1901

1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar, and starting on a Monday in the Julian calendar. It was also the first year of the 20th century.
Big Events of 1901
On January 1, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, and Tasmania form the Commonwealth of Australia. John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow becomes the first Governor-General and Edmund Barton becomes the 1st Prime Minister of Australia. The first Australian parliament meets in Melbourne on May 9.
In the United Kingdom, on January 22, Queen Victoria dies at the age of 81, having reigned for 63 years, 7 months and 2 days, longer than any British monarch before her. In the United Kingdom and the British Empire, her death marks the end of the Victorian era. Her 59-year-old son succeeds her as King Edward VII of the United Kingdom.
In China, the Boxer Rebellion is crushed and China is forced to accept Peace terms decided by Western Powers, Japan and Russia.
25th President of the United States, William McKinley, is shot by Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American exposition in Buffalo, New York and dies 8 days later. Theodore Roosevelt succeeds him as president.
The first Nobel Prizes are given in Stockholm on December 10, the 5th anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen wins the Prize in Physics for the discovery of X-rays, and the Nobel Peace Prize is shared between Frederic Passy and Jean-Henri Dunant, founder of the International Red Cross.
Events
January - June
January 1 First day of the 20th century.
January 1 Australia becomes a country, as New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania form the Commonwealth of Australia.
January 1 Nigeria becomes a British Protectorate.
January 5 A typhoid outbreak occurs in a Seattle jail.
January 10 China accepts Peace terms by Western Powers, Japan and Russia, as the Boxer Rebellion is crushed.
January 22 Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom dies on the Isle of Wight at the age of 81. Her son, Edward VII of the United Kingdom, succeeds her.
January 28 Baseball's American League declares itself a Major League.
February 2 The funeral of Queen Victoria takes place.
February 6 The first public telephones are installed at railway stations in Paris.
February 14 Edward VII of the United Kingdom opens his first parliament.
February 22 A Pacific Mail Steamer sinks in the Golden Gate Harbor, killing 128 people.
February 23 The United Kingdom and Germany agree on the border between German East Africa (present-day Tanzania) and the British colony of Nyasaland (present-day Malawi).
March 4 William McKinley starts his second term as President of the United States. Theodore Roosevelt becomes Vice President of the United States.
March 6 Wilhelm II of Germany survives an assassination attempt in Bremen.
March 17 The showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris creates a sensation.
March 31 The United Kingdom's 1901 census is held.
April 25 The State of New York becomes the first to require automobile license plates.
April 29 Hirohito is born. He later becomes the longest-reigning Japanese Emperor, dying in 1989.
May 3 Jacksonville, Florida is destroyed by fire, as 10,000 people are made homeless.
May 9 Australia opens its first Parliament in Melbourne.
May 17 The US Stock Market crashes.
May 24 78 miners die in the Caerphilly pit disaster in South Wales.
May 25 River Plate football club, in Buenos Aires, is founded.
June 2 Katsura Taro becomes Prime Minister of Japan.
June 12 Cuba becomes a US protectorate.
July - December
July 4 The Covered Bridge at Hartland, New Brunswick, Canada, is opened. At 390 metres long, it is the longest covered bridge in the world.
July 4 William Taft becomes Governor-General of the Philippines.
August 6 Robert Falcon Scott, on board the RRS Discovery, sets sail on his expedition to the Ross Sea in Antarctica.
August 11 Under Erich von Drygalski, Germany's first Antarctic expedition begins.
August 30 Hubert Cecil Booth patents an electric vacuum cleaner.
September 6 Assassination of William McKinley: US President William McKinley is shot by Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
September 7 The Boxer Rebellion officially ends in China.
September 14 William McKinley, 8 days after being shot, dies of his injuries. Theodore Roosevelt becomes the 26th President of the United States.
October 2 The first Royal Navy submarine is launched.
October 24 Michigan school teacher Annie Taylor goes down Niagara Falls in a barrel, and survives.
October 29 Leon Czolgosz is executed at Auburn State Prison, New York, for the assassination of William McKinley.
November 9 Future King George V of the United Kingdom is made Prince of Wales.
November 25 Auguste Deter is first examined by Alois Alzheimer in Germany. She becomes the first-known sufferer of what is later called Alzheimer's disease.
December 10 The first Nobel Prizes are given in Stockholm on the 5th anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.
December 12 Guglielmo Marconi receives the first Trans-Atlantic radio signal, sent from Poldhu, England to Newfoundland, Canada.
December 13 Modern 32-bit computers will incorrectly set their clocks to this time on January 19, 2038
December 20 The final spike is driven into the Mombasa-Victoria-Uganda railway in what is now Kisumu, Kenya.
Other Events
Boer War (1899 - 1902)
Norway allows women to vote in local elections.
Pablo Picasso creates the first paintings of his Blue Period.
Rudyard Kipling's ''Kim (book) published.