.
* October 26 –
**Indirect fire, a shooting technique based on calculating azimuth and inclination to aim a weapon at an enemy that cannot be hit by direct fire, is used for the first time in battle. British gunners in the Second Boer War, using the techniques developed by Russian Lieutenant Colonel K. G. Guk, fire a cannon on a high trajectory toward the Boer Army, with the objective of having the shell coming down on the enemy.
**1899 Swiss federal election, Voting takes place in Switzerland for the 147-member National Council.
**The foundering of the British steamer ''Zurich'' off of the coast of Norway kills 16 of the 17 crew aboard, with only the captain surviving.[
* October 27 – Louise Masset, an unmarried mother, murders her 3-year old son in a bathroom at the Dalston Junction railway station in London. She will be found guilty on December 18 and hanged at Newgate Prison three weeks later on January 9.
* October 28 – The History of Eswatini, Swaziland Commando unit of the South African Republic Army, with 200 burghers, attacks and burns the British police post at Kwaliweni during the Second Boer War. Warned by Swaziland's King Ngwane V, the 20 policemen are able to evacuate the post office and flee to Ingwavuma, which the Commandos attack next.
* October 29 – The Battle of Kouno ends after two days in French Equatorial Africa at the village of Kouno, near Sarh, Fort-Archambault in what is now Chad, as French Army Captain Émile Gentil leads a force of 344 troops against a much larger force of 2,700 Sudanese Arabs, led by the warlord Rabih az-Zubayr. Gentil routs the Sudanese, but at the cost of 46 deaths and more than 100 wounded.
* October 30 – In a key engagement in the Second Boer War, the Battle of Ladysmith begins as British troops at the Ladysmith fort in the colony of Natal attempt to make a preemptive strike against a larger force of South African Republic and Orange Free State troops that is gradually surrounding the fort. After sustaining 400 casualties and having 800 men captured, the British retreat back to the fort where Siege of Ladysmith, a 118-day siege begins on November 2.
* October 31 – The House of Commons of the United Kingdom unveils the statue of Oliver Cromwell, Westminster, statue of Oliver Cromwell, commissioned in honor of the former Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.
]
November 1899
* November 1 – A spokesman for the White House announces that U.S. Vice President Garret Hobart will not return to public life and reveals that Hobart has serious health problems. Hobart had retired to his home in Paterson, New Jersey, shortly after having been assigned the duty of telling War Secretary Russell Alger
Russell Alexander Alger (February 27, 1836 – January 24, 1907) was an American politician and businessman. He served as the 20th Governor of Michigan, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Secretary of War.
He was supposedly a distant relation of author H ...
to resign. On November 21, Hobart becomes the fourth U.S. Vice President to die in office.
* November 2 – The siege of Ladysmith begins in Britain's Natal colony in South Africa, as armies of the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and the Orange Free State) cut telegraph lines connecting Ladysmith to the British colony, and try over the next 118 days to starve out the British force.[ The British defenders will hold the fort without surrendering, despite disease and starvation, until the Relief of Ladysmith, siege is broken on February 28, 1900 by a force led by British Army General Redvers Buller.
* November 3 – The first championship boxing bout to be filmed for motion pictures is fought between challenger Tom Sharkey and heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries. Jeffries wins in 25 rounds at an indoor arena at Coney Island, New York, with American Mutoscope and Biograph filming the action.
* November 4 – The Alpha Sigma Tau sorority, which has chapters at 83 colleges and universities in the U.S. as of 2022, is founded in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
* November 5 –
**The U.S. Army, commanded by Major General Arthur MacArthur, wins the battle to capture the Philippine Republic's capital at Angeles City, after nearly three months of fighting that began on August 10. It also captures the Philippine stronghold of Magalang, which had been defended by Major General Servillano Aquino.
**The Belgian Antarctic Expedition, led by Adrien de Gerlache, is concluded as RV Belgica (1884), RV ''Belgica'' sails into Antwerp harbor.
* November 6 –
**The first Packard luxury automobile is produced at company's plant in Warren, Ohio.
**The first Broadway theatre, Broadway play based on Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes debuts at the Garrick Theatre (New York City), Garrick Theater as a production of William Gillette.
**The Boers begin the shelling of the British settlement at Mafeking.][
* November 7 –
**The flash-lamp, the first to use electricity to ignite photographers' Flash (photography)#Flash-lamp/Flash powder, magnesium flash powder, is awarded as U.S. patent 636,492 to Joshua Lionel Cohen. While flash powder had been in use since 1887, the ignition was more dangerous because it had to be performed manually.
**Representatives of the U.S., the UK and Germany sign a treaty in Washington for arbitration of Samoa's claims for damages, with King Oscar of Sweden and Norway agreeing to become the neutral arbitrator.][
* November 8 – The Wildlife Conservation Society, New York Zoological Society opens the Bronx Zoo, Bronx Zoological Park to the public, in ]New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
* November 9 –
**The first British transport of supplemental troops arrives at Cape Town to enter the Second Boer War against the South African Republic.[
**The Boer attack on Ladysmith is repulsed by the British artillery, with the Boers sustaining 800 killed and wounded.][
* November 10 – At the age of 20, Sir Ranbir Singh is invested with full ruling powers over the Jind State, princely state of Jind in British India, after having ascended the throne as Maharaja of Jind on March 7, 1877, at the age of 8.
* November 11 – The Battle of San Jacinto (1899), Battle of San Jacinto is fought in the Philippines, with the U.S. 33rd Volunteer Infantry forcing Philippine Army General Manuel Tinio's troops to retreat. The battle demonstrates the limitations to the heavy, wheel-mounted Gatling gun, in uneven territory.
* November 12 –
**Philippine Federation President Emilio Aguinaldo abolishes the federal government system in the Philippines as the U.S. Army makes further incursions into Filipino-controlled territory, and moves his capital to Bayambang.
**The city of Puerto Cabello in Venezuela surrenders to General Cipriano Castro after heavy fighting.][
* November 13 –
**Philippine President Aguinaldo dissolves the remains of the Filipino regular army and moves to a strategy of Asymmetric warfare#Philippine–American War, guerrilla warfare against the U.S. occupational forces.
