The following events occurred inJanuary 1900:

• The Fists of Righteous Harmony, popularly known as the "Boxers", stepped up their opposition to the foreign presence inChina, killing the first foreign missionary. Reverend S.M. Brooke from theUnited Kingdom was kidnapped the day before while returning to his home in Tainanfu and beheaded on New Year's Day.^[1]
• Born:
  • Xavier Cugat, Spanish musician; as Francesc Xavier Cugat de Bru i Deuflofeu; inGirona,Catalonia (d. 1990)
  • Chiune Sugihara, Japanese diplomat who rescued an estimated 6,000 Lithuanian and Polish Jews fromthe Holocaust,Righteous Among the Nations; inYaotsu,Gifu Prefecture (d. 1986)

• Following a brief cabinet meeting,United States Secretary of StateJohn Hay announced the success of negotiations with other nations to begin theOpen Door Policy to promote trade withChina.^[2]
• The "autostage", the firstelectric bus, became operational, running onFifth Avenue inNew York City. Eight people could sit inside, and four outside, and the fare was onenickel.^[3]
• Born:William Haines, American actor; inStaunton, Virginia (d. 1973)

• Friedrich Weyerhäuser purchased 900,000 acres (1,405 square miles) of forestlands inWashington from railroad ownerJames J. Hill for $5,400,000 in advance of the founding of theWeyerhauser Timber Company.^[4]
• An insurance carrier concluded that the British transportVictoria, last seen on November 14, had been lost in a typhoon.^[5]

• InManila,Philippines,GeneralElwell Otis, the highest ranking American officer, issued orders providing for the first regulations of the sale of liquor in the city. "Until January 4, 1900", wrote the Assistant Adjutant-General, "there was, strictly speaking, no liquor license law in Manila."^[6]
• An earthquake was registered in Tiflis (nowTbilisi,Georgia), killing more than 1,100 people. Ten villages, along with the town ofAkhalkalaki were destroyed.^[7][8]

• InLagos, formal ceremonies were held to lower the flag of theRoyal Niger Company and replace it with the British flag, as theUnited Kingdom took over administration ofNigeria.^[8]
• United States SenatorLucien Baker ofKansas announced that he would not seek re-election.^[9]
• Born:James Bond, Americanornithologist; inPhiladelphia. In 1953, authorIan Fleming would get Bond's permission to use the name in his007 novels.^[10] (d. 1989)

• InBaltimore, physicist Dr.Henry A. Rowland ofJohns Hopkins University announced that he had discovered that the cause ofEarth's magnetic field was its own rotation, based on experiments to producemagnetism by the rotation of a motor.^[11]
• In film, January 5, 1900, provided the opening of the 1960George Pal production ofThe Time Machine, with the traveler having returned from 802,701 AD.
• Born:Yves Tanguy, French painter; inParis (d. 1955)

• Battles occurred in multiple venues in Southern Africa in theSecond Boer War. The German steamshipHerzog was seized by the British warshipHMSThetis outside ofDelagoa Bay inEast Africa, on suspicions that it was carrying supplies to Boer troops. ThePortuguese colonial governor ofZambesia was among the passengers.^[12] After no troop supplies were found, the ship and its crew were released on January 22.^[13]
• In theSiege of Ladysmith, Boer troops under the command of General C.J. de Villiers attempted a raid against the British fortress inSouth Africa. 1,000 soldiers died in its defense. BritishLieutenant-GeneralSir George White held the defense untilrelief arrived on February 28. His command during the battle earned him theOrder of St Michael and St George.^[14][15]
• For the first time in centuries, the sword of theGorseddbards was solemnly unsheathed atMerionethshire inWales. According to contemporary records, "The chief bard invoked the blessing of God on British arms in South Africa, and announced that the sword would not be sheathed again till the triumph of the forces of righteousness over the hordes of evil."^[16]

