The 1900s (pronounced "nineteen-hundreds") was the decade that began on January 1, 1900, and ended on December 31, 1909. The Edwardian era (1901–1910) covers a similar span of time. The term "nineteen-hundreds" is sometimes also used to mean the entire century from January 1, 1900, to December 31, 1999 (the years beginning with "19").
The Scramble for Africa continued, with the Orange Free State, South African Republic, Ashanti Empire, Aro Confederacy, Sokoto Caliphate and Kano Emirate being conquered by the British Empire, alongside the French Empire conquering Borno, the German Empire conquering the Adamawa Emirate, and the Portuguese Empire conquering the Ovambo. Atrocities in the Congo Free State were committed by private companies and the Force Publique, with a resultant population decline of 1 to 15 million. From 1904 to 1908, German colonial forces in South West Africa led a campaign of ethnic extermination and collective punishment, killing 24,000 to 100,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama. The First Moroccan and Bosnian crises led to worsened tensions in Europe that would ultimately lead to World War I in the next decade. Cuba, Bulgaria, and Norway became independent.
The deadliest conventional war of this decade was the Russo-Japanese War, fought over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. Russia suffered a humiliating defeat in this conflict, contributing to a growing domestic unrest which culminated in the Russian Revolution of 1905. Unconventional wars of similar scale include insurrections in the Philippines (1899–1913), China (1899–1901), and Colombia (1899–1902). Lesser conflicts include interstate wars such as the Second Boer War (1899–1902), the Kuwaiti–Rashidi war (1900–1901), and the Saudi–Rashidi War (1903–1907), as well as failed uprisings and revolutions in Portuguese Angola (1902–1904), Rumelia (1903), Ottoman Eastern Anatolia (1904), Uruguay (1904), French Madagascar (1905–1906), Argentina (1905), Persia (1905–1911), German East Africa (1905–1907), and Romania (1907). A major famine took place in China from 1906 to 1907, possibly leading to 20–25 million deaths. This famine was directly caused by the 1906 China floods (April–October 1906), which hit the Huai River particularly hard and destroyed both the summer and autumn harvest. The 1908 Messina earthquake caused 75,000–82,000 deaths.
First-wave feminism made advances, with universities being opened for women in Japan, Bulgaria, Cuba, Russia, and Peru. In 1906, Finland granted women the right to vote, the first European country to do so. The foundation of the Women's Social and Political Union by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903 led to the rise of the Suffragettes in Great Britain and Ireland. In 1908, a revolution took place in the Ottoman Empire, where the Young Turks movement restored the Ottoman constitution of 1876, establishing the Second Constitutional Era. Subsequently, ethnic tensions rose, and in 1909, up to 30,000 mainly Armenian civilians in Adana were slain by Turkish civilians.
The decade saw the widespread application of the internal combustion engine including mass production of the automobile, as well as the introduction of the typewriter. The Wright Flyer performed the first recorded controlled, powered, sustained heavier than air flight on December 17, 1903. Reginald Fessenden of East Bolton, Quebec, Canada made what appeared to be the first audio radio broadcasts of entertainment and music ever made to a general audience. The first huge success of American cinema, as well as the largest experimental achievement to this point, was the 1903 film The Great Train Robbery, directed by Edwin S. Porter, while the world's first feature film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, was released on December 26, 1906, in Melbourne, Australia. Popular books of this decade included The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) and Anne of Green Gables (1908), which sold 45 million and 50 million copies respectively. Popular songs of this decade include "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and "What Are They Doing in Heaven?", which have been featured in 42 and 16 hymnals respectively.
During the decade, the world population increased from 1.60 to 1.75 billion, with approximately 580 million births and 450 million deaths in total. As of October 2026, the only remaining living person born in this decade is Ethel Caterham, born August 21, 1909. The last living man from this decade was Juan Vicente Pérez (May 27, 1909 – April 2, 2024).
