1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar).

Although popular belief holds this year as the last of the Nineteenth century, 1900 was in fact the true last year.

Events

• The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the town of Manteo, which was originally laid out as the Dare county seat in 1870.

January

• January 1 - End of Spanish rule in Cuba.
• January 1 - Queens and Staten Island merge with New York City.
• January 6 - Lord Curzon becomes Viceroy of India.
• January 10 - Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity is founded at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois.
• January 17 - United States takes possession of Wake Island.
• January 19 - Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed.
• January 21 - Opel Motors opens for business.
• January 22 - Leaders of six Australian colonies meet in Melbourne to discuss confederation.
• January 24 - Rubber heel patented by Humphrey O'Sullivan

February

• February 2 - The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne agrees Australia's capital (Canberra) should be located between Sydney and Melbourne.
• February 4 - Philippine-American War begins as hostilities break out in Manila.
• February 6 - Spanish-American War: A peace treaty between the United States and Spain is ratified by the United States Senate.
• February 14 - Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.

March

• March 1 - in Afghanistan Capt. George Roos-Keppel makes a sudden attack on a predatory band of Chamkannis that have been raiding in the Kurram Valley and captures 100 prisoners with 3,000 head of cattle.
• March 2 - In Washington State, USA, Mount Rainier National Park is established.
• March 4 - Cyclone Mahina sweeps in north of Cooktown, Queensland, with a 12 m wave that reaches up to 5 km inland - over 300 dead.
• March 6 - Felix Hoffmann patents Aspirin.
• March 6 - Bayer registers aspirin as a trademark.
• March 8 - Frankfurter Fußball-Club Victoria von 1899, prequel for Eintracht Frankfurt is founded
• March 20 - At Sing Sing, Martha M. Place becomes the first woman executed in an electric chair.

June

• June 12 - A tornado completely destroys the town of New Richmond, Wisconsin, killing 117 and injuring more than 200
• June 22–June 27 - the highest ever recorded cricket score, 628 not out, is made by A. E. J. Collins.
• June 25 - Three Denver, Colorado newspapers publish a story that the Chinese government under the Guangxu Emperor is going to demolish the Great Wall of China - later proved to be a fabrication.
• June 27 The paperclip was invented by English entrepreneur Roger Malcolm Taylor.

July

• July 17 - America's first juvenile court is established in Chicago.
• July 17 - NEC Corporation is organized as the first Japanese joint venture with foreign capital.
• July 19 - The Newsboys Strike takes place when the Newsies of New York, USA go on strike (strike lasts until August 2). more info
• July 29 - The First Peace Conference ends with the signing of the Hague Convention.

September

• September 19 - Alfred Dreyfus pardoned.

October

• October 11 - Second Boer War begins: In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupts.
• October 30 - Augusta, KY Augusta High School Building is completed. Augusta Methodist College shuts down.

November

• November 16 - Lithuanian doctor, poet, and national hero Vincas Kudirka dies of tuberculosis at age 40.
• November 29 - FC Barcelona is founded.

December

• December 2 - Philippine-American War: The Battle of Tirad Pass, termed "The Filipino Thermopylae", is fought.
• December 16 Augusta, KY Augusta High School burns down due to a heating plant failure
• December 26 ? Battle of Mafeking begins.
• David Hilbert creates the modern concept of geometry with the publication of his book Grundlagen der geometrie.
• Gordon Douglas is ordained as a Buddhist monk in Myanmar. He is the first westerner to be ordained in the Theravada tradition.

Unknown Dates

• International Council of Nurses is founded.
• San Pellegrino is first bottled.
• The significance of oracle bones is discovered.
• Kmart is founded.

Births

January

• January 6 - Heinrich Nordhoff, German automotive engineer, managing director of Volkswagen (d. 1968)
• January 7 - Francis Poulenc, French composer (d. 1963)
• January 11 - Eva LeGallienne, English actress (d. 1991)
• January 12 - Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1965)
• January 15 - Goodman Ace, American actor, comedian, and writer (d. 1982)
• January 17 - Al Capone, American gangster (d. 1947)
• January 17 - Nevil Shute, English author (d. 1960)
• January 30 - Max Theiler, South African virologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1972)

February

• February 3 - Doris Speed, English actress (d. 1994)
• February 3 - Lao She, Chinese author (d. 1966)
• February 6 - Ramon Novarro, Mexican actor (d. 1968)
• February 7 - Earl Whitehill, baseball player (d. 1954)
• February 15 - Georges Auric, French composer (d. 1983)
• February 15 - Gale Sondergaard, American actress (d. 1985)
• February 22 - George O'Hara, American actor (d. 1966)
• February 22 - Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (d. 1986)
• February 23 - Erich Kästner, German writer (d. 1974)
• February 26 - Max Petitpierre, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1994)
• February 26 - Alec Campbell, Australian Solider who fought in the Battle of Gallipoli (d. 2002)
• February 27 - Charles Best, Canadian medical scientist (d. 1978)

March

• March 11 - King Frederick IX of Denmark (d. 1972)
• March 13 - John Hasbrouck van Vleck, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
• March 18 - Jean Goldkette, Greek-born musician (d. 1962)
• March 28 - Harold B. Lee, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1973)
• March 29 - Lavrenty Beria, Soviet official (d. 1953)

April

• April 1 - Gustavs Celmins, Latvian fascist leader (d. 1968)
• April 7 - Robert Casadesus, French pianist (d. 1972)
• April 22 - Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born writer (d. 1977)
• April 23 - Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
• April 24 - Oscar Zariski, Russian mathematician (d. 1986)
• April 27 - Walter Lantz, American cartoonist (d. 1994)
• April 29 - Duke Ellington, American jazz musician, bandleader (d. 1974)

May

• May 8 - Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
• May 10 - Fred Astaire, American singer, dancer, and actor (d. 1987)
• May 10 - Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-born composer (d. 1979)
• May 12 - Indra Devi, Baltic-born yogi and actress (d. 2002)
• May 15 - Jean-Etienne Valluy, French general (d. 1970)
• May 24 - Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (d. 1938)

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 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 14 - Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
• June 30 - Harry Shields, American jazz clarinettist (d. 1971)

July

• July 5 - Marcel Achard, French play and scriptwriter (d. 1974)
• July 7 - George Cukor, American film director (d. 1983)
• July 10 - John Gilbert, American actor (d. 1936)
• July 11 - E. B. White, American writer (d. 1985)
• July 15 - Sean Lemass, Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 1971)
• July 17 - James Cagney, American actor (d. 1986)
• July 21 - Hart Crane, American poet (d. 1932)
• July 21 - Ernest Hemingway, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
• July 22 - King Sobhuza II of Swaziland (d. 1982)

August

• August 4 - Ezra Taft Benson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1994)
• August 13 - Alfred Hitchcock, British film director (d. 1980)
• August 24 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (d. 1986)
• August 24 - Albert Claude, Belgian biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1983)

September

• September 3 - Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Australian biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
• September 9 - Brassaï, French photographer (d. 1984)
• September 9 - Waite Hoyt, baseball player (d. 1984)
• September 13 - Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, Romanian fascist politician, leader of the Iron Guard (d. 1938)
• September 21 - Frederick Coutts, the 8th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1986)

October

• October 1 - Ernest Haycox, American writer (d. 1950)
• October 19 - Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)

November

• November 15 - Avdy Andresson, Estonian Minister of War in Exile (d. 1990)
• November 15 - Iskander Mirza, first President of Pakistan (d. 1969)
• November 17 - Douglas Shearer, film sound engineer (d. 1971)
• November 18 - Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor (d. 1985)
• November 21 - Jobyna Ralston, American actress (d. 1967)

December

• December 2 - John Barbirolli, English conductor (d. 1970)
• December 3 - Hayato Ikeda, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1965)
• December 9 - Jean de Brunhoff, French writer (d. 1937)
• December 15 - Harold Abrahams, British athlete (d. 1978)
• December 16 - Noel Coward, English actor, playwright, and composer (d. 1973)
• December 18 - Peter Wessel Zapffe, Norwegian author and philosopher (d. 1990)
• December 25 - Humphrey Bogart, American actor (d. 1957)
• December 28 - Eugeniusz Bodo, Polish actor (d. 1943)
• December 29 - Nie Rongzhen, Chinese Communist military leader (d. 1992)

Unknown date

• Friedrich Panse, German psychiatrist (d. 1973)

Deaths

• January 23 - Romualdo Pacheco, Governor of California (b. 1831)
• February 6 - Leo von Caprivi, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1831)
• February 16 - Félix Faure, President of France (b. 1841)
• February 25 - Paul Julius Reuter, German-born news agency founder (b. 1816)
• March 6 - Princess Kaiulani of Hawaii, Last monarch of Hawaii. (b. 1875)
• June 3 - Johann Strauss, Jr., Austrian composer (b. 1825)
• June 10 - Ernest Chausson, French composer (b. 1855)
• July 21 - Robert G. Ingersoll, American politician (b. 1833)
• August 16 - Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, German chemist (b. 1811)
• September 12 - Cornelius Vanderbilt II, American railway magnate (b. 1843)
• October 30 - William Henry Webb, American industrialist and philanthropist (b. 1816)
• November 21 - Garret A. Hobart, 24th Vice President of the United States (b. 1844)
• November 24 - Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, Sudanese political and religious leader (killed in battle) (b. 1846)
• December 10 - King Ngwane V of Swaziland (b. 1876)
• December 22 - Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist (b. 1837)

1899

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