1897

1897
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Centuries:	18th century - 19th century - 20th century
Decades:	1860s 1870s 1880s - 1890s - 1900s 1910s 1920s
Years:	1894 1895 1896 - 1897 - 1898 1899 1900

1897 in topic:
Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture -
Art - Literature (Poetry) - Music - Science
Sports - Rail Transport
Countries: Australia - Canada - Germany - Ireland - New Zealand - Norway - South Africa - U.S. - UK
Leaders: State leaders - Colonial governors
Category: Establishments - Disestablishments
Births - Deaths - Works v • d • e

Events of 1897

January 4 - A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the Oba of Benin. This leads to a Punitive Expedition against Benin.
January 23 - Elva Zona Heaster found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The resulting murder trial of her husband is perhaps the only case in United States history where the testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction.
February 2 - Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania state capitol, is destroyed by fire.
February 10 - Freedom of religion is proclaimed in Madagascar.
February 18 - Benin is put to the torch by the Punitive Expedition.
February 26 - Sigma Pi Fraternity is founded.
March 4 - William McKinley succeeds Grover Cleveland as President of the United States.
March 13 - San Diego State University is founded.

April 5 - "Ordinance of April 5," equalizing German and Czech in Bohemia, signed in Austria-Hungary (see Count Kasimir Felix Badeni).
April 24 - The first ever Rugby League Challenge Cup final is played at Headingley.
April 27 - Grant's Tomb is dedicated.
May 1 - The Tennessee Centennial Exposition opens in Nashville, for 6 months, illuminated by many electric lights.
May 10 - Snaefell Mining Disaster in the Isle of Man.^{citation needed}
May 16 - The Teatro Massimo was built in Palermo, the largest Opera Theatre in Italy, the 3° in Europe.
May 18 - Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker is published.
May 19 - Oscar Wilde is released from prison.

June 1 - American miners strike begins. The strike successfully establishes the United Mine Workers Union and bring about the 8-hour work day to mines.
June 2 - Mark Twain, responding to rumors that he is dead, is quoted by the New York Journal as saying, "The report of my death was an exaggeration."
June 12 - World's first Fingerprint Bureau opens in Calcutta (now Kolkata) India after the Council of the Governor General approved a committee report that fingerprints should be used for classification of criminal records.
June 22 - Queen Victoria celebrates her Diamond Jubilee.

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 - Klondike Gold Rush begins when 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 31 - First ascent of Mount Saint Elias, second highest peak in the United States and Canada.
August 29 - First Zionist Congress convenes in Basel, Switzerland.

September 1 - The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground metro in North America.
September 10 - In the Lattimer Massacre, a sheriff's posse killes more than nineteen 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 20 - Greece and Turkey sign a peace treaty to end the Greco-Turkish War.

October 2 - The first issue is published of the radical paper Tocsin.
October 6 - Ethiopia uses tricolore flag: green is for the land, yellow for peace, and red is symbolic of strength.
October 12 - The USS Baltimore (Cruiser # 3, later CM-1) is recommissioned, since 1890, for several months of duty in the Hawaiian Islands.
October 13 - The HMS Canopus (1898), a pre-Dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy, is launched at Portsmouth, England (will be deployed widely in World War I).
December 9 - First issue of the feminist newspaper La Fronde is published by Marguerite Durand.
December 28 - The play Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand, premieres in Paris.
December 30 - Natal annexes Zululand.

Women study at Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

France allows women to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
First use of the word "computer" meaning an electronic calculation device.
Coseley Urban District Council is formed.
Dos Equis is first brewed in anticipation of new century.
J. J. Thomson discovers the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1800 times smaller than a proton (in the nucleus).
The Ayrshire Yeomanry Cavalry, a British Yeomanry Cavalry Regiment, adopted the sub-title Earl of Carrck's Own in honour of the future King Edward VII.
Karl Lueger becomes mayor of Vienna.