Pronunciation varieties There are several main varieties of how individual years of the decade are pronounced. Using 1906 as an example, they are "nineteen-oh-six", "nineteen-six", and "nineteen-aught-six". Which variety is most prominent depends somewhat on global region and generation. "Nineteen-oh-six" is the most common; "nineteen-six" is less common. In American English, "nineteen-aught-six" is also recognized but not much used.
Demographics
Estimates for the world population by 1900 vary from 1.563 to 1.710 billion. PRB (1973–2016)Data from Population Reference Bureau .
2016 estimate: (a) "2016 World Population Data Sheet"
2015 estimate: (b) Toshiko Kaneda, 2015, "2015 World Population Data Sheet" .
2014 estimate: (c) Carl Haub, 2014, "2014 World Population Data Sheet" .
2013 estimate: (d) Carl Haub, 2013, "2013 World Population Data Sheet" .
2012 estimate: (e) Carl Haub, 2012, "2012 World Population Data Sheet" .
2011 estimate: (f) Carl Haub, 2011, "2011 World Population Data Sheet" .
2010 estimate: (g) Carl Haub, 2010, "2010 World Population Data Sheet" .
2009 estimate: (h) Carl Haub, 2009, "2009 World Population Data Sheet" .
2008 estimate: (i) Carl Haub, 2008, "2008 World Population Data Sheet" .
2007 estimate: (j) Carl Haub, 2007, "2007 World Population Data Sheet" .
2006 estimate: (k) Carl Haub, 2006, "2006 World Population Data Sheet" .
2005 estimate: (l) Carl Haub, 2005, "2005 World Population Data Sheet" .
2004 estimate: (m) Carl Haub, 2004, "2004 World Population Data Sheet" .
2003 estimate: (n) Carl Haub, 2003, "2003 World Population Data Sheet" .
2002 estimate: (o) Carl Haub, 2002, "2002 World Population Data Sheet" .
2001 estimate: (p) Carl Haub, 2001, "2001 World Population Data Sheet" .
2000 estimate: (q) 2000, "9 Billion World Population by 2050" .
1997 estimate: (r) 1997, "Studying Populations".
Estimates for 1995 and prior: (s) Carl Haub, 1995, "How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?" Population Today, Vol. 23 (no. 2), pp. 5–6.UN (2015)Data from United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division.
1950–2100 estimates (only medium variants shown): (a) World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision.
Estimates prior to 1950: (b) "The World at Six Billion", 1999.
Estimates from 1950 to 2100: (c) "Population of the entire world, yearly, 1950 - 2100", 2013.
2014: (d) "2014 World Urbanization Prospects", 2014.
2015: (e) "2015 World Urbanization Prospects", 2015. Maddison (2008)Angus Maddison, 2003, The World Economy: Historical Statistics, Vol. 2, OECD, Paris .
