- Jan 1 Cuba liberated from Spanish rule by the US, American occupation continues till 1902
- Jan 3 1st known use of the word "automobile", appears in an editorial in The New York Times
- Jan 7 Walter Camp publishes his 1st All-American football team in Collier's
- Jan 12 Lynmouth Lifeboat rescues 18 people from the stricken schooner Forest Hall off the coast of Devon
- Jan 17 US takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific
- Jan 19 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan forms
- Jan 21 Opel manufactures its first automobile
- Jan 22 Leaders of six Australian colonies meet in Melbourne to discuss confederation
Event of Interest
Jan 23 Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as President of the First Philippine Republic
- Jan 24 Belgium government of Vandenpeereboom forms
- Jan 24 Rubber heel for boots or shoes patented by American Humphrey O'Sullivan
- Jan 28 American Social Science Association incorporated by Congress
- Feb 2 The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital (Canberra) between Sydney and Melbourne.
- Feb 4 The Philippine–American War begins with fighting between American and Philippine revolutionary forces
Spain Declares War Against the United States
Feb 6 Spanish–American War ends, peace treaty ratified by Senate
- Feb 10 -39°F (-39°C), Milligan, Ohio (state lowest record temperature)
- Feb 11 -15°F (-26°C), Washington, D.C. (district record)
- Feb 12 -47°F (-44°C), Camp Clarke, Nebraska (state record)
- Feb 12 1st 2-man team 6-day bicycle race in US begins, Madison Square Garden, NYC
- Feb 13 -16°F (-27°C), Minden Louisiana (state record)
- Feb 13 -1°F (-18°C) New Orleans, La
- Feb 13 -2°F (-19°C) Tallahassee, Florida (state record)
- Feb 14 US Congress begins using voting machines
- Feb 16 Future England cricket captain Pelham Warner scores an unbeaten 132 on his Test debut in a 32 run win over South Africa in the 1st Test in Johannesburg
- Feb 16 Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur Iceland's first football club is founded
- Feb 16 President of France Félix Faure dies in office
- Feb 18 80°F recorded in San Francisco, California
- Feb 18 San Francisco named as a port of dispatch for Army transports
- Feb 18 Stanley Cup, Montreal Arena, Westmount, Quebec: Montreal Victorias beat Winnipeg Victorias, 3-2 to sweep series, 2-0 for CAHL
- Feb 20 Ill Tel & Tel granted franchise for Chicago freight tunnel system
- Feb 24 Western Washington University is established
Music Premiere
Feb 26 1st performance of Anton Bruckner's "Symphony No. 6 in A", Gustav Mahler leading the Vienna Philharmonic in Graz, Austria
Event of Interest
Mar 3 George Dewey becomes 1st in US to hold the rank of Admiral of the Navy
- Mar 3 US Congress authorizes Lafayette silver dollar
- Mar 4 Cyclone Mahina sweeps in north of Cooktown, Queensland, with a 12 m wave that reaches up to 5 km inland - over 300 dead.
- Mar 5 1st performance of Edward MacDowell's 2nd Concerto in D
- Mar 6 "Aspirin" (acetylsalicylic acid) patented by Felix Hoffmann at German company Bayer
Historic Invention
Mar 14 German Ferdinand von Zeppelin receives a US patent for a "Navigable Balloon"
- Mar 14 Stanley Cup, Montreal Arena, Westmount, Quebec: Montreal Shamrocks beat Queens University, 6-2 to clinch trophy for CAHL
- Mar 17 Windsor luxury hotel in NYC catches fire, 92 die
- Mar 18 Phoebe, a moon of Saturn is discovered by William Pickering
- Mar 21 British & French accord over West Africa
- Mar 24 61st Grand National: George Williamson aboard 1897 winner Manifesto wins by 4 lengths from Ford Of Fyne
- Apr 1 NC Mutual opens doors for business
- Apr 4 South Africa all out 35 vs England (Trott 4-19, Haigh 6-11)
- Apr 11 Treaty of Paris ratifies ends war; Spain cedes Puerto Rico to US
- Apr 17 3rd Boston Marathon won by Lawrence Brignolia in 2:54:38
- Apr 18 John McGraw, at 26, has his managerial debut as Oriole manager
Event of Interest
Apr 18 St. Andrew's Ambulance Association is granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria
Appointment of Interest
