1900 Year in Review

Paris - La Belle Époque

January

• January 2 – U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announces the Open Door Policy, to promote American trade with China.

• January 5 – Dr. Henry A. Rowland of Johns Hopkins University announces a theory about the cause of the Earth's magnetism.

• January 6 – Second Boer War: Boers attempt to end the Siege of Ladysmith, which leads to the Battle of Platrand.

• January 9 – S.S. Lazio, an Italian professional sports club, is founded in Rome.

• January 14

• Puccini's opera Tosca premieres in Rome, Italy.

• The U.S. Senate accepts the British-German Treaty of 1899, in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the American Samoa portion of the Samoan Islands.

• January 24 – Second Boer War – Battle of Spion Kop: Boer troops defeat the British Army.

• January 27 – Boxer Rebellion: Foreign diplomats in Peking, Qing Dynasty China, demand that the Boxer rebels be disciplined.

• January 31 – Datu Muhammad Salleh, leader of the Mat Salleh Rebellion in North Borneo, is shot dead in Tambunan.

February

• February 5 – The United Kingdom and the United States sign a treaty for the building of a Central American shipping canal, across Central America in Nicaragua.
• February 6 – The International Arbitration Court at The Hague is created, when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
• February 8 – Second Boer War: British troops are defeated by the Boers at Ladysmith.
• February 14 – Second Boer War – Battle of Paardeberg: 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.
• February 15 – Second Boer War: The Siege of Kimberley is lifted.
• February 17 – Second Boer War: Battle of Paardeberg: British troops defeat the Boers.
• February 27
  • FC Bayern, Germany's most successful football club, is founded in Munich.
  • Second Boer War: British military leaders accept the unconditional notice of surrender, from Boer General Piet Cronjé.
  • The British Labour Party is officially established, at a meeting in the Congregational Memorial Hall in London.