1899

Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century

Decades: 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s - 1890s - 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s

Years: 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 - 1899 - 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904

• January 1 - End of Spanish rule in Cuba.
• January 1 - Queens and Staten Island merge with New York City
• January 3 - The first known use of the word "automobile", in an editorial in the New York Times
• January 17 - United States takes possession of Wake Island
• January 19 - Anglo-Egyptian Sudan[?] is formed
• January 21 - Opel Motors opens for business
• January 22 - Leaders of six Australian colonies meet in Melbourne to discuss confederation
• February 2 - The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne agrees Australia's capital (Canberra) should be located between Sydney and Melbourne.
• February 4 - Philippine-American War
• February 6 - Spanish-American War: A peace treaty between the United States and Spain is ratified by the United States Senate.
• February 14 - Voting machines[?] are approved by the United States Congress for use in federal elections.
• March 2 - In Washington, Mount Rainier National Park is established.
• March 6 - Bayer registers aspirin as a trademark.
• March 20 - At Sing Sing[?] prison, Martha M. Place[?] becomes the first woman executed in an electric chair.
• David Hilbert creates the modern concept of geometry with the publication of his book Grundlagen der geometrie.

Art, Culture & Fashion

• 1899 in literature
• 1899 in music
• 1899 in sports

Births

• January 7 - Francis Poulenc, composer
• January 10 - Axel Eggelbrecht[?], journalist (+ 1991)
• January 11 - Eva LeGallienne[?], actress (+ 1991)
• January 12 - Paul Hermann Müller[?], chemist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1948 (+ 1965)
• January 15 - Goodman Ace[?], actor, comedian, writer (+ 1982)
• January 17 - Al Capone, gangster, nicknamed "Scarface" (+ 1947)
• January 17 - Nevil Shute, author (+ 1960)
• February 6 - Ramon Novarro[?], actor (+ 1968)
• February 15 - Georges Auric, composer, member of Les Six
• February 23 - Erich Kästner[?], lyricist and narrator (+ 1974)
• February 23 - Elisabeth Langgässer[?], lyricist, narrator and novelist (+ 1950)
• February 27 - Charles Best, medical scientist (+ 1978)
• March 11 - King Frederick IX of Denmark )+ 1972)
• April 22 - Vladimir Nabokov, (writer)
• April 29 - Duke Ellington
• May 10 - Fred Astaire, singer, dancer, actor (+ 1987)
• May 10 - Dimitri Tiomkin, composer (+ 1979)
• May 12 - Indra Devi[?], yogi (+ 2002)
• July 11 - E. B. White, (writer)
• August 13 - Alfred Hitchcock, (film director)
• August 24 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinian writer
• November 17 - Douglas Shearer, pioneer motion-picture sound engineer (+ 1971)
• December 18 - Peter Wessel Zapffe
• December 25 - Humphrey Bogart (actor)

Deaths

• February 25 - Paul Julius Reuter[?], founder of the Reuters News Agency
• June 3 - Johann Strauss II, composer
• August 16 - Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, chemist