Spanish rule formally ends inCuba with the cession of Spanish sovereignty to the U.S., concluding 400 years of theSpanish Empire in the Americas.[1]
In Samoa, followers of Mataafa, claimant to the rule of the island's subjects, burn the town of Upolu in an ambush of followers of other claimants, Malietoa Tanus and Tamasese, who are evacuated by the British warship HMSPorpoise.[1]
January 3 – A treaty of alliance is signed between Russia and Afghanistan.[1]
January 5 – A fierce battle is fought between American troops and Filipino defenders at the town ofPililla on the island of Luzon.
The collision of a British steamer and a French steamer kills 12 people on theEnglish Channel.[1]
January 6 – Baron Curzon takes office as the Governor-General of British India.[1]
January 7 –Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the Philippine insurrection against the U.S. occupation, issues a proclamation calls on Filipinos to continue the fight for liberty. President McKinley dispatches USSPrinceton and USSYorktown toManila.[1]
After asuccessful revolt against theOttoman Empire by the inhabitants of the island ofCrete, the area, which joins Greece, gets its first constitution.
A crash between two trains on the Lehigh Valley Railroad kills 16 people and injures 20 in the U.S. state ofNew Jersey.[1]
The British four-masted sailing shipAndelanacapsizes during a storm inCommencement Bay off the coast of the U.S. state ofWashington, with the loss of all 17 of her crew.[4]
U.S. Navy Captain Richard P. Leary becomes the military governor ofGuam.[1]
January 15 – The General Federated Union, representing 100,000 laborers in the U.S. state of New York, is formed from a merger of the Central Labor Union and the Central Labor Federation.[1]
January 19 – TheAnglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed as part of a convention between the British and Egyptian governments.[1] The Sudan colony will be disbanded in1956.[5]
Camille Jenatzy of France becomes the first man to drive an automobile more than 80 kilometers per hour, when he reaches a speed of 80.35 kph in his CGA Dogcart racecar. Jenatzy's speed is more than 20% faster than the previous record.
The Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian Empire decrees that all high officials in the Russian-administered Grand Duchy of Finland shall be required to be fluent in theRussian language.[5]
TheLeague of Peja, organized byHaxhi Zeka to lobby for a Kosovar Albanian state within the Ottoman Empire, attracts 450 delegates to its first convention, held at the city ofPeja.[7]
Konstantin Stoilov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria and his cabinet ministers resign in a disagreement over self-government for Macedonia.[5]
The premiers of the various states ofAustralia, along with the premier ofTasmania, meet in a conference atMelbourne to discuss the question of a federation of the states.[5]
A steamer arrives atBarcelona inSpain after having started out with 1,300 Spanish soldiers who had withdrawn from Cuba. Of the group, 350 are seriously ill and 56 died during the trip.[5]
SpeakerHoward E. Wright of the California State Assembly resigns the speakership after surviving a motion of expulsion by the members. Only 10 had been in favor of expelling Wright because of charges of bribery, and 60 opposed.[5]
Ranavalona III, who had been theQueen of Madagascar until being deposed on February 28, 1897, is sent into exile by English colonial authorities, along with the rest of the royal family.[8]
TheSuntory whisky distiller and worldwidealcoholic andsoft drink brand ofJapan is established by Shinjiro Torii inOsaka as a store selling imported wines.[9]
February 7 – Following conviction at court-martial for "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman" arising from his accusations against Major GeneralNelson A. Miles, U.S. Commissioner GeneralCharles P. Eagan is suspended from duty for six years by President McKinley.[5]
February 8 – The Congressional commission for investigation of conduct of the Spanish–American War sends its report to the President.[5]
February 10 – U.S. Army troops, supported by bombardment from the warshipsCharleston andMonadnock, defeat Filipino forces in theBattle of Caloocan and get control of the Manila to Dagupan railway.[5]
February 19 – In Venezuela, the former Minister of War, Major GeneralRamón Guerra, angry with the reforms of PresidentIgnacio Andrade, proclaims the state ofGuárico as an independent territory. Andrade orders General Augusto Lutowsky to crush the rebellion. Guerra flees to Colombia but later comes back as Minister of War.[12]
February 20 – Discussions among members of a joint Anglo-American commission, set up by U.S. PresidentWilliam McKinley and Canadian Prime MinisterWilfrid Laurier to resolve theAlaska boundary dispute, 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.[13]
The Russian Imperial government removes the privileges of the parliament of Finland.[14]
The British freighterSSJumna is last seen passingRathlin Island off Northern Ireland. Bound fromScotland to deliver a shipment of coal toUruguay with minimal crew, it never arrives and is never seen again.[15]
Under threat of bombardment by the British Royal Navy, Sultan of Oman revokes his concession to the French Navy for a coaling station.[14]
February 25 – In an accident at Grove Hill,Harrow, London, England, Edwin Sewell becomes the world's first driver of a petrol-driven vehicle to be killed; his passenger, Major James Richer, dies of injuries three days later.[16]
February 27 – Japanese immigration toSouth America, primarilyPeru, begins as the shipSakura Maru departs fromYokohama with 790 men employed by the Morioka-shokai Sugar Company. The group arrives inCallao on April 3.[17]
February 28 – General Juan Reyes, leader of the Nicaraguan insurgency, surrenders atBluefields to the commanders of USSMarietta and HMSIntrepid.[14]
March 3 –Guglielmo Marconi conducts radio beacon experiments onSalisbury Plain and notices that radio waves are being reflected back to the transmitter by objects they encounter, one of the early steps in the development ofradar.[18]
March 8 – The Frankfurter Fußball-Club Victoria von 1899 (predecessor ofEintracht Frankfurt) is founded.
March 9 – The Senate of the state ofUtah adjourns its attempts to elect a new U.S. Senator, after having voted 149 times without a candidate reaching the necessary majority.[14] The term ofFrank J. Cannon expired on March 3. Although Alfred W. McCone had come within two votes of getting the necessary 32 required for a majority, his support failed when state representative Albert A. Law claimed the McCone had offered him a bribe to change his vote.[20]
March 10 – At theBattle of Balantang, the U.S. Army sustains 400 casualties in an attack by Philippine troops.
The world's first wireless distress signal is sent bywireless telegraphy (in Morse code) to the East Goodwinlight vessel when German cargo-carrying barquentineElbe runs aground in fog in theEnglish Channel.[21]
March 13 – Germany, Great Britain and the United States reach an agreement on their jurisdiction in Samoa, following a conference in Washington DC.[14]
Germany's Parliament votes, 209 to 141, to reject a proposal to increase the size of the nation's army.[14]
March 15 – The cabinet of Spain's Prime Minister Silvestri approves the ratification of the treaty to end theSpanish–American War. The Queen Regent of Spain signs the treaty two days later.[14]
March 18 –Phoebe, the ninth-known moon of the planetSaturn is discovered by U.S. astronomerWilliam Pickering from analysis of photographic plates made by a Peruvian observatory, the first discovery of a satellite photographically.
TheEden Theatre inLa Ciotat, a commune in France nearMarseille, lays a claim to being the firstcinema as brothersAuguste Lumière andLouis Lumière present their short film,L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat ("The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station") to 250 surprised spectators.[25]
The French Court of Cassation orders the submission of the file on the Dreyfus case.[24]
March 22 – Malietoa Tanus is crowned as King of Samoa.[26]
March 23 – Samoan villages held by Chief Mataafa are bombarded by USSPhiladelphia and HMSPorpoise and HMSRoyalist following the attack on Samoan natives inApia.[26]
March 24 – The U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, acting as arbitrator of a boundary dispute between Argentina and Chile, awards the disputed territory to Chile.[26]
Cuba's General Assembly votes to disband the Cuban army and to dissolve to accept U.S. sovereignty.[28]
The British Antarctic Expedition reports discovery of new land in theWeddell Sea at a latitude of 71 36" S.[28]
April 5 – A team of prospectors sets out from Northern Rhodesia to explore the minerals of central Africa for the British companyTanganyika Concessions (TCL). Discovering that the most valuable copper deposits are in theCongo Free State, TCL makes an unsuccessful attempt to purchase full rights from King Leopold of Belgium.
April 6 – Services are held at Arlington National Cemetery for the burial of 336 American soldiers who died in Cuba and Puerto Rico.[28]
TheShootout at Wilson Ranch, the last major gunfight of theWild West era in the U.S., takes place inTombstone, Arizona. Brothers William Halderman and Thomas Halderman, kill two lawmen. They will be hanged on November 16, 1900.
Marconi's wireless system is successfully tested across the English Channel during a thunderstorm.[28]
InUganda,King Chwa II Kabalega of theBunyoro kingdom, a leader of the fight against British colonial occupation, is taken prisoner after being shot in a battle nearHoima. Kabalega is exiled to theSeychelles and remains there until 1923.
The Greek shipMaria sinks after a collision sith the British steamerKingswell in the Mediterranean and 45 people drown.[28]
TheBattle of Santa Cruz begins in the Philippines between U.S. Army troops and nationalists of theFirst Philippine Republic. After a two-day battle, 93 Filipino fighters and one American soldier are dead.
April 11 – U.S. President William McKinley declares the Spanish–American War to be at an end as theTreaty of Paris between the U.S. and Spain goes into effect.Puerto Rico, thePhilippines andGuam are ceded to the U.S. andCuba becomes an American protectorate.[28]
Britain formally claims possession of the "New Territories" as an extension of its lease of Hong Kong to cover the area south of theSham Chun River and 230 islands inKowloon Bay.
General elections are held in Spain for the members of the Spanish parliament, theCortes.[28]
April 18 – The 15-member crew of USSYorkdown are ambushed atBaler in the Philippines and captured by Filipino insurgents while trying to rescue a besieged Spanish garrison.[28]
April 22 – In aid of theRoyal Niger Company, the British Army begins an invasion ofEsanland, in Nigeria, to halt the resistance of theEsan chiefs to European rule. After Benin's King Ologbosere is overcome, the British attack the kingdom atEkpoma.
April 23 – The steamshipGeneral Whitney sinks off the coast ofSt. Augustine, Florida. While everyone on board escapes in lifeboats, one of the boats capsizes, drowning the captain and 16 other crew.
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 theGreat Wall of China, and Russia will avoid doing the same in theYangtze River valley in southern China.[30]
Camille Jenatzy of Belgium becomes the first person to drive faster than 100 kilometers per hour, powering his electric racecar at 105.88 kilometres per hour (65.79 mph) at a track atAchères.
In the U.S., several hundred miners capture a railroad train atCoeur d'Alene, Idaho, arm themselves with guns and dynamite, and advance on the town ofWardner, Idaho, destroying property of mining ccompanies that employ non-unon labor.[28]
Britain's Prime Minister announces in the House of Commons that the government has not been able to reach an agreement withCecil Rhodes on plans for a Cape Town to Cairo railroad across Africa.[28]
The natural gas companies ofNew York City cut prices by 60% from $1.25 to 50 cents per 1,000 cubic feet.[28]
May 4 – German inventor John Matthias Stroh applies for the patent for his new invention, the "Stroh violin". A British patent is granted on March 24, 1900.
Dreyfus affair: France's Court of Cassation orders a reopening of the 1894 conviction for treason of French Army CaptainAlfred Dreyfus after evidence of a wrongful conviction is made public, and directs that Dreyfus be returned to France after five years of imprisonment onDevil's Island.[33]
The United States and Spain resume diplomatic relations, as U.S. President McKinley receives theDuke of Arcos as the new Minister for Spain.[33]
June 10 – Under the terms of theSamoa Tripartite Convention, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States form a colonial government to administer aprotectorate over the islands ofSamoa. 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 becomesAmerican Samoa.
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 theArctic Ocean, theBaltic Sea and theNorth Sea.[35]
TheAnglo-Egyptian Sudan is created, to be 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.
A patent for a form ofpaperclip is applied for by Norwegian inventorJohan Vaaler but it is never put into production.[40]
A. E. J. Collins, a 13-year-old schoolboy, makes the highest-ever recorded individual score in cricket, 628not out. His record will stand for 117 years.
June 28 – InNigeria, British authorities publicly hang King Ologbosere Irabor outside of the courthouse atBenin City, after he was convicted of ordering the massacre of a party dispatched by the British consul.[41]
June 30 – 'Mile-a-Minute Murphy' earns his nickname after he becomes the first man to ride a bicycle for one-mile (1.6 km) in under a minute, onLong Island. Murphy pedals his bike one mile in 57.8 seconds for an average speed of 62.28 miles per hour.[38]
July 4 – The most famous skeleton of adinosaur ever found intact, adiplodocus, is discovered at the Sheep Creek Quarry nearMedicine Bow, Wyoming. The expedition team, financed byAndrew Carnegie for theCarnegie Museum of Natural History and led by William Harlow Reed, bestows the name "Dippy" on theDiplodocus carnegii. It becomes well known after Carnegie has plaster cast replicas made for donation to museums all over the world.[43]
July 5 – 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."[44]
July 10 – British colonial authorities in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan give control of theRed Sea port ofSuakin toSudan, after having agreed that Egypt would have the right to administer commerce there.
July 24 – In the first trade treaty signed by the U.S. after the passage of theDingley Act, France and the United States sign an agreement for a 20% reduction of France's existing tariffs on 635 items, in return for the U.S. reduction between 5% and 20% of duty fees on 126 items.[46]
August 17 – EmperorGojong 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.[58]
August 20 – TheKiram–Bates Treaty is signed in thePhilippines, with U.S. forces recognizing the autonomy of local governments in theSulu Archipelago (within theMindanao island group) in return for the Sultan's assistance in suppressing attacks on U.S. forces.
August 23 – The first ship-to-shore test of a wireless radio transmission is made from the U.S. lightshipLV 70, with the sending of Morse code signals to a receiving station near San Francisco.[60]
September 5 – GeneralHoracio Vasquez, leader of a revolution against theDominican Republic's President Wenceslao Figuereo, arrives at the capital, Santo Domingo and forms a provisional government.
September 9 –Dreyfus affair: In the retrial of his court-martial, Alfred Dreyfus is again found guilty of treason and sentenced to serve the remaining 10 years of his prison sentence on Devils Island, notwithstanding that the real culprit has previously admitted to his actions.[47][64]
A special session of theOrange Free State's parliament meets at Bloemfontein to discuss war with the British Empire. At the same time, three British transports depart from Bombay with troops to the Cape Colony.[68]
The Dominion Line steamerScotsman sinks in theStrait of Belle Isle, killing 15 women and children.
September 25 – A Serbian court sentences 30 people convicted for conspiracy to attempt to assassinate the formerKing Milan, with the two leaders being sentenced to death.[68]
September 28 – Austrian auto designerFerdinand Porsche attracts worldwide attention when his first car, thePorsche P1, wins the Berlin Road Race 18 minutes ahead of the second-place finisher.
September 30 – The1899 Ceram earthquake kills 3,864 people onSeram Island, through a tsunami after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. The villages of Paulohy-Samasuru and Mani, with a combined population of 2,400 people, are swept away by a 29 foot (8.8 m) wave.[70]
October 1 – Possession of theMariana Islands is formally transferred from Spain to Germany, which purchased the archipelago (with the exception ofGuam) from Spain for 837,500 German gold marks and become part ofGerman New Guinea.[71]
October 3 – The boundary dispute betweenVenezuela andBritish Guiana 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.[72]
October 8 – TheSouth African Republic telegraphs a three-day ultimatum to the U.K., demanding an arbitration of issues and a pullback of troops from the borders between the Republic and the adjoining Cape Colony, Natal and Bechuanaland by October 11.[73]
October 10 – TheFrench Sudan 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)
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."[75]
Boer troops commanded byJohannes Kock capture the railway station inElandslaagte and cut the telegraph line between the British Army headquarters at Ladysmith and its station atDundee.
October 21 – TheBattle of Elandslaagte is fought in Natal, as the British Army recaptures the railway station from Boers, then proceeds toward the fortress ofLadysmith. South African GeneralJan Kock is fatally wounded in the battle and dies 10 days later.[76]
Indirect fire is used for the first time in battle.[78] British gunners in theSecond Boer War fire a cannon on a high trajectory toward the Boer Army, with the objective of having the shell come down on the enemy.
The foundering of the British steamerZurich off of the coast of Norway kills 16 of the 17 crew aboard, with only the captain surviving.[76]
October 30 – TheBattle of Ladysmith begins as British troops at the Ladysmith fort 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 wherea 118-day siege begins on November 2.
November 2 – Thesiege of Ladysmith begins as armies of the two Boer republics cut telegraph lines connecting Ladysmith to the British colony, and try over the next 118 days to starve out the British force.[76] The British defenders will hold the fort without surrendering, until thesiege is broken on February 28, 1900 by a force led byRedvers Buller.
The U.S. Army wins the battle to capture the Philippine Republic's capital atAngeles City, after nearly three months of fighting. It also captures the Philippine stronghold ofMagalang.
Representatives of the U.S., the UK and Germany sign a treaty for arbitration of Samoa's claims for damages, with King Oscar of Sweden and Norway agreeing to become the neutral arbitrator.[76]
Battle of Colenso: Britain's General Buller loses 1,097 officers and men in Natal, the third serious British reverse in South Africa in this "Black Week".[81]
December 18 – The British War Office sendsLord Roberts to South Africa to become the commander of British forces, withLord Kitchener to be second in command, with 100,000 additional men.[81]
A particularly severe flood hits many water areas inFinland. The water level of many lakes, such as lakeSaimaa, reach extraordinary heights, which are marked on the coastal cliffs to this day. In Finland the flood is called theOathbreaker's flood because it coincided with severe dissatisfaction with the emperorNicholas II among the Finns.[88]
July 2 – GeneralHoratio 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)
^abcdefghijklThe American Monthly Review of Reviews (February 1899), pp. 153-157
^"Canadian Pacific Railway", by Donald M. Bain, inEncyclopedia of North American Railroads. ed. by William D. Middleton, et al. (Indiana University Press, 2007) p. 197
^Petrie, Anne (2017).The Story of Kent. The History Press.
^"Jungner, Ernst Waldemar", inInnovators in Battery Technology: Profiles of 95 Influential Electrochemists, by Kevin Desmond (McFarland Publishing 2016) p. 116
^Eric L. Mills,Biological Oceanography: An Early History, 1870-1960 (University of Toronto Press, 2012) p.83
^Volkert, Klaus, ed. (2015).David Hilbert: Grundlagen der Geometrie. Springer. p. ix; Grattan-Guinness, Ivor (2005).Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics 1640-1940 Elsevier. p. 713.
^"Understanding sacrifice and sanctity in Benin indigenous religion, Nigeria: a case study", by Flora Edouwaye S. Kaplan, inBeyond Primitivism: Indigenous Religious Traditions and Modernity, ed. by Jacob K. Olupona (Routledge, 2004) p. 198
^Lewenson, Sandra B. (2013).Taking Charge: Nursing, Suffrage, and Feminism in America, 1873-1920. Routledge. p. 95.
^"A specimen-level phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of Diplodocidae (Dinosauria, Sauropoda)", by Emanuel Tschopp, et al.,PeerJ, 2015
^"Military Activity in the EEZ: Exclusive or Excluded Right", by Captain Alexander S. Skaridov, inFreedom of Seas, Passage Rights and the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention (Martinus Nijhoff, 2009) p. 251
^Henning, Joseph M. (2000).Outposts of Civilization: Race, Religion, and the Formative Years of American-Japanese Relations. New York University Press. p. 134.
^David A. Lake,Power, Protection, and Free Trade: International Sources of U.S. Commercial Strategy, 1887–1939 (Cornell University Press, 2018) p. 130
^abcdThe American Monthly Review of Reviews (September 1899) pp. 277-280
^C. E. Borchgrevink,First on the Antarctic Continent: Being an Account of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1898-1900 (London: George Newnes, Ltd., 1901)
^Donald Keene,Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912 (Columbia University Press, 2005) p. 553
^David Brock Katz,General Jan Smuts and his First World War in Africa, 1914–1917 (Casemate Publishers, 2022) p.14
^"Luzon Campaigns", by Jerry Keenan and Spencer C. Tucker, inThe Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History (ABC-CLIO, 2009)
^Herbert M. Mason Jr.,VFW: Our First Century (Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, 1999) p. 29
^Dr. R. D. M. Verbeek,Kort verslag over de aarden zeebeving op Ceram, den 30sten September 1899 (Brief Report on the Earthquake and Seaquake on Ceram, September 30, 1899) (Batavia Landsdrukkerij, 1900) p. 1–11
^"Pacific Islands", inThe Statesman's Year-Book for the Year 1946 (Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1946) p. 1057
^Cedric L Joseph,Anglo-American Diplomacy and the Reopening of the Guyana-Venezuela Boundary Controversy, 1961-1966 (Trafford Publishing, 2008)
^Winston Groom,The Allies: Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, and the Unlikely Alliance That Won World War II (National Geographic Society, 2018) p. 50
^Joseph W. Esherick,The Origins of the Boxer Uprising(University of California Press, 1987) p. 250
^Milton Lehman,Robert H. Goddard: Pioneer of Space Research (Da Capo Press, 1988) p. 16
^Guillermo Plazas Olarte,La guerra civil de los Mil Días: Estudio militar (in Spanish) (Academia Boyacense de Historia, 1985) p. 47
^Frank W. Sweet,The Evolution of Indirect Fire (Backintyme Publishing, 2000) pp. 28–33
^Émile Gentil,La chute de l'empire de Rabah (reprinted by Hachette Press, 1971) pp. 574–584
^Guillermo Plazas Olarte,La Guerra Civil de los Mil Días: Estudio Militar (The 1000-days Civil War: A Military Study) (Academia Boyacense de Historia, 1985) p. 54
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