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The Panama Canal Treaty, stated that the Panama Canal Zone would cease to exist on October 1, 1979, and the Canal itself would be turned over to the Panamanians on December 31, 1999. These two treaties were signed on September 7, 1977. It took more than six months before the Senate voted. -
The Platt Amendment, an amendment to a U.S. army appropriations bill, established the terms under which the United States would end its military occupation of Cuba (which had begun in 1898 during the Spanish-American War) and "leave the government and control of the island of Cuba to its people." -
Siege of the International Legations, (20 June–14 August 1900), engagement of the Boxer Rebellion in China. Placed under siege by Chinese soldiers, the foreign legations in Peking (Beijing, China) held out for fifty-five days until relieved by an international expeditionary force. -
Hay proposed a free, open market and equal trading opportunity for merchants of all nationalities operating in China, based in part on the most favored nation clauses already established in the Treaties of Wangxia and Tianjin. -
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was a German transatlantic ocean liner in service from 1897 to 1914, when it was scuttled in battle. It was the largest ship in the world for a time, and held the Blue Riband until Cunard Line’s Lusitania entered service in 1907. -
In the Siege of Catubig, Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack against a detachment of American soldiers, and after a four-day siege, Americans evacuate the town of Catubig in Samar. -
The Open-Door Policy supported equal privileges for all of the countries trading with China and reaffirmed China's territorial and administrative integrity. Through this policy, John Hay was able to increase trade. -
The Kaiser had long wanted a large naval force to assure Germany of what he called "a place in the sun". A large German navy could assist in German attempts to attain colonies, as well as further the country's economic and commercial interests elsewhere in the world. -
On the evening of 29 July 1900, Italian-American anarchist Gaetano Bresci assassinated Umberto in Monza by shooting him four times. Bresci claimed he wanted to avenge the people killed in Milan during the suppression of the riots of May 1898. -
Mabitac was linked to the garrison town of Siniloan by a causeway which, on the day of the battle, was flooded with water (in many parts waist-deep). The water in the flanking rice fields was even deeper, making it impossible to properly deploy off the narrow road. -
The Battle of Leliefontein (also known as the Battle of Witkloof) was an engagement between British-Canadian and Boer forces during the Second Boer War on 7 November 1900, at the Komati River 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Belfast at the present day Nooitgedacht Dam. -
When the British Parliament passed legislation enabling the six Australian colonies to collectively govern in their own right as the Commonwealth of Australia. It was a remarkable political accomplishment that had taken many years and several referenda to achieve. -
When Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, Edward became King of the United Kingdom, Emperor of India and, in an innovation, King of the British Dominions. -
Vice President Theodore Roosevelt assumes the presidency. A funeral train carrying McKinley's casket travels from Buffalo to the Capitol in Washington, DC, and finally to Ohio, where McKinley is buried. Czolgosz's trial begins. -
The Qing dynasty was greatly weakened as a result of the Boxer Rebellion. Despite subsequently implementing liberal economic and political reforms, the dynasty was overthrown in 1911. The Republic of China was established the following year, bringing an end to more than 2,000 years of imperial dynastic rule. -
At Signal Hill on December 12, 1901, Guglielmo Marconi and his assistant, George Kemp, confirmed the reception of the first transatlantic radio signals. With a telephone receiver and a wire antenna kept aloft by a kite, they heard Morse code for the letter "S" transmitted from Poldhu, Cornwall. -
On the 17th of Jumada I 1351 AH / September the 19th 1932 AD, a royal decree was issued announcing the unification of the country under the name (The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), starting from Thursday, the 21st of Jumada I 1351 AH / September the 23rd 1932 AD (the first day of Libra). -
Following the defeat of Spain in 1898, the United States remained in Cuba as an occupying power until the Republic of Cuba was formally installed on May 19, 1902. On May 20, 1902, the United States relinquished its occupation authority over Cuba, but claimed a continuing right to intervene in Cuba. -
The British had crushed the Boer resistance, and on May 31 of that year, the Peace of Vereeniging was signed, ending hostilities. The treaty recognized the British military administration over Transvaal and the Orange Free State, and authorized a general amnesty for Boer forces. -
After Salisbury's retirement, Balfour served as prime minister from July 12, 1902, to December 4, 1905. He sponsored and secured passage of the Education Act (Balfour Act; 1902), which reorganized the local administration of elementary and secondary schools. -
On July 17, 1902, Willis Carrier solved one of mankind's most elusive challenges by controlling the indoor environment through modern air conditioning. His invention enabled countless industries while promoting global productivity, health and personal comfort. -
Named after President Theodore Roosevelt, the stuffed bear was first sold by Morris Michtom, a Brooklyn, New York, resident who owned a candy shop. -
Early in the morning of June 11th, 1903, King Alexander Obrenovic of Serbia and his Queen were brutally murdered by a group of insurgent officers, who ransacked the royal palace of Belgrade in a fervour of inebriated patriotism. -
The Tour de France (French pronunciation: [tuʁ də fʁɑ̃s]; English: Tour of France) is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France. -
On August 4, 1903, the College of Cardinals in Vatican City elects Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto as the new Pope after the lengthy illness and death of Pope Leo XIII. He chooses the name Pius X, and leads the Catholic Church until his death in 1914. -
Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, (Nov. 18, 1903), agreement between the United States and Panama granting exclusive canal rights to the United States across the Isthmus of Panama in exchange for financial reimbursement and guarantees of protection to the newly established republic. -
After several unsuccessful attempts, on December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville Wright completed the first powered flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft known as the Wright Flyer. The flight lasted just 12 seconds, traveled 120 feet, and reached a top speed of 6.8 miles per hour. -
Armed conflict between Russia and Japan began on this day in 1904 when the Japanese navy launched a surprise attack on Port Arthur and blockaded the Russian Far East fleet in what is now northeast China. -
Entente Cordiale, (April 8, 1904), Anglo-French agreement that, by settling a number of controversial matters, ended antagonisms between Great Britain and France and paved the way for their diplomatic cooperation against German pressures in the decade preceding World War I (1914–18). -
The world's longest railway was completed on 21 July 1904. The world's longest single railway journey, 5,772 miles (9289 km) from Moscow to Vladivostok by way of Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk, nowadays takes about a week. -
A wave of mass political and social unrest then began to spread across the vast areas of the Russian Empire. The unrest was directed primarily against the Tsar, the nobility, and the ruling class. -
The dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden was the result of a conflict over the question of a separate Norwegian consular service. The fact that Norway did not have its own foreign service missions, and was subordinate to Sweden in all matters of foreign policy, was a clear indication of Norway’s lesser role in the union. -
Under the terms of the treaty, which was signed by both parties on September 5, 1905, Russia turned over Port Arthur to the Japanese, while retaining the northern half of Sakhalin Island, which lies off its Pacific coast (they would gain control of the southern half in the aftermath of World War II). -
On September 26, 1905 (received June 30), Albert Einstein published his annus mirabilis paper on what is now called special relativity. Einstein's paper includes a fundamental description of the kinematics of the rigid body, and it did not require an absolutely stationary space, such as the aether. -
The reorganization separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas. Announced on 20 July 1905 by Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of India, and implemented on 16 October 1905, it was undone a mere six years later. -
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, (born September 7, 1836, Glasgow, Scotland—died April 22, 1908, London, England), British prime minister from December 5, 1905, to April 5, 1908. His popularity unified his own Liberal Party and the unusually strong cabinet that he headed. -
The event is remembered as the deadliest earthquake in the history of the United States. The death toll remains the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California's history and high on the lists of American disasters. -
The Dreyfus Affair was a political and criminal justice scandal in France that went from 1894 to 1906. French artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus, of Jewish descent, was convicted of treason in 1894 and sentenced to life in prison. -
On August 16, 1906, at 19:55 local time, while most Chileans were dining, a subterraneous sound was heard, and before it ended, the first tremor occurred, lasting about four minutes. The second tremor occurred at 20:06 and, although it lasted only two minutes, was much more violent. -
The U.S. intervention in Cuba in 1906, commonly referred to as the Second Intervention, began on September 28, 1906 with the resignation of the Cuban president and his cabinet and ended on January 28, 1909 when the U.S. relinquished control of the state to its newly elected president. -
While some remained skeptical of the reported achievements of the Wright Brothers, which were conducted in secrecy away from the public eye, the success of the flamboyant Santos-Dumont was plain for all to see on October 23, 1906, when his 14-bis biplane flew about 200 feet at a height of around 15 feet. -
Chosen by Empress Dowager Cixi,[1] Puyi became emperor at the age of 2 years and 10 months in December 1908 after the Guangxu Emperor, Puyi's half-uncle, died childless on 14 November. -
On 30 December 1906, around 3000 delegates attended a conference of the Muhammadan Educational Conference at Dhaka in which the ban on politics was removed and a motion was moved to form the AIML. The name was proposed by Nawab Khwaja Sir Salimullah Bahadur and seconded by Hakim Ajmal Khan. -
Parliamentary elections were held in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland on 15 and 16 March 1907. They were the first parliamentary election in which members were elected to the new Parliament of Finland by universal suffrage and the first in the world in which female members were elected. -
Signed in 1905, the treaty deprived the Korean Empire of its diplomatic sovereignty and made it a protectorate of Japan. -
The presidency of William Howard Taft began on March 4, 1909, when William Howard Taft was inaugurated as 27th president of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1913. Taft, was a Republican from Ohio. -
Early in April 1908 Campbell-Bannerman resigned and died some days later. Asquith, generally regarded as his inevitable successor, became prime minister and was to hold the office for nearly nine years. He appointed David Lloyd George to the Exchequer and made Winston Churchill president of the Board of Trade. -
May 26, 1908: Mideast Oil Discovered There Will Be Blood. 1908: A British company strikes oil in Persia (now Iran). It's the first big petroleum find in the Middle East, and it sets off a wave of exploration, extraction and exploitation that will change the region's — and the world's — history. -
On May 31, 1910, four colonies were joined together to create the Union of South Africa, a self-governing Dominion in the British Empire. While the new nation was sovereign when it came to its domestic affairs, the United Kingdom maintained control over its relations with the wider world. -
Tunguska event, enormous explosion that is estimated to have occurred at 7:14 am plus or minus one minute on June 30, 1908, at an altitude of 5–10 km (15,000–30,000 feet), flattening some 2,000 square km (500,000 acres) and charring more than 100 square km of pine forest near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. -
The independence of Bulgaria was formally proclaimed at the Holy Forty Martyrs Church in Tarnovo. As part of the proclamation, Ferdinand raised Bulgaria from a principality to a kingdom, increasing its international prestige. -
The epicentre was in the Strait of Messina which separates Sicily from the Italian mainland. The cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria were almost completely destroyed and between 75,000 and 82,000 people died. It was the most destructive earthquake ever to strike Europe. -
Bangkok Treaty signed on March 10, 1909, with ratifications exchanged in London on July 9, 1909. (Great Britain, Foreign Office, Treaty Series 1909, No. 19, Command 4703, London.) The Treaty formally ceded the four southern Malay states under Siamese suzerainty to the protection of Great Britain. -
An act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that brought about a limited increase in the involvement of Indians in the governance of British India. -
The rapidly spreading fire killed 146 workers. The building had only one fire escape, which collapsed during the rescue effort. Long tables and bulky machines trapped many of the victims. -
The conquest of the North Pole was for many years credited to US Navy engineer Robert Peary, who claimed to have reached the Pole on 6 April 1909, accompanied by Matthew Henson and four Inuit men, Ootah, Seeglo, Egingwah, and Ooqueah. -
A number of developments contributed to the empire's final collapse, including social unrest, lack of industrial capacity, and what happened to the Ottoman Empire after World War I. -
On 16 July 1909, the parliament voted to place Mohammad Ali Shah's 11-year-old son, Ahmad Shah on the throne. Mohammad Ali Shah abdicated following the new Constitutional Revolution and he has since been remembered as a symbol of dictatorship. -
The 5 October 1910 revolution was the overthrow of the centuries-old Portuguese monarchy and its replacement by the First Portuguese Republic. It was the result of a coup d'état organized by the Portuguese Republican Party. -
On February 8, 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia. From that day forth, Scouts have celebrated February 8 as the birthday of Scouting in the United States. -
Hsian-T'ung, the last emperor of China, is forced to abdicate following Sun Yat-sen's republican revolution. A provisional government was established in his place, ending 267 years of Manchu rule in China and 2,000 years of imperial rule. -
Born during the reign of his grandmother Queen Victoria, George was the second son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra), and third in the line of succession to the British throne behind his father and his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor. -
Japan had developed within less than 30 years from a feudal country into the preeminent Asian power. On July 30 of 1912, Emperor Meiji died. His son Yoshihito followed his father to the throne. With him the Meiji era ended officially and the Taisho era began. -
