1897

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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.<ref>Oxford English Dictionary. Template:Cite book</ref>
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 18 – Benin 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

March 13 – San Diego State University is founded.
March 22 – Emilio Aguinaldo unseats Andrés Bonifacio at the Tejeros Convention, becoming the new head of the Filipino revolutionary group Katipunan.

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Yamaichi Securities founded in Japan; it will cease trading a hundred years later.<ref name="jt19971209">Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite dictionary</ref>
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 27–6 May – Greco-Turkish War of 1897: Battle of Velestino.<ref>Template:Great Military and Naval Encyclopaedia</ref>
April 30 – J. 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

May

May 6 – John Jacob Abel announces the successful isolation of epinephrine (adrenaline), in a paper read before the Association of American Physicians.<ref>"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</ref>
May 10 – 19 zinc miners die of carbon monoxide poisoning at Snaefell Mine on the Isle of Man.
May 11 – A patent is awarded for the invention of the first automotive muffler, with the granting by the U.S. Patent Office of application number 582,485 to Milton Reeves and his brother Marshall T. Reeves, of the Reeves Pulley Company of Columbus, Indiana.<ref>"Exhaust Muffler for Engines"; QRZ News, September 2014 Template:Webarchive</ref>
May 14
- The Stars and Stripes Forever, an American patriotic march by John Philip Sousa, is performed for the first time.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- (or May 15) – The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK) is founded in Berlin as an LGBT campaigning organization, the first such in history.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
May 19 – Oscar Wilde is released from prison in England, and goes into voluntary exile on the continent.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
May 22 – The Blackwall Tunnel, at this time the longest underwater road tunnel in the world, is opened for traffic beneath the River Thames in the East End of London by the Prince of Wales.<ref name="Pocket On This Day">Template:Cite book</ref>
May 26 – Irish-born theatrical manager Bram Stoker's contemporary Gothic horror novel Dracula is first published (in London); it will influence the direction of vampire literature for the following century.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
May 31 – On Decoration Day (later Memorial Day) the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial is dedicated in Boston. The bronze bas relief by Augustus St. Gaudens depicts the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment of black Civil War soldiers.

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.<ref>ja:京都大学#年表#明治 (Japanese language) Retrieved 2017-05-17.</ref>
June 22 – The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria is celebrated in the United Kingdom.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> No other British monarch will celebrate such a jubilee until Elizabeth II in 2012.

July

July 11 – S. A. Andrée's Arctic Balloon Expedition of 1897 begins. The ill-fated expedition to fly over the Arctic results in the death of the entire team within months.
July 17 – The Klondike Gold Rush begins when the first successful prospectors arrive in Seattle
July 25 – Writer Jack London sails to join the Klondike Gold Rush, where he will write his first successful stories.
July 26–August 2 – Siege of Malakand: British troops are besieged by Pashtun tribesmen in Malakand, on the Northwest frontier of British India (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan).
July 31 – Mount Saint Elias, the second highest peak in the United States and Canada, is first ascended.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

August

August 10 – At the Bayer pharmaceutical company, pharmacist Felix Hoffmann successfully synthesizes acetylsalicylic acid, after isolating a compound from a plant of the Spiraea family; the company markets it under the brand name "Aspirin".<ref>Diarmuid Jeffreys, Aspirin: The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug (Bloomsbury, 2005) p70</ref>
August 21 – The Olds Motor Vehicle Co. is founded in Lansing, Michigan, by Ransom E. Olds.
August 29 – The First Zionist Congress convenes in Basel, Switzerland.
August 31 – Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the Kinetoscope, a precursor of the movie projector.

September

September 1 – The Tremont Street subway is opened in Boston, Massachusetts.
September 10 – Lattimer massacre: A sheriff's posse kills 19 unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania.
September 11 – After months of searching, generals of Menelik II of Ethiopia capture Gaki Sherocho, the last king of Kaffa, bringing an end to that ancient kingdom.
September 12 – Battle of Saragarhi: Twenty-one Sikhs of the 36th Sikhs regiment of the British Indian Army defend an army post to the death, against 10,000 Afghan and Orakzai tribesmen, in the Tirah Campaign on the Northwest frontier of the British Raj (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan).
September 20 – Greece and Turkey sign a peace treaty to end the Greco-Turkish War.