**China's Hunan province opens to foreign trade for the first time.][
**In Colombia's Thousand Days' War, the Battle of Bucaramanga (1899), Battle of Bucaramanga ends with a victory over the Colombian Army against an attack by Liberal Party rebels, who suffer 1,000 killed and 500 wounded.
* November 14 – The first aerial crossing of the Mediterranean Sea is made by Louis Capazza and Alphonse Fondère in Capazza's balloon ''Gabizos''. The group departs Marseilles in France at 4:30 in the morning and arrives at 11:00 a.m. on the island of Corsica.
* November 15 – The American Line's becomes the first ocean liner to report her imminent arrival by wireless telegraphy, when Guglielmo Marconi, Marconi's station at The Needles contacts her off the coast of England.
* November 16 – A British Army train carrying troops is wrecked in South Africa near Estcourt by the Boers, and 56 men are taken prisoner, including war correspondent Winston Churchill.][
* November 17 – "Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Naval Station, Honolulu" is established by the U.S. Department of the Navy with on the island of Oahu in the recently annexed Territory of Hawaii. With construction and dredging over the next 12 years, the strategic base is later named for its location on Pearl Harbor.
* November 18 – On the final game of its season, the 1899 Harvard Crimson football team, Harvard University college football team, having a record of 10 wins (nine by shutout) and no defeats, hosts its rival, 1899 Yale Bulldogs football team, Yale University (7-1-0), and plays to a scoreless tie before 35,000 fans. Although Harvard's 1899 streak of defeating every opponent is ended by the tie, the Crimson team will later be selected retroactively (and recognized by the NCAA Record Book) as the 1899 mythical national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation.
* November 19 – In the Second Boer War, the Boers redeploy 4,000 of the 8,000 troops assigned to the Siege of Mafeking, because of the heavy resistance by the British defenders.
* November 20 –
**Aston Villa F.C. and the Orange Free State national soccer football team play a friendly match despite the ongoing Second Boer War between the United Kingdom and the Orange Free State. The Orange Free State had been touring Britain at the time that the War broke out. Aston Villa wins, 7 to 4.
**Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II and his family arrive in London at the invitation of Queen Victoria's government, and are greeted by cheering crowds.
**British Lieutenant-General John French, 1st Earl of Ypres, John French arrives at the Colesberg in the Cape Colony front to coordinate the defense of the British colonies in South Africa against the Boer attack and conducts a series of distracting maneuvers that succeed in preventing the South African Republic from attempting an invasion of the Cape Colony.
* November 21 – The Boers cut off all telegraph lines and seized the railway connecting Estcourt to the rest of the Cape Colony.][''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'']
(January 1900) pp. 23-26
* November 22 – American serial killer Martin Stickles kills his first random victim, shooting a former neighbor, William B. Shanklin, then burning down Shanklin's house.
* November 23 – The U.S. Department of the Post Office applied the same charges for mail from Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam as were used in the other 46 U.S. states.[
* November 24 – Eleonora de Cisneros, the first American-trained opera singer in the U.S., makes her debut for the Metropolitan Opera company, appearing as Rossweisse at the Met's production of Wagner's ''Die Walküre'' in Chicago.
* November 25 – The Battle of Umm Diwaykarat, a decisive British and Egyptian victory ends the Mahdist War in the Sudan, as the Khalifa of Sudan, Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, is killed. The Sudanese sustain 1,000 casualties, while the Anglo-Egyptian force commanded by General Reginald Wingate has three killed and 23 wounded.
* November 26 – 1899 Portuguese legislative election, Elections are held in the Kingdom of Portugal for the 138 seats of the Chamber of Deputies of Portugal (1822–1910), Câmara dos Senhores Deputados. Prime Minister José Luciano de Castro's Progressive Party (Portugal), Partido Progressista increases its majority, winning 91 of the seats.
* November 27 – The Ottoman Empire grants Germany's Deutsche Bank the concession to finance the construction of the Berlin–Baghdad railway, Baghdad Railway, following a visit by Kaiser Wilhelm II to Constantinople in 1898 as a guest of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
* November 28 –
**The British Army sustains heavy losses (471 casualties) in the Battle of Modder River, which Paul Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen, Lord Methuen describes as "one of the hardest and most trying fights in the annals of the British Army", despite routing the Boers.][
**The Philippine Republic capital at Bayambang surrenders as the government flees the Fourth Cavalry of the U.S. Army.
* November 29 – The FC Barcelona association football (soccer) club is founded in Spain.
* November 30 –
**The first women to serve, in uniform, in the armed forces of any nation began service as part of the Canadian Army, Canadian Militia Expeditionary Force to Cape Town to serve in the Boer War. Georgina Pope, Georgina Fane Pope and three other women are enlisted as army nurses. As Patrick Robertson notes, "There was nothing new about female nurses serving in the military; they had done so in numerous campaigns since the Revolutionary War, but in every instance as civilian auxiliaries."
**The British Secretary of State for the Colonies, Joseph Chamberlain, makes a controversial public speech at Leicester proposing ""a new Triple Alliance between the Teutonic race and the two great trans-Atlantic branches of the Anglo-Saxon race which would become a potent influence on the future of the world," with the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany agreeing to work together.
]
December 1899
* December 2
** Philippine–American War – Battle of Tirad Pass ("The Filipino Thermopylae"): General Gregorio del Pilar and his troops are able to guard the retreat of Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo, before being wiped out.
** During the new moon, a near-grand conjunction (astronomy), conjunction of the classical planets and several binoculars, binocular Solar System bodies occur. The Sun, Moon, Mercury (planet), Mercury, Mars and Saturn are all within 15° of each other, with Venus 5° ahead of this conjunction and Jupiter 15° behind. Accompanying the classical planets in this grand conjunction are Uranus (technically visible unaided in air pollution, pollution-free skies), Ceres (dwarf planet), Ceres and 2 Pallas, Pallas.
