1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday.

Events

January

• January 1 - Nigeria becomes a British Protectorate
• January 2 - The first Electric bus becomes operational in New York City
• January 2 - John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
• January 2 - Chicago Canal opens.
• January 3 - British Royal Yacht, Victoria and Albert capsizes as it leaves port
• January 4 - Strikes in Belgium and Germany lead to mining riots
• January 5 - Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.
• January 5 - Dr Henry A. Rowland of John Hopkins University discovers the cause of the Earth's magnetism
• January 6 - It is reported that millions are starving in India.
• January 6 - Boers attack Ladysmith - over 1000 people were killed.
• January 8 - United States President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.
• January 9 - The First through train runs from Cairo to Khartoum
• January 9 - Influenza strikes London
• January 10 - Lord Roberts become Army chief in the Boer War
• January 12 - In India, three and a quarter million people are receiving famine relief.
• January 13 - Kaiser of Germany declares that German is the command language in the German army
• January 14 - Premier presentation of opera Tosca in Rome - actors have received death threats and nameless letters.
• January 15 - The Hippodrome theatre opens in the Charing Cross Roads in London
• January 16 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounced its claims to the Samoan islands.
• January 17 - Brigham H. Roberts is refused a seat in the House of Representatives because of his Polygamy
• January 23 - 5000 Austrian miners go on strike
• January 24 - Battle of Spion Kop in Second Boer War.
• January 24 - The governments in London and Pretoria begin negotiations to end the Second Boer War.
• January 27 - Boxer Rebellion: Foreign diplomats in Peking China demand that the Boxer rebels be disciplined.
• January 29 - The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs is organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with 8 founding teams.
• January 30 - United Kingdom forces fighting Boers in South Africa ask for reinforcements.

February

• February 2 - First performance of Gustave Charpentier's opera, Louise
• February 3 - Gubernatorial candidate William Goebel is assassinated in Frankfort, Kentucky. Former Secretary of State Caleb Powers was later found guilty in a conspiracy to kill Goebel.
• February 3 - Strikers in Aachen, Vienna and Brussels demand an 8 hour working day and higher wages.
• February 5 - Britain and the USA sign a treaty for the building of a Central American shipping canal through Nicaragua
• February 6 - The House of Commons vote of censure over the Britain's handling of the Second Boer War is defeated by a majority of 213
• February 6 - The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
• February 8 - British troops are defeated by Boers at Ladysmith, South Africa.
• February 9 - Dwight Davis creates the Davis Cup tennis tournament
• February 9 - Richard Wigginton Thompson, U.S. congressman, dies.
• February 11 - Second Boer War: Colonel Hannay begins invasion of Orange Free State with march from Orange River to Ramdam
• February 12 - Meeting held in Mile End, London to protest against the Second Boer War ends in uproar
• February 14 - Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.
• February 14 - Second Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.
• February 16 - Appearance of "Savrola (A Tale of Revolution in Laurania)", the first novel of Winston Spencer Churchill
• February 17 - Battle of Paardeberg in the Second Boer War.
• February 18 - Harry Vardon becomes world golf champion
• February 18 - A man claims that X-rays have cured his cancer.
• February 19 - Alfred von Tirpitz says the German fleet "must be strong enough to ensure its mastery of the North Sea
• February 22 - Hawaii officially becomes a territory of the United States.
• February 23 - Second Boer War: Battle of Hart's Hill - In South Africa the Boers and British troops battle.
• February 26 - The Grand Theatre, Islington is destroyed by fire.
• February 27 - The British Labour Party is formed.
• February 27 - Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje.
• February 27 - Ramsay MacDonald appointed secretary of newly formed British Labour Party.

March

• March 2 - Pope condemns Boer War
• March 3 - Mining strike ends in Germany.
• March 5 - Two US cruisers are sent to Central America to protect US interests in a dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica
• March 6 - 'Baby-farmer' Ada Williams is hanged at Newgate priosn for murdering a 19-month old girl
• March 6 - A coal mine explosion in West Virginia traps 50 coal miners.
• March 7 - Fire at Buckingham Palace destroys part of the roof.
• March 8 - Rejoicing in London as Queen Victoria makes one of her rare visits.
• March 9 - Women in Germany demand right to participate in university entrance exams
• March 11 - Second Boer War: Boer leader Paul Kruger's peace overtures are rejected by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Lord Salisbury.
• March 13 - Second Boer War: British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State.
• March 13 - In France, length of a workday for women and children is limited to 11 hours by law.
• March 14 - Botanist Hugo de Vries rediscovers Mendel's laws of heredity
• March 14 - The Gold Standard Act is ratified placing United States currency on the gold standard.
• March 15 - Prime Minister Lord Salisbury of the United Kingdom rejects US President McKinley's offer to mediate in the Boer War
• March 16 - Sir Arthur Evans purchases the land on which the ruins of Knossos on Crete reside, for further excavation.
• March 19 - In London, public subscription for new Government Boer War loan is £335m - 11 times the amount asked.
• March 24 - New York City Mayor Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
• March 27 - Arrival of a Russian fleet in Korea causes concern to Japanese government