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 6 – Ethiopia 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.
- Template:USS (Cruiser # 3, later CM-1) is recommissioned, since 1890, for several months of duty in the Hawaiian Islands.
October 13 – Template:HMS, 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

November 1 – Juventus FC is founded as an association football club in Turin.
November 25 – Spain grants Puerto Rico autonomy.

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

January 3
- Marion Davies, American actress (d. 1961)
- Pola Negri, Polish-born American actress (d. 1987)
January 6 – Ferenc Szálasi, 37th prime minister of Hungary (d. 1946)
January 8 – Dennis Wheatley, English writer (d. 1977)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
January 11 – Georges Stuttler, French footballer (d. 1976)
January 14 – Hasso von Manteuffel, German general, politician (d. 1978)
January 23
- Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian political leader, led the Indian National Army (d. 1945?)
- Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect, anti-Nazi activist (d. 2000)
January 26 – Yakov Alksnis, Soviet aviator, commander of the Red Army Air Forces (d. 1938)
January 28 – Ivan Stedeford, British industrialist (d. 1975)
February 1 – Denise Robins, British romance novelist (d. 1985)
February 4 – Ludwig Erhard, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1977)
February 8 – Zakir Husain, Indian politician, 3rd President of India (d. 1969)
February 9 – Charles Kingsford Smith, Australian aviator famous for his trans-Pacific flight (d. 1935)
February 10
- Judith Anderson, Australian-born British actress (d. 1992)
- John Franklin Enders, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
February 19 – Elizabeth Rummel, German-Canadian mountaineer and environmental activist (d. 1980)
February 21 – Celia Lovsky, Austrian-born American actress (d. 1979)
February 25 – Peter Llewelyn Davies, British publisher, inspiration for Peter Pan (d. 1960)
February 27
- Marian Anderson, African-American contralto (d. 1993)
- Ferdinand Heim, World War II German general (Scapegoat of Stalingrad) d. 1977)

March–April

March 1 – Shoghi Effendi, Ottoman Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith (d. 1957)
March 4 – Lefty O'Doul, American baseball player, restaurateur (d. 1969)
March 5 – Set Persson, Swedish communist politician (d. 1960)
March 11 – Henry Cowell, American avant-garde composer (d. 1965)
March 16 – Flora Eldershaw, Australian novelist, critic, and historian (d. 1956)
March 18 – John Langdon-Davies, British writer (d. 1971)
March 19 – Betty Compson, American actress (d. 1974)
March 24 – Wilhelm Reich, Austrian psychotherapist (d. 1957)
March 28
- Frank Hawks, American aviator (d. 1938)
- Sepp Herberger, German football coach (d. 1977)
March 31 – Oto Iskandar di Nata, Indonesian politician (d. 1945)
April 7
- Erich Löwenhardt, German World War I fighter ace (d. 1918)
- Walter Winchell, American broadcast journalist (d. 1972)
April 8 – Herbert Lumsden, British general (d. 1945)
April 10 – Prafulla Chandra Sen, Indian politician and Chief Minister of West Bengal (d. 1990)
April 13 – Werner Voss, German World War I fighter ace (d. 1917)
April 17 – Thornton Wilder, American dramatist (d. 1975)
April 19
- Jiroemon Kimura, Japanese supercentenarian, world's longest lived man, last surviving man born in the 19th century and last surviving person born in 1897 (d. 2013)
- Vivienne Segal, American actress (d. 1992)
April 20 – Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Indian Vedic scholar and longevity claimant (d. 2020)
April 21 – A. W. Tozer, American Protestant pastor (d. 1963)
April 23 – Lester B. Pearson, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1972)
April 24 – Manuel Ávila Camacho, Mexican general, politician, and 45th President of Mexico, 1940-1946 (d. 1955)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
April 25 – Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, British princess (d. 1965)
April 26
- Eddie Eagan, American boxer, bobsledder (d. 1967)
- Douglas Sirk, German film director (d. 1987)

May–June

May 2 – John Frederick Coots, American songwriter (d. 1985)
May 4 – Phelps Phelps, 38th Governor of American Samoa, United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic (d. 1981)
May 10 – Einar Gerhardsen, 15th prime minister of Norway (d. 1987)
May 12 – Earle Nelson, American serial killer and rapist (d. 1928)
May 14 – Sidney Bechet, American-born jazz saxophonist (d. 1959)
May 17
- Laura Bromwell, American stunt pilot (d. 1921)
- Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
May 18 – Frank Capra, American film producer, director and writer (d. 1991)
May 19 – Frank Luke, American World War I pilot (d. 1918)
May 27 – John Cockcroft, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
May 29 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian composer (d. 1957)
June 2 – Tan Malaka, Indonesian teacher, philosopher, founder of Struggle Union and Murba Party, guerilla and fighter (d. 1949)
June 5 – Charles Hartshorne, American philosopher, theologian and ornithologist (d. 2000)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
June 7
- Kirill Meretskov, Soviet military officer, Marshal of the Soviet Union (d. 1968)
- George Szell, Hungarian conductor (d. 1970)
June 8
- John G. Bennett, British mathematician (d. 1974)
- Mariano Suárez, 27th president of Ecuador (d. 1980)
June 10 – Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
June 11 – Ram Prasad Bismil, Indian revolutionary (H.R.A. founder) (d. 1927)
June 12 – Anthony Eden, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1977)
June 13 – Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner (d. 1973)
June 16 – Georg Wittig, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
June 19
- Cyril N. Hinshelwood, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
- Moe Howard, American comedian, actor (The Three Stooges) (d. 1975)
June 22
- Norbert Elias, German sociologist (d. 1990)
- Edmund A. Chester, American broadcaster, journalist (d. 1973)
June 24 – Daniel K. Ludwig, American businessman; billionaire philanthropist (d. 1992)
June 26 – Viola Dana, American actress (d. 1987)

July–August

File:Thadeus Reichstein ETH-Bib Portr 10137.jpg

Tadeusz Reichstein

July 1 – Bert Schneider, Canadian boxer (d. 1986)
July 5 – Mogens Wöldike, Danish conductor (d. 1988)
July 9 – Albert Coady Wedemeyer, American general (d. 1989)
July 10 – John Gilbert, American actor (d. 1936)
July 11 – Bull Connor, American civil rights opponent (d. 1973)
July 14 – Plaek Phibunsongkhram, Thai field marshal, prime minister, and dictator (d. 1964)
July 20 – Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish-born chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1996)
July 24 – Amelia Earhart, American aviator (d. 1937)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
July 28 – James Fairbairn, Australian pastoralist, aviator, and politician (d. 1940)
July 29 – Sir Neil Ritchie, British WWII general (d. 1983)
August 4 – José Nucete Sardi, Venezuelan historian and diplomat (d. 1972)<ref name="POLAR">Mireya SOSA DE LEÓN: «Nucete Sardi, José». En: Diccionario de Historia de Venezuela. Venezuela: Fundación Empresas Polar, 1997. 980-6397-37-I.</ref>
August 5 – Aksel Larsen, Danish politician (d. 1972)
August 10 – Jack Haley, American actor (d. 1979)
August 11 – Enid Blyton, British children's writer (d. 1968)
August 15 – Jane Ingham, English botanist and scientific translator (d. 1982)
August 16
- Carlo Del Prete, Italian aviator (d. 1928)
- Hersch Lauterpacht, Ukrainian-born international lawyer (d. 1960)
August 22 – Elisabeth Bergner, Austrian actress (d. 1986)
August 26 – Yun Posun, 2nd president of South Korea (d. 1990)
August 31 – Fredric March, American actor (d. 1975)