** Rebel Venezuelan General Jose Manuel Hernandez captures the city of Maracaibo in his revolt against Cipriano Castro's government, but is only able to hold it for 15 days.[
* December 4 – As the 56th U.S. Congress holds its first session, David B. Henderson (Republican-Iowa) is elected Speaker of the House. The House refuses permission for Brigham H. Roberts (Democrat-Utah) to take the oath of office as a U.S. Representative, pending investigation of allegations of bigamy.][
* December 5 – Germany's cabinet agrees to repeal a Prussian law that had prohibited the creation of political societies or clubs.][
* December 6 – A lynch mob in Maysville, Kentucky forces its way into the county jail to seize an African-American indicted for murder, tortures him and then burns him to death.][
* December 9 – An explosion kills 32 coal miners at the Carbon Hill mines in Carbonado, Washington.][
* December 10
** Four-month-old Sobhuza II begins his 82-year reign as King of Swaziland, on the death of his father, Ngwane V; his grandmother Labotsibeni Mdluli serves as queen regent.
** Battle of Stormberg: The British Army makes a disastrous attempt to surprise the Boer position in Natal and suffers the loss of 687 officers and men.][
** The college fraternity Delta Sigma Phi is founded at the City College of New York, by Charles A. Tonsor Jr. and Meyer Boskey.
* December 11 –
**Second Boer War – Battle of Magersfontein: Boers defeat British forces trying to relieve the Siege of Kimberley.
**Philippine-American War: Filipino General Tierona surrenders the province of Cagayan to U.S. Navy Captain McCalla of the USS ''Newark''.][
* December 13 – General French routs Boer troops that had been advancing into the Cape Colony toward Noupoort.][
* December 14 – Walther Hauser is elected President of Switzerland by the Swiss Federal Assembly.][
* December 15 –
**Battle of Colenso: Britain's General Buller loses 1,097 officers and men in a fight against the Boers in Natal, the third serious British reverse in South Africa in a week.][
**Glasgow School of Art opens its new building, the most notable work of Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
**The Republican National Committee votes to hold its 1900 national convention in Philadelphia, to start on June 19, 1900.][
* December 16 – The ]Association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
club A.C. Milan is founded in Italy.
* December 18 –
**The British War Office sends Lord Roberts to South Africa to become the new commander of British forces in the Second Boer War, with Lord Kitchener to be second in command, and announces that 100,000 additional men will be sent.[
**U.S. Army General Lawton is killed by a Filipino sniper near San Mateo on Luzon island.][
**Stock prices fall drastically at the New York exchanges and the Produce Exchange Trust Company fails.][
* December 19 – New York City's clearinghouse banks pool together a $10,000,000 loan fund to prevent further failures of companies.][
* December 20 – The U.S. government arrests nine customs officials in Havana on charges of collusion to defraud the government.][''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'']
(February 1900) pp. 153-157
* December 21 – U.S. Army General Leonard Wood arrives in Havana to become the new Governor-General of Cuba.[
* December 22 –
** More than 40 schoolchildren from Belgium drown in the capsizing of a boat near the French town of Frelinghien on the Lys (river), River Lys that serves a boundary between Belgium and France.][
** A fire kills 16 children in Quincy, Illinois.][
* December 23 –
**Forty coal miners are killed in an explosion near Brownsville, Pennsylvania.][
**Sir Reginald Wingate is appointed as the new British Governor-General of the Sudan, Governor-General of ]Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ( ar, السودان الإنجليزي المصري ') was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt in the Sudans region of northern Africa between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day ...
.[
* December 24 – The wreck of the British steamship ''Ariosto'' off the coast of Hatteras, North Carolina in the U.S. drowns 21 of the crew.][
* December 26 – Pinnacle Rock, a balancing rock in Cumberland Gap on the Tennessee and Kentucky border in the U.S., falls down.
* December 28 – The bodies of the officers and men killed on the 1898 explosion of the battleship USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' are reinterred at the ]Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
.[
* December 29 – The British Royal Navy cruiser HMS ''Magicienne'' seizes the German steamer, ''Bundesroth'' in Delagoa Bay at Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique) on grounds that German officers and men are being brought to supplement the Boer Army. The ''Bundesroth'' is then escorted to Durban in Britain's Natal Colony.][
* December 30 – General Wood completes the appointment of a cabinet of ministers composed of Cuban residents, with Diego Tamayo, Luis Esterez, Juan B. Hernandez, Enrique Varona, Jose R. Villaton and Ruiz Rivera taking office.][
* December 31
** The last day of the 1890s takes place, and the German government and Kaiser Wilhelm II declare that the 20th century will begin on January 1, 1900.][ In most of the world, however, December 31, 1899 is not the last day of the 19th century, which also includes the year 1900.
** December 31, 1899 is day zero for dates in Microsoft Excel, similar to January 1970, January 1, 1970 being day zero for Unix time. This is to ensure backwards compatibility with Lotus 1-2-3, which had a bug misinterpreting 1900 as a leap year.
]
Date unknown
* Ferdinand Zeppelin builds the first successful airship.
* The significance of Chinese oracle bones is discovered.
* The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the town of Manteo, North Carolina, Manteo, which was originally laid out as the Dare County, North Carolina, Dare County seat in 1870.
* Riro Kāinga, Riro, last of the Kings of Easter Island, on a visit to Valparaíso, Chile, dies either from alcohol poisoning, or an assassination plot by the Chilean government.
* Oxo (food), Oxo Bouillon cube, beef stock cubes are introduced, by Liebig's Extract of Meat Company.
* Alfred R. Tucker becomes Bishop of Uganda.
* The German company ''Miele'' is founded.
* Torii Shoten, predecessor of Suntory, a worldwide alcoholic drink and Soft drink, soft drink brand, was founded in Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...
, Japan.
* Giros-Loucheur Group, predecessor of Vinci SA, Vinci, a worldwide construction and infrastructure industry, founded in France.
* Timken Roller Bearing Company, predecessor of worldwide parts brand, Timken Company, Timken was founded in Missouri, United States.
