1900
1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 1900th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 900th year of the 2nd millennium, the 100th and last year of the 19th century, and the 1st year of the 1900s decade. As of the start of 1900, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923. As March 1 (O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar didn't, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 (O.S. February 15), 2100. The year 1900 was also the year of the rat on the Chinese calendar.
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 18th century – 19th century – 20th century |
| Decades: | 1870s 1880s 1890s – 1900s – 1910s 1920s 1930s |
| Years: | 1897 1898 1899 – 1900 – 1901 1902 1903 |
| Gregorian calendar | 1900 MCM |
| Ab urbe condita | 2653 |
| Armenian calendar | 1349 ԹՎ ՌՅԽԹ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6650 |
| Bahá'í calendar | 56–57 |
| Balinese saka calendar | 1821–1822 |
| Bengali calendar | 1307 |
| Berber calendar | 2850 |
| British Regnal year | 63 Vict. 1 – 64 Vict. 1 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2444 |
| Burmese calendar | 1262 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7408–7409 |
| Chinese calendar | 己亥年 (Earth Pig) 4596 or 4536 — to — 庚子年 (Metal Rat) 4597 or 4537 |
| Coptic calendar | 1616–1617 |
| Discordian calendar | 3066 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1892–1893 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5660–5661 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 1956–1957 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1821–1822 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5000–5001 |
| Holocene calendar | 11900 |
| Igbo calendar | 900–901 |
| Iranian calendar | 1278–1279 |
| Islamic calendar | 1317–1318 |
| Japanese calendar | Meiji 33 (明治３３年) |
| Javanese calendar | 1829–1830 |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 12 or 13 days |
| Korean calendar | 4233 |
| Minguo calendar | 12 before ROC 民前12年 |
| Nanakshahi calendar | 432 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2442–2443 |
| Tibetan calendar | 阴土猪年 (female Earth-Pig) 2026 or 1645 or 873 — to — 阳金鼠年 (male Iron-Rat) 2027 or 1646 or 874 |
Art, music, theatre, literature
- May 17 – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum is published.
Events
- February 9 – The Boers defeat the British at Ladysmith, South Africa.
- The Olympic Games took place in Paris.
Births
January
March
- March 10 – Violet Brown, Jamaican supercentenarian, oldest Jamaican ever (d. 2017)
- March 29 – John McEwen, 18th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1980)
April
- April 5 – Spencer Tracy, American actor (d. 1967)
- April 26 – Charles Richter, American geophysicist and inventor (d. 1985)
June
- June 17 – Martin Bormann, Nazi-German politician (d. 1945)
August
- August 4 – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, queen of George VI of the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
- August 4 – Nabi Tajima, Japanese supercentenarian, last surviving person born in the 19th century (d. 2018)
October
- October 7 – Heinrich Himmler, German Nazi politician (d. 1945)
- October 17 – Jean Arthur, American actress (d. 1991)
- October 20 – Ismail al-Azhari, President of Sudan (d. 1969)
- October 21 – Srinagarindra, Queen Mother of Thailand (d. 1995)
- October 26 – Ibrahim Abboud, President of Sudan (d. 1983)
Deaths
- June 5 – Stephen Crane, American writer (b. 1871)
- August 25 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher and writer (b. 1844)
- November 22 – Sir Arthur Sullivan. English composer (b. 1842)
- November 30 – Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (b. 1854)