What Happened in 1900 — Events, Births & Deaths

American statesman and diplomat John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.

Chicago Canal opens.

Irish nationalist leader John Edward Redmond calls for revolt against British rule.

Second Boer War: Having already besieged the fortress at Ladysmith, Boer forces attack it, but are driven back by British defenders.

President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.

To combat Czech nationalism, Emperor Franz Joseph decrees German will be language of the Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces.

Giacomo Puccini's Tosca opens in Rome.

The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.

Second Boer War: The Battle of Spion Kop between the forces of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State and British forces ends in a British defeat.

Second Boer War: Boers stop a British attempt to break the Siege of Ladysmith in the Battle of Spion Kop.

Great Britain, defeated by Boers in key battles, names Lord Roberts commander of British forces in South Africa.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international arbitration court at The Hague, is created when the Senate of the Netherlands ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.

Second Boer War: British troops fail in their third attempt to lift the Siege of Ladysmith.

A Chinese immigrant in San Francisco falls ill to bubonic plague in the first plague epidemic in the continental United States.

The Davis Cup competition is established.

The Southern Cross expedition led by Carsten Borchgrevink achieves a new Farthest South of 78° 50'S, making the first landing at the Great Ice Barrier.

Second Boer War: Imperial forces suffer their worst single-day loss of life on Bloody Sunday, the first day of the Battle of Paardeberg.

Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronjé at the Battle of Paardeberg.

The British Labour Party is founded.

Fußball-Club Bayern München is founded.

British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, during the Second Boer War.

The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing the United States currency on the gold standard.

Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Carnegie Steel Company is formed in New Jersey; its capitalization of $160 million is the largest to date.

Archaeologists in Knossos, Crete, discover the first clay tablet with hieroglyphic writing in a script later called Linear B.

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

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

The world's fair Exposition Universelle opens in Paris.

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

Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.

The Scofield Mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.

Opening of World Amateur championship at the Paris Exposition Universelle, also known as Olympic Games.

The children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is first published in the United States. The first copy is given to the author's sister.

The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.

Great Britain annexes Tonga Island.

Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking.

American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner in 1863.

Second Boer War: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State.

Thousand Days' War: The Colombian Conservative Party turns the tide of war in their favor with victory against the Colombian Liberal Party in the Battle of Palonegro.

N'Djamena is founded as Fort-Lamy by the French commander Émile Gentil.

Indian nationalist Birsa Munda dies of cholera in a British prison.

The Reichstag approves new legislation continuing Germany's naval expansion program, providing for construction of 38 battleships over a 20-year period. Germany's fleet would be the largest in the world.

Hawaii becomes a United States territory.

The second German Naval Law calls for the Imperial German Navy to be doubled in size, resulting in an Anglo-German naval arms race.

Boxer Rebellion: Western Allied and Japanese forces capture the Taku Forts in Tianjin, China.

Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army begins a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing, China.

Baron Eduard Toll, leader of the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900, departs Saint Petersburg in Russia on the explorer ship Zarya, never to return.

Boxer Rebellion: China formally declares war on the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Japan, as an edict issued from the Empress Dowager Cixi.

The Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu discovers the Dunhuang manuscripts, a cache of ancient texts that are of great historical and religious significance, in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China.

A savage fire wrecked three steamships docked at a pier in Hoboken, New Jersey. Over 200 crew members and passengers are killed, and hundreds injured.

The Federation of Australia is given royal assent.

The Governor of Shanxi province in North China orders the execution of 45 foreign Christian missionaries and local church members, including children.

Armies of the Eight-Nation Alliance capture Tientsin during the Boxer Rebellion.

The first line of the Paris Metro opens for operation.

Kaiser Wilhelm II makes a speech comparing Germans to Huns; for years afterwards, "Hun" would be a disparaging name for Germans.

In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci. His son, Victor Emmanuel III, 31 years old, succeeds to the throne.

The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is founded.

The steamer Deutschland of Hamburg America Lines sets a new record for the eastward passage when it docks in 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.

Battle of Peking: The Eight-Nation Alliance occupies Beijing, China, in a campaign to end the bloody Boxer Rebellion in China.

Filipino insurgents defeat a small American column in the Battle of Pulang Lupa, during the Philippine–American War.

Peace congress in Paris condemns British policy in South Africa and asserts Boer Republic's right to self-determination.

The Cook Islands become a territory of the United Kingdom.

Count Bernhard von Bülow becomes chancellor of Germany.

Max Planck discovers Planck's law of black-body radiation.

President William McKinley is re-elected, along with his vice-presidential running mate, Governor Theodore Roosevelt of New York.

The French actress Sarah Bernhardt receives the press at the Savoy Hotel in New York at the outset of her first visit since 1896. She talked about her impending tour with a troupe of more than 50 performers and her plans to play the title role in Hamlet.

Quantum mechanics: Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law (quantum theory) at the Physic Society in Berlin.

Hopetoun Blunder: The first Governor-General of Australia John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, appoints Sir William Lyne premier of the new state of New South Wales, but he is unable to persuade other colonial politicians to join his government and is forced to resign.

French parliament votes amnesty for all involved in scandalous army treason trial known as Dreyfus affair.