*The 1899–1923 cholera pandemic occur in the Europe, Asia and Africa (Old World), right behind the 1846–1860 cholera pandemic in Russia
Births
January
* January 1
January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
– Jack Beresford, British Olympic rower (d. 1977)
* January 3 – Karl Diebitsch, German fashion designer (1985)
* January 6
** Alphonse Castex, French rugby union player (d. 1969)
** Heinrich Nordhoff, German automotive engineer (d. 1968)
** Elsie Steele, British supercentenarian (d. 2010)
* January 7 – Francis Poulenc, French composer (d. 1963)
* January 8 – S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, 4th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (d. 1959)
* January 11
Events Pre-1600
* 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams—the Blues and the Greens—in the Hippodrome escalates into violence.
* 630 – Conquest of Mecca: The prophet Muha ...
– Eva Le Gallienne, English actress (d. 1991)
* January 12
Events Pre-1600
* 475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire.
* 1528 – Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already rei ...
– Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1965)
* January 14
** Fritz Bayerlein, German general (d. 1970)
** Carlos Romulo, Filipino diplomat (d. 1985)
* January 15 – Goodman Ace, American actor, comedian and writer (d. 1982)
* January 17
Events Pre-1600
*38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
* 1362 – Saint Marcellus' flood kills at least 25,000 people on ...
** Al Capone, American gangster (d. 1947)
** Nevil Shute, English-born novelist (d. 1960)
* January 20 – Kenjiro Takayanagi, Japanese television development pioneer (d. 1990)
* January 21
Events Pre-1600
* 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.
* 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when ...
** Gyula Mándi, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 1969)
** John Bodkin Adams, British physician acquitted of murder (d. 1983)
* January 23
Events Pre-1600
* 393 – Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.
* 971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.
*1264 & ...
– Alfred Denning, Baron Denning, English lawyer, judge and Master of the Rolls (d. 1999)
* January 25 – Paul-Henri Spaak, 31st Prime Minister of Belgium and international statesman (d. 1972)
* January 27 – Béla Guttmann, Hungarian-born Association football coach (d. 1981)
* January 29
Events
Pre-1600
* 904 – Sergius III is elected pope, after coming out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
* 946 – Caliph Al-Mustakfi is blinded and deposed by Emir Mu'izz al-Dawla, rul ...
– Antal Páger (actor), Antal Páger, Hungarian actor (d. 1986)
* January 30 – Max Theiler, South African virologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1972)
February
* February 2 – Herbie Faye, American actor (d. 1980)
* February 3
** Café Filho, 18th President of Brazil (d. 1970)
** Lao She, Chinese author (d. 1966)
** Doris Speed, British actress (d. 1994)
** Mildred Trotter, American forensic anthropologist (d. 1991)
* February 4 – Virginia M. Alexander, African-American physician (d. 1949)
* February 6 – Ramon Novarro, Mexican-born American actor (d. 1968)
* February 7
Events Pre-1600
* 457 – Leo I becomes the Eastern Roman emperor.
* 987 – Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II.
* 1301 &nd ...
– Earl Whitehill, American baseball player (d. 1954)
* February 10
Events Pre-1600
* 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.
* 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, spar ...
– Cevdet Sunay, 5th President of Turkey (d. 1982)
* February 15
** Georges Auric, French composer (d. 1983)
** Lillian Disney, American artist (d. 1997)
** Gale Sondergaard, American actress (d. 1985)
* February 17
** Jibanananda Das, Indian poet, writer, novelist and essayist in Bengali language, Bengali (d. 1954)
** Leo Najo, American baseball player (d. 1978)
* February 18
Events Pre-1600
* 1229 – The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.
*1268 & ...
– Arthur Bryant, Sir Arthur Bryant, British historian (d. 1985)
* February 19 – Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, German scientist (d. 1961)
* February 22
Events Pre-1600
* 1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
* 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferd ...
** Joseph Le Brix, French aviator, naval officer (d. 1931)
** Margarito Flores García, Mexican Roman Catholic priest, martyr and saint (d. 1927)
** George O'Hara (actor), George O'Hara, American actor (d. 1966)
** Ian Clunies Ross, Australian scientist (d. 1959)
** Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (d. 1986)
* February 23 – Erich Kästner, German writer (d. 1974)
* February 24 – Mikhail Gromov (military), Mikhail Gromov, Soviet aviator (d. 1985)
* February 26
** Alec Campbell, Australian WWI soldier, last Australian Gallipoli veteran (d. 2002)
** Max Petitpierre, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1994)
* February 27 – Charles Herbert Best, Charles Best, Canadian medical scientist (d. 1978)
March
* March 4
Events Pre-1600
*AD 51 – Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title '' princeps iuventutis'' (head of the youth).
* 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia.
* 852 – Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a st ...
– Harry R. Wellman, University of California president (d. 1997)
* March 8
Events Pre-1600
* 1010 – Ferdowsi completes his epic poem ''Shahnameh''.
*1126 – Following the death of his mother, queen Urraca of León, Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of León.
* 1262 – Battle of Hausbergen between bou ...
** Eric Linklater, American author (d. 1974)
** Elmer Keith, American rancher, author, and firearms enthusiast (d. 1984)
* March 11
Events Pre-1600
* 222 – Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander.
* 843 – Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the ven ...
– King Frederick IX of Denmark (d. 1972)
* March 13
Events Pre-1600
*624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.
*1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War.
*1591 – At the Battle of Tond ...
– John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
* March 18
Events Pre-1600
* 37 – Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ''(aka Caligula = Little Boots)'' emperor.Tacitus, ''Annals'' V.10.
* 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Ara ...
– Jean Goldkette, French-born musician (d. 1962)
* March 21
Events Pre-1600
* 537 – Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the ''Vivarium'', by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas an ...
– Panagiotis Pipinelis, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1970)
* March 24
Events Pre-1600
* 1199 – King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6.
*1387 – English victory over a Franco- Castilian-Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate o ...
– Dorothy C. Stratton, American director of the SPARS during World War II (d. 2006)
* March 25 - Burt Munro, New Zealand motorcycle racer (d. 1978)
*March 27
Events Pre-1600
*1309 – Pope Clement V imposes excommunication and interdiction on Venice, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Venice, which had seized on Ferrara, a papal fiefdom.
* 1329 – Pope John XXII ...
– Gloria Swanson, American actress (d. 1983)
* March 28
Events Pre-1600
* AD 37 – Roman emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, bestowed on him by the Senate.
