World map in 1900

Border history

The interactive map lets you inspect named territories in 1900 and compare them to earlier or later snapshots on the timeline.

Biographical context

Meet figures alive in, or close to, 1900 and move from political geography to the people connected to the period.

Era-based reading

The related chronicles below provide long-form reading tied closely to the modern period.

1900 – 1901

Boxer Protocol and Eight-Nation Alliance

Eight-Nation Alliance (Japan, Russia, Britain, France, US, Germany, Italy, Austria) vs Qing China, Boxer rebels

An international military coalition invaded China to relieve the besieged foreign legations in Beijing, imposing crushing indemnities that further humiliated the Qing dynasty.

Key battles and events: Siege of the Legations (1900); Battle of Tientsin (1900)

1899 – 1901

Boxer Rebellion

Eight-Nation Alliance vs Qing Dynasty & Boxer militia

An anti-foreign uprising by the 'Righteous Harmony Fists' militia, backed by the Qing court, besieged the Beijing legation quarter for 55 days before an eight-nation coalition relieved the siege and imposed crushing reparations.

Key battles and events: Battle of Langfang (1900); Battle of Tianjin (1900)

1899 – 1902

Philippine-American War

United States vs First Philippine Republic (Aguinaldo)

After the U.S. acquired the Philippines from Spain, Filipino independence forces fought a guerrilla war against American occupation. The brutal conflict killed an estimated 200,000-1,000,000 Filipino civilians and marked the U.S.'s entry into imperial colonialism.

Key battles and events: Battle of Manila (1899); Battle of Tirad Pass (1899)

1899 – 1902

Second Boer War

British Empire vs Boer republics (Transvaal & Orange Free State)

Britain fought the Boer republics for control of South Africa. The British used scorched earth tactics and concentration camps, killing tens of thousands of Boer civilians before achieving victory.

Key battles and events: Siege of Ladysmith (1899–1900); Siege of Mafeking (1899–1900)

1899 – 1920

Somaliland Campaign (Dervish War)

Dervish State (Mohammed Abdullah Hassan) vs British Empire, Italy, Ethiopia

A 21-year insurgency led by Mohammed Abdullah Hassan and his Dervish state against British, Italian, and Ethiopian forces in the Horn of Africa. Ended only when the British deployed aircraft — one of the first uses of air power in colonial warfare.

Key battles and events: Battle of Jigjiga (1900); Battle of Dul Madoba (1913)

1899 – 1902

Thousand Days' War (Colombia)

Colombian Liberal Party vs Colombian Conservative Party (Government)

A devastating civil war between Colombian Liberal and Conservative parties that killed approximately 100,000 people and wrecked the economy. The war's chaos directly enabled the U.S.-backed secession of Panama in 1903.

Key battles and events: Battle of Palonegro (1900); Battle of Peralonso (1899)

1899 – 1913

Wadai War (French Conquest of Chad)

French Republic vs Wadai Empire, Sultanate of Bagirmi, Rabih's army

France conquered the Lake Chad region, defeating the warlord Rabih az-Zubayr and the Wadai Empire, completing the French sphere of influence across the Sahel.

Key battles and events: Battle of Kousséri (1900); Fall of Abéché (1909)

1898 – 1934

Banana Wars

United States vs Various Caribbean and Central American forces

A series of US military interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean to protect American commercial interests and enforce the Roosevelt Corollary. US Marines occupied Haiti, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and intervened in Mexico and Honduras.

Key battles and events: US occupation of Nicaragua (1912–1933); US occupation of Haiti (1915–1934)

Switzerland

Carl Jung

1875 – 1961

Analytical psychology, archetypes, collective unconscious, psychological types

Prague / Austria-Hungary

Franz Kafka

1883 – 1924

The Metamorphosis, The Trial, The Castle, pioneer of existentialist and absurdist fiction

Germany

Franz Rosenzweig

1886 – 1929

The Star of Redemption, dialogical philosophy, Buber-Rosenzweig Bible translation, the Lehrhaus

Prussia / Switzerland / Italy

Friedrich Nietzsche

1844 – 1900

Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, the Übermensch, eternal recurrence, and the declaration that God is dead

United States

Henry Ford

1863 – 1947

Assembly line mass production, Model T automobile, $5 workday, Ford Motor Company

India / South Africa

Mahatma Gandhi

1869 – 1948

Nonviolent resistance, Indian independence, civil rights pioneer

Built 1891 · Oceania

St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne

Gothic Revival Anglican cathedral designed by William Butterfield at the heart of Melbourne, featuring distinctive spires completed in 1932.

Built 1888 · Asia

Nasir al-Mulk Mosque

The Pink Mosque of Shiraz, famous for its stained glass windows that cast kaleidoscopic rainbows across the prayer hall at sunrise

Built 1883 · Oceania

Broome

Established in 1883 on Western Australia's Kimberley coast, Broome became one of the world's leading pearling ports, supplying most of the global mother-of-pearl by 1910.

Built 1883 · Europe

Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

Ornate Russian Orthodox church in St. Petersburg built on the site of Alexander II's assassination

Built 1882 · Europe

Sagrada Família

Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece basilica in Barcelona

Built 1879 · Africa

Christ Church, Zanzibar

Anglican cathedral built on the site of the former slave market in Stone Town, Tanzania

Serbia / United States · Scientist

Nikola Tesla

He Won the Current War. He Died Broke at 86. The FBI Took His Papers the Same Day.

Genius, rivalry, and vindication — how a penniless Serbian immigrant defeated Edison and powered the modern world.

Spain / France · Artist

Pablo Picasso

The Man Who Broke the Mirror

The life of the artist who shattered five centuries of Western painting and rebuilt it from the fragments — from Málaga to Mougins.

Prague / Austria-Hungary · Thinker

Franz Kafka

The Man Who Became a Metaphor

Alienation, bureaucracy, and genius — how a Prague insurance clerk wrote the most unsettling literature of the twentieth century, then asked his best friend to burn it all.

Germany · Philosopher

Franz Rosenzweig

The Star That Would Not Be Extinguished

Conversion, revelation, and paralysis — how a German-Jewish philosopher wrote his masterwork on military postcards, almost became a Christian, then spent his final years communicating one letter at a time.