• Melville E. Ingalls, President of theCleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, known commonly as the "Big Four", reported thatWilliam Kissam Vanderbilt had taken control of that line. Vanderbilt had also taken control of theLake Erie and Western, and theChesapeake and Ohio railroads. Ingalls was quoted as saying, "There is no doubt that the Vanderbilts now own the 'Big Four'. As a matter of fact, they have controlled it for some time, but the practical ownership has just been secured."^[17] A meeting was held the following day, at Vanderbilt's office inGrand Central Station, of the directors of Big Four railroads.
• GeneralA.W. Greely, polar explorer and Chief Signal Officer of theUnited States Army, was beaten unconscious at his home inWashington, D.C.^[18]
• Nikola Tesla closed down his laboratory inColorado Springs, Colorado, after seven months of experiments in the long-distance transmission of energy.^[19]

• U.S. PresidentWilliam McKinley added a large section of land in theArizona Territory to the existingNavajo Indian Reservation, extending the Navajo territory westward to the edge of theColorado River. The area includesTuba City, Arizona (Tó Naneesdizí) andCameron, Arizona (Naʼníʼá Hasání).^[20][21] President McKinley also placedAlaska under military rule, creating theDepartment of Alaska within theWar Department, citing increased migration to the territory.ColonelGeorge M. Randall of the8th U.S. Infantry was set to command the new department.^[22]
• Marshal O. Waggoner, an attorney inToledo, Ohio who had recently converted toChristianity, destroyed his library of books "consisting of the writings of infidels". "Many of the volumes were exceedingly rare. There were a large number of manuscripts and first prints not to be found in any other library in America."^[23]
• The first 27 immigrants fromOkinawa arrived inHawaii on the shipCity of China, following transportation arranged by Kyuzo Toyama, and were set to begin work on a sugar plantation.^[24]

• Italian football clubLazio was founded asSocietà Podistica Lazio, being the first football club founded in the Italian capital ofRome.^[25]
• Arthur Balfour,Conservative leader of theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom, acknowledged theUnited Kingdom's reverses in theSecond Boer War, but added, "I know of no war in which Great Britain has been engaged, except that resulting in the independence of the American colonies, which did not end triumphantly."^[26]
• The home ofNew York World publisher (and future prize founder)Joseph Pulitzer was destroyed in a fire that killed a governess and a friend of the family. The fire broke out at the home, located on 10 East 55th Street inNew York City, at 7:30 in the morning.^[27]
• BoxerTerry McGovern defeatedGeorge Dixon in a bout for the worldfeatherweight championship, winning a $10,000 purse.^[28]
• The town ofWillard Crossroads was founded in the U.S. state ofVirginia.

• The firstthrough train fromCairo toKhartoum arrived in the Sudanese city.^[29][30]
• Field MarshalLord Roberts arrived atCape Town to replaceGeneralRedvers Buller as commander of British forces in theSecond Boer War. Roberts, who had left fromSouthampton 18 days earlier on theDunottar Castle, was accompanied by his chief of staff,Lord Kitchener.^[31][32]
• TheDeutschland, operated by theHamburg America Line and promising to be the fastest passenger ship to that time, was launched from the shipyards atStettin, Germany (nowSzczecin,Poland).^[33][34]
• United States Secretary of WarElihu Root announced inMilwaukee that he would not accept the nomination to beWilliam McKinley's running mate in 1900. The spot became available after the death, in 1899, ofVice PresidentGarret Hobart.^[35]
• KentuckyGovernorWilliam S. Taylor told associates that he would not release his office, even if challengerWilliam Goebel were to be ruled the winner of therecent state election.^[36]
• Collector F.M. Davis ofChicago was arrested after bills representing $100,000 ofConfederate money were found at his mail order business on Monroe Street.^[37]

• Following a drought during the 1899 rainy season,famine affected more than three million people in theCentral Provinces ofBritish India.^[38] The colonial government extended the area for famine relief in response to reports.^[8]
• The New York Times reported that new cleaning machines had been placed in use at theNavy Department offices inWashington, D.C., with rubber tires and spreading brushes. The machines were operated by the women who formerly scrubbed the floor by hand.^[39]