* 193 – After assassinating the Roman Emperor Pertinax, his Praetorian Guards auction off the throne to Di ...
** August Anheuser Busch Jr., American founder of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery Company (d. 1989)
** Harold B. Lee, 11th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1973)
* March 29
Events Pre-1600
* 845 – Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving.
* 1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of ...
**James V. Allred, American politician, 33rd Governor of Texas (d. 1959)
**Lavrentiy Beria, Soviet official (d. 1953)
April
* April 1
Events Pre-1600
* 33 – According to one historian's account, Jesus Christ's Last Supper is held.
* 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
*1081 – Alexios I Ko ...
– Gustavs Celmiņš, Latvian fascist leader (d. 1968)
* April 3
Events Pre-1600
* 686 – Maya king Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ahk' assumes the crown of Calakmul.
*1043 – Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England.
*1077 – The Patriarchate of Friûl, the first Friulian state, is created.
* ...
– Maria Redaelli-Granoli, Italian supercentenarian, oldest person in Europe (d. 2013)
* April 4 – Hillel Oppenheimer, German-born Israeli botanist (d. 1971)
* April 5
**Nicolae Cambrea, Romanian general (d. 1976)
**Elsie Thompson, American supercentenarian (d. 2013)
* April 7
Events Pre-1600
* 451 – Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning the town.
* 529 – First ''Corpus Juris Civilis'', a fundamental work in jurisprudence, is issued by Eastern Roman Empe ...
– Robert Casadesus, French pianist (d. 1972)
* April 9
Events Pre-1600
* 193 – The distinguished soldier Septimius Severus is proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum.
* 475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (''Enkyklikon'') to the bishops of his empire, su ...
– Hans Jeschonnek, German general (d. 1943)
* April 16
Events Pre-1600
* 1457 BC – Battle of Megido - the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail.
* 69 – Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Otho commits suicide.
* 73 – Masad ...
– Osman Achmatowicz, Polish chemist (d. 1988)
* April 19 – George O'Brien (actor), George O'Brien, American actor (d. 1985)
* April 20 – Alan Arnett McLeod, Canadian soldier (d. 1918)
* April 21 – Percy Lavon Julian, American scientist (d. 1975)
* April 22 – Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born American writer (d. 1977)
* April 23 – Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
* April 24 – Oscar Zariski, Russian mathematician (d. 1986)
* April 26 – John Fearns Nicoll, British colonial governor (d. 1981)
* April 27 – Walter Lantz, American animator, creator of Woody Woodpecker (d. 1994)
* April 29
** Duke Ellington, African-American jazz musician, bandleader (d. 1974)
** Mary Petty, American illustrator (d. 1976)
May
* May 3 – Aline MacMahon, American actress (d. 1991)
* May 6 – Billy Cotton, British entertainer, bandleader (d. 1969)
* May 8
** Arthur Q. Bryan, American actor, voice actor, comedian and radio personality (d. 1959)
** Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist, Nobel Prize in Economics, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
* May 10
** Fred Astaire, American singer, dancer, and actor (d. 1987)
** Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-born composer (d. 1979)
* May 12 – Indra Devi, Baltic-born yogi, and actress (d. 2002)
* May 15 – Jean-Étienne Valluy, French general (d. 1970)
* May 17 – Carmen de Icaza, Spanish writer (d. 1979)
* May 18 – Ronald Armstrong-Jones, Welsh barrister (d. 1966)
* May 20 – John Marshall Harlan II, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1971)
* May 23 – Jeralean Talley, American supercentenarian (d. 2015)
* May 24
** Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (d. 1938)
** Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bangladeshi national poet (d. 1976)
* May 26 – Ruth Bird, English historian and schoolteacher. (d. 1987)
* May 30 – Irving Thalberg, American film producer (d. 1936)
June
* June 1 – Edward Charles Titchmarsh, British mathematician (d. 1963)
* June 2 – Lotte Reiniger, German-born silhouette animator (d. 1981)
* June 3 – Georg von Békésy, Hungarian biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1972)
* June 4 – Arthur Barker, American criminal, son of Ma Barker (d. 1939)
* June 9 – Signe Amundsen, Norwegian operatic soprano (d. 1987)
* June 11 – Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1972)
* June 12 – Fritz Albert Lipmann, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1986)
* June 13 – Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer (d. 1978)
* June 16 – Helen Traubel, American soprano (d. 1972)
* June 18 – John Warburton (actor), John Warburton, British actor (d. 1981)
* June 24 – Bruce Marshall, Scottish writer (d. 1987)
* June 25 – Arthur Tracy, American singer (d. 1997)
* June 26
** Odus Mitchell, American football player and coach (d. 1989)
** Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918)
* June 27 – Juan Trippe, American airline pioneer, entrepreneur (d. 1981)
* June 29 – Edward Twining, British diplomat, Governor of North Borneo and of Tanganyika (d. 1967)
* June 30
** Madge Bellamy, American actress (d. 1990)
** Harry Shields, American jazz clarinettist (d. 1971)
July
* July 1
** Thomas A. Dorsey, American musician (d. 1993)
** Charles Laughton, English-American stage, film actor (d. 1962)
** Konstantinos Tsatsos, President of Greece (d. 1987)
* July 4 – Austin Warren (scholar), Austin Warren, American literary critic, author, and professor of English (d. 1986)
* July 5 – Marcel Achard, French playwright, scriptwriter (d. 1974)
* July 6 – Susannah Mushatt Jones, American supercentenarian, Last remaining American born in the 19th century (d. 2016)
* July 7
** George Cukor, American film director (d. 1983)
** Jesse Wallace, American naval officer, 29th Governor of American Samoa (d. 1961)
* July 10 – John Gilbert (actor), John Gilbert, American actor (d. 1936)
* July 11
**E. B. White, American writer (d. 1985)
**Frank R. Walker, American admiral (d. 1976)
* July 12 – E. D. Nixon, African-American civil rights leader and union organizer (d. 1987)
* July 15 – Seán Lemass, Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 1971)
* July 16 – Božidar Jakac, Slovene Expressionist, Realist and Symbolist painter, printmaker, art teacher, photographer and filmmaker (d. 1989)
* July 17 – James Cagney, American actor and dancer (d. 1986)
* July 18 – Floyd Stahl, American collegiate athletic coach (d. 1996)
* July 20 – Paul Christoph Mangelsdorf, American botanist and agronomist (d. 1989)
* July 21
** Hart Crane, American poet (suicide 1932)
** Ernest Hemingway, American author, journalist (suicide 1961)
* July 22 – King Sobhuza II of Swaziland (d. 1982)
* July 23 – Gustav Heinemann, President of West Germany (d. 1976)
* July 24 – Chief Dan George, Canadian actor, writer and tribal chief of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation (d. 1981)
* July 29
** Walter Beall, American baseball player (d. 1959)
** Alice Terry, American film actress (d. 1987)
August
* August 1 – Kamala Nehru, Spouse of Prime Minister of India (d. 1936)
* August 4 – Ezra Taft Benson, 13th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1994)
* August 9
** Paul Kelly (actor), Paul Kelly, American stage, film actor (d. 1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...
