1904 CE

The Russo-Japanese War begins as Japan’s surprise attack on Port Arthur signals its rise as a global power; The 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis become the first Games held in the United States; The Great Baltimore Fire devastates the city’s core, destroying over 1,500 buildings and prompting new firefighting standards; The Kuta Reh massacre in Aceh sees hundreds of villagers killed by Dutch colonial forces during the Aceh War; The Herero Wars in German South West Africa escalate into genocide against the Herero and Nama peoples; The Dogger Bank incident sees Russian warships mistakenly fire on British fishermen, nearly triggering war.

In the 1900s, the 20th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

February 23 – Japan–Korea Treaty of February 1904Japan source
April 8 – The Entente Cordiale is signed between the UK and France.source
8 April – The Convention of Istanbul, signed by a number of powers including Germany in 1888, came into force.Germany source
April 27 – The Australian Labor Party becomes the first such party to gain national government, under Chris Watson.source
June 21 — A special Imperial pardon is extended to all reformers of 1898, except Sun Yat-sen, Liang Qichao, and Kang YouweiChina source
26 June - Legislative electionPortugal source
August 14 – Ismael Montes becomes President of Bolivia.source
September 27 – Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti visits the German Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow to allay concerns in Berlin by the French-Italian rapprochement in relation with the Triple Alliance.Italy source
20 October – The Treaty of Peace and Friendship (1904) is signed.Chile source
October 28 – Panama and Uruguay establish diplomatic relations.source
November 8 – 1904 United States presidential election: Republican incumbent Theodore Roosevelt defeats Democrat Alton B. Parker.source
December 6 – Theodore Roosevelt announces his "Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States will intervene in the Western Hemisphere should Latin American governments prove incapable or unstable.source
14 December - The National Congress of Brazil approves a large naval acquisition programme.Brazil source
The position of Prime Minister of Iceland is established with Hannes Þórður Pétursson Hafstein of the Home Rule Party taking the position on 1 February.Iceland source

Conflict & Security

January 12 – The Herero Wars in German South West Africa begin.source
12 January – The Herero of Deutsch–Südwestafrika, under the leadership of Samuel Maharero, rise against German colonial rule. The rising marks the beginning of what has become known as the Herero and Namaqua Genocide.Germany source
February 8–9 – Battle of Port Arthur: A surprise Japanese naval attack on Port Arthur (Lüshun) in Manchuria starts the Russo-Japanese War.source
8 February – The Russo-Japanese War begins with a surprise Japanese attack on Port Arthur.Russia source
9 February – Battle of Chemulpo Bay: a naval engagement at Chemulpo Bay in Korea between Russian and Japanese forces at the start of the Russo-Japanese War.Russia source
March 31 – British expedition to Tibet: The Battle of Guru – British troops under Colonel Francis Younghusband defeat ill-equipped Tibetan troops.source
April 24 – Official visit of French President Émile Loubet to Rome.Italy source
June 16 – Finnish nationalist Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolay Bobrikov, the Russian Governor-General of Finland, in Helsinki.source
June 24 – The North-West Mounted Police become the Royal Northwest Mounted PoliceCanada source
July – Pavlos Melas enters Macedonia with a small unit of men during the Macedonian Struggle.source
August 3 - Lhasa was occupied by the British Indian Army, and the 13th Dalai Lama fled to Mongolia via Qinghai.China source
August 10 – Battle of the Yellow SeaJapan source
August 11 – Battle of Waterberg: Lothar von Trotha defeats the Herero people in German South West Africa, and drives them into the Omaheke desert, starting the Herero and Namaqua genocide.source
August 17 – Russo-Japanese War: A Japanese infantry charge fails to take Port Arthur.source
October 21 – Russo-Japanese War: Dogger Bank incident – The Russian Baltic Fleet fires on British trawlers it mistakes for Japanese torpedo boats, in the North Sea.source
Wellington defeat Auckland 6-3, becoming the first challenger to win the Ranfurly Shield.New Zealand source
Black Patch Tobacco Wars (1904–1909)United States source

Exploration & Expansion

10 January - The Swedish Antarctic Expedition returns to Stockholm.Sweden source
March 6 – Scottish National Antarctic Expedition: Led by William Speirs Bruce, the Antarctic region of Coats Land is discovered from the Scotia.source
17 April – Edmond de Gaiffier d'Hestroy replaces Maurice Joostens as Belgian ambassador to ChinaBelgium source
April 30 – The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri (closes December 1).source
May 5 – British expedition to Tibet: Hundreds of Tibetans attack the British camp at Changlo, and hold the advantage for a while, before being defeated by superior weapons, and losing at least 200 men.source
May 14 – SS Scharnhorst (passenger liner)Germany source
August 3 – British expedition to Tibet: The British expedition under Colonel Francis Younghusband takes Lhasa, Tibet.source
September 7 – British expedition to Tibet: The Dalai Lama signs the Anglo-Tibetan Treaty with Colonel Francis Younghusband.source
September – Stuyvesant High School opens in New York City as Manhattan's first manual trade school for boys.source
3 November – Natal – Pietermaritzburg to Elandskop, 35 mi 39 ch.South Africa source
November 16 – The settlement at Grytviken, on the British South Atlantic island territory of South Georgia, is established by Norwegian sea captain Carl Anton Larsen, as a whaling station for his Compañía Argentina de Pesca.source
Ford begin selling cars in Brazil.Brazil source
Nov / Dec — The secret ‘Restoration Society’ is established in Shanghai by revolutionary intellectuals (see 1910)China source
A New South Wales representative team tours, playing a New Zealand team in Dunedin and Wellington. These are the first recognised matches by a New Zealand national football team.New Zealand source
Rugby union - Percy Bush scores 104 points for the British team on their tour of Australia and New Zealand.Wales source

Religion & Belief

13 January – The flag of South Australia is officially gazetted as the current design.Australia source
April 6 – Joseph F. Smith announces the Second Manifesto in General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah Territory, prohibiting the practice of polygamy, which has continued to be sanctioned by some of its leaders in violation of the 1890 Manifesto officially banning the practice.source
16 April – FC Einigkeit Braunschweig established.Germany source
7 August – The reinauguration of Ribe Cathedral.Denmark source
September 16 – Start of the 1904 Italian general strike, making it the first general strike in Italian history. The strike was called by the Chambers of Labour in several cities in response to killings of striking workers in the preceding weeks. Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti refuses to intervene and this attitude prevents the movement to take revolutionary dimensions while the strike petered out. In response, Pope Pius X gives tacit permission to Catholic candidates to stand in parliamentary to counter the red menace.Italy source
December 27 – The Abbey Theatre in Dublin opens.source
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil is founded in Rio Grande do Sul.Brazil source
Lightweight – T. Rickards (Christchurch)New Zealand source
Johan Christian Heuch, bishop and politician (born 1838)Norway source
The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities is established.Switzerland source

Economy & Finance

11 June - Henry Paget, 5th Marquess of Anglesey, is declared bankrupt; from 29 July sales of his assets at Plas Newydd (Anglesey) begin.Wales source
18 August – Chris Watson resigns as the first Labor prime minister and is succeeded by George Reid of the Free Trade Party.Australia source
21 August – Fremad Valby is founded.Denmark source
September: The Canterbury Steam Shipping Co is founded in Christchurch.New Zealand source
October 17 – Amadeo Giannini founds the Bank of Italy in San Francisco, predecessor of the Bank of America.United States source
21 October – Dogger Bank incident: the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy, heading for the Russo-Japanese War, mistakes British fishing trawlers in the North Sea for Japanese torpedo boats and opens fire, sinking one, and causing serious diplomatic conflict between Russia and Britain.United Kingdom source
31 October – The Kumbakonam Bank Limited, is incorporated as a limited company (later known as the City Union Bank)India source
Global cosmetics companies are founded in Paris (France): Coty, by François Coty, and Garnier, by Alfred Amour Garnier.source
Creation of Marionville, Ontario, the only village (for now) that shares the 3 Canadian municipalities.Canada source
Unknown date – Hirano Rubber Manufacturing, as predecessor of Toyo Tire was founded.Japan source

Technology & Infrastructure

January 7 – The distress signal CQD is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by SOS.source
13 January: Portobello Marine Laboratory opens, initially as a fish hatcheryNew Zealand source
February 23 – For $10 million, the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.source
March 3 – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison's cylinder.source
April - The German Imperial Navy introduces SOS as a distress signal.Germany source
1 May – Belgium national football team plays its first international, against FranceBelgium source
May 4 – United States Army engineers begin work on the Panama Canal.source
May 4 – Charles Rolls and Henry Royce meet for the first time, in Manchester England to agree production of Rolls-Royce motor cars; the first produced under their joint names are launched in December.source
May 5 – Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.source
May 9 – Great Western Railway of England 3700 Class 3440 City of Truro possibly becomes the first railway locomotive to exceed 100 mph.source
July 4 – Piero Ginori Conti tests the first-ever geothermal power generator at the Larderello dry steam field in Italy. It was a small generator that lit four light bulbs.Italy source
July 22 – The first 2,000 of 62,000 contracted Chinese coolies arrive at Durban in South Africa from Qinhuangdao to relieve the shortage of unskilled labourers in the Transvaal Colony gold mines, recruited and shipped by the Chinese Engineering and Mining Corporation (CEMC), of which Herbert Hoover is a director.source
July 23 – A continuous track tractor is patented by David Roberts of Richard Hornsby & Sons of Grantham in England.source
September 1 – Griffin Park football ground, home of Brentford F.C., opens in London.source
September 2 – John Voss sails the rigged dugout canoe Tilikum into the River Thames in England after a 3-year voyage from Victoria, British Columbia, westabout.source
October 11 – Loftus Road football stadium opens in London.source
October 27 – The first underground line of the New York City Subway opens.source
November 16 – English engineer John Ambrose Fleming patents the first thermionic vacuum tube, the two-electrode diode ("oscillation valve" or Fleming valve).source
November 24 – A continuous track tractor is successfully demonstrated by the Holt Manufacturing Company in the United States. The "caterpillar track" will come to revolutionize construction vehicles and land warfare.source
The Austral Hall Toowoomba was officially opened on 5 November 1904 by Sir Hugh Nelson, Lieutenant Governor of Queensland for The Austral Society.Australia source
The oldest building at the Akureyri Junior College is constructed.Iceland source
The gun carriage factory is established in JabalpurIndia source
Two experimental superheated 6th Class 4-6-0 locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 6L by the South African Railways (SAR).South Africa source

Science & Discovery

January 25 – Halford Mackinder presents a paper on "The Geographical Pivot of History" to the Royal Geographical Society of London in which he formulates the Heartland Theory, originating the study of geopolitics.source
3 March – Kaiser Wilhelm II becomes the first person to make a political recording of a document, using Thomas Edison's cylinder.Germany source
Guangxi revolt of a Heaven and Earth Society (underway since 1902)China source
2 July - The second Tour de France begins.France source
September 26 – New Zealand dolphin Pelorus Jack is individually protected by Order in Council under the Sea Fisheries Act.source
November 19 – SMS Deutschland (battleship)Germany source
December 3 – Charles Dillon Perrine discovers Jupiter's largest irregular satellite, later called Himalia, at California's Lick Observatory.source
7 December – Royal Navy torpedo boat destroyer HMS Spiteful begins sea trials as the first capital warship to be powered solely using fuel oil.United Kingdom source
Hans Heysen wins the Wynne Prize with Mystic MornAustralia source
Heavyweight – J. Griffin (Greymouth)New Zealand source
Date unknown – First issue of Morgonbris.Sweden source

Health & Medicine

6 January – The Tasmanian government replaces the state's Central Board of Health with a Public Health Department.Australia source
January 13 — Zhang Zhidong and other advisers propose ending the civil service examinations.China source
Pneumonic plague breaks out in Johannesburg.South Africa source
October 1 – Phi Delta Epsilon, the international medical fraternity, is founded by Aaron Brown and 8 of his friends, at Cornell University Medical College.source
October 1 – Phi Delta Epsilon, the international medical fraternity, is founded by Aaron Brown and eight of his friends at Cornell University Medical College.United States source
Late October – The first members of what will become the Bloomsbury Group move to the Bloomsbury district of London; they will be joined about November 8 by the future novelist Virginia Woolf.source
9 November – Bahamian Dr. Allan Glaisyer Minns becomes Mayor of Thetford, the first Black person to hold such an office in Britain.United Kingdom source
10-16 November - Vaccine Revolt in Rio de Janeiro.Brazil source
Date unknown – From this year until 1909, co-education is introduced in a number of state secondary education schools, which makes private girls schools redundant.Sweden source
Orthopaedic surgeon Robert Jones becomes Honorary Surgeon to the Baschurch Home in Shropshire which he will develop into the world's first specialized orthopaedic hospital.Wales source

Crime & Justice

12 January – Melbourne businessman Alfred Felton leaves a large bequest to the Art Gallery of Victoria.Australia source
January 16 – Rosa Luxemburg is sentenced to 3 months in prison for lese majeste (election campaign in 1903).Germany source
June 28 – The original icon of Our Lady of Kazan is stolen and subsequently destroyed in Russia.source
Summer – Henri Matisse paints Luxe, Calme et Volupté at Saint-Tropez; it will be considered the starting point of Fauvism.source
September 10 – American criminal Bill Miner stages Canada's first-ever train robberyCanada source
October 13 – Pavlos Melas is encircled at Statista and killed during the Macedonian Struggle.source
November — The leader of the Guangxi revolt is captured by Imperial forcesChina source
December 2 – The St. Petersburg Soviet urges a run on the banks; the attempt fails, and the executive committee is arrested.source
Hôtel Hannon, an Art Nouveau villa in Saint-Gilles, designed by Jules Brunfaut for Édouard HannonBelgium source
The secret Abhinav Bharat Society is founded by extremist Vinayak Damodar SavarkarIndia source
Middleweight – J. Griffin (Greymouth)New Zealand source
Thirty-six Class 11 2-8-2 Mikado type locomotives.South Africa source

Disasters & Accidents

January 23 – The Ålesund fire destroys most buildings in the town of Ålesund, Norway, leaving about 10,000 people without shelter.source
February 7 – The Great Baltimore Fire in Baltimore, Maryland, destroys over 1,500 buildings in 31 hours.source
February 26 – The Wisconsin State Capitol, in Madison, Wisconsin, is almost entirely destroyed by fire after a gas jet ignites the newly varnished ceiling.United States source
April 19 – The Great Fire of Toronto destroys much of the city's downtown, but there are no fatalities.source
April 19 – The Great Toronto Fire destroys much of that city's downtown, but kills no one.Canada source
May 15 – Russo-Japanese War: Russian minelayer Amur lays a minefield about 15 mi off Port Arthur, and sinks Japan's battleships Hatsuse, 15,000 tons with 496 crew, and Yashima. On the same day, the Japanese protected cruiser Yoshino sinks after being accidentally rammed by the armored cruiser Kasuga, killing over 270 crew, including Captain Sayegi and his second-in-command, Commander Hirowateri. Japan will keep the loss of Yashima secret for over a year.source
June 15 – A fire aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York City's East River kills 1,021.source
20 June – The P&O ship SS Australia is wrecked at the entrance to Port Phillip. There is no loss of life.Australia source
22 June – The trans-Atlantic passenger liner SS Norge departs from Copenhagen, embarking on what will become her last voyage. On 28 June, she wrecks off the American coast, resulting in more than 630 casualties.Denmark source
June 22 – The first of 62,000 Chinese labourers arrive in South Africa to relieve the shortage of unskilled mine workers.South Africa source
June 28 – Danish ocean liner SS Norge runs aground and sinks close to Rockall, killing approximately 627 people, many of whom are Russian-Polish and Scandinavian emigrants.source
28 June – The Danish ocean liner SS Norge runs aground and sinks close to Rockall, killing 635, including 225 Norwegian emigrantsNorway source
28 June – the Danish liner SS Norge is wrecked off Rockall with the loss of 635 lives.Scotland source
28 June – The Danish liner SS Norge is wrecked on Helen's Reef off Rockall with the loss of 635 lives.United Kingdom source

Climate & Environment

April 4 – 1904 Kresna earthquakes: two earthquakes strike near Kresna, Bulgaria, killing at least 200 people.source
June 29 – The 1904 Moscow tornado occurs.source
9 August: A magnitude 7.0-7.2 earthquake strikes Cape Turnagain, causing one death.New Zealand source
Hans Gløersen, forest manager and lawyer (born 1836)Norway source
The last eight 8th Class 2-8-0 Consolidation type locomotives. In 1912 they will be designated Class 8Z on the SAR.South Africa source

Culture & Society

January 17 – Anton Chekhov's last play, The Cherry Orchard, opens at the Moscow Art Theatre directed by Constantin Stanislavski.source
February 10 – Roger Casement publishes his account of Belgian atrocities in the Congo.source
February 17 – Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly debuts at La Scala in Milan, to no great acclaim. On May 28 a revised version opens in Brescia, to huge success.source
February 28 – S.L. Benfica, one of the biggest Association Football clubs in Portugal, is founded as Sport Lisboa.source
28 February - Establishment of S.L. BenficaPortugal source
April 8–10 – Aleister Crowley writes The Book of the Law, a text central to Thelema, in Cairo.source
April 8 – Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square, after The New York Times.source
April 8–11 – At the Eighth Congress of the Italian Socialist Party in Bologna the revolutionary syndicalists led by Arturo Labriola and Enrico Ferri's left centre together win a clear majority, ending the cautious rapprochement of the reformist leader Filippo Turati with Giolitti to advance social reforms.Italy source
17 April - Bangu Atlético Clube is founded at the Fábrica Bangu in Rio de Janeiro.Brazil source
May 4 – German Association football club FC Schalke 04 is established.source
21 May – The International Federation of Association Football, FIFA, is established with Germany as a founder member.Germany source
May 30 – Alpha Gamma Delta, which becomes an international sorority, is founded by 11 women at Syracuse University.source
June 3 – The International Alliance of Women is founded.source
June 12 - the “Eastern Times“ was published in Shanghai, and was published by Japanese journalist Kotarō Munakata. The actual founder was Di Chuqing (狄楚青). At the beginning of the publication, Kang Youwei's student Luo Xiaogao served as the chief editor, and the newspaper became an important mouthpiece of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao.China source
June 16 – The original "Bloomsday", the day James Joyce first walks out with his future wife Nora Barnacle (whom he first met on June 10), to the Dublin suburb of Ringsend. He sets the action of his novel Ulysses (1922) on this date.source
July 1 – The third Modern Olympic Games open in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, as part of the World's Fair.source
August 24 – Faroese Association football club Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag is established.source
September 17 – An early study on the relationship between alcohol and cardiovascular disease is published in the United States.source
October 4 – Swedish Association football club IFK Göteborg is founded, becoming the 39th IFK-association.source
October 5 – Alpha Kappa Psi, a co-ed professional business fraternity, is founded on the campus of New York University.source
October 9 – German journalist Anna Rüling, in a speech to the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee in Berlin, makes the first known public statement of the socio-legal problems faced by lesbians.source
October 15 – Theta Tau, a professional engineering fraternity, is founded at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.source
October 18 – The Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum opens in Berlin for the display of fine art.source
October 18 – Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5 is premiered by the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne.source
October 19 – Polytechnic University of the Philippines is founded as Manila Business School, through the superintendence of American C. A. O'Reilley.source
October – The Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls, predecessor of Bethune–Cookman University, is opened in Florida by Mary McLeod Bethune.source
15 November: The Waikato Independent begins publishing in Cambridge. The newspaper became the Cambridge Independent in 1966. It closed in 1995.New Zealand source
December 10 – The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity is founded at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina.source
December 27 – The stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up premieres in London.source
December 31 – In New York City, the first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square.source
Der shtral, a Yiddish-language newspaper is founded.South Africa source
16–17 January – 1904 European Figure Skating Championships take place in Davos.Switzerland source

Births

January 18 – Cary Grant, English actor (died 1986)source
February 16 – George F. Kennan, American diplomat (died 2005)source
March 1 – Glenn Miller, American bandleader (died 1944)source
March 2 – Dr. Seuss, American children's author (The Cat in the Hat) (died 1991)source
March 7 – Reinhard Heydrich, German Nazi official (died 1942)source
April 22 – J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist (died 1967)source
May 11 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (died 1989)source
May 11 - Salvador Dalí, artist (died 1989)Spain source
July 12 – Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1973)source
July 14 – Asadollah Sanii, Iranian politician.Iran source
July 25 – Katsuji Matsumoto, illustrator (died 1986)Japan source
August 3 – Dolores del Río, Mexican actress (died 1983)source
August 22 - Deng Xiaoping, Chinese communist leader (died 1997)source
September 15 – Umberto II of Italy, 4th and last King of Italy (died 1983)source
November 11 – Alger Hiss, American lawyer, government official, author and lecturer (died 1996)source
November 16 – Nnamdi Azikiwe, 1st President of Nigeria (died 1996)source
17 November – Paul Chaudet, politician (died 1977)Switzerland source
December 18 – George Stevens, American film director (died 1975)source

Deaths

January 2 – James Longstreet, American Confederate Civil War general (born 1821)source
January 10 – Jean-Léon Gérôme, French painter (born 1824)source
January 13 - Urbano González Serrano (born 1848), krausipositivista intellectualSpain source
February 15 – Mark Hanna, United States Senator from Ohio (born 1837)source
April 9 – Queen Isabella II of Spain (born 1830)source
May 1 – Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (born 1841)source
May 8 – Eadweard Muybridge, British photographer and motion picture pioneer (born 1830)source
May 10 – Sir Henry Morton Stanley, British explorer (born 1841)source
May – Henry F. Frizzell, American soldier (born 1839)source
July 3 – Theodor Herzl, Austrian founder of Zionism (born 1860)source
July 14 – Paul Kruger, South African military and political figure, 3rd President of South Africa (born 1825)source
July 15 – Anton Chekhov, Russian writer (born 1860)source
August 22 – Kate Chopin, American author (born 1850)source
10 September - Aparicio Saravia, Uruguayan politician and military leader (born 1856), of wounds received in the Battle of Masoller.Brazil source
September 26 – Lafcadio Hearn, Greek-Irish Japanese author (born 1850)source
September 26 – Koizumi Yakumo, writer (born 1850)Japan source
October 21 – Isabelle Eberhardt, Swiss explorer (born 1877)source
? – Mirza Mahmud Khan Hakim ol-Molk, Iranian politician and physician.Iran source