1902
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From top to bottom, left to right: The 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée devastates Saint-Pierre in Martinique, killing nearly 30,000 and becoming one of history’s deadliest volcanic disasters; the Second Boer War ends with the Treaty of Vereeniging, bringing the Boer republics under British control; the Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra at Westminster Abbey formally begins the Edwardian era; the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903 sees European powers blockade Venezuelan ports over debts, prompting U.S. diplomatic intervention; the Anthracite coal strike of 1902 leads to President Theodore Roosevelt mediating labor demands for higher wages and shorter workdays; and the French silent film A Trip to the Moon by Georges Méliès premieres, becoming an iconic early cinematic work.
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| 1902 by topic |
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| Gregorian calendar | 1902 MCMII |
| Ab urbe condita | 2655 |
| Armenian calendar | 1351 ԹՎ ՌՅԾԱ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6652 |
| Baháʼí calendar | 58–59 |
| Balinese saka calendar | 1823–1824 |
| Bengali calendar | 1308–1309 |
| Berber calendar | 2852 |
| British Regnal year | 1 Edw. 7 – 2 Edw. 7 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2446 |
| Burmese calendar | 1264 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7410–7411 |
| Chinese calendar | 辛丑年 (Metal Ox) 4599 or 4392 — to — 壬寅年 (Water Tiger) 4600 or 4393 |
| Coptic calendar | 1618–1619 |
| Discordian calendar | 3068 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1894–1895 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5662–5663 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 1958–1959 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1823–1824 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5002–5003 |
| Holocene calendar | 11902 |
| Igbo calendar | 902–903 |
| Iranian calendar | 1280–1281 |
| Islamic calendar | 1319–1320 |
| Japanese calendar | Meiji 35 (明治３５年) |
| Javanese calendar | 1831–1832 |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 13 days |
| Korean calendar | 4235 |
| Minguo calendar | 10 before ROC 民前10年 |
| Nanakshahi calendar | 434 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2444–2445 |
| Tibetan calendar | ལྕགས་མོ་གླང་ལོ་ (female Iron-Ox) 2028 or 1647 or 875 — to — ཆུ་ཕོ་སྟག་ལོ་ (male Water-Tiger) 2029 or 1648 or 876 |
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1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar, the 1902nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 902nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 2nd year of the 20th century, and the 3rd year of the 1900s decade. As of the start of 1902, the Gregorian calendar was 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
Events
[edit]January
[edit]|January 1902}}
- January 1
- The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's first registered nurse.
- Nathan Stubblefield demonstrates his wireless telephone device in the U.S. state of Kentucky.
- January 8 – A train collision in the New York Central Railroad's Park Avenue Tunnel kills 17 people, injures 38, and leads to increased demand for electric trains and the banning of steam locomotives in New York City.
- January 23 – Hakkōda Mountains incident: A snowstorm in the Hakkōda Mountains of northern Honshu, Japan, kills 199 during a military training exercise.
- January 30 – The Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed.
February
[edit]|February 1902}}
- February 12 – The 1st Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance takes place in Washington, D.C.
- February 15 – The Berlin U-Bahn underground is opened.
- February 18 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt prosecutes the Northern Securities Company for violation of the antitrust Sherman Act.
- February 27 – Australian officers Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock are executed for the murder of Boer prisoners of war near Louis Trichardt.
March
[edit]|March 1902}}
- March 7 – Second Boer War: Battle of Tweebosch – South African Boers win their last battle over the British Army, with the capture of a British general and 200 of his men.
- March 8 – Jean Sibelius's Symphony No. 2 is premiered in Helsinki.[1]
- March 10
- Clashes between police and Georgian workers led by Joseph Stalin leave 15 dead, 54 wounded, and 500 in prison.[2]
- A Circuit Court decision in the United States ends Thomas Edison's monopoly on 35 mm movie film technology.[3]
- March 15 – The Pattani Sultanate is abolished by the Siamese authority after the last sultan of Pattani refused new administrative reforms by the Siamese.[4]
April
[edit]|April 1902}}
- April 2 – The Electric Theatre, the first movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles.
- April 11 – Tenor Enrico Caruso makes the first million-selling recording, for the Gramophone Company in Milan.
- April 13 – A new land speed record of 74 mph (119 km/h) is set in Nice, France, by Léon Serpollet driving a steam car.
- April 19 – The 7.5 Mw Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800 and 2,000.
May
[edit]|May 1902}}
- May 7 – La Soufrière volcano on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent erupts, devastating the northern portion of the island and killing 2,000 people
- May 8 – Mount Pelée in Martinique erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000.
- May 13 – Alfonso XIII of Spain begins his reign.
- May 20 – Cuba gains independence from the United States.
- May 22 – The White Star Liner SS Ionic is launched by Harland and Wolff in Belfast.
- May 29 – The London School of Economics is opened by Lord Rosebery.
- May 31 – The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the Second Boer War, providing for the Transvaal Colony and Orange Free State to transition to self-governing British colonies.
June
[edit]|June 1902}}
- June 13 – Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, predecessor of global consumer goods brand 3M, begins trading as a mining venture at Two Harbors in the United States.[5]
- June 15 – The New York Central Railroad inaugurates the 20th Century Limited passenger train between Chicago and New York City.
- June 16 – The Commonwealth Franchise Act in Australia grants women's suffrage in federal elections for resident British subjects (with certain ethnic minorities excepted), making Australia the first independent country to grant women the vote at a national level, and the first country to allow them to stand for Parliament.
- June 26 – Edward VII institutes the Order of Merit, an order bestowed personally by the British monarch on up to 24 distinguished Empire recipients.
July
[edit]|July 1902}}
- July 2 – Philippine–American War ends.
- July 5 – Erik Gustaf Boström returns as Prime Minister of Sweden.
- July 8 – The United States Bureau of Reclamation is established within the U.S. Geological Survey.
- July 10 – The Rolling Mill Mine disaster in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, kills 112 miners.
- July 11 – Lord Salisbury retires as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- July 14
- Agustín Lizárraga discovers Machu Picchu, the "Lost City of the Incas".[6]
- St Mark's Campanile in Venice collapses.
- July 21 – Fluminense Football Club is founded in Rio de Janeiro.
August
[edit]|August 1902}}
- August 1 – 100 miners die in a pit explosion in Wollongong, Australia.
- August 9 – Coronation of Edward VII as King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, Emperor of India at Westminster Abbey in London.[7]
- August 22
- Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first American President to ride in an automobile, a Columbia Electric Victoria through Hartford, Connecticut.[8]
- A 7.7 earthquake shakes the border between China and Kyrgyzstan killing 10,000 people.
- August 24 – A statue of Joan of Arc is unveiled in Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier, the French town which she stormed in 1429.
- August 30 – Mount Pelée again erupts in Martinique, destroying the town of Le Morne-Rouge and causing 1,000 deaths.
September
[edit]|September 1902}}
- September 1 – The first science fiction film, the silent A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans La Lune), is premièred at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin in Paris, France, by actor/producer Georges Méliès, and proves an immediate success.[9]
- September 19 – Shiloh Baptist Church stampede: 115 people are killed in a crush at a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, following a mistaken alarm of fire after an address by Booker T. Washington.
October
[edit]
|October 1902}}
- October 14 – Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Servillia premieres in St. Petersburg[10]
- October 16 – The first Borstal (youth offenders' institution) opens in Borstal, Kent, U.K.
- October 17 – First Cadillac completed, sold and sent to Buffalo, New York[11]
- October 18 – Venezuela: President's Castro army overcomes rebels in seven-day battle[12]
- October 21 – A five-month strike by the United Mine Workers in the United States ends.
- October 24 – One of the largest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century occurs at Santa María in Guatemala; over 6,000 people die.[13]
November
[edit]|November 1902}}
- November 1 – France attempts to neutralize Triple Alliance, signing agreement with Italy to remain neutral in Africa.
- November 15
- King Leopold II of Belgium survives an attempted assassination in Brussels by Italian anarchist Gennaro Rubino.
- The Hanoi exhibition opens in French Indochina.
- November 16 – A newspaper cartoon depicting U.S. President "Teddy" Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear cub inspires creation of the first teddy bear by Morris Michtom in New York City.
- November 30 – The second-in-command of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, Harvey Logan ("Kid Curry"), is captured after a shootout with lawmen in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is sentenced to a $5,000 fine and 20 years hard labor for robbery but escapes custody in 1903.
December
[edit]|December 1902}}
- December–February 1903 – Venezuelan crisis: Britain, Germany and Italy sustain a naval blockade on Venezuela, in order to enforce collection of outstanding financial claims. This prompts the development of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.
- December 10 – The first Aswan Dam on the Nile is completed.
- December 17 – The Commercial Telegraph Agency (TTA, Torgovo-Telegrafnue Agenstvo), predecessor of TASS, is officially established under the Ministry of Finance at Saint Petersburg in the Russian Empire.[citation needed]
- December 21 – Newfoundland - Guglielmo Marconi sends messages across Atlantic wireless
- December 30 – Discovery Expedition: British explorers Scott, Shackleton and Wilson reach the furthest southern point reached thus far by man, south of 82°S.
Date unknown
[edit]- The capital of French Indochina is moved from Saigon (in Cochinchina) to Hanoi (Tonkin).
- Construction of the Paul Doumer Bridge, linking both sections of Hanoi, is completed.
- The first Korean Empire passports are issued to assist Korean immigration to Hawaii.
- De'Longhi home appliance brand is founded in Treviso, Italy.[14]
- Daniels Linseed, predecessor of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), a global livestock, commodities trading, food processing brand, is founded in Minnesota, United States.[15]
Births and deaths
[edit]Nobel Prizes
[edit]
- Physics – Hendrik Lorentz and Pieter Zeeman
- Chemistry – Emil Fischer
- Medicine – Sir Ronald Ross
- Literature – Theodor Mommsen
- Peace – Élie Ducommun and Charles Albert Gobat
References
[edit]- ^ "Symphony No. 2, Jean Sibelius". LA Phil. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
- ^ Jones, Stephen F. (2005), Socialism in Georgian Colors: The European Road to Social Democracy, 1883-1917, p. 102. Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-01902-4
- ^ "Continued Legal Battles". Thomas A. Edison Papers. Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences. October 28, 2016. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
- ^ Koch, Margaret L. (1977). "Patani and the Development of A Thai State". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 50 (2 (232)): 69–88. JSTOR 41492172.
- ^ "3M Birthplace Museum". Two Harbors: Lake County Historical Society. Archived from the original on July 2, 2022. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
- ^ <Heaney, Christopher (2011). Cradle of gold: the story of Hiram Bingham, a real-life Indiana Jones and the search for Machu Picchu. MacMillan. ISBN 978-0-230-11204-9. Archived from the original on August 10, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
- ^ "Edward VII". Westminster Abbey. Archived from the original on October 7, 2022. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
- ^ Network, The Learning (August 22, 2011). "Aug. 22, 1902 | Theodore Roosevelt Becomes First President to Ride in an Automobile". The Learning Network. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
- ^ Hammond, Paul (1974), Marvellous Méliès, London: Gordon Fraser, p. 141, ISBN 0-900406-38-0
- ^ Burbank, Richard (1984). Twentieth Century Music. New York City, USA: Facts on File Publication, New York City, NY. p. 45. ISBN 0-87196-464-3.|
- ^ Burbank, Richard (1984). Twentieth Century Music. New York City, USA: Facts on File Publication, New York City, NY. p. 45. ISBN 0-87196-464-3.|
- ^ Burbank, Richard (1984). Twentieth Century Music. New York City, USA: Facts on File Publication, New York City, NY. p. 45. ISBN 0-87196-464-3.|
- ^ "Santa María". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.
- ^ "Giuseppe De'Longhi & family". Forbes. Archived from the original on July 20, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
- ^ ADM (July 21, 2021). "History". ADM. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
Further reading and year books
[edit]- Colby, Frank Moore ed. he International Yearbook A Compendium Of The Worlds Progress During The Year 1902 (1903) coverage of each state online
- 1902 Annual Cyclopedia (1903) online; highly detailed coverage of "Political, Military, and Ecclesiastical Affairs; Public Documents; Biography, Statistics, Commerce, Finance, Literature, Science, Agriculture, and Mechanical Industry" for 1902; massive compilation of facts and primary documents; worldwide coverage; 865pp
- Wall, Edgar G. ed. The British Empire yearbook (1903), 1276pp; covers 1902 online
- Gilbert, Martin. A History of the Twentieth Century: vol. 1 1900-1933 (1997) pp 55–68; global coverage of politics, diplomacy and warfare.