Apr 20 David Beatty is appointed executive officer of the HMS Barfleur, a small battleship and flagship of the China Station
- Apr 24 Transvaal British Uitlanders ask Queen Victoria for aid
- Apr 27 Foundation of the Phonogrammarchiv of the Austrian Academy of Science, the world's first research sound archive (added to UNESCO's Memory of the World 1999) [1]
- May 4 25th Kentucky Derby: Fred Taral aboard Manuel wins in 2:12
Alpha and Beta Rays
May 8 Ernest Rutherford publishes his discovery of two different kinds of radiation (Alpha and Beta Particles)
- May 8 The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin opens
- May 9 John Burr patents an improved rotary blade lawn mower in the US
- May 17 Victoria & Albert Museum foundation laid, London, England
- May 18 World Goodwill Day: 26 nations meet in 1st Hague Peace Conference
- May 20 First speeding infraction by a New York cabbie driving an electric car - 12mph down Lexington Street
- May 24 1st auto repair shop opens (Boston)
- May 25 33rd Belmont: R. Clawson aboard Jean Beraud wins in 2:23
- May 30 24th Preakness: R Clawson aboard Half Time wins in 1:47
- May 31 -June 5] Conference of Bloemfontein fails
- May 31 Bronx acquires Keltch Memorial Park
Cricket Debut
Jun 1 English cricket icon W. G. Grace starts 22nd and final Test against Australia at Nottingham; Test debut of Wilfred Rhodes and Victor Trumper
- Jun 2 Black Americans observed day of fasting in protest against lynchings
- Jun 3 W. G. Grace's last day of Test cricket aged 50 yrs 320 days
British Golf Open
Jun 8 British Open Men's Golf, Royal St George's GC: Harry Vardon of Jersey retains Open; wins 3rd title by 5 strokes from Jack White
Jeffries KOs Fitzsimmons
Jun 9 American boxer James J. Jeffries KOs defending champion Bob Fitzsimmons of England in 11th round in Brooklyn, New York to win the lineal World Heavyweight title
Cricket History
Jun 16 Australian cricketer Victor Trumper's 1st Test Cricket century 135* v England at Lord's
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
Jun 27 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Blanche Bingley-Hillyard beats Charlotte Cooper 6-2, 6-3
- Jun 29 Brazo River in Texas floods 12 miles wide causing $10 million damage
- Jun 30 Spin bowler Jack Hearne takes England cricket's first Test hat-trick vs Australia in drawn 3rd Test at Headingley; dismisses champion middle order trio Clem Hill, Syd Gregory and Monty Noble
- Jul 1 Gideon Society established to place bibles in hotels
- Jul 1 San Francisco City Hall turned over to city, after 29 years of building
- Jul 19 National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers forms
- Jul 29 1st motorcycle race, Manhattan Beach, NY
- Jul 29 Southern California Golf Association forms
- Jul 29 The First Hague Convention concerning land war customs and laws is signed
- Jul 31 Albert Trott hits Monty Noble over the Pavilion at Lord's Cricket Ground
- Aug 15 Louisville's pitcher Henry Dowling struck out 5 times in a game
- Aug 21 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Newport, RI: Malcolm Whitman wins second of 3 consecutive US singles titles; beats J. Parmly Paret 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5
- Sep 4 8.3 earthquake shakes Yakutat Bay, Alaska
- Sep 6 Carnation processes its first can of evaporated milk
- Sep 6 US minister of Foreign affairs John Hay publishes his "Open Through Note"
- Sep 8 British government sends an additional 10,000 troops to Natal, South Africa
Dreyfus Sentenced
Sep 9 French Captain Alfred Dreyfus sentenced on unjust grounds
- Sep 10 2nd quake in 7 days (8.6) hits Yakutat Bay, Alaska
- Sep 13 Mackinder, Ollier and Brocherel make the first ascent of Batian (5,199m - 17,058 ft), the highest peak of Mount Kenya
- Sep 14 Henry Bliss becomes 1st recorded US death from an auto accident when he is hit by a taxicab in New York City
- Sep 15 US Open Men's Golf, Baltimore CC: Willie Smith wins by a comfortable 11 strokes from Scotsmen George Low & Val Fitzjohn and Bert Way of England
- Sep 17 1st British troops leave Bombay for South Africa