"Statistical Appendix" (2008, ggdc.net) "The historical data were originally developed in three books: Monitoring the World Economy 1820-1992, OECD, Paris 1995; The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective, OECD Development Centre, Paris 2001; The World Economy: Historical Statistics, OECD Development Centre, Paris 2003. All these contain detailed source notes. Figures for 1820 onwards are annual, wherever possible. For earlier years, benchmark figures are shown for 1 AD, 1000 AD, 1500, 1600 and 1700." "OECD countries GDP revised and updated 1991-2003 from National Accounts for OECD Countries, vol. I, 2006. Norway 1820-1990 GDP from Ola Grytten (2004), "The Gross Domestic Product for Norway, 1830-2003" in Eitrheim, Klovland and Qvigstad (eds), Historical Monetary Statistics for Norway, 1819-2003, Norges Bank, Oslo. Latin American GDP 2000-2003 revised and updated from ECLAC, Statistical Yearbook 2004 and preliminary version of the 2005 Yearbook supplied by Andre Hofman. For Chile, GDP 1820-2003 from Rolf Lűders (1998), "The Comparative Economic Performance of Chile 1810-1995", Estudios de Economia, vol. 25, no. 2, with revised population estimates from Diaz, J., R. Lűders, and G. Wagner (2005) Chili 1810-2000: la Republica en Cifras, mimeo, Instituto de Economia, Universidad Católica de Chile. For Peru, GDP 1896-1990 and population 1896-1949 from Bruno Seminario and Arlette Beltran, Crecimiento Economico en el Peru 1896-1995, Universidad del Pacifico, 1998. " "For Asia there are amendments to the GDP estimates for South and North Korea, 1911-74, to correct an error in Maddison (2003). Estimates for the Philippines, 1902-1940 were amended in line with Richard Hooley (2005), 'American Economic Policy in the Philippines, 1902-1940', Journal of Asian Economics, 16. 1820 estimates were amended for Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand." "Asian countries GDP revised and updated 1998-2003 from AsianOutlook, April 2005. Population estimates for all countries except China and Indonesia revised and updated 1950-2008 and 2030 from International Data Base, International Programs Center, Population Division, US Bureau of the Census, April 2005 version. China's population 1990-2003 from China Statistical Yearbook 2005, China Statistics Press, Beijing. Indonesian population 1950-2003 kindly supplied by Pierre van der Eng. The figures now include three countries previously omitted: Cook Islands, Nauru and Tuvalu."HYDE (2010)Klein Goldewijk, K., A. Beusen, M. de Vos and G. van Drecht (2011). The HYDE 3.1 spatially explicit database of human induced land use change over the past 12,000 years, Global Ecology and Biogeography20(1): 73-86. (pbl.nl ). HYDE (History Database of the Global Environment), 2010. HYDE 3.1 gives estimates for 5000 BC, 1000 BC and "AD 0". HYDE estimates are higher than those by Colin McEvedy (1978) but lower than those by Massimo Livi Bacci (1989, 2012). (graphs (itbulk.org)).Tanton (1994)John H. Tanton, 1994, "End of the Migration Epoch? Time For a New Paradigm", The Social Contract, Vol. 4 (no 3), pp. 162–173.Biraben (1980)Slightly updated data from original paper in French: (a) Jean-Noël Biraben, 1980, "An Essay Concerning Mankind's Evolution", Population, Selected Papers, Vol. 4, pp. 1–13. Original paper in French: (b) Jean-Noël Biraben, 1979, "Essai sur l'évolution du nombre des hommes", Population, Vol. 34 (no. 1), pp. 13–25.McEvedy & Jones (1978)Colin McEvedy and Richard Jones, 1978, Atlas of World Population History, Facts on File, New York, .Thomlinson (1975)Ralph Thomlinson, 1975, Demographic Problems: Controversy over population control, 2nd Ed., Dickenson Publishing Company, Ecino, CA, .Durand (1974)John D. Durand, 1974, "Historical Estimates of World Population: An Evaluation", University of Pennsylvania, Population Center, Analytical and Technical Reports, Number 10.Clark (1967)Colin Clark, 1967, Population Growth and Land Use, St. Martin's Press, New York, .1,656M1,650M1,563M1,654MData from History Database of the Global Environment. K. Klein Goldewijk, A. Beusen and P. Janssen, "HYDE 3.1: Long-term dynamic modeling of global population and built-up area in a spatially explicit way", from table on pg. 2, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP), Bilthoven, The Netherlands.1,600M1,633M1,625M1,600M1,650–1,710M1,668M
Politics and wars
Major political changes New Imperialism The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic sign Entente Cordiale
Wars
Second Boer War ends. Philippine–American War takes place (1899–1902). The Kuwaiti–Rashidi war takes place (1900–1901). Battle of Riyadh was a minor battle of the Unification of Saudi Arabia (1902). Russo-Japanese War establishes the Empire of Japan as a world power (1904–1905). The Ottomans invade Persia and capture a strip of territory (1906).