Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century
Decades: 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s - 1900s - 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s
Years: 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 - 1900 - 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905
Events
- Summer Olympic Games in Paris France
- Boxer Rebellion in China against Europeans
- February 27 - Ramsay MacDonald appointed secretary of newly formed British Labour Party
- March 13 - British capture Bloemfontein, capital of the Orange Free State Republic in South Africa, during Boer War.
- May 24 - British annex Orange Free State as Orange River Colony
- May 31 - British take Johannesburg
- June 5 - British take Pretoria
- July 5 - Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act passes British Parliament
- July 9 - Queen Victoria gives royal assent to Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act
- July 19 - King Umberto I of Italy assassinated by anarchist near Milan
- August 27 - British defeat Boer commandos at Bergendal
- November - William McKinley defeats William Jennings Bryan in the U.S. presidential election
Births
- February 11 - Thomas Hitchcock Jr, polo player
- February 11 - Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher
- April 25 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, physicist
- May 1 - Ignazio Silone, Italian author; in Abruzzo region of Italy
- June 29 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer
- August 24 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, The Queen Mother of the United Kingdom
- November 8 - Margaret Mitchell, American author
Deaths
- June 5 - Stephen Crane, American author; in Badenweiler, Baden, Germany
- July 19 - King Umberto I of Italy; (assassinated) in Monza, near Milan, Italy
- August 25 - Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher, writer; in Germany
- September 23 - William Marsh Rice philanthropist, founder of Rice University; (murdered) in New York City
- November 30 - Oscar Wilde, British author, playwright; in Paris, France
Science
- December 14 - Max Planck uses quantization to explain blackbody radiation.
Literature & the Arts
- Lafcadio Hearn's book Shadowings published
1900 is also the title of a movie by Bernardo Bertolucci
1900 released in 1976 followed two men from different classes in Italy from 1900 to 1945. It shows the rise of fascism and communism and their effects on the main characters. It is an epic film by anybody's standards, in that in its original release it was over 6 hours in length although it was cut to 4 hours for release in the USA.