# 1900 in France

Events from the year 1900 in France.

## Incumbents

* President: Émile Loubet
* President of the Council of Ministers: Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau

## Events

* 31 March – The length of a workday for women and children is limited to 11 hours by law.
* 1 April – Every French policeman is assigned to carry a gun.
* 14 April – Paris World Exhibition opens.
* 21 April – Battle of Kousséri takes place in Chad, linking all French possessions in Western Africa.
* 27 June – Treaty of Paris is signed between the Spanish Empire and the French Empire by which Río Muni is relieved of all conflicting claims.
* 19 July – The first line of the Métro is inaugurated in Paris.
* First Michelin Guide published.

## Arts and literature

* 2 February – First performance of Gustave Charpentier's opera, Louise.
* 21 November – Claude Monet's paintings shown at Gallery Durand-Ruel in Paris

## Sport

* 14 May–28 October - Olympic Games held in Paris.

## Births
### January to March

* 3 January – Marcel Gobillot, cyclist and Olympic medallist (died 1981)
* 5 January – Yves Tanguy, surrealist painter (died 1955)
* 6 January – Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie, journalist, politician and French Resistance member (died 1969)
* 7 January – Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil, lover and later married to Samuel Beckett (died 1989)
* 8 January – François de Menthon, politician and professor of law (died 1984)
* 11 January – Benoît Fauré, cyclist (died 1980)
* 22 January – René Pellos, artist (died 1998)
* 24 January – René Guillot, author (died 1969)
* 4 February – Jacques Prévert, poet and screenwriter (died 1977)
* 11 February – Raymond Cambefort, one of the last three fully verified World War I veterans living in France (died 2008)
* 21 February – Madeleine Renaud, actress (died 1994)
* 6 March – Henri Jeanson, writer and journalist (died 1970)
* 8 March – Pierre David-Weill, investment banker (died 1975)
* 19 March – Frédéric Joliot-Curie, physicist and Nobel laureate (died 1958)

### April to June

* 13 April – Pierre Molinier, painter and photographer (died 1976)
* 15 April – Pierre Nord, writer, spy and resistance member (died 1985)
* 20 April – Jacques Adnet, designer, architect and interior designer (died 1984)
* 27 April – Marcel Légaut, philosopher and mathematician (died 1990)
* 28 April
** Maurice Thorez, communist politician (died 1964)
** Jean Vaysse, rugby union player (died 1974)
* 17 May – Achille Souchard, cyclist (died 1976)
* 22 May – Yvonne de Gaulle, married to Charles de Gaulle (died 1979)
* 14 June – Roger Bourdin, baritone (died 1973)
* 22 June – Henriette Alimen, paleontologist and geologist (died 1996)
* 29 June – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, pilot and writer (died 1944)

### July to December

* 4 July – Robert Desnos, surrealist poet (died 1945)
* 12 July – Marcel Paul, trade unionist and communist politician (died 1982)
* 17 July – Marcel Dalio, actor (died 1983)
* 19 July – Pierre Coquelin de Lisle, sport shooter and Olympic gold medallist (died 1980)
* 26 July – Jacques Février, pianist (died 1979)
* 11 August – Georges Limbour, writer (died 1970)
* 6 September – Marc Bernard, writer (died 1983).
* 30 September – Pierre Yvert, philatelic editor (died 1964)
* 9 October – Henri Lauvaux, athlete and Olympic medallist (died 1970)
* 13 October – Ghislaine Marie Françoise Dommanget, actress and Princess of Monaco (died 1991)
* 21 October – Andrée Boisson, Olympic fencer (died 1973)
* November – Émile Gagnan, engineer and inventor (died 1979)
* 15 December – Hellé Nice, model, dancer and motor racing driver (died 1984)
* 23 December – Marie Bell, actress and stage director (died 1985)

### Full date unknown

* Georges Neveux, dramatist and poet (died 1982)

## Deaths

* 11 February – Émile Blanchard, zoologist and entomologist (born 1819)
* 19 March – Charles-Louis Hanon, piano pedagogue and composer (born 1819)
* 26 March – Victor Auguste, baron Duperré, colonial administrator (born 1825)
* 5 April – Joseph Louis François Bertrand, mathematician (born 1822)
* 15 April - Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux, writer (born 1868)
* 22 April – Amédée-François Lamy, military officer (born 1858)
* 18 May – Félix Ravaisson-Mollien, philosopher and archaeologist (born 1813)
* 16 June – François d'Orléans, prince de Joinville, admiral (born 1818)
* 24 September – Louis Ratisbonne, writer and man of letters (born 1827)
* 13 October – Louis Adolphe Cochery, politician and journalist (born 1819)
* Full date unknown – Jules Adenis, dramatist and opera librettist (born 1823)