)
** P. L. Travers, Australian-born British actress, journalist and author (d. 1996)
* August 13 – Alfred Hitchcock, British-born American film director (d. 1980)
* August 14 – Alma Reville, English screenwriter and film editor, wife of director Alfred Hitchcock (d. 1982)
* August 16 – Glenn Strange, American actor (d. 1973)
* August 17 – Janet Lewis, American novelist and poet (d. 1998)
* August 19 – Colleen Moore, American actress (d. 1988)
* August 24
** Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (d. 1986)
** Albert Claude, Belgian biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1983)
* August 26 – Rufino Tamayo, Mexican painter (d. 1991)
* August 27
** C. S. Forester, English novelist (d. 1966)
** Byron Foulger, American actor (d. 1970)
* August 28
** Charles Boyer, French actor (d. 1978)
* Béla Guttmann, Hungarian footballer and coach (d. 1981)
* Vernon Huber, American rear admiral; 36th Governor of American Samoa (d. 1967)
* August 29 – Lyman Lemnitzer, American general (d. 1988)
* August 30 – Ray Arcel, American boxing trainer (d. 1994)
* August 31 – Boots Adams, American business magnate, president of Phillips Petroleum Company (d. 1975)
September
* September 1
**Andrei Platonovich Klimentov, Russian-born Soviet writer (d. 1951)
**Takuma Nishimura, Japanese general (d. 1951)
* September 3 – Macfarlane Burnet, Australian biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
* September 8 – May McAvoy, American actress and singer (d. 1984)
* September 9
** Brassaï, French photographer (d. 1984)
** Waite Hoyt, American baseball player (d. 1984)
* September 11 – Jimmie Davis, American politician and musician, Governor of Louisiana (d. 2000)
* September 13 – Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, Romanian fascist politician, leader of the Iron Guard (d. 1938)
* September 17 – Harold Bennett, British actor (d. 1981)
* September 18 – Ida Kamińska, Polish-Jewish actress, playwright, and translator (d. 1980)
* September 21 – Frederick Coutts, 8th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1986)
* September 23 – Tom C. Clark, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1977)
* September 24 – Bessie Braddock, British politician (d. 1970)
October
* October 1 – Ernest Haycox, American writer (d. 1950)
* October 3 – Gertrude Berg, American actress (d. 1966)
* October 4
** Franz Jonas, President of Austria (d. 1974)
** Trinidad Roxas, First Ladies and Gentlemen of the Philippines, 5th First Lady of the Philippines (d. 1995)
* October 5 – George, Duke of Mecklenburg, head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1963)
* October 9 – Bruce Catton, American Civil War historian, Pulitzer Prize winner (1954) (d. 1978)
* October 19 – Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan writer, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
* October 20 – Evelyn Brent, American actress (d. 1975)
* October 22 – Nikolay Bogolyubov (actor), Nikolay Bogolyubov, Soviet and Russian actor (d. 1980)
* October 24
** Burr Shafer, American cartoonist (d. 1965)
** László Bíró, Hungarian inventor of the ballpoint pen (d. 1985)
* October 29 – Akim Tamiroff, Armenian actor (d. 1972)
* October 30 – Katarina Marinič, Slovenian supercentenarian (d. 2010)
November
* November 5 – Forrest Lewis, American actor (d. 1977)
* November 6 – Feng Zhanhai, Chinese military leader, government official (d. 1963)
* November 7
** Yitzhak Lamdan, Russian-born Israeli poet, columnist (d. 1954)
** Stanisław Swianiewicz, Polish economist and historian (d. 1997)
* November 11 – Pat O'Brien (actor), Pat O'Brien, American actor (d. 1983)
* November 13
** Vera Caspary, American screenwriter, novelist, playwright (d. 1987)
** Iskander Mirza, 1st president of Pakistan (d. 1969)
* November 15 – Avdy Andresson, Estonian Minister of War in Exile (d. 1990)
* November 17 – Douglas Shearer, American film sound engineer (d. 1971)
* November 18 – Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian-American conductor (d. 1985)
* November 19 – Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei, Shia Ayatollah (d. 1992)
* November 21 – Jobyna Ralston, American actress (d. 1967)
* November 22
** Gualtiero De Angelis, Italian actor and voice actor (d. 1980)
** Hoagy Carmichael, American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader (d. 1981)
* November 23 – Manuel dos Reis Machado, Brazilian martial arts master (d. 1974)
* November 24 – Soraya Tarzi, Afghan feminist, queen (d. 1968)
* November 26
** Mona Bruns, American stage, film, radio, and television actress (d. 2000)
** Richard Hauptmann, German murderer of Charles Lindbergh Jr. (d. 1936)
** Maurice Rose, American general (d. 1945)
* November 29 – Emma Morano, Italian supercentenarian, oldest Italian ever, last surviving person born in the 1800s (d. 2017)
December
* December 1 – Gaetano Lucchese, American gangster, boss of the Lucchese crime family (d. 1967)
* December 2
** John Barbirolli, English conductor (d. 1970)
** Ray Morehart, American baseball player (d. 1989)
* December 3 – Hayato Ikeda, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1965)
* December 4 – Sam Newfield, American film director (d. 1964)
* December 8 – John Qualen, Canadian-American actor (d. 1987)
* December 9 – Jean de Brunhoff, French writer (d. 1937)
* December 11 – Joan Stevenson Abbott , Australian World War II army hospital matron (d. 1975)
* December 14 – DeFord Bailey, American country musician (d. 1982)
* December 15 – Harold Abrahams, British athlete (d. 1978)
* December 16
** Noël Coward, English actor, playwright, and composer (d. 1973)
** Aleksander Zawadzki, former President of Poland (d. 1964)
* December 18 – Peter Wessel Zapffe, Norwegian author and philosopher (d. 1990)
* December 19 – Martin Luther King Sr., American Baptist pastor, missionary, and early figure in the civil rights movement (d. 1984)
* December 20
**Finn Ronne, Norwegian-American explorer (d. 1980)
**John Sparkman, American politician (d. 1985)
* December 25
** Humphrey Bogart, American actor (d. 1957)
** Frank Ferguson, American actor (d. 1978)
* December 28 – Eugeniusz Bodo, Polish actor (d. 1943)
* December 29 – Nie Rongzhen, Chinese Communist military leader (d. 1992)
* December 31 – Friedrich Panse, German psychiatrist (d. 1973)
Date unknown
* Otto Klemperer (physicist), Otto Klemperer, German physicist (d. 1987)
* Nureddine Rifai, 25th Prime Minister of Lebanon (d. 1980)
Deaths
January–February
* January 1
January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
– William Hugh Smith, 72, Governor of Alabama during Reconstruction, 1868 to 1870, former Alabama legislator who joined the Union Army
* January 10 –
**Jonathan Baldwin Turner, Jonathan B. Turner, 93, U.S. educational reformer and champion of land grant universities, co-founder of the University of Illinois
**William A. Russell (Massachusetts politician), William A. Russell, 67, U.S. Congressman and industrialist who was the first president of the International Paper Company
* January 13 – Nelson Dingley Jr., 66, U.S. politician and Congressman for Maine since 1881, author of the Dingley Act for increased tariffs
* January 14 – Nubar Pasha, 74, the first Prime Minister of Egypt (1878–79, 1884–88 and 1894–95)
* January 17
Events Pre-1600
*38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
* 1362 – Saint Marcellus' flood kills at least 25,000 people on ...
– Jedediah Hotchkiss, 70, American military cartographer for the Confederacy during the American Civil War
* January 23
Events Pre-1600
* 393 – Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.
* 971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.
*1264 & ...
– Romualdo Pacheco, 77, the only Hispanic Governor of California, Governor of the U.S. state of California (in 1875); (b. 1831)
* January 29
Events
Pre-1600
* 904 – Sergius III is elected pope, after coming out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
* 946 – Caliph Al-Mustakfi is blinded and deposed by Emir Mu'izz al-Dawla, rul ...
– Alfred Sisley, 59, French impressionism, impressionist landscape painter, died of throat cancer (b. 1839)
* January 30 –Harry Bates (sculptor), Harry Bates, 48, British sculptor (b. 1850)
* January 31
Events Pre-1600
* 314 – Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as successor to the late Pope Miltiades.
*1208 – The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker II of Sweden and his rival, Prince Eric, whose victory puts him on the ...
– Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma, 29, princess consort of Bulgaria, from complications of childbirth (b. 1870)
* February 6
** Leo von Caprivi, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1831)
** Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1874)
* February 11 – Teuku Umar, Leader of Acehnese Rebellion (b. 1854)
* February 16
Events Pre-1600
*1249 – Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire.
*1270 – Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Kar ...
– Félix Faure
Félix François Faure (; 30 January 1841 – 16 February 1899) was the President of France from 1895 until his death in 1899. A native of Paris, he worked as a tanner in his younger years. Faure became a member of the Chamber of Deputies for ...
, President of France (b. 1841)
* February 18
Events Pre-1600
* 1229 – The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.
*1268 & ...
– Sophus Lie, Norwegian mathematician; see Lie group.(b. 1842)
* February 23 – Gaëtan de Rochebouët, Prime Minister of France (b. 1813)
* February 25 – Paul Reuter, German-born news agency founder (b. 1816)
March–April
* March 3
Events Pre-1600
* 473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
* 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan.
* 1575 & ...
– William P. Sprague, American politician from Ohio (b. 1827)
* March 6
Events Pre-1600
* 12 BCE – The Roman emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the emperor.
* 632 – The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada') of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
* 845 & ...
– Princess Kaʻiulani, last monarch of Hawaii (b. 1875)
* March 12 – Julius Vogel, Sir Julius Vogel, Premier of New Zealand (b. 1835)
* March 18
Events Pre-1600
* 37 – Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ''(aka Caligula = Little Boots)'' emperor.Tacitus, ''Annals'' V.10.
* 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Ara ...
– Othniel Charles Marsh, American palaeontologist (b. 1831)
* March 20
Events Pre-1600
* 673 – Emperor Tenmu of Japan assumes the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Palace of Kiyomihara in Asuka.
* 1206 – Michael IV Autoreianos is appointed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
* 1600 – The Link ...
– Martha M. Place, American murderer, first woman executed in the electric chair
An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...
(b. 1849)
* March 24
Events Pre-1600
* 1199 – King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6.
*1387 – English victory over a Franco- Castilian-Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate o ...
– Marie Goegg-Pouchoulin, Swiss national, international women's rights activist, pacifist (b. 1826)
* April 1
Events Pre-1600
* 33 – According to one historian's account, Jesus Christ's Last Supper is held.
* 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
*1081 – Alexios I Ko ...
– Charles C. Carpenter (admiral), Charles C. Carpenter, American admiral (b. 1834)
* April 5 – T. E. Ellis, Welsh politician (b. 1859)
* April 6
Events Pre–1600
*46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.
* 402 – Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
*13 ...
– Garret Barry (piper), Garret Parry, Irish piper (b. 1847)
* April 7
Events Pre-1600
* 451 – Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning the town.
* 529 – First ''Corpus Juris Civilis'', a fundamental work in jurisprudence, is issued by Eastern Roman Empe ...
– Pieter Rijke, Dutch physicist (b. 1812)
* April 11
Events Pre-1600
* 491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I.
