1897 - What happened in 1897 ?

February 1897

Tuesday 02:

The Pennsylvania state capitol is destroyed by fire.

Sunday 28:

Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch in Madagascar, was deposed by a French military force.

March 1897

Thursday 11:

A meteorite enters the earth's atmosphere and explodes over New Martinsville, West Virginia. The debris causes damage but no human injuries are reported.

April 1897

Tuesday 27:

Grant's Tomb is dedicated.

May 1897

Saturday 01:

The Hindu monastic order Shri Ramakrishna Math and Mission was founded by Swami Vivekananda.

Saturday 15:

The Greek army retreats with heavy losses in Greco-Turkish War

Wednesday 19:

Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol.

Wednesday 26:

Bram Stoker's novel Dracula goes on sale in London.

June 1897

Wednesday 02:

Mark Twain, responding to rumors that he was dead, is quoted by the New York Journal as saying, "The report of my death was an exaggeration."

July 1897

Sunday 11:

Salomon August Andrée leaves Spitsbergen to try to reach the North pole by balloon. He later crashes and dies.

Saturday 17:

Klondike gold rush begins when first successful prospectors arrive in Seattle, Washington, USA.

Sunday 25:

Writer Jack London sails to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he will write his first successful stories.

August 1897

Tuesday 31:

Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector.

September 1897

Wednesday 01:

The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground metro in North America.

Friday 10:

In the Lattimer Massacre, a sheriff's posse killes more than nineteen unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania, United States.

Saturday 11:

After months of pursuit, generals of Menelik II of Ethiopia capture Gaki Sherocho, the last king of Kaffa, bringing an end to that ancient kingdom.

Tuesday 21:

The Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus letter is published in the New York Sun.

December 1897

Thursday 09:

Marguerite Durand, a French stage actress, journalist, and a leading suffragette, founds the feminist daily newspaper, La Fronde.

Sunday 12:

The city of Belo Horizonte is founded.

Tuesday 28:

The play Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand, premieres in Paris.

Thursday 30:

Natal annexes Zululand.