Year retrospective · 1900s

1900

1900 (MCM) was an exceptional century common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 1900th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 900th year of the 2nd millennium, the 100th and last…

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1900s

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Defining events of 1900

  1. 1900 Prince George becomes absolute monarch of the Cretan State.

    Greek prince (1869–1957)

    Prince George of Greece and Denmark was the second son and child of George I of Greece and Olga Konstantinovna of Russia. He served as high commissioner of the Cretan State during its transition towards independence from Ottoman rule and union (Enosis) with Greece.

  2. 1900 British suffer a sharp defeat by the Boers south of Brandfort. Six hundred British troops are killed and wounded and 800 taken prisoner.

    Place in Free State, South Africa

    Brandfort, officially renamed Winnie Mandela in 2021, is a small agricultural town in the central Free State province of South Africa, about 60 km northeast of Bloemfontein on the R30 road. The town serves the surrounding farms for supplies and amenities. It is well known for once being home to the anti-apartheid stalwart and wife of Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, during her banishment.

  3. 1900 One day after its enactment by the Congress, President William McKinley signs the Foraker Act into law, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.

    Bicameral legislature of the United States

    The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. S. S.

  4. 1900 The world's fair Exposition Universelle opens in Paris.

    World's Fair held in Paris, France

    The Exposition Universelle of 1900, better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next. It was the sixth of ten major expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It was held at the esplanade of Les Invalides, the Champ de Mars, the Trocadéro and at the banks of the Seine between them, with an additional section in the Bois de Vincennes, and it was visited by more than fifty million people.

  5. 1900 Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on U.S. infantry and begin a four-day siege of Catubig, Philippines.

    Armed Philippine-American conflict (1899–1902)

    The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Filipino–American War, Philippine Insurrection, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged in early 1899 following the United States' annexation of the former Spanish colony of the Philippine Islands under the terms of the December 1898 Treaty of Paris following the Spanish–American War. Philippine nationalists had proclaimed independence in June 1898 and constituted the First Philippine Republic in January 1899. The United States did not recognize either event as legitimate, and tensions escalated until fighting commenced on February 4, 1899, in the Battle of Manila.

  6. 1900 Fires destroy Canadian cities Ottawa and Hull, reducing them to ashes in 12 hours. Twelve thousand people are left without a home.

    Destructive Canadian urban fire

    The Hull-Ottawa fire of 1900 was a devastating fire in 1900 that destroyed much of Hull, Quebec, and large portions of Ottawa, Ontario.

  7. 1900 Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.
  8. 1900 The steamer Deutschland of Hamburg America Lines set a new record for the eastward passage when it docked on Plymouth, England, five days, 11 hours and 45 minutes after sailing from New York, breaking by three hours, six minutes its previous mark in its maiden voyage in July.
  9. 1900 Battle of Peking: The Eight-Nation Alliance occupies Beijing, China, in a campaign to end the bloody Boxer Rebellion in China.
  10. 1900 The Battle of Elands River during the Second Boer War ends after a 13-day siege is lifted by the British. The battle had begun when a force of between 2,000 and 3,000 Boers had surrounded a force of 500 Australians, Rhodesians, Canadians and British soldiers at a supply dump at Brakfontein Drift.

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