*1241 – Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi.
*1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: Franco-Ferrare ...
– Lascăr Catargiu, 4-time prime minister of Romania (b. 1823)
* April 16
Events Pre-1600
* 1457 BC – Battle of Megido - the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail.
* 69 – Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Otho commits suicide.
* 73 – Masad ...
– Emilio Jacinto, Filipino poet, revolutionary (b. 1875)
* April 22 –
**Sir John Mowbray, 1st Baronet, British MP and Father of the House of Commons since 1898 (b. 1815)
**Johann Köler, Estonian painter (b. 1826)
* April 24 – Richard J. Oglesby, U.S. politician, three-time Governor of Illinois for whom the town of Oglesby, Illinois is named (b. 1824)
* April 26 – Count Karl Sigmund von Hohenwart, Minister-President of Austria, 1871 (b. 1824)
* April 30 – Lewis Baker (politician), Lewis Baker, U.S. politician and diplomat (b. 1832)
May–June
* May 16 – William Nast (Methodist), William Nast, German-born religious leader and founder of the German Methodist Church in the U.S. (b. 1807)
* May 19 – Charles R. Buckalew, American politician and diplomat (b. 1821)
* May 24 – William Brett, 1st Viscount Esher, British law lord (b. 1817)
* May 25 – Emilio Castelar y Ripoll, President of the First Spanish Republic (b. 1832)
* June 3 – Johann Strauss II, Johann Strauss Jr., Austrian composer (b. 1825)
* June 4 – Eugenio Beltrami, Italian mathematician (b. 1835)
* June 5 – Antonio Luna
Antonio Narciso Luna de San Pedro y Novicio Ancheta (; October 29, 1866 – June 5, 1899) was a Filipino army general who fought in the Philippine–American War before his assassination in 1899.
Regarded as one of the fiercest generals of hi ...
, Filipino general (assassinated) (b. 1866)
* June 7 – Augustin Daly, American theatrical impresario, playwright (b. 1838)
* June 10 – Ernest Chausson, French composer (b. 1855)
July–August
* July 1 – William Henry Flower, Sir William Flower, British museum curator and surgeon (b. 1831)
* July 2 – General Horatio Wright, 79, American engineer, U.S. Army officer in the American Civil War, Chief of Engineers for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (b. 1820)
* July 4 – Alexander Armstrong (Royal Navy officer), Sir Alexander Armstrong, 81, Irish-born physician, Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer (b. 1818)
* July 10 –
**Grand Duke George Alexandrovich of Russia, 28, Tsarevich and heir to the throne of Russia as younger brother of Nicholas II (b. 1871)
**Albert Grévy, French statesman and List of French governors of Algeria, Governor-General of Algeria 1879-1881 (b. 1823)
* July 16 –
**Margaretta Riley, British botanist (b. 1804)
**William Preston Johnston, 68, American college administrator and first president of Tulane University (b. 1831)
* July 18 – Horatio Alger Jr., American writer (b. 1832)
* July 20 – Frances Laughton Mace, American poet (b. 1836)
* July 21 – Robert G. Ingersoll, American politician (b. 1833)
* July 27 – Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa, German chess-master (b. 1818)
* August 4 – Karl, Freiherr von Prel, German philosopher (b. 1839)
* August 9
** Edward Frankland, Sir Edward Frankland, British chemist (b. 1825)
** Grand Duke George Alexandrovich of Russia, Russian Grand Duke, younger brother of Nicholas II of Russia (b. 1871)
* August 16 – Robert Bunsen, German chemist (b. 1811)
September–October
* September 2 – Ernest Renshaw, British tennis player (b. 1861)
* September 12 – Cornelius Vanderbilt II, American railway magnate (b. 1843)
* September 13 – Sarah Warren Keeler, American educator of the deaf-mute (b. 1844)
* September 17 – Charles Alfred Pillsbury, American industrialist (b. 1842)
* September 28 – Giovanni Segantini, Italian painter (b. 1858)
* October 2
** Emma Hardinge Britten, British writer (b. 1823)
** Percy Pilcher, British aviation pioneer, glider pilot (b. 1866)
* October 7 – Deodato Arellano, Filipino Propagandist (b. 1844)
* October 14
** Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy Waterston, American diarist (b. 1812)
**Nicolai Hanson, Norwegian zoologist and Antarctic explorer (b. 1870)
* October 22 – Ella Hoag Brockway Avann, American educator (b. 1853)
* October 23 – Penn Symons, Sir Penn Symons, British general (died of wounds) (b. 1843)
* October 25 – Grant Allen, Canadian science writer and novelist (b. 1848)
* October 30
** Arthur Blomfield, Sir Arthur Blomfield, British architect (b. 1829)
** William Henry Webb, American industrialist, philanthropist (b. 1816)
* October 31 – Anton Berindei, Wallachian-born Romanian general and politician (b. 1838)
November–December
* November 16
** Vincas Kudirka, Lithuanian doctor, poet, and national hero (b. 1858)
** Julius Hermann Moritz Busch, German publicist (b. 1821)
* November 21 – Garret Hobart, List of Vice Presidents of the United States, 24th Vice President of the United States (b. 1844)
* November 23 – Thomas Henry Ismay, British owner of the White Star Line (b. 1837)
* November 24 – Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, Sudanese political, religious leader (killed in battle) (b. 1846)
* November 28 – Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione (b. 1837)
* December 2 – Gregorio del Pilar, Filipino general (killed in battle) (b. 1875)
* December 10 – King Ngwane V of Swaziland (b. 1876)
* December 19 – Henry Ware Lawton, American general (killed in action) (b. 1843)
* December 22
** Pascual Ortega Portales Chilean painter (b.1839)
** Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist (b. 1837)
** Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster, British landowner and politician (b. 1825)
* December 30
**Eugène Bertrand, 65, French comedian and opera house director (b. 1834)
* December 31
** Jane Mitchel, Irish nationalist (b. c. 1820)
** Carl Millocker, 57, Viennese composer (b. 1842)
** Manuel Carrillo Tablas, 77, Mexican philanthropist and mayor of Orizaba (b. 1822)
References
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