1897

1897 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar1897
MDCCCXCVII
Ab urbe condita2650
Armenian calendar1346
ԹՎ ՌՅԽԶ
Assyrian calendar6647
Baháʼí calendar53–54
Balinese saka calendar1818–1819
Bengali calendar1303–1304
Berber calendar2847
British Regnal year60 Vict. 1 – 61 Vict. 1
Buddhist calendar2441
Burmese calendar1259
Byzantine calendar7405–7406
Chinese calendar丙申年 (Fire Monkey)
4594 or 4387
    — to —
丁酉年 (Fire Rooster)
4595 or 4388
Coptic calendar1613–1614
Discordian calendar3063
Ethiopian calendar1889–1890
Hebrew calendar5657–5658
Hindu calendars
 - Vikram Samvat1953–1954
 - Shaka Samvat1818–1819
 - Kali Yuga4997–4998
Holocene calendar11897
Igbo calendar897–898
Iranian calendar1275–1276
Islamic calendar1314–1315
Japanese calendarMeiji 30
(明治30年)
Javanese calendar1826–1827
Julian calendarGregorian minus 12 days
Korean calendar4230
Minguo calendar15 before ROC
民前15年
Nanakshahi calendar429
Thai solar calendar2439–2440
Tibetan calendarམེ་ཕོ་སྤྲེ་ལོ་
(male Fire-Monkey)
2023 or 1642 or 870
    — to —
མེ་མོ་བྱ་ལོ་
(female Fire-Bird)
2024 or 1643 or 871

1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, the 1897th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 897th year of the 2nd millennium, the 97th year of the 19th century, and the 8th year of the 1890s decade. As of the start of 1897, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Events

March 4, U.S. President William McKinley inaugurated

January

  • January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City.
  • January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedition against Benin.
  • January 7 – A cyclone destroys Darwin, Australia.
  • January 8 – Lady Flora Shaw, future wife of Governor General Lord Lugard, officially proposes the name "Nigeria" in a newspaper contest, to be given to the British Niger Coast Protectorate.
  • January 22 – In this date's issue of the journal Engineering, the word computer is first used to refer to a mechanical calculation device.[1]
  • January 31 – The Czechoslovak Trade Union Association is founded in Prague.

February

  • February 10 – Freedom of religion is proclaimed in Madagascar.
  • February 16 – The French conquer the island of Raiatea and capture the rebel chief Teraupo'o, ending the Leeward Islands War and bringing all of the Society Islands under their control.
  • February 18Benin is put to the torch by the British Army's Benin Expedition. Ovonramwen, Oba of Benin, is exiled from his kingdom and the Benin Bronzes are carried off to London.
  • February 26 – The Sigma Pi fraternity is founded in Vincennes, Indiana.
  • February 27 – The French military governor of Madagascar, Joseph Gallieni, exiles Queen Ranavalona III to Réunion, abolishing the monarchy the next day.

March

April

  • April 15
    • Drillers near Bartlesville, Oklahoma strike oil for the first time, in the designated "Indian Territory", on land leased from the Osage Indians. The gusher, at the Nellie Johnstone Number One well, leads to rapid population growth.[2]
    • Yamaichi Securities founded in Japan; it will cease trading a hundred years later.[3]
  • April 18 – the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 Breaks out.
  • April 19 – The first Boston Marathon is held in the United States, with fifteen men competing, and is won by John McDermott.[4]
  • April 23 – Representatives of the Chickasaw Nation, Choctaw Nation and U.S. Dawes Commission sign the Atoka Agreement, which becomes an important precursor for creating the State of Oklahoma.
  • April 276 May – Greco-Turkish War of 1897: Battle of Velestino.[5]
  • April 30J. J. Thomson of the Cavendish Laboratory announces his discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1,800 times smaller than a proton (in the atomic nucleus), at a lecture at the Royal Institution in London.[6]

May

June

  • June 12 – 1897 Assam earthquake: An earthquake of magnitude of 8.0 rocks Assam, India, killing over 1,500 people.
  • June 18 – Kyoto University is officially established in Japan.[14]
  • June 22 – The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria is celebrated in the United Kingdom.[15] No other British monarch will celebrate such a jubilee until Elizabeth II in 2012.
Display in celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee on Alma Place in Coleraine, County Londonderry, Ulster

July

August

October 6, Ethiopian flag.

September

October: USS Baltimore in Hawaii
  • September 21 – Francis P. Church responds (anonymously) to a letter to the editor of The Sun (New York City) that is known as the famous "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" letter.

October

  • October 5 – After a long siege, Brazilian government troops take Canudos in north Brazil, crushing Antônio Conselheiro and his followers.
  • October 6Ethiopia adopts the tricolor flag: green is for the land, yellow for gold, and red is symbolic of strength and the blood shed.
  • October 12
    • The Korean Empire is proclaimed, marking the end of the Joseon dynasty after just over 500 years.
    • The city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil is created. The construction of the second Brazilian planned city is completed successfully; an immigration of 1,000,000 people is estimated.
    • USS Baltimore (Cruiser # 3, later CM-1) is recommissioned, since 1890, for several months of duty in the Hawaiian Islands.
  • October 13 – HMS Canopus, a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy, is launched at Portsmouth, England; she will be deployed widely in World War I.
  • October 23 – The Kappa Delta sorority is founded in Farmville, Virginia.

November

December

  • December 9 – The first issue of the feminist newspaper La Fronde is published by Marguerite Durand in Paris.
  • December 12
    • The comic strip The Katzenjammer Kids debuts in the New York Journal.
    • Belo Horizonte, the first planned city in Brazil, is incorporated.
  • December 14 – Pact of Biak-na-Bato: The Philippine Revolution is settled, with Spanish promises to reform.
  • December 28 – The play Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand, premieres in Paris.
  • December 30 – Natal annexes Zululand.

Date unknown

  • The first electric bicycle is invented.
  • Karl Lueger becomes mayor of Vienna.
  • Zhejiang University is founded in China.
  • Émile Durkheim publishes his classic study Suicide.
  • The pan-African anthem "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" ("God Bless Africa") is composed as a Xhosa hymn by South African teacher Enoch Sontonga.
  • Dos Equis beer is first brewed in Mexico, in anticipation of the new century. "Dos equis" is Spanish for "two x", a reference to the 20th Century (XX in Roman numerals)
  • Alexander Scriabin publishes his Piano Sonata no. 2 "Sonata-Fantasia" in G sharp minor

Births

January–February

Marion Davies
Ludwig Erhard
Judith Anderson
Marian Anderson

March–April

Lefty O'Doul
Princess Mary

May–June

Einar Gerhardsen
Odd Hassel
Anthony Eden
Paavo Nurmi

July–August

Plaek Phibunsongkhram
Tadeusz Reichstein

September–October

Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco
Walter Pidgeon
William Faulkner

November–December

Quentin Roosevelt
Hermione Gingold

Date unknown

Deaths

January–June

Johannes Brahms
Andrés Bonifacio
Minna Canth
Louis Brière de l'Isle
  • January 1 – Joseph S. Skerrett, American admiral (b. 1833)
  • January 9 – Thomas Gwyn Elger, English astronomer (b. 1836)
  • January 25 – Albion P. Howe, Union Army general (b. 1818)
  • January 30 – Robert Themptander, 4th prime minister of Sweden (b. 1844)
  • February 1 – Jeanne Merkus, Dutch deaconess, guerilla soldier and political activist (b. 1839)
  • February 4 – Charles Bendire, U.S. Army captain, ornithologist (b. 1836)
  • February 15 – Dimitrie Ghica, 10th prime minister of Romania (b. 1816)
  • February 17 – Edmund Colhoun, American admiral (b. 1821)
  • February 19Karl Weierstrass, German mathematician (b. 1815)
  • March 6 – Sir Thomas Elder, Australian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1818)
  • March 9 – Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani, Iranian teacher, writer (b. 1838)
  • March 10 – Savitribai Phule, Indian social reformer and poet (b. 1831)
  • March 11 – Henry Drummond, Scottish evangelical writer, lecturer (b. 1851)
  • March 19 – Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie, Irish-born traveler (b. 1810)
  • April 1 – Jandamarra, Australian Aboriginal insurrectionist (b. c. 1873)
  • April 3Johannes Brahms, German composer (b. 1833)[26]
  • April 8 – Heinrich von Stephan, German postal director (b. 1831)
  • April 10 – Friedrich Franz III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (b. 1851)
  • April 30 – A. Viola Neblett, American activist, suffragist, women's rights pioneer (b. 1842)
  • May 3 – Sir Frederick Knight, British politician (b. 1812)
  • May 4 – Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria (b. 1847)
  • May 7
    • Ion Ghica, 3-time prime minister of Romania (b. 1816)
    • Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale (b. 1822)[27]
  • May 10Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino revolutionary (b. 1863)
  • May 12 – Minna Canth, Finnish writer and social activist (b. 1844)[28]
  • May 21 – Gregorio Luperón, Dominican revolutionary leader (b. 1839)
  • May 23 – Pusapati Ananda Gajapati Raju, Indian rajah (b. 1850)
  • June 17 – Sebastian Kneipp, German priest and naturopath (b. 1821)
  • June 19 – Louis Brière de l'Isle, French general (b. 1827)

July–December

Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
Jan Heemskerk

Date unknown

Isidora Goyenechea
  • Isidora Goyenechea, Chilean industrialist, mine owner (b. 1836)

References

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary. McCoy, Lisa (2010). Computers and Programming. Infobase Publishing. p. 1.
  2. ^ Baird, W. David; Goble, Danney (1994). The Story of Oklahoma. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 8.
  3. ^ "Yamaichi chief gives Diet testimony on 'tobashi' trades". The Japan Times. December 9, 1997. Archived from the original on November 19, 2015. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
  4. ^ Matthews, Peter (2012). "Boston Marathon". Historical Dictionary of Track and Field. Scarecrow Press. p. 40.
  5. ^ Spyropoulos, N. (1928). "Βελεστῖνον". Μεγάλη Στρατιωτικὴ καὶ Ναυτικὴ Ἐγκυκλοπαιδεία. Tόμος Δεύτερος: Ἀλαρκόν–Γωνιόμετρον [Great Military and Naval Encyclopaedia. Volume II: Alarcon–Goniometer] (in Greek). Athens: Ἔκδοσις Μεγάλης Στρατιωτικῆς καὶ Ναυτικῆς Ἐγκυκλοπαιδείας. pp. 335–337. OCLC 31255024.
  6. ^ Sutton, Christine (January 8, 1997). "Ninety years around the atom". New Scientist: 49.
  7. ^ "On the Blood-Pressure-Raising Constituent of the Suprarenal Capsule", by John J. Abel, M.D., and Albert C. Crawford, M.D., in Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital (July, 1897) p151
  8. ^ "Exhaust Muffler for Engines"; QRZ News, September 2014 Archived July 17, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Woodstra, Chris; et al. (2005). "John Philip Sousa". All Music Guide to Classical Music. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 1296.
  10. ^ Lauritsen, John; Thorstad, David (1995). The Early Homosexual Rights Movement (1864–1935) (Revised ed.). New York: Times Change Press. ISBN 0-87810-041-5.
  11. ^ Page, Norman (1991). An Oscar Wilde Chronology. Macmillan. pp. 74–75.
  12. ^ Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 978-0-14-102715-9.
  13. ^ Joshi, S. T., ed. (2010). "Dracula (Stoker)". Encyclopedia of the Vampire: The Living Dead in Myth, Legend, and Popular Culture. ABC-Clio. p. 82.
  14. ^ ja:京都大学#年表#明治 (Japanese language) Retrieved 2017-05-17.
  15. ^ Keeling, Anne E. (2008). Great Britain and Her Queen. Echo Library. p. 77.
  16. ^ "Mount Saint Elias | Alaska, Yukon, Canada | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
  17. ^ Diarmuid Jeffreys, Aspirin: The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug (Bloomsbury, 2005) p70
  18. ^ NA, NA (December 25, 2015). Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers. Springer. p. 1468. ISBN 978-1-349-81366-7.
  19. ^ "Manuel Avila Camacho" (in Spanish). economia.com.mx. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  20. ^ Skutch, Alexander F. (2001). "In Memoriam: Charles Hartshorne, 1897–2000". The Auk. 118 (4): 1034. doi:10.1642/0004-8038(2001)118[1034:IMCH]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0004-8038. S2CID 85591093.
  21. ^ "BBC Two - Russia's Lost Princesses - Beyond the portraits". BBC. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  22. ^ "Amelia Earhart | Biography, Disappearance, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  23. ^ Mireya SOSA DE LEÓN: «Nucete Sardi, José». En: Diccionario de Historia de Venezuela. Venezuela: Fundación Empresas Polar, 1997. 980-6397-37-I.
  24. ^ Grossman, Jennifer A. (November 9, 2016). "5 Things To Know About Frank O'Connor, Ayn Rand's Husband". The Atlas Society. Archived from the original on May 23, 2022.
  25. ^ "THE AGUSTIN LARA MUSEUM IN VERACRUZ", Mexico News Network, August 20, 2014, archived from the original on August 24, 2019, retrieved August 23, 2019
  26. ^ Alfred Louis Bacharach (1972). Lives of Great Composers. Books for Libraries Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-8369-2783-2.
  27. ^ Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd (1977). Burke's Royal Families of the World. Burke's Peerage. p. 528. ISBN 978-0-85011-029-6.
  28. ^ Maijala, Minna. "Minna Canth (1844–1897)". Klassikkogalleria. Kristiina Institute, University of Helsinki. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  29. ^ Pierre Lecomte du Noüy (1967). Between Knowing and Believing. McKay. p. 173.
  30. ^ "John J. Robison Dead". Ann Arbor Register. Ann Arbor District Library. October 28, 1897. Retrieved December 28, 2023.
  31. ^ George Woolliscroft Rhead (1910). British Pottery Marks. Scott, Greenwood. p. 115.

Further reading

  • 1897 Annual Cyclopedia (1898) highly detailed coverage of "Political, Military, and Ecclesiastical Affairs; Public Documents; Biography, Statistics, Commerce, Finance, Literature, Science, Agriculture, and Mechanical Industry" for year 1897; massive compilation of facts and primary documents; worldwide coverage; 824 pp