1890s

The 1890s (pronounced "eighteen-nineties") was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1, 1890, and ended on December 31, 1899.
In American popular culture, the decade would later be nostalgically referred to as the "gay nineties" ("gay" meaning carefree or cheerful). In the British Empire, the 1890s epitomised the late Victorian period.
As European powers continued their colonial expansion, the decade saw the defeat of Edi (1890), Siam (1893), Morocco (1894), Dahomey (1894), Arab-Swahili warlords (1894), Lombork (1894), Pahang (1895), Merina (1895), Zanzibar (1896), Khaua and Mbandjeru (1896), Ashanti (1896), Matabeleland (1897), Pedir (1898), Sudan (1899), and various north-west Indian tribes and states. Whereas most colonial campaigns were successful, Italy faced a significant defeat as it failed to conquer Ethiopia, being decisively defeated at Adwa (1896). Furthermore, the second half of the decade saw the final unravelling of Spanish America, which began with insurrections in Cuba (1895) and the Philippines (1896) and ended with the Spaniards' defeat at the hands of the United States in 1898. Following the sale of various Pacific islands to Germany in 1899, the Spanish colonial empire would be restricted to Africa. Further in the east, Japan sought to expand its own empire, waging wars against Donghak (1894–1895), Qing China (1894–1895) and the Republic of Formosa (1895). Other conflicts included the Garza War (1891–1893), the Greco-Turkish War (1897) and internal conflicts in Samoa (1886–1894, 1898–1899), Afghanistan (1888–1893), Argentina (1890), Chile (1891), the Ottoman Empire (1891, 1893, 1894, 1895–96, 1896–1897, 1896), Mexico (1891–1892), Brazil (1893–1894, 1893–1895, 1899–1903), Peru (1894–1895), the South African Republic (1894), northwest China (1895–1896), Bolivia (1898–1899) and Columbia (1899–1902).
The decade was characterized by an international economic recovery following the Long Depression (1873–1896) and by the beginning of strong economic growth during the Belle Époque (1871–1914), driven by the innovations of the Second Industrial Revolution (i.e. electricity, gasoline, automobiles, artificial textiles, organic chemistry). The decade also saw the apogee of the coal-powered steam engine, which would subsequently be dethroned by the reciprocating engine, powered by refined petroleum. The supremacy of this new source of energy was confirmed when the world's first fleet, the Royal Navy, decided in 1910 to supply all its vessels with fuel oil. In the United States, the decade was marked by a severe economic depression sparked by the Panic of 1893. This economic crisis would help bring about the end of the so-called "Gilded Age", and coincided with numerous strikes in the industrial workforce. The economic depression sparked a political struggle over free silver and the collapse of the Third Party System. Concurrently in Australia, a banking crisis occurred, caused by the collapse of a speculative boom in the Australian property market. First-wave feminism made a significant breakthrough as a successful petition in 1893 resulted in New Zealand becoming the first country to grant women the right to vote.
From 1889 to 1890, a worldwide respiratory viral pandemic took place, resulting in 300–900 million infections and 1 million deaths. The pandemic is presumed to have originated in the central Asian city of Bukhara. Furthermore, in this decade, an epizootic of the rinderpest virus struck Africa, considered to be "the most devastating epidemic to hit southern Africa in the late nineteenth century". It killed more than 5.2 million cattle south of the Zambezi, as well as domestic oxen, sheep, and goats, and wild populations of buffalo, giraffe, and wildebeest. This led to starvation resulting in the death of an estimated third of the human population of Ethiopia and two-thirds of the Maasai people of Tanzania. In 1891−1892, poor weather alongside government mismanagement in Russia led to a famine, causing 375,000 to 400,000 deaths. British India suffered two famines this decade, first from 1896 to 1897 and then from 1899 to 1900, due to draught and British policies. Famines also took place in Cuba and China. Major earthquakes of this decade include the 1891 Mino–Owari earthquake (7,273 deaths), the 1893 Quchan earthquake (18,000 casualties), and the 1896 Sanriku earthquake (22,066 people dead or missing).
The first international Olympic Games in modern history were held in Athens in 1896, with 241 athletes from across 14 nations competing. In the United States, the best-selling books of this decade (by year) were Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush (a collection of short stories, best-seller in 1895), Tom Grogan (a drama novel, best-seller in 1896), Quo Vadis (a historical novel, best-seller in 1897), Caleb West (best-seller in 1898), and David Harum (best-seller in 1898). The film industry, still in its infancy, continued to produce short films such as Le Coucher de la Mariée and The Kiss. Songs of this decade include "America the Beautiful", "Daisy Bell" and "Hello! Ma Baby".
In this decade, the world population grew from 1.5 to 1.6 billion. The last living person from this decade, Emma Morano, died on April 15, 2017. Last living man from this decade was Jiroemon Kimura, and he died on June 12, 2013.
Harbin founded as a Russian city within Manchuria, founded to serve as the center of construction and the main junction and administration center of the Russian-built Chinese Eastern Railway. The location for the city was largely chosen strategically to cross the Songhua River, a tributary of the Amur, and the largest river in Manchuria.
The Wounded Knee Massacre in South Dakota on December 29, 1890, when 365 troops of the US 7th Cavalry, supported by four Hotchkiss guns, surrounded an encampment of Miniconjou (Lakota) and Hunkpapa Sioux (Lakota) near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. The Army had orders to escort the Sioux to the railroad for transport to Omaha, Nebraska. One day earlier, the Sioux had been cornered and agreed to turn themselves in at the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota. They were the last of the Sioux to do so. In the process of disarming the Sioux, a deaf tribesman named Black Coyote could not hear the order to give up his rifle and was reluctant to do so. A scuffle over Black Coyote's rifle escalated into an all-out battle, with those few Sioux warriors who still had weapons shooting at the 7th Cavalry, and the 7th Cavalry opening fire indiscriminately from all sides, killing men, women, and children, as well as some of their own fellow troopers. The 7th Cavalry quickly suppressed the Sioux fire, and the surviving Sioux fled, but US cavalrymen pursued and killed many who were unarmed. By the time it was over, about 146 men, women, and children of the Lakota Sioux had been killed. Twenty-five troopers also died, some believed to have been the victims of friendly fire as the shooting took place at point-blank range in chaotic conditions. Around 150 Lakota are believed to have fled the chaos, with an unknown number later dying from hypothermia. The incident is noteworthy as the engagement in military history in which the most Medals of Honor have been awarded in the military history of the United States. This was the last tribe to be invaded which broke the backbone of the American Indian Wars and the American Frontier.
In 1891 the Chilean Civil War was fought from January to September. José Manuel Balmaceda, President of Chile, and the Chilean Army loyal to him face Jorge Montt's Junta. The latter was formed by an alliance between the National Congress of Chile and the Chilean Navy.
In 1892 the Johnson County War occurred in Wyoming. Actually this range war took place in April 1892 in Johnson County, Natrona County and Converse County. The combatants were the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (the WSGA) and the Northern Wyoming Farmers and Stock Growers' Association (NWFSGA). WSGA was an older organization, comprising some of the state's wealthiest and most popular residents. It held a great deal of political sway in the state and region. A primary function of the WSGA was to organize the cattle industry by scheduling roundups and cattle shipments. The NWFSGAA was a group of smaller Johnson County ranchers led by a local settler named Nate Champion. They had recently formed their organization in order to compete with the WSGA. The WSGA "blacklisted" the NWFSGA and told them to stop all operations, but the NWFSGA refused the powerful WSGA's orders to disband and instead made public their plans to hold their own roundup in the spring of 1892. The WSGA, under the direction of Frank Wolcott (WSGA Member and large North Platte rancher), hired a group of skilled gunmen with the intention of eliminating alleged rustlers in Johnson County and break up the NWFSGA. Twenty three gunmen from the Paris, Texas, region and four cattle detectives from the WSGA were hired, as well as Idaho frontiersman George Dunning who would later turn against the group. A cadre of WSGA and Wyoming dignitaries also joined the expedition, including State Senator Bob Tisdale, state water commissioner W. J. Clarke, as well as W. C. Irvine and Hubert Teshemacher, both instrumental in organizing Wyoming's statehood four years earlier. They were also accompanied by surgeon Charles Penrose, who served as the group's doctor, as well as Asa Mercer, the editor of the WSGA's newspaper, and a newspaper reporter for the Chicago Herald, Sam T. Clover, whose lurid first-hand accounts later appeared in the eastern newspapers.
In 1893 the Leper War on Kauaʻi took place on the island of Kauai. The Provisional Government of Hawaii under Sanford B. Dole passes a law which would forcibly relocate lepers to the Leprosy Colony of Kalawao on the Kalaupapa peninsula. When Kaluaikoolau, a leper, resisted arrest by a deputy sheriff and killed the man, Dole reacted by sending armed militia against the lepers of Kalalau Valley. Kaluaikoolau reportedly foiled or killed some of his pursuers. But the conflict ended with the evacuation of the area in July 1893. The main source for the event is a 1906 publication by Kahikina Kelekona (John Sheldon), preserving the story as told by Piilani, Kaluaikoolau's widow.
During the span of 1893–1894 the Enid-Pond Creek Railroad War was fought in the Oklahoma Territory. It was effectively a county seat war. The Rock Island Railroad Company had invested in the townships of Enid and Pond Creek following an announcement by the United States Department of the Interior that the two would become county seats. The Department of the Interior decided to create an Enid and Pond Creek at another location, free of company influence. Resulting in two Enids and two Pond Creeks vying for becoming county seats, starting in September 1893. Rock Island refused to have its trains stop at "Government Enid". They would pass by without taking passengers. Frustrated Enid residents "turned to acts of violence". Some were regularly shooting at the trains. Others were damaging trestles and rail tracks, setting up train accidents. Only government intervention stopped the conflict in September 1894.
During 1893–1897 the War of Canudos arose, a conflict between the state of Brazil and a group of some 30,000 settlers under Antônio Conselheiro who had founded their own community in the northeastern state of Bahia, named Canudos. After a number of unsuccessful attempts at military suppression, it came to a brutal end in October 1897, when a large Brazilian army force overran the village and killed most of the inhabitants. The conflict started with Conselheiro and his jagunços (landless peasants) of this "remote and arid" area protesting against the payment of taxes to the distant government of Rio de Janeiro. They founded their own self-sufficient village, soon joined by others in search of a "Promised Land". By 1895, they refused requests by Rodrigues Lima, Governor of Bahia and Jeronimo Thome da Silva, Archbishop of São Salvador da Bahia to start obeying the laws of the Brazilian state and the rules of the Catholic Church. In 1896, a military expedition under Lieutenant Manuel da Silva Pires Ferreira was sent to pacify them. It was instead attacked, defeated and forced to retreat. Increasingly stronger military forces were sent against Canudos, only to meet with fierce resistance and suffering heavy casualties. In October 1897, Canudos finally fell to the Brazilian military forces. "Those jagunços who were not killed in combat were taken prisoner and summarily executed (by beheading) by the army".
In 1894 the Donghak Peasant Revolution in Joseon Korea came to pass. The uprising started in Gobu during February 1894, with the peasant class protesting against the political corruption of local government officials. The revolution was named after Donghak, a Korean religion stressing "the equality of all human beings". The forces of Emperor Gojong failed in their attempt to suppress the revolt, with initial skirmishes giving way to major conflicts. The Korean government requested assistance from the Empire of Japan. Japanese troops, armed with "rifles and artillery", managed to suppress the revolution. With Korea being a tributary state to Qing Dynasty China, the Japanese military presence was seen as a provocation. The resulting conflict over dominance of Korea would become the First Sino-Japanese War. In part, the government of Emperor Meiji was acting to prevent expansion by the Russian Empire or any other great power towards Korea. Viewing such an expansion as a direct threat to Japanese national security.
During 1895, the Doukhobors, a pacifist Christian sect of the Russian Empire, attempt to resist a number of laws and regulations forced on them by the Russian government. They are mostly active in the South Caucasus, where universal military conscription was introduced in 1887 and was still controversial. They also refuse to swear an oath of allegiance to Nicholas II, the new Russian Emperor. Under further instructions from their exiled leader Peter Vasilevich Verigin, as a sign of absolute pacifism, the Doukhobors of the three Governorates of Transcaucasia made the decision to destroy their weapons. As the Doukhobors assembled to burn them on the night of June 28/29 (July 10/11, Gregorian calendar) 1895, with the singing of psalms and spiritual songs, arrests and beatings by government Cossacks followed. Soon, Cossacks were billeted in many of the Large Party Doukhobors' villages, and over 4,000 of their original residents were dispersed through villages in other parts of Georgia. Many of those died of starvation and exposure.
1896–1898 was when Philippine Revolution occurred. The Philippines, part of the Spanish East Indies, attempt to secede from the Spanish Empire. The Philippine Revolution began in August 1896, upon the discovery of the anti-colonial secret organization Katipunan by the Spanish authorities. The Katipunan, led by Andrés Bonifacio, was a secessionist movement and shadow government spread throughout much of the islands whose goal was independence from Spain through armed revolt. In a mass gathering in Caloocan, the Katipunan leaders organized themselves into a revolutionary government and openly declared a nationwide armed revolution. Bonifacio called for a simultaneous coordinated attack on the capital Manila. This attack failed, but the surrounding provinces also rose up in revolt. In particular, rebels in Cavite led by Emilio Aguinaldo won early victories. A power struggle among the revolutionaries led to Bonifacio's execution in 1897, with command shifting to Aguinaldo who led his own revolutionary government. That year, a truce was officially reached with the Pact of Biak-na-Bato and Aguinaldo was exiled to Hong Kong, though hostilities between rebels and the Spanish government never actually ceased. In 1898, with the outbreak of the Spanish–American War, Aguinaldo unofficially allied with the United States, returned to the Philippines and resumed hostilities against the Spaniards. By June, the rebels had conquered nearly all Spanish-held ground within the Philippines with the exception of Manila. Aguinaldo thus declared independence from Spain and the First Philippine Republic was established. However, neither Spain nor the United States recognized Philippine independence. Spanish rule in the islands only officially ended with the 1898 Treaty of Paris, wherein Spain ceded the Philippines and other territories to the United States. The Philippine–American War broke out shortly afterward.
In 1897 the Lattimer massacre happened. The violent deaths of 19 unarmed striking immigrant anthracite coal miners at the Lattimer mine near Hazleton, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 1897. The miners, mostly of Polish, Slovak, and Lithuanian ethnicity, were shot and killed by a Luzerne County sheriff's posse. Scores more workers were wounded. The Lattimer massacre was a turning point in the history of the United Mine Workers (UMW).
In 1898 the Bava Beccaris massacre in Milan, Kingdom of Italy came about, killing and injuring hundreds. On May 5, 1898, workers organized a strike to demonstrate against the government of Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì, Prime Minister of Italy, holding it responsible for the general increase of prices and for the famine that was affecting the country. The first blood was shed that day at Pavia, when the son of the mayor of Milan was killed while attempting to halt the troops marching against the crowd. After a protest in Milan the following day, the government declared a state of siege in the city. Infantry, cavalry and artillery were brought into the city and General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris ordered his troops to fire on demonstrators. According to the government, there were 118 dead and 450 wounded. The opposition claimed 400 dead and more than 2,000 injured people. Filippo Turati, one of the founders of the Italian Socialist Party, was arrested and accused of inspiring the riots.
During 1898 the Voulet–Chanoine Mission became a disastrous French military expedition sent out from Senegal to conquer the Chad Basin and unify all French territories in West Africa. The expedition descended into wanton violence against the local population and ended in sedition on the part of the commanders.
In 1898, the Battle of Sugar Point takes place in the northeast shore of Leech Lake, Minnesota. "Old Bug" (Bugonaygeshig), a leading member of the Pillager Band of Chippewa Indians in Bear Island had been arrested in September 1898. A reported number of 22 Pillagers helped him escape. Arrest warrants were issued for all Pillagers involved in the incident. On October 5, 1898, about 80 men serving or attached to the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment arrived on Bear Island to perform the arrests. Finding it abandoned, they proceeded to Sugar Point. There, a force of 19 Pillagers armed with Winchester rifle was observing the soldiers from a forested area. When a soldier fired his weapon, allegedly a new recruit who had done so accidentally, the Pillagers returned fire. Major Melville Wilkinson, the commanding officer, was shot three times and killed. By the end of the conflict, seven soldiers had been killed (including Wilkinson), another 16 wounded. There were no casualties among the 19 Natives. Peaceful relations were soon re-established but this uprising was among the last Native American victories in the American Indian Wars. It is known as "the last Indian Uprising in the United States".