The Kingdom of Montenegro (Serbian: Краљевина Црна Горa, romanized: Kraljevina Crna Gora) was a monarchy in southeastern Europe, present-day Montenegro, during the tumultuous period of time on the Balkan Peninsula leading up to and during World War I. -
The Japanese government formally annexed the Kingdom of Korea on August 22, 1910. Japanese troops suppressed the Righteous Army mutiny in 1912, resulting in the deaths of more than 17,000 Koreans and 150 Japanese government soldiers. -
Written by Francisco I. Madero while in exile in Texas, the Plan called for an end to Porfirio Díaz's long presidential reign known as the Porfiriato, the provisional presidency for legitimate winner Madero, and for Mexicans to unite against despotism on November 20, 1910. -
: Taking off from the U.S. Army’s Selfridge Field (the closed Tanforan race track at San Bruno, California) at approximately 10:45 a.m., Eugene Burton Ely flew his Curtiss-Ely pusher to San Francisco Bay where he landed aboard the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4) as it lay at anchor. -
The Ten Tragic Days (Spanish: La Decena Trágica) during the Mexican Revolution is the name given to the multi-day coup d'état in Mexico City by opponents of Francisco I. Madero. -
The work's premiere on May 29, 1913, at the Théatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, was scandalous. In addition to the outrageous costumes, unusual choreography and bizarre story of pagan sacrifice, Stravinsky's musical innovations tested the patience of the audience to the fullest. -
Nine days later, the Italian ambassador in Istanbul gave an ultimatum to the Ottoman government: Libya had to be ceded to the Kingdom of Italy in 24 hours. The Turks did not respond in time to the ultimatum and on 29 September 1911, the war began. -
Montenegro declared war on Turkey; Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece followed suit on October 17. Surprisingly, the Ottoman army was quickly and decisively defeated, as the Balkan forces drove the Turks from almost all of their territory in southeastern Europe over the course of a month. -
The Wuchang Uprising was an armed rebellion against the ruling Qing dynasty that took place in Wuchang (now Wuchang District of Wuhan), Hubei, China on 10 October 1911, beginning the Xinhai Revolution that successfully overthrew China's last imperial dynasty. -
On November 3, 1911, Swiss race car driver and automotive engineer Louis Chevrolet co-founded the “Chevrolet Motor Company” in Detroit. Founders included Louis Chevrolet, his brother Arthur Chevrolet, William C. Durant, and investment partners William Little, former Buick owner James H. -
Norwegian Roald Amundsen becomes the first explorer to reach the South Pole, beating his British rival, Robert Falcon Scott. Amundsen, born in Borge, near Oslo, in 1872, was one of the great figures in polar exploration. -
Until December 1911 Calcutta was the capital of India during the British Rule. However, it had become the centre of the nationalist movements since the late nineteenth century, which led to the Partition of Bengal by Viceroy Lord Curzon. -
Founded on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein as the South African Native National Congress, the organisation was formed to agitate for the rights of black South Africans. -
For both New Mexico and Arizona, the road to statehood was protracted and contentious. However, after much effort, on January 6, 1912 New Mexico became the 47th state and on February 14, 1912 Arizona became the 48th state in the Union. -
France established a protectorate over Morocco as a result of the signing of the Treaty of Fez on March 30, 1912. Prior to 1912, Morocco had been an independent kingdom for several centuries. -
Titanic received six warnings of sea ice on 14 April but was travelling at a speed of roughly 22 knots (41 km/h) when her lookouts sighted the iceberg. Unable to turn quickly enough, the ship suffered a glancing blow that buckled her starboard side and opened six of her sixteen compartments to the sea. -
After the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in the 1911 Xinhai Revolution and the founding of the Republic of China, the Kuomintang was formally established on 25 August 1912. -
The 1913 Ottoman coup d'état (January 23, 1913), also known as the Raid on the Sublime Porte (Turkish: Bâb-ı Âlî Baskını), was a coup d'état carried out in the Ottoman Empire by a number of Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) members. -
The first inauguration of Woodrow Wilson as the 28th president of the United States was held on Tuesday, March 4, 1913, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. -
The Treaty of Bucharest, signed August 10, was negotiated by local states, rather than by the great powers. By its terms, Bulgaria lost a considerable amount of territory and Serbia and Greece received control of most of Macedonia. -
This secret treaty between neutral Italy and the Allied forces of France, Britain, and Russia to bring Italy into World War I. The Allies wanted Italy's participation because of its border with Austria. -
On this day in history, October 7, 1913, Henry Ford and his team at the Highland Park automobile assembly plant in Michigan launched the first moving assembly line. -
It took many months and nearly straight party-line voting, but on December 23, 1913, the Senate passed and President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act.