April

• April 1 - Every French policeman is assigned to carry a gun.
• April 1 - Irish Guards formed by Queen Victoria
• April 1 - King George of Greece becomes absolute monarch of Crete
• April 4 - Anarchist shoots at the Prince of Wales during his visit to Belgium in the birthday celebrations of the king of Belgium.
• April 14 - Paris World Exhibition opens.
• April 22 - French forces defeat and kill Rabih az-Zubayr in the battle of Kousséri, thus guaranteeing French domination of Chad.

May

• May 1 - Explosion of blasting powder in coal mine in Scofield, Utah kills 200
• May 2 - Oscar II, King of Sweden, declares support for Britain at the time of the Second Boer War.
• May 17 - Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking
• May 17 - Boxers destroy three villages near Peking and kill 60 Chinese Christians
• May 18 - Boer delegation travels to USA to ask for assistance
• May 18 - The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
• May 21 - Russia invades Manchuria
• May 23 - Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor (awarded for heroism in the Battle of Fort Wagner during the American Civil War).
• May 24 - Second Boer War: British annex Orange Free State as Orange River Colony.
• May 25 - Boer soldiers vote for the continuance of the war
• May 28 - Boxers attack Belgian personnel in the Fengtai railway station
• May 29 - Chinese government condemns Boxers
• May 30 - Boxers occupy Tientsin
• May 31 - Peacekeepers from various European countries arrive in China
• May 31 - British under Lord Robert occupy Johannesburg

June

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

July

• July 2 - First zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany
• July 5 - Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act passes British Parliament
• July 9 - Queen Victoria gives royal assent to Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act
• July 13 - Boxer Rebellion: In China, Tientsin is retaken by European Allies from the rebelling Boxers
• July 19 - The first line of the Métro is inaugurated in Paris.
• July 29 - In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by Italian-born anarchist Gaetano Bresci.
• July 30 - The Duke of Albany becomes Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as Carl Eduard following the death of his uncle, Duke Alfred

August

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

September

• September 8 - Galveston Hurricane of 1900: a powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people.
• September 13 - Philippine-American War: Filipino resistance fighters defeat a larger American column in the Battle of Pulang Lupa.
• September 17 - Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.

October

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

November

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

December

• December 18 - The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook Narrow-gauge (2 ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing Billy Railway) in Victoria, Australia opened for traffic.

Births

January

• January 1 - Mildred Davis, American actress (d. 1969)
• January 2 - William Haines, American actor (d. 1973)
• January 5 - Yves Tanguy, French painter (d. 1955)
• January 15 - Aristotle Onassis, Greek businessman (d. 1975)
• January 25 - Theodosius Dobzhansky, Geneticist, evolutionary biologist (d. 1975)
• January 23 - William Ifor Jones, Welsh Conductor & Organist (d. 1988)
• January 26 - Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
• January 27 - Hyman Rickover, American admiral (d. 1986)
• January 30 - Martita Hunt, actress (d. 1969)

February

• February 4 - Jacques Prévert, French lyricist and author (d. 1977)
• February 5 - Adlai Stevenson, American politician (d. 1965)
• February 11 - Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (d. 2002)
• February 12 - Roger J. Traynor, American judge (d. 1983)
• February 19 - Giorgos Seferis, Greek writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
• February 22 - Luis Buñuel, Spanish film director (d. 1983)
• February 28 - Wolfram Hirth, German pilot and aircraft designer (d. 1959)

March

• March 4 - Herbert Biberman, Jewish American screenwriter and film director (d. 1971)
• March 9 - Howard Aiken, American computing pioneer (d. 1973)
• March 19 - Frédéric Joliot, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1958)
• March 23 - Erich Fromm, German-born psychologist and philosopher (d. 1980)
• March 29 - John McEwen, eighteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1980)
• March 31 - Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (d. 1974)

April

• April 2 - Roberto Arlt, Argentine writer (d. 1942)
• April 5 - Spencer Tracy, American actor (d. 1967)
• April 25 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
• April 26 - Charles Richter, American geophysicist and inventor (d. 1985)
• April 27 – August Koern, Estonian statesman and diplomat (d. 1989)
• April 30 - Cecily Lefort, English World War II heroine (executed) (d. 1945)

May

• May 1 - Ignazio Silone, Italian author (d. 1978)
• May 12 - Helene Weigel, Austrian actress (d. 1971)
• May 15 - Zheng Ji, Chinese nutritionist and biochemist
• May 17 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of Iraq during 1979 hostage situation.
• May 28 - Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (heart attack) (d. 1939)

June

• June 3 - Rolland Fisher, American temperance movement leader (d. 1982)
• June 5 - Dennis Gabor, Hungarian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
• June 15 - Paul Mares, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1949)
• June 29 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer (d. 1944)

July

• July 6 - Frederica Sagor Maas, American playwright, essayist and author
• July 13 - George Lewis, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1969)
• July 29 - Eyvind Johnson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)

August

• August 3 - Ernie Pyle, American journalist (d. 1945)
• August 4 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, queen of King George VI of the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
• August 6 - Cecil H. Green, British-born geophysicist and businessman (d. 2003)
• August 10 - Arthur Espie Porritt, New Zealand politician and athlete (d. 1994)
• August 11 - Philip Phillips, American archaeologist (d. 1994)
• August 15 - Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet (d. 1966)
• August 18 - Glenn Albert Black, American archaeologist (d. 1964)
• August 19 - Colleen Moore, American actress (d. 1988)
• August 22 - Sergei Ozhegov, Russian lexicographer (d. 1964)
• August 25 - Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1981)
• August 26 - Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (d. 1980)

September

• September 3 - Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland (d. 1986)
• September 6 - W.A.C. Bennett, Canadian politician (d. 1979)
• September 22 - Paul H. Emmett, American chemical engineer (d. 1985)
• September 23 - Louise Nevelson, Ukrainian-born American sculptor (d. 1988)

October

• October 1 - Tom Goddard, English cricketer (d. 1966)
• October 6 - Stan Nichols, English cricketer (d. 1961)
• October 7 - Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official and leader of the SS (d. 1945)
• October 30 - Ragnar Granit, Finnish neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1991)

November

• November 5 - Martin Dies, Jr., American politician (d. 1972)
• November 5 - Natalie Schafer, American actress (d. 1991)
• November 8 - Charlie Paddock, American athlete (d. 1943)
• November 8 - Margaret Mitchell, American writer (d. 1949)
• November 11 - Halina Konopacka, Polish athlete (d. 1989)
• November 13 - David Marshall Williams American inventor (d. 1975)
• November 14 - Aaron Copland, American composer (d. 1990)

December

• December 3 - Ulrich Inderbinen, Swiss mountain guide (d. 2004)
• December 3 - Richard Kuhn, Austrian Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate (d. 1967)
• December 4 - John Axon GC, British railwayman (d. 1957)
• December 12 - Sammy Davis, Sr., American dancer (d. 1988)

Deaths

• January 20 - John Ruskin, English writer and social critic (b. 1819)
• January 31 - John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry, Scottish nobleman and boxer (b. 1844)
• March 6 - Gottlieb Daimler, German inventor and automotive pioneer (b. 1834)
• April 5 - Joseph Louis François Bertrand, French mathematician (b. 1822)
• April 19 - James Dawson, Aboriginal Guardian (b. 1806)
• April 24 - George Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, British politician (b.1823)
• April 30 - Casey Jones, American railway engineer (b. 1864)
• May 18 - Jean Gaspard Felix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher (b. 1813)
• June 3 - Mary Kingsley, English explorer and writer (b. 1862)
• June 5 - Stephen Crane, American author (b. 1871)
• June 11 - Belle Boyd, American Confederate spy and actress (b.1843)
• July 29 - Umberto I, King of Italy (assassinated) (b. 1844)
• July 30 - Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1844)
• August 10 - Charles Russell, Baron Russell of Killowen, Lord Chief Justice of England (b.1832)
• August 12 - Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian-born chess player (b. 1836)
• August 16 - José Maria Eça de Queiroz, Portuguese writer (b. 1845)
• August 25 - Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher and writer (b. 1844)
• August 25 - Kuroda Kiyotaka, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1840)
• September 23 - William Marsh Rice, American philanthropist and university founder (murdered) (b. 1816)
• September 29 - Samuel Fenton Cary, American politician (b. 1814)
• October 15 - Zdeněk Fibich, Czech composer (b. 1850)
• October 22 - John Sherman, American politician (b.1823)
• November 22 - Sir Arthur Sullivan. English composer (b. 1842)
• November 30 - Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (b. 1854)

Month/day unknown

• Henry D. Cogswell, American philanthropist (b. 1820)

Notes

• 1900 is not a leap year even though the number is divisible by 4. It is one of the dropped leap years of the Gregorian Calendar.

1900

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