Music History
Sep 18 Scott Joplin granted copyright for his "Maple Leaf Rag", the most famous ragtime composition, by the US Copyright Office
- Sep 28 Transvaal mobilizes its army - leadup to Second Boer War
- Oct 2 Orange Free state mobilizes
- Oct 3 J S Thurman patents motor-driven vacuum cleaner
- Oct 9 1st British troops reaches Durban, South Africa
- Oct 9 South Africa President Kruger routes British authorities ultimatum
- Oct 10 African-American inventor Issac R. Johnson patents the bicycle frame
- Oct 11 South African Boers declare war on Great Britain
- Oct 12 South Africa Boer Republic declares war on Britain
- Oct 13 7,000 laid-off black mine workers of South Africa reach Natal
Event of Interest
Oct 14 Morning Post reporter Winston Churchill departs to South Africa
- Oct 15 Cincinnati closes season with 16-1 & 19-3 victories over Cleve Spiders
- Oct 17 Sutro railroad sold to Robert F Morrow for $215,000
- Oct 20 American yacht Columbia beats the Shamrock challenge from Royal Ulster Yacht Club in 11th America's Cup
- Oct 20 Battle at Talana Hill, Natal: British army vs Boers
- Oct 21 Battle at Elandslaagte Natal: (Boers vs British army)
- Oct 22 British troops flee Dundee, Natal South Africa
- Oct 24 Battle at Rietfontein, South Africa: Boers vs British army
- Oct 30 Battle of Ladysmith, Natal: Boers defeat the British, leading to the Siege of Ladysmith
- Oct 30 British Morning Post reporter Winston Churchill reaches Capetown
- Nov 2 Boers begin siege of Ladysmith, Natal
- Nov 3 World heavyweight boxing champion James J. Jeffries retains title; beats Irishman Tom Sharkey on points in 25 rounds at Coney Island Athletic Club, Brooklyn, NYC
- Nov 11 Stuart/Rubens/Boyd-Jones' "Floradora" premieres in London
- Nov 12 British troops reach Durban, Natal
- Nov 15 Morning Post reporter Winston Churchill captured by Boers in Natal
- Nov 18 Trumper scores 208 in 185 mins (1 five 25 fours) NSW v Qld
- Nov 22 -23] Battle at Willow Grange, Natal (British vs Boer army)
- Nov 23 Battle at Belmont: General Methuen's British brigades engage Boer force during Second Boer War
- Nov 25 Battle at Graspan, Cape colony: General Methuen beats Farmers
- Nov 28 Second Boer War: Battle of Modder River (Cape Colony), British Lord Methuen defeats Boer forces of Piet Cronjé and Koos de la Rey
- Dec 2 Philippine–American War: The Battle of Tirad Pass, termed "The Filipino Thermopylae", is fought.
- Dec 2 US & Germany agree to divide Samoa between them
- Dec 4 56th Congress (1899-1901) convenes
- Dec 4 Webb Hayes, son of US President Rutherford Hayes, receives medal of honor
- Dec 9 Boer War: During Siege of Ladysmith, Boers storm King's Post and Caesar's Camp - driven back
- Dec 10 -15] British "Black Week" due to defeats in South Africa
- Dec 10 Battle at Storm Berge South Africa - Boers vs British army
- Dec 10 Delta Sigma Phi fraternity founded at City College of New York, to spread "the principles of friendship and brotherhood among college men, without respect to race or creed."
Der Kammersänger
Dec 10 Frank Wedekind's play "Der Kammersänger" premieres in Berlin
- Dec 12 1st case of plague on Oahu, Hawaii
- Dec 12 George F Bryant of Boston patents the wooden golf tee
- Dec 15 Battle at Colenso, South Africa: British army defeated by Boer force
- Dec 16 Italian football club A.C. Milan founded as Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club by Englishmen Alfred Edwards and Herbert Kilpin (disputed possibly 13 Dec)
- Dec 18 Field Marshal Lord Roberts appointed British supreme commander in South Africa
- Dec 23 British Field Marshal Lord Roberts departs Southampton for South Africa for the 2nd Boer War
- Dec 23 Tentative Turkish & German treaty on construction of Baghdad railway
- Dec 25 Shelling on besieged Ladysmith during the Boer War includes one shell containing a plum pudding
- Dec 26 Mafeking: Bathe-Powells failed assault up fort Game Tree: 24 killed
- Dec 29 British fleet seizes German Imperial Mail Steamer Bundesrath accused of carrying contraband
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists