1907 CE

The Panic of 1907 triggers a U.S. financial crisis, sparking bank runs and paving the way for the Federal Reserve; The Santa María School massacre in Chile sees government troops kill hundreds of striking nitrate workers and their families; The 1907 Tiflis bank robbery by Bolsheviks shocks the Russian Empire and funds revolutionaries; The vast 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt erupts against landlords, ending in brutal crackdowns and thousands dead; The 1907 Kingston earthquake devastates Jamaica’s capital, killing more than 800; The Cornu helicopter achieves the first free flight in France, a milestone in aviation.

In the 1900s, the 20th century.

1907 at a glance

World population
about 1.72 billion Our World in Data
United States
Theodore Roosevelt (President) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
United Kingdom
Edward VII (King); Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Prime minister) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
Russian Empire
Nicholas II (Emperor); Pyotr Stolypin (Chairman of council of ministers) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
Qing dynasty
Guangxu (Emperor) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
French Third Republic
Armand Fallières (President); Georges Clemenceau (President of the Council of ministers) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
German Empire
Wilhelm II (Emperor); Bernhard von Bülow (Chancellor) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146

Who led every country in 1907 →

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • 18 January – Parliament of Coz CozChilesource
  • February 15 – Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907Japansource
  • 1 March – Liberal Fernando Figueroa was sworn in as President of El Salvador. Manuel Enrique Araujo was sworn in as Vice President.El Salvadorsource
  • March 15–16 – Elections to the new Parliament of Finland are the first in the world for a national assembly with woman candidates, as well as the first elections in Europe where universal suffrage is applied; 19 women are elected.source
  • 20 April - Brazil annexed land in the East from Colombia through the Vásquez Cobo–Martins treaty.Brazilsource
  • May 7 – Liberian constitutional referendum, 1907Liberiasource
  • June 15 – The Second Hague Peace Conference opens at The Hague.source
  • July 1 – The Orange River Colony gains autonomy, as the Orange Free State.source
  • July 24 – The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1907 brings the government and military of the protectorate of Korea more firmly under Japanese control.source
  • July 30 – First Philippine Assembly elections were held.Philippinessource
  • August 31 – Count Alexander Izvolsky and Sir Arthur Nicolson sign the Anglo-Russian Entente in Saint Petersburg, bringing a pause in The Great Game in Central Asia, and establishing the Triple Entente.source
  • August – an Anglo-Russian agreement divided Iran into two zones of interests: a Russian zone in the North and a British zone in the South.Iransource
  • September 26 – New Zealand and Newfoundland become dominions of the British Empire.source
  • October – A committee of the Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language, made up of academics including Otto Jespersen, Wilhelm Ostwald and Roland Eötvös, meet in Paris to select a language for international use. The committee ultimately decides to reform Esperanto.source
  • November 16 – President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims that Oklahoma has become the 46th U.S. state.source
  • December 17 – Ugyen Wangchuck becomes the first Druk Gyalpo (king of Bhutan).source
  • Prime Minister – Giovanni Giolitti (1906–1909)Italysource

Conflict & Security

  • 14 April – Belgium national football team plays Netherlands national football team in Antwerp.Belgiumsource
  • August 24–31 – The International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam meets in the Netherlands.source
  • September 7 – An anti-Asian riot in Vancouver attacks ChinatownCanadasource
  • October 18 – The Hague Convention is revised by the (second) Hague Peace Conference (effective 26 January 1910), focussing on naval warfare.source
  • October 27 – Černová massacre: Fifteen people are shot during the consecration of a Catholic church in Hungary (modern-day Slovakia).source
  • 5 November – Apologue wins the Melbourne Cup.Australiasource
  • 21 December – Santa María School massacreChilesource
  • The Herero and Namaqua Genocide reaches its climax in this year.Germanysource
  • Auckland defend the Ranfurly Shield against Buller (21–0), Hawkes Bay (12–3) and Wanganui(6–5).New Zealandsource
  • Coup of June 1907, a coup d'état against the State Duma.Russiasource
  • Black Patch Tobacco Wars (1904–1909)United Statessource

Exploration & Expansion

  • April 24 – Al Ahly SC is founded in Cairo by Omar Lotfi, as a gathering place for Egyptian students' unions in the struggle against colonization; it is the first association football club officially founded in Egypt or Africa.source
  • April 26 – Opening of the Jamestown Exposition at Sewell's Point, Virginia by President Theodore Roosevelt, exactly 300 years to the day of the landing of Captain Christopher Newport and the English colonists at Cape Henry. The exposition is held until December 1st, and celebrates the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown.United Statessource
  • 25 September – Cape Midland – Mosselbaai to George, 32 mi 49 ch.South Africasource
  • November 3 – Gustave Garrigou wins the Giro di Lombardia.Italysource
  • 16 November – Passenger liner RMS Mauretania sets out on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York.United Kingdomsource
  • December 16 – The American Great White Fleet begins its circumnavigation of the world.source
  • December – Edgeworth David joins Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole.Walessource
  • The first Sobeys opens in Stellarton, Nova ScotiaCanadasource
  • Frederic VIII of Denmark visits Iceland during the summer.Icelandsource
  • New Zealand Trotting Cup: MarianNew Zealandsource

Religion & Belief

  • 1 January – Cardiff beat the touring South Africa national team, 17 - 0.Walessource
  • June 5 – Shastri Yagnapurushdas consecrates the murtis of both Sahajanand Swami and Gunatitanand Swami in a single central shrine, thus establishing the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, later a United Nations affiliate organization.source
  • 5 June – Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, a sect of Hinduism, is established by Swami Yagnapurushdas.Indiasource
  • 8 July – Sophus Bugge, philologist (born 1833)Norwaysource
  • August 15 – Ordination in Constantinople of Fr. Raphael Morgan, first African-American Eastern Orthodox priest, "Priest-Apostolic" to America and the West Indies.United Statessource
  • September 8 – Pope Pius X promulgates the encyclical Pascendi Dominici gregis, opposing modernism in the Catholic Church.source
  • November 21 − Ernest Nathan is appointed the first Jewish mayor of Rome, after a victory of anti-clericals at the municipal elections.Italysource
  • Louis Tytgadt, After Mass in the Church of the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Ter Hoye Beguinage in GhentBelgiumsource
  • China Centenary Missionary ConferenceChinasource
  • St Paul's Church in Dunedin is consecrated by Bishop Churchill Julius.New Zealandsource

Economy & Finance

  • 4 February – Angus & Robertson booksellers is incorporated as a public company.Australiasource
  • June 6 – Persil laundry detergent is first marketed by Henkel of Düsseldorf, Germany, the first to combine bleach with detergent commercially.source
  • October 22 – Panic of 1907: A bank run forces New York's Knickerbocker Trust Company to suspend operations.United Statessource
  • October 24 – A major United States financial crisis is averted when J. P. Morgan, E. H. Harriman, James Stillman, Henry Clay Frick and other Wall Street financiers create a $25,000,000 pool to invest in the shares on the plunging New York Stock Exchange, ending the bank panic of 1907.source
  • October 24 – A major American financial crisis is averted when J. P. Morgan, E. H. Harriman, James Stillman, Henry Clay Frick, and other Wall Street financiers create a $25,000,000 pool to invest in the shares on the plunging New York Stock Exchange, ending the bank panic of 1907, a move which ultimately leads to establishment of the Federal Reserve System.United Statessource
  • November 11 – Due to financial difficulties in the United States, the stock exchange in Rome, unable to reverse a downward trend, is closed.Italysource
  • Edeka is founded as a purchasing co-operative.Germanysource
  • The women's suffrage organisation, the Icelandic Women's Rights Association is founded by Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir.Icelandsource
  • Seasoning, food processing, medication brand, Ajinomoto was founded by Saburosuke Suzuki in Kyobashi, Tokyo, as predecessor name was Suzuki Pharmaceutical Manufacturing.Japansource
  • Apologue becomes the first New Zealand-owned horse to win the Melbourne Cup.New Zealandsource
  • Hans Georg Jacob Stang, politician and Prime Minister (born 1830)Norwaysource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 7 January - Three new battleships on which construction work is in progress are scrapped as a result of changes to the Brazilian government's requirements.Brazilsource
  • February 16 – SKF, a worldwide mechanical parts manufacturing brand is founded in Gothenburg, Sweden.source
  • March 22 – The first taxicabs with taximeters begin operating in London.source
  • April 7 – Hershey Park opens in Hershey, Pennsylvania.source
  • April 17 – The first Minas Geraes-class battleship is laid down for Brazil, by Armstrong Whitworth on the River Tyne, in England, triggering the South American dreadnought race.source
  • June 10–August 10 – The Peking to Paris motor race is won by Prince Scipione Borghese, driving a 7-litre 35/45 hp Itala.source
  • June 22 – The London Underground's Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway opens.source
  • July 15 – The London Electrobus Company starts running the first ever service of battery-electric buses between London's Victoria Station and Liverpool Street.source
  • August 10 – Prince Scipione Borghese and Ettore Guizardi, the prince's driver, win the Peking to Paris motor race with a 7-litre 35/45 hp Itala, accompanied by journalist Luigi Barzini, Sr.Italysource
  • 5 October – The SMS Dresden is launched.Germanysource
  • October 17 – Guglielmo Marconi initiates commercial transatlantic radio communications between his high power longwave wireless telegraphy stations in Clifden, Ireland, and Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.source
  • 2 December – The Victorian Railways A2 class locomotive begins operating in Victoria.Australiasource
  • December: The Maori II, a triple-screw steamer which is the first purpose-built, inter-island ferry in the country, makes its first run between Lyttelton and Wellington.New Zealandsource
  • James M. Spangler invents the first Hoover vacuum cleaner.source
  • The Autochrome Lumière is the first commercial color photography process.source
  • The triode thermionic amplifier invented by Lee de Forest, starting the development of electronics as a practical technology.source
  • Peking to Paris automobile raceChinasource
  • Húsavíkurkirkja is constructed in HúsavíkIcelandsource
  • The Cape Government Railways places a single experimental 4-6-2 Pacific three cylinder compound steam locomotive in service, based on the second series of its Karoo Class locomotives. In 1912 it will be designated Class Experimental 1 on the South African Railways (SAR).South Africasource

Science & Discovery

  • 20 February - The Brazilian government approves the design for its new battleships.Brazilsource
  • The Diamond Sūtra, a woodblock printed Buddhist scripture dated 868, is discovered by Aurel Stein in the Mogao Caves in China; it is "the earliest complete survival of a dated printed book".source
  • 6 April – Horatio Phillips achieves the first, limited, powered heavier-than-air flight in the UK when his multiplane makes a 500 ft hop.United Kingdomsource
  • 15 May – Natal – Loskop to Winterton, 10 mi 60 ch.South Africasource
  • September 7 – British Cunard Line passenger liner RMS Lusitania sets out on her maiden voyage, from Liverpool (England) to New York City.source
  • November 16 – British Cunard Line passenger liner RMS Mauretania, the world's largest and fastest at this date, sets out on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York.source
  • November 16 – Passenger liner RMS Mauretania, the world's largest and fastest at this date, sets out on her maiden voyage from Liverpool (England) to New York.United Statessource
  • 25 December – Kristian Johansson, ski jumper and World ChampionNorwaysource
  • 28 December - The last officially confirmed huia sighting is made.New Zealandsource
  • The Moine Thrust Belt in Scotland is identified, one of the first to be discovered anywhere.source
  • Eduard Buchner is awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.Germanysource
  • The Moine Thrust Belt in the Scottish Highlands is identified, one of the first to be discoveredScotlandsource
  • Owen Morgan Edwards becomes Chief Inspector of Schools for Wales.Walessource

Health & Medicine

  • 26 January – The Short Magazine Lee–Enfield rifle is officially introduced into British military service.United Kingdomsource
  • 5 February – epidemic of meningitis in Glasgow, Edinburgh and BelfastScotlandsource
  • 21 February – The Bondi Surf Bather's Lifesaving Club is formed at Bondi Beach, Sydney, the first of its kind in the world.Australiasource
  • 10 April – French doctors announce the discovery of a new serum to cure dysentery.Francesource
  • 11 September – Hans Georg Jacob Stang, politician and Minister (born 1858)Norwaysource
  • Indiana, in the United States, becomes the world's first legislature to place laws permitting compulsory sterilization for eugenic purposes on the statute book.source
  • Arsphenamine is first synthesised in 1907 in Paul Ehrlich's lab by Alfred Bertheim.Germanysource
  • The first Home of Compassion is opened, at Island Bay in Wellington, by Mother Suzanne Aubert who had founded the congregation of the Sisters of Compassion in Jerusalem on the Whanganui River in 1892.New Zealandsource
  • Indiana becomes the world's first legislature to place laws permitting compulsory sterilization for eugenic purposes on the statute book.United Statessource

Crime & Justice

  • 27 February – The Old Bailey criminal court opens in London.United Kingdomsource
  • June 26 – Tiflis bank robbery: Bolsheviks attack a cash-filled bank coach in the centre of Tiflis, Georgia, killing 40 people.source
  • July 6 – Guardians of the Irish Crown Jewels notice that they have been stolen.source
  • July 15 – Former Minister of Public Instruction, Nunzio Nasi, is imprisoned on charges of embezzling USD 300,000.Italysource
  • September 22 – Uruguay abolishes capital punishment.source
  • October 1 – Office of the Superintendent of Prisons and Prisoners established within Department of Justice.United Statessource
  • 2 November – A film adaptation of Robbery Under Arms is released.Australiasource
  • Léon Spilliaert, Self-PortraitBelgiumsource
  • Gaston Leroux - Le mystère de la chambre jauneFrancesource
  • Chamois deer, six does and two bucks from Neuberg in Austria, are introduced to the country and released in the Aoraki / Mount Cook area as a hunting resource.New Zealandsource
  • Chair – Thomas Davies, "John Bunyan"Walessource

Disasters & Accidents

  • February 11 – The French warship Jean Bart sinks off the coast of Morocco.source
  • 11 February – The French cruiser Jean Bart sinks off the coast of Morocco.Francesource
  • February 12 – The steamship Larchmont collides with the Harry Hamilton in Long Island Sound; 183 lives are lost.source
  • February 12 – The steamship Larchmont collides with the Harry Knowlton off Block Island, Rhode Island; 183 lives are lost.United Statessource
  • 17 February – The cargo ship SS Orianda sinks off Barry after colliding with the SS Heliopolis, with the loss of 14 crew.Walessource
  • February 21 – The English mail steamship Berlin is wrecked off the Hook of Holland; 142 lives are lost.source
  • February 24 – The Austrian Lloyd steamship Imperatrix, from Trieste to Bombay, is wrecked on Cape of Crete and sinks; 137 lives are lost.source
  • The 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt results in possibly as many as 11,000 deaths.source
  • The steamship Congo collides at the mouth of the Ems River with the German steamship Nerissa; 7 lives are lost.source
  • May 11 – Hinode Life Insurance, later Sumitomo Life Insurance was founded.Japansource
  • July 21 – The SS Columbia sinks after colliding with the lumber schooner San Pedro, off Shelter Cove, California, resulting in 88 deaths.source
  • August 24 – Part of the under-construction Quebec Bridge collapses in Quebec City killing 75 construction workers and injuring 11.Canadasource
  • August 29 – The partially completed superstructure of the Quebec Bridge collapses entirely, claiming the lives of 76 workers.source
  • 15 October – Shrewsbury rail accident: A London & North Western Railway sleeping car train suffers derailment passing through Shrewsbury station at excessive speed; 18 lives are lost.United Kingdomsource
  • December 6 – Monongah Mining disaster: A coal mine explosion kills 362 workers in Monongah, West Virginia.source
  • December 14 – The largest sailing ship ever built, the 7-masted U.S.-owned Thomas W. Lawson, is wrecked in the Isles of Scilly.source
  • December 19 – An explosion in a coal mine in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania kills 239.source
  • Oakdale Colliery is sunk in the Sirhowy Valley.Walessource

Climate & Environment

  • January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 M w earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000.source
  • 19 January – A tropical cyclone hits Cooktown, Queensland, killing six people.Australiasource
  • 23 January - Sweden's record highest atmospheric pressure value occurs in Kalmar and Visby at 1063.7 hPa.Swedensource
  • c. March 28 – The volcano Ksudach erupts, in the Kamchatka Peninsula.source
  • April 28 – The vulcano on the island of Stromboli is erupting large quantities of ash, damaging vineyards in Calabria and Sicily.Italysource
  • September 14 – Jasper Forest Park– later named Jasper National Park– is established.Canadasource
  • October 23 – A magnitude 5.9 earthquake strikes Calabria, at a depth of 33.0 km. The event caused 167 deaths and major damage. The town Ferruzzano was the epicentre where many houses collapsed almost completely, and 158 persons, or 8% of its population, were killed.Italysource
  • December 18 – Ouachita National Forest is established.United Statessource
  • Full protection is promulgated for the tūī, kākā, paradise duck and oystercatcher.New Zealandsource
  • The now extinct huia bird which was endemic to New Zealand, is last seen in the Tararua Ranges on 28 December.New Zealandsource

Culture & Society

  • January 2 – The Liberian National Bar Association is officially launched.Liberiasource
  • January 6 – Education reformer Maria Montessori opens her first Casa dei Bambini, or Children's House, in Rome.Italysource
  • January 8 – Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar ascended to the crown.Iransource
  • February 9 – The "Mud March", the first large procession organised by The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), takes place in London.source
  • March 25 – The first university sports federation in Europe is established in Hungary, with the participation or support of the associations of ten universities and colleges.source
  • Pablo Picasso completes his painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.source
  • 1 April - Ungmennafélag Bolungarvíkur is establishedIcelandsource
  • May 13 – The 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party convenes in secret in London.source
  • June 3 – Centro Escolar University established as Centro Escolar de Señoritas.Philippinessource
  • August 28 – UPS is founded by James E. (Jim) Casey in Seattle, Washington.source
  • September 7 – Asahi Grass (now AGC) founded in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture.Japansource
  • October 6 – The Deutscher Werkbund is founded in Germany.source
  • 6 October – The Deutscher Werkbund is established in Munich.Germanysource
  • Olavo Bilac is elected the "Prince of Brazilian Poets" by the magazine Fon-Fon.Brazilsource

Births

  • January 8 – Keizō Hayashi, civil servant (died 1991)Japansource
  • March 4 - Maria Branyas, supercentenarian, world's oldest living person from January 17, 2023, to August 19, 2024 (born in the United States) (died 2024)Spainsource
  • March 9 – Mircea Eliade, Romanian religious historian, writer (died 1986)source
  • 29 March - Braguinha, composer (died 2006)Brazilsource
  • May 9 – Baldur von Schirach, Nazi official (died 1974)source
  • May 12 – Katharine Hepburn, American actress (died 2003)source
  • May 14 – Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan (died 1974)source
  • May 22 – Hergé, Belgian cartoonist (died 1983)source
  • May 22 – Laurence Olivier, English stage, screen actor and director (died 1989)source
  • May 26 – John Wayne, American actor, film director (died 1979)source
  • May 27 – Rachel Carson, American environmental writer (died 1964)source
  • June 1 – Frank Whittle, British jet engine developer (died 1996)source
  • 5 June – Lee Tze-fan, painter.Taiwansource
  • July 6 – Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter (died 1954)source
  • July 7 – Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction author (died 1988)source
  • September 1 – Walter Reuther, American labor union leader and president of the United Auto Workers (died 1970)source
  • September 27 – Bhagat Singh, Indian revolutionary (died 1931)source
  • September 29 – Gene Autry, American actor, singer, and businessman (died 1998)source

Deaths