• Wilhelm Eppstein, an 18-year old German sailor, became the first person inAustralia to die ofbubonic plague. Eppstein had traveled fromGawler,South Australia to theAdelaide Hospital, arriving on January 1 "in a semi-delirious condition", and said that he had deserted from the shipFormosa after it had arrived on November 12. Following his death in quarantine, an autopsy confirmed the presence of theplague bacteria.^[40][41]
• Henry Ford introduced his first commercial motor vehicle, a two-seat electric-powered delivery wagon, under the name of the five-month oldDetroit Automobile Company (D.A.C.), which would produce eleven other models of cars before going bankrupt in November, at the rate of two per day. "Every one of the 12 or so vehicles produced through late 1900 had its own unique set of problems," a biographer would write later, "causing rip ups, tear downs, and redos that resulted in extensive, and expensive, delays. Motor vehicles retailed to the public for $1,000 were in fact costing about $1,250 to build."^[42] Rather than departing the business after the failure of the D.A.C., Ford would spend a year at designing a new, gasoline-powered automobile, and launch theFord Motor Company on November 30, 1901.^[43]
• TheCanadian Patriotic Fund was announced byLord Minto, theGovernor General of Canada, as a way of coordinating relief for Canadian soldiers (or their dependents) who had been casualties of theSecond Boer War.^[44] The fund would be incorporated by theParliament of Canada on May 23, 1901^[45] and would raise $339,975.63 during its existence, with charitable disbursements to 1,066 recipients.^[44]
• Born:Fuller Albright, Americanendocrinologist, identified two genetic illnesses,Albright's hereditary osteodystrophy andMcCune–Albright syndrome; inBuffalo, New York (d. 1969)

• John Barrett, formerly the U.S. Ambassador to Siam (nowThailand), said in a speech atLake Forest College that the insurrection byEmilio Aguinaldo in thePhilippines had been brought about by an anti-expansion speech made on January 9, 1899, by U.S. SenatorGeorge F. Hoar. The speech to theUnited States Senate had been cabled toHong Kong at cost of $4,000. "I was in the islands, and I know that many of the Filipinos were more friendly to the Americans than to Aguinaldo and his leaders until they were incited to war by such circulars as these", Barrett said. Senator Hoar denied the accusations.^[46]
• The hospital atJohns Hopkins University began use of a small square of adhesive plaster as a tag on a baby's back, between the shoulder blades. "It holds on tightly until the time comes for the baby and its mother to leave the hospital, when the tag may be readily pulled off without causing the baby any pain", a spokesman said.^[47]

• The operaTosca, composed byGiacomo Puccini, was presented for the first time, premiering at theTeatro Costanzi inRome.SopranoHariclea Darclée sang in the role of Floria Tosca, andtenorEmilio De Marchi appeared as her lover, Mario Cavaradossi.^[48][49]

• The giganticLondon Hippodrome was opened by theMoss Empires theatrical production company atLeicester Square inLondon'sWest End, atCharing Cross Road, with a grand circus as its first feature.^[50]
• The two bids for the construction of the firstNew York City Subway were opened at the offices of the Rapid Transit Board atCity Hall, and contractorJohn B. McDonald's bid of $35,000,000 was the winner, coming in at less than the $39,300,000 bid byAndrew Onderdonk.^[51]
• June Ward Gayle was sworn in as aUnited States Representative fromKentucky. He had been elected to fill a vacancy caused by the death ofEvan E. Settle, who had died two months earlier.
• Born:R. B. Braithwaite, English philosopher; inBanbury,Oxfordshire (d. 1990)
• Died:G. W. Steevens, 30, British journalist, war correspondent for theDaily Mail, died oftyphoid fever (b. 1869)

• At the Capitol Hotel inFrankfort, Kentucky, formerU. S. CongressmanDavid G. Colson shot six people, killing three of them. Colson was arrested and charged with murder.^[52]
• Inexecutive session, theUnited States Senate ratified the Anglo-German treaty of 1899, in which theUnited Kingdom renounced its claims to theSamoan Islands.^[53]
• GeneralArcadio Maxílom, the leader of thePhilippine resistance to American occupiers on the island ofCebu, reorganized his armies for a strategy ofguerrilla warfare.^[54]
• Born:Edith Frank, German-born Dutch mother ofAnne Frank; as Edith Holländer inAachen (d. 1945)

• Brigham H. Roberts was refused a seat in theUnited States House of Representatives after an investigation showed that he had committedpolygamy. He had married his first wife in 1878, a second wife in 1878, and a third in 1897. The vote of a committee was seven to two against seating him, withCongress members DeArmond and Littlefield arguing that he should be seated and then expelled.^[55] On January 25, the full House would vote, 268–50, to remove Roberts fromUnited States Congress.^[56]
• AfterMissouri Attorney GeneralEdward Coke Crow had announced plans to seek an injunction against its completion, theChicago Canal was opened in a hastily prepared ceremony.GovernorJohn Riley Tanner ofIllinois signed a permit at10:15 am, andColonel Isaac Taylor of the Canal Commission made a five-minute speech about the importance of connecting theGreat Lakes with theMississippi River. At11:16 am, the dam between the canal and theDes Plaines River was lowered.^[57][58]
• TheYaqui Indians of the state ofSonora issued a proclamation of their independence fromMexico, and asked Americans to come to their aid. The declaration, made atBavispe, was signed by Manuel Suuveda, who declared himself President of the Yaqui state. The Mexican consul inEl Paso, Texas, Francisco Mallen, described the claims of the Yaquis as "simply ridiculous".^[59] Days later, theMexican Army suppressed therebellion, killing 200 people and injuring 500 inNogales.^[60]
• The superintendent of immigration inToronto reported that nearly 14,000 Americans, with a total worth of two million dollars, emigrated toCanada during 1899, and added that "Kansas andArkansas supplied the greater part of those who came."^[61]

• TheBattle of Mazocoba was fought during theYaqui Wars between Mexican government troops and the indigenousYaqui Indians, 400 of the Yaqui were killed. Another 1,800 of the defeated people were captured, of whom half died during a forced march. TheMexican Army suffered 56 deaths and 104 wounded.^[62]
• TheWeyerhauser Timber Company was incorporated inWashington.^[4]
• TheDelaware Supreme Court refused to admit a prominentPhiladelphia attorney,Carrie B. Kilgore, into the practice of law in that state. Although there was no direct ban against female attorneys inDelaware, Kilgore was indirectly barred by the state's provision that an attorney had to be "eligible to vote" in an election.^[63]
• AuthorL. Frank Baum and illustratorW. W. Denslow jointly copyrighted their new book,The Land of Oz, after receiving an advance of $500 apiece from theGeorge M. Hill Company. The Hill company had rejected their original title,The Emerald City and (on November 17) had given the upcoming publication the working title ofFrom Kansas to Fairyland, before allowing the creators to use theOz name in the title. The book would be released on May 17 under the titleThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz.^[64]

• InNorth Brookfield, Massachusetts, catcherMarty Bergen of theBoston Beaneaters (later, theAtlanta Braves) murdered his wife, his six-year-old daughter and his three-year-old son, with an axe, then killed himself by slitting his throat.^[65] Bergen had been one of the best catchers in theNational League and had been a major factor inBoston's pennant wins in 1897 and 1898, but had suffered from emotional problems and had become increasingly erratic after the death of his son in April 1899; he apparently became violent after learning that he was going to be traded to theNew York Giants during the offseason.^[66]
• Eight days afterbubonic plague had been diagnosed on the western side of theAustralian continent, a new case was discovered on its eastern coast at the Prince Albert Hospital inSydney. While working at the wharves in Sydney Harbour, Arthur Paine, a 33-year-old delivery truck driver, had been bitten by a flea carrying theYersinia pestis bacteria.^[41][67]
• AtAlaminos, Laguna in thePhilippines, Filipino guerrillas captured a train carrying American soldiers.^[68]
• Born:William V. Houston, American physicist, author ofPrinciples of Quantum Mechanics (McGraw-Hill, 1951) andPrinciples of Mathematical Physics (McGraw-Hill, 1934), secondPresident ofRice University; inMount Gilead, Ohio (d. 1968)

• At the request ofGrand AdmiralAlfred von Tirpitz, the director of theGerman Imperial Naval Office,AdmiralOtto von Diederichs presented contingency plans for a naval blockade and an armed invasion of theUnited States. The recommendation of Diederichs was "Die Erwerbung werthvoller Küstenstadte der Neuenglandstaaten wäre das wirksamste mittel, den frieden zu erzwingen" ("The acquisition of valuable coastal towns ofNew England states would be the most effective medium to enforce peace.")^[69] He also advised that the German naval fleet would need to be doubled, to 38 line ships, 12 large cruisers and 32 small cruisers.
• George and Edward Meeks, murderers of Leopold Edlinger, were taken from Bates County Jail inFort Scott, Kansas, and lynched by a mob of 500.^[70]
• Died: British philosopherJohn Ruskin, 80, whose writings influenced theVictorian era, died frominfluenza during an epidemic inLondon (b. 1819)^[71]

• Mrs. Annie Ellsworth Smith, 73, the original operator on theBaltimore–Washington telegraph line, passed away. As press reports would note the next day, "It was Mrs. Smith who, on May 24, 1844, when she was a girl of seventeen, sent the famous first telegraphic message, 'What hath God wrought?' from the United States Supreme Courtroom inWashington, D.C., toBaltimore."^[72]
• Willard Erastus Christianson, a/k/aMatt Warner, a former member ofButch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang and a legendary gunfighter, was released from jail after being pardoned byUtah'sGovernor. After his release, he "dedicated the rest of his life to the straight and narrow"^[73] and would later be elected as a justice of the peace and would serve as a deputy sheriff inCarbon County.^[74]
• Born:
  • Anselm Franz, Austrian-born German engineer, designer of the firstturbojet engine forNazi Germany; inSchladming (d. 1994)
  • Charles Moses, British-born Australian broadcaster, first general manager of theAustralian Broadcasting Commission who oversaw the introduction of network radio and television toAustralia; inLittle Hulton,Lancashire,England (d. 1988)
  • Bernhard Rensch, Germanevolutionary biologist; inThale (d. 1990)
  • Henry Somerset, Baron Herbert, British noble,Master of the Horse for the British royal family from 1936 to 1978; inBadminton, Gloucestershire (d. 1984)
• Died:
  • David Edward Hughes, 68, British inventor who created the first practical electrical microphone in 1878 (b. 1831)
  • John "Liver-Eating" Johnson, 75, mountain man of theAmerican Old West who was said to have killed 300Crow Indians and eaten their livers to avenge the murder of his wife in 1847 (b. 1824)
  • Francis, Duke of Teck, 62, British noble, father ofMary of Teck who later became theQueen Consort ofGeorge V (b. 1837)

• TheLibrary of Congress officially opened its newspaper reading room, the largest in the world at that time.^[75]
• Henry Allen Hazen, the chief forecaster for theUnited States Weather Bureau (now theNational Weather Service), was fatally injured when his bike collided with an African-American pedestrian at the corner of16th andM streets inWashington, D.C. He would die the following day from a skull fracture. Hazen was credited with inventing the slingpsychrometer, an improved thermometer shelter, and detailed barometric tables.^[76][77]

• Thirty thousand Austrian miners went on strike, joining 40,000 who had already walked out. The miners sought guarantees of aneight-hour day and higher wages.^[78]
• Born:William Ifor Jones, Welsh conductor; inMerthyr Tydfil,Glamorganshire (d. 1988)

January 24, 1900: Three pictures of British casualties after theBattle of Spion Kop. The last picture shows the grave marker above the trenches where the British casualties are buried.

• At a closed session inBeijing, a council of "Grand Councillors, Grand Secretaries and Presidents of the Board" was convened, and agreed that theGuangxu Emperor should abdicate.^[79] P'u Ch'un, age 14, was announced as heir apparent to the throne.^[80]

• At theBattle of Spion Kop in theSecond Boer War, the 8,000 Boer troops, under the command of GeneralLouis Botha, defeated a 25,000-man British contingent, led by SirCharles Warren.GeneralRedvers Buller cabled toLondon that "Gen. Warren's garrison, I am sorry to say, I find this morning, had in the night abandoned Spion Kop."^[81][82] Because the slope belowSpion Kop was too steep, artillery could not be taken up the hill by either side, and the battle was waged entirely by riflemen. The British reportedly had 243 dead and 1,250 wounded, along with about 300 men captured by the Boers, but the Boers' victory came at a cost of 335 total casualties,^[83] including 68 killed and 267 wounded.^[84]

• To combat an outbreak ofbubonic plague, health authorities arranged the burning of a condemned home inHonolulu. The fire got out of control and destroyed a large portion of the city at itsChinatown section, leaving 6,000 people homeless.^[24]
• Born:Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian biologist, pioneering researcher into genetics and evolutionary biology, author ofGenetics and the Origin of Species; inNemyriv,Malorossiya,Russian Empire (d. 1975)

• Following the announcement of theabdication ofEmperor Kwang Hsu, the Director of the Imperial Chinese Telegraph inShanghai obtained a petition with 1,230 signatures and sent a telegram to urge that the Emperor reconsider.Empress Dowager Cixi ordered his arrest, but the Director escaped toMacao.^[85]
• AdmiralHubert von Rebeur-Paschwitz sent a lengthy memorandum toGrand AdmiralAlfred von Tirpitz on the proposed German invasion of theUnited States, noting that "An occupation of the nominal capital, Washington, would accomplish nothing, since there is no important commerce nor industry there." He recommended instead that the German fleet invade the "Nordosten gelegenen Handels- und Industriecentren" ("the northeastern trade and industry centers") and recommended a "Stützpunkt" (base of operations) atProvincetown, Massachusetts.^[69]
• Born:Karl Ristenpart, German conductor, known for his collaborations with of theChamber Orchestra of the Saar; inKiel (d. 1967)

• In Peiping (nowBeijing), diplomats for theUnited Kingdom, theUnited States,France,Germany andItaly sent notes to the Chinese Foreign Ministry (theZongli Yamen) requesting an imperial decree to order the suppression of theBoxers and theBig Swords Society inShandong andZhili.^[86]
• Despite U.S. PresidentWilliam McKinley's executive order that the new American territory be called "Puerto Rico", a Senate Committee voted unanimously to refer to the island legally as "Porto Rico". In addition, theU.S. Treasurer was authorized to retire the Puerto Rican money in favor of U.S. coinage, at the rate of 60 cents perpeso.^[87]
• Born: U.S. Navy AdmiralHyman G. Rickover, Polish-born American naval officer, first director of theU.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, known as the "Father of the Nuclear Navy"; as Chaim Godalia Rickover inMaków Mazowiecki,Poland (d. 1986)

• At the restaurant "Zum Mariengarten", inLeipzig, representatives from 86 football associations met at the invitation of Theoder Schoffler, to organize theGerman Football Association. A limestone plaque at the Friedrich Hofmeister Verlag on Buttnerstrasse commemorates the occasion.^[88]
• InBaltimore, Police Marshal Hamilton enforcedMaryland's 177-year-oldblue law, Article XXVII, section 247, which provided that "No person shall work or do any bodily labor on the Lord's Day". Every store in the city was ordered closed, including businesses that formerly had arranged open.The New York Times reported that "every cigar store, corner grocery, bakery and the like were closed up tight" and that the police were ordered to take the names of violators for future prosecution.^[89][90]

• TheAmerican League of Professional Baseball Clubs was organized inPhiladelphia, with representatives fromBoston,Philadelphia,Baltimore,Chicago,Detroit,Milwaukee andSt. Louis. An eighth club was expected to be placed inNew York City.^[91][92] During its first season, it would build its playing rosters by acquiring the minorWestern League, which would play in 1900 as the American League after moving itsSaint Paul,Grand Rapids andKansas City franchises toChicago,Cleveland andWashington, D.C.

• William Goebel, who had run forGovernor of Kentucky againstWilliam S. Taylor and who had taken a court challenge over the results, was found to be the winner of therecent state election. As he and his bodyguards, Colonel Jack Chinn and Warden E. P. Lillard of the state penitentiary, walked to theKentucky Senate chamber, he was hit by gunfire that came from the neighboring state office building. Goebel attempted to draw his own revolver but collapsed on the pavement. Chinn said later that Goebel told him, "They have got me this time. I guess they have killed me." It was determined that the shots were from a.38 caliber rifle.
• Born:Martita Hunt, Argentine-born British actress; inBuenos Aires (d. 1969)

• On his deathbed,William Goebel was sworn in asGovernor of Kentucky at8:55 pm. Chief Justice J.H. Hazelrigg also swore inJ. C. W. Beckham aslieutenant governor. Meanwhile,William S. Taylor continued to assert that he was Governor, and issued an order moving thestate legislature to meet inLondon, Kentucky.^[93]
• John Sholto Douglas, theMarquess of Queensberry, died at the age of 55. He had successfully pushed for the 1867 adoption ofrules forboxing that still apply and that bear his name, although they were actually authored byJohn Graham Chambers.

• January 1900
• January by year
• Months in the 1900s

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata