- Jan 1 Dutch East Indies government takes control of opium distribution
- Jan 4 In 'Gonzales v Williams', the US Supreme Court rules that Puerto Ricans are not aliens and may not be refused admission into continental United States; not until 1917 will citizenship rights be granted
- Jan 4 Stanley Cup, Aberdeen Pavilion, Ottawa, Ontario: Ottawa HC beats Winnipeg Rowing Club, 2-0 for 2-1 challenge series victory
- Jan 5 -34°F (-36.7°C), River Vale, New Jersey (state record)
- Jan 5 -42°F (-41.1°C), Smethport, Pennsylvania (state record)
- Jan 5 England beat Australia at the MCG, Rhodes 7-56 & 8-68
Bartók's "Kossuth"
Jan 13 Béla Bartók's symphonic poem "Kossuth" premieres by the Budapest Philharmonic Society in Budapest
"Cherry Orchard"
Jan 17 Anton Chekhov's play "Cherry Orchard" opens at Moscow Art Theater
"Jenufa"
Jan 21 Leos Janacek's opera "Jenufa" premieres in Brno
Ålesund Fire
Jan 23 Ålesund Fire: the Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless and one person dead. Kaiser Wilhelm II funds the rebuilding of the town in Jugendstil style.
- Jan 25 179 die in coal mine explosion at Cheswick, Pennsylvania
- Jan 25 John Millington Synge's play "Riders to the Sea" premieres in Dublin
- Jan 28 1st college sports letters given to Seniors who played on University of Chicago's football team are awarded blankets with letter "C" on them
- Jan 29 1st athletic letters given (University of Chicago football team)
Root Resigns
Feb 1 Elihu Root, then Secretary of War, resigns from the cabinet of President William McKinley and is succeeded by William Howard Taft
Caruso's First Recordings
Feb 1 Italian tenor Enrico Caruso makes his first recordings in America, singing "Questa o quella" and "La donna è mobile" from Giuseppe Verdi's "Rigoletto" in Carnegie Hall, NYC, for Victor Talking Machine Company
- Feb 4 John Millington Synge's play "Well of Saints" premieres in Dublin
- Feb 5 American occupation of Cuba ends
- Feb 6 Japan notifies Russia that in view of Russia's delaying tactics and provocative military action, Japan is ending negotiations and recalling its members from Moscow
- Feb 7 Baltimore catches fire (1500 buildings destroyed in 80 blocks)
A Humorous Diplomatic Atlas of Europe and Asia
Feb 9 Japanese torpedo boats make a surprise attack on Russian ships Port Arthur naval base, Manchuria, beginning the Russo-Japanese War. Japanese also land troops at Chemulpo (Inchon), near Seoul, Korea; in 3 weeks they advance to the Yalu River, the border of Manchuria.
- Feb 10 Japan and Russia declare war
Madama Butterfly
Feb 17 Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madama Butterfly" premieres at La Scala in Milan, Italy
- Feb 21 National Ski Association forms in Ishpeming, Michigan
- Feb 22 The Hague Tribunal gives its decision in claims against Venezuela; it sets the sum to be paid by Venezuela and gives preferential treatment to the three powers that initiated the block - Britain, Germany, and Italy
- Feb 22 The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina; the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908.
- Feb 23 Having occupied Korea, Japan signs a treaty with Korea under which it becomes a Japanese protectorate in return for Japanese protection from other powers
- Feb 23 United States acquires control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million
- Feb 25 J M Synge's "Riders to the Sea" opens at Irish National Theater Society
- Feb 25 Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Toronto Marlboroughs in 2 games
- Feb 28 Football club Sport Lisboa (Benfica) founded in Lisbon, Portugal
Symphony No.2
Feb 28 Vincent d'Indy's 2nd Symphony in B, premieres
Panama Canal Commission
Feb 29 Theodore Roosevelt, appoints 7-man Panama Canal Commission to proceed with completing a canal at the Isthmus
La figlia di Iorio
Mar 2 Gabriele d'Annunzio's tragic play "La figlia di Iorio" premieres in Milan
- Mar 2 Stanley Cup, Montreal Arena, Westmount, Quebec: Montreal Wanderers and Ottawa HC tie, 5-5; Montreal disqualified for refusing to play second game in Ottawa
- Mar 3 Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a sound recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison's cylinder
Tesla Explains Ball Lighting
Mar 5 Nikola Tesla describes the process of the ball lightning formation in Electrical World and Engineer
- Mar 6 The Japanese fleet bombards Vladivostok, the major Russian port on the Pacific
- Mar 8 Australian cricket spin bowler Hugh Trumble dismisses England batsmen Bernard Bosanquet, Plum Warner and Dick Lilley for his second Test hat-trick in 5th Test victory in Melbourne; Trumble's final Test
- Mar 9 Brandon's Lester Patrick becomes 1st hockey defenseman to score a goal
- Mar 11 Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Brandon Wheat Kings in 2 games
- Mar 12 1st main line electric train in UK (Liverpool to Southport)
Carnegie Hero Fund
Mar 12 Andrew Carnegie establishes Carnegie Hero Fund
In the South (Alassio)
Mar 18 First performance of Edward Elgar's "In the South (Alassio)"
- Mar 22 "Bailundo Revolt" ends after almost 2-years in Portuguese victory over Ovimbundu kingdom & allies
- Apr 5 The first international rugby league match is played between England and an Other Nationalities team (Welsh & Scottish players) in Central Park, Wigan, England.
- Apr 8 British mystic Aleister Crowley transcribes the first chapter of the Book of the Law
- Apr 8 Entente Cordiale between Britain and France
- Apr 8 Great Britain and France establish their Entente Cordiale, a technical treaty settling long-standing disagreements over Morocco, Egypt, Africa, and the Pacific
- Apr 8 New York City changes the name of Longacre Square to Times Square, in honor of The New York Times’s move to the area
- Apr 13 A squadron of the Russian fleet is decoyed out of Port Arthur by Japanese maneuvers, when they realize they are sailing into a trap; their battleship Petropavlovsk hits a mine and sinks, with a loss of 700 men
- Apr 13 Battle of Oviumbo (in modern Namibia): Herero tribesmen rise up against German colonists
Lewis and Clark Expo Gold Dollar
Apr 13 US Congress authorizes Lewis and Clark Exposition $1 gold coin
Chesbro's 1st Win
Apr 14 NY Highlanders' future Baseball HOF pitcher Jack Chesbro's first of 41 wins this season; pitches complete game and beats Boston Americans, 8-2 at Hilltop Park, NYC
- Apr 23 American Academy of Arts & Letters forms
French President Snubs Pope
Apr 24 President Loubet of France visits King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and pointedly ignores the Pope, exacerbating relations between France and the Roman Catholic Church
- Apr 26 Bell Telephone Company of Antwerp Belgium forms
- Apr 26 General Kuroko leads the Japanese Army against the large Russian force at the Yalu river during the Russo-Japanese War
First Labour Government
Apr 27 The Australian Labor Party under Prime Minister Chris Watson becomes the first Labor government in the world
- Apr 30 Ice cream cone makes its debut at St. Louis World's Fair invented by Ernest A. Hamwi (independently of other claimant Italo Marchiony in NY)
Rolls Meets Royce
May 4 Charles Rolls meets Henry Royce at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, England. Go on to form the car manufacturer Roll-Royce. [1]
- May 4 Construction begins by the United States on the Panama Canal
- May 6 American Lung Association holds its 1st meeting
- May 7 Flexible Flyer trademark registered
- May 9 The steam locomotive City of Truro becomes the first steam engine to exceed 100mph.
- May 11 Andrew Carnegie donates $1.5m to build the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, an international law administrative building and home for the Permanent Court of Arbitration [1]
Shéhérazade
May 17 Maurice Ravel's song cycle "Shéhérazade" premieres with Jeanne Hatto as soprano, at the Salle Nouveau Théâtre, Paris, France
- May 18 In Morocco, a brigand, Raizuli, kidnaps Ion H. Perdicaris, an American citizen
- May 21 Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) forms in Paris
- May 21 France recalls its ambassador to the Vatican to protest the Pope's attempt to discipline two French bishops; this is yet another incident driving France and the Catholic Church apart
- May 26 In two days of bitter fighting, the Japanese Army soundly defeats the Russians at Kinchan and captures the forts at Nanshan
- May 27 NY Giants first baseman Dan McGann collects MLB record 5 stolen bases in 3-1 win over the Brooklyn Superbas at the Polo Grounds in NYC; record broken in 1991 by Otis Nixon
- May 30 Frank Chance gets hit by pitch 5 times in a doubleheader
- May 30 The Japanese Army capture the City of Dairen after landing troops along the south coast of Manchuria
- Jun 2 Professor Schron finds microbe that causes photosynthesis
- Jun 6 National Tuberculosis Association organized, Atlantic City, New Jersey
- Jun 11 Chicago Cubs pitcher Bob Wicker no-hits NY Giants, wins in 12th on 1 hitter, 1-0
- Jun 11 German Lt. General Lothar von Trotha lands in Swapokmund, German South West Africa
- Jun 14 At the battle of Telissu, the Japanese rout the Russians and inflict heavy casualties
- Jun 14 Dutch troops occupy Kuto Reh, Sumatra, killing all inhabitants
- Jun 15 Side-wheeler passenger paddlesteamer "General Slocum" burns in NY's East River (1,031 die)
Bloomsday
Jun 16 Bloomsday (date of events in James Joyce's novel "Ulysses")
- Jun 16 Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolai Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland
- Jun 21 Boston Herald tells of Red Sox trade "Dougherty as a Yankee," 1st known reference to NY club as Yankees (became Yankees in 1913)
- Jun 21 The US Republican Party nominates Theodore Roosevelt for President, but not without opposition from those whom he calls 'malefactors of great wealth'
- Jun 22 Chinese laborers arrive in South Africa following a severe labor shortage
- Jun 28 International Anti-Military Cooperation (IAMV) forms in Amsterdam
- Jun 28 SS Norge runs aground and sinks off Rockall, North Atlantic, more than 635 die, largest maritime loss of life until Titanic
- Jun 29 2 prehistoric bones found in Weerdingerveen, Drenthe
1st US Olympic Games
Jul 1 III Summer (Modern) Olympic Games open in St Louis, the first held in the United States
- Jul 1 Willie Anderson becomes the first 2-time Western Open golf champion, beating fellow Scot Alex Smith by 4 strokes at Michigan's Kent CC
- Jul 5 NY Giants 18-game winning streak ends as Phillies win 6-5 in 10 innings at Huntington Park
- Jul 6 The US Democratic Party nominates little known New York judge Alton B. Parker for presidential nominee - virtually assuring the election of Theodore Roosevelt
- Jul 6 Two Russian cruisers move into the Red Sea and begin to stop ships of Britain, Germany, and other nations they believe friendly to Japan
- Jul 15 1st Buddhist temple in US forms, in Los Angeles, California
- Jul 16 Islands of Manu'a group (Samoa) ceded to US by their chiefs
- Jul 19 Dutch Premier Kuypers disbands 1st Chamber
- Jul 21 After 13 years, the 4,607-mile Trans-Siberian railway is completed
- Jul 21 Camille Jenatzy sets world auto speed record at 65.79 MPH
- Jul 23 Ice cream cone created during St Louis World Fair - the 1st cone reputedly by Charles E. Menches
- Jul 28 Interior Minister of Russia, Vyacheslav Plehve is assassinated; as leader of the most reactionary elements of government, he was hated for his repressive policies
- Jul 28 Rafael Reyes becomes dictator of Colombia after losing Panama
- Aug 3 British journalist Francis Younghusband visits forbidden city Lhasa
- Aug 7 Train derails on bridge in Eden, Colorado, during a flash flood, kills 96
- Aug 9 Libanus McLouth Todd of Rochester, New York patents his check-writing machine, the Protectograph designed to protect against check forgers
Event of Interest
Aug 10 Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (future Pope John XXIII) becomes a priest
- Aug 10 Battle of the Yellow Sea: Japanese fleet prevented Russians breaking out of Port Arthur
- Aug 10 Dutch newspaper Volk fires gay journalist Jacob de Cock
- Aug 10 NY Highlanders pitcher Jack Chesbro ends string of 30 consecutive complete games in a 5-1 loss to Chicago White Sox at South Side Park, Chicago
- Aug 11 German-ltalian General Von Trotha defeats Herero in SW Africa
- Aug 11 The Russian fleet in the harbor of at Port Arthur is exposed to Russian guns on the hill above the harbor; Russian ships attempt escape, but most are forced back into harbor by Japanese ships
- Aug 16 NYC begins building Grand Central Station
- Aug 17 Boston's Jesse Tannehell no-hits Chicago White Sox, 6-0
- Aug 17 George H. Reid succeeds John Watson as Prime Minister of Australia
- Aug 18 Chris Watson resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeeded by George Reid
- Aug 23 Automobile tire chain patented
- Aug 24 Battle of Liao-Yang-200,000 Japanese against 150,000 Russian, Japanese tactical victory
Jeffries TKOs Munroe
Aug 25 Champion James J. Jeffries scores a 2nd round TKO win over Jack Munroe in San Francisco; Jeffries retires after his 7th heavyweight boxing title defense
- Aug 30 American runner Thomas Hicks wins marathon gold medal in a time of 3:28:53 over a 40k course at the St. Louis Olympics
- Sep 3 For the only time in Olympic Games history, there is a throw-off in the discus final after Americans Martin Sheridan & Ralph Rose tie with a best throw of 128' 10½" in St. Louis; Sheridan wins with 127' 10¼"
- Sep 4 Dalai Lama signs treaty allowing British commerce in Tibet
- Sep 6 Soccer team Rheden forms
- Sep 7 British forces in Tibet force the 13th Dalai Lama to sign a treaty granting Britain trading posts in Tibet and a guarantee that Tibet will not concede territory to foreign powers
- Sep 9 Boston Herald again refers to NY baseball club as Yankees, when it reports "Yankees take 2," Yankee name not official till 1913
- Sep 9 Mounted police first appear in NYC
- Sep 19 Gen Nogi's assault on Port Arthur: 16,000 Japanese casualties
- Sep 20 George Ade's "College Widow," premieres in NYC
Wright Brothers Fly a Circle
Sep 20 Orville and Wilbur Wright fly a circle in their Flyer II
- Sep 21 The general strike called by the Socialist Party that spread throughout Italy ends
- Sep 23 British Colonel Francis Younghusband and his expedition with accompanying military force leave Lhasa, Tibet
- Sep 25 Charles Follis becomes first American black man contracted to play pro football on an integrated team when he signs with Shelby Blues of the "Ohio League"
- Sep 26 Charles Kleins "Music Master" premieres in NYC
- Sep 26 Earl Grey is named British governor-general of Canada
- Sep 26 GB Shaw's "How He Lied to Her Husband" premieres in NYC
- Sep 28 Woman arrested for smoking a cigarette in a car on 5th Avenue, NYC
- Sep 29 1st monument honoring Spanish–American War erected, in Monroeville, Ohio
- Sep 30 White Sox lefty Doc White, pitches his 5th shutout in 18 days
- Oct 1 JB van Heutsz becomes governor general of Dutch East Indies
- Oct 1 Netherlands and Portugal lay down boundaries splitting the island of Timor in two
- Oct 2 German General Lothar von Trotha issues order to exterminate native Herero and Namaqua peoples of German South West Africa (present day Namibia); 1st genocide of the 20th Century, kills 65,000 Herero and 10,000 of the Namaqua tribe
- Oct 2 White Sox left-hander Doc White's streak of 45 consecutive MLB scoreless innings is snapped by the New York Highlanders in Chicago; White Sox win, 7-1 at South Side Park III
- Oct 3 France & Spain sign treaty for Morocco Independence
- Oct 3 Mary McLeod Bethune opens Daytona Normal & Industrial School
- Oct 3 New York Giants pitcher Christy Mathewson strikes out 16 Cardinals in a 3-1 Giants victory over St. Louis; new MLB record; finishes the game in 1 hour, 15 minutes
- Oct 7 NY Highlanders beat Boston Americans, 3-2 at Hilltop Park, NYC for pitcher Jack Chesbro's MLB record 41st win of the season (41-12)
- Oct 8 Vanderbilt Cup, first major trophy in American auto racing is conducted on public roads in Nassau County area of Long Island, NY; inaugural winner, American driver George Heath in a Panhard
- Oct 10 Boston pitchers achieve 148 complete games-an AL record, also record for total complete games AL 1,098, NL 1,089
- Oct 10 Liberty Theater opens at 234 W 42nd St NYC
- Oct 15 The Russians are driven back by the Japanese in the Battle of Shaho; both sides suffer high casualties: Japanese (16,000) and Russians (60,000)
- Oct 16 Russian Baltic fleet departs to Port Arthur
Bank of America Founded
Oct 17 Bank of Italy (Bank of America), founded by Amadeo Giannini, opens its doors in Jackson Square, San Francisco
Symphony No. 5
Oct 18 Gustav Mahler's 5th symphony premieres in Cologne, Germany
- Oct 19 Polytechnic University of the Philippines founded as Manila Business School through superintendence of American C.A. O'Reilley
- Oct 20 Bolivia and Chile sign a treaty ending the War of the Pacific; recognizing Chile's possession of the coast, providing for construction of a railway linking La Paz, Bolivia, to Arica on the coast
- Oct 22 Russian fleet shoots at British fishing ship
- Oct 27 First section of New York subway - Lower Manhattan to Broadway Harlem, opened by Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT), fare one nickel
- Oct 28 St Louis police try a new investigation method - fingerprints
- Oct 29 First intercity trucking service (Colorado City & Snyder, Texas)
John Bull's Other Island
Nov 1 George Bernard Shaw's comedy play "John Bull's Other Island" premieres in London
- Nov 4 First stadium built specifically for football (Harvard Stadium)
- Nov 8 American President Theodore Roosevelt (R) defeats Alton B. Parker (D)
- Nov 8 Inventor and manufacturer Harvey Hubbell receives the first U.S. patent for a separable electric attachment plug
- Nov 9 1st airplane flight to last more than 5 minutes
Gillette Razor
Nov 15 King C. Gillette patents the Gillette razor blade
- Nov 18 General Esteban Huertas steps down after the government of Panama fears he wants to stage a coup
- Nov 23 III Summer (Modern) Olympic Games close in St Louis
- Nov 28 Germany defeats Hottentotten in Warmbad SW-Africa
- Dec 6 Theodore Roosevelt confirms Monroe Doctrine (Roosevelt Corollary)
- Dec 10 Founding of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity in Charleston, South Carolina
Pavlov First Russian Nobel
Dec 10 Ivan Pavlov awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for work on the physiology of digestion, first Russian to win a Nobel Prize
Physics Nobel for Argon Discovery
Dec 10 John William Strutt [Lord Rayleigh] and William Ramsay are presented with the Nobel Prize for Physics for their discovery of Argon
- Dec 10 King Peter I of Serbia named nationalist regime
- Dec 12 CMS McClellan's "Leah Kleschna" premieres in NYC
- Dec 19 Dawson City hockey team begins 9 day walk to get a boat to Seattle to catch a train to Ottawa to play in Stanley Cup on Jan 13 1905
- Dec 24 German SW Africa abolishes slavery of young children
- Dec 27 Stage play "Peter Pan" by J. M. Barrie premieres at the Duke of York Theatre in London
- Dec 27 W B Yeats and Lady Gregory's "On Baile's Strand" premieres in Dublin
- Dec 28 1st daily wireless weather forecasts published (London)
- Dec 31 First New Year's Eve celebration held in Times Square, New York City
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists