January
February 7: Aftermath of the Great Baltimore Fire.
January 7 – The distress signal CQD is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by SOS.
January 12 – Henry Ford sets a new automobile land speed record of 91.37 mph.
January 16 – The first large-scale bodybuilding competition in America takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
January 18 – The Herero Rebellion in German South-West Africa begins.
January 23 – The Ålesund Fire destroys most buildings in the town of Ålesund, Norway, leaving about 10,000 people without shelter.
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.
February
February 7 – The Great Baltimore Fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
Port Arthur from Gold Hill
February 8 – A Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur (Lushun) starts the Russo-Japanese War.
February 10 – Roger Casement publishes his account of Belgian atrocities in the Congo.
February 23 – For $10 million, the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.
February 28 – Sport Lisboa e Benfica is founded in Portugal.
March
March 3 – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a political recording of a document, using Thomas Edison's cylinder.
March 4 – Russo-Japanese War: Russian troops in Korea retreat toward Manchuria, followed by 100,000 Japanese troops.
March 26 – 80,000 demonstrators gather in Hyde Park, London, to protest against the importation of Chinese labourers to South Africa by the British government.
March 31 – British expedition to Tibet – Battle of Guru: British troops under Colonel Francis Younghusband defeat ill-equipped Tibetan troops.
April
April 8
The Entente Cordiale is signed between the UK and France.
Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
Aleister Crowley begins writing Liber Al vel Legis, better known as The Book of the Law, a text central to Thelema. He completes this task on April 10.
April 19 – The Great Toronto Fire destroys much of that city's downtown, but there are no fatalities.
April 27 – The Australian Labor Party becomes the first such party to gain national government, under Chris Watson.
April 30 – The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri (closes December 1).
May
May 4
United States Army engineers begin work on the Panama Canal.
German football club FC Schalke 04 is established.
May 5
Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
Hundreds of Tibetans attacked the camp at Changlo and, for a while, held the advantage before being defeated by the British's superior weapons and losing at least 200 men.
May 9 – GWR 3440 City of Truro becomes the first railway locomotive to exceed 100 mph.
May 15– The Russian minelayer Amur lays a minefield about 15 miles (24 km) off Port Arthur and sank Japan's battleships Hatsuse, 15,000 tons, with 496 crew and Yashima.
May 21 – The International Federation of Association Football, FIFA, is established.
May 30 – Alpha Gamma Delta, now an international women's fraternity, is founded by 11 women at Syracuse University.
June
June 10 – Irish author James Joyce meets his future wife Nora Barnacle.
June 15 – A fire aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York City's East River kills 1,021.
June 16
Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolai Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland.
James Joyce walks to Ringsend with Nora Barnacle; he later uses this date (Bloomsday) as the setting for his novel Ulysses.
June 28 – The Danish ocean liner SS Norge runs aground and sinks close to Rockall, killing 635, including 225 Norwegian emigrants.
June 28 – The original icon of Our Lady of Kazan was stolen and subsequently destroyed in Russia.
June 29 – The 1904 Moscow tornado occurs.
July
July 1 – The third Modern Olympic Games opens in St. Louis, Missouri, United States as part of the World's Fair.
August
August 3 – British expedition to Tibet: The British expedition under Colonel Francis Younghusband takes Lhasa in Tibet.
August 11 – Battle of Waterberg: Lothar von Trotha defeats the Herero in German South-West Africa and drives them into the Omaheke desert, start of the Herero and Namaqua Genocide.
August 14 – Ismael Montes becomes President of Bolivia.
August 17 – Russo-Japanese War: A Japanese infantry charge fails to take Port Arthur.
August 18 – Chris Watson resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeeded by George Reid.
September
September 7 – British expedition to Tibet: The Dalai Lama signs the Anglo-Tibetan Treaty with Colonel Francis Younghusband.
September 25 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Joseph F. Smith issues a Second Manifesto against polygamy.
September 26 – New Zealand dolphin Pelorus Jack is individually protected by Order in Council under the Sea Fisheries Act.[2]
October
October 1 – Phi Delta Epsilon, the international medical fraternity, is founded by Aaron Brown and eight of his friends at Cornell University Medical College.
October 5 – Alpha Kappa Psi, the co-ed Professional Business Fraternity, is founded on the campus of New York University.
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.
October 15 – Theta Tau, the Professional Engineering Fraternity, is founded at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
October 19 – Polytechnic University of the Philippines is founded as Manila Business School through the superintendence of the American C.A. O'Reilley.
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.
October 27 – The first underground line of the New York City Subway opens.
October 28 – Panama and Uruguay establishes diplomatic links.
November
November 8 – U.S. presidential election, 1904: Republican incumbent Theodore Roosevelt defeats Democrat Alton B. Parker.
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.[3]
November 24 – The first successful caterpillar track is made (it later revolutionizes construction vehicles and land warfare).
December
December 2 – The St. Petersburg Soviet urges a run on the banks: the attempt fails and the executive committee is arrested.
December 3 – Charles Dillon Perrine discovers Jupiter's largest irregular satellite, Himalia.
December 4 – The K.U. or Konservativ Ungdom (Young Conservatives) is founded by Carl F. Herman von Rosen in Denmark.
December 6 – Theodore Roosevelt announced his "Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States would intervene in the Western Hemisphere should Latin American governments prove incapable or unstable.
December 10 – The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity is founded at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC.
December 27 – The stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up premieres in London.
December 30 – The East Boston Tunnel opens.
December 31 – In New York City, the first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square.
February 7: Aftermath of the Great Baltimore Fire.
January 7 – The distress signal CQD is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by SOS.
January 12 – Henry Ford sets a new automobile land speed record of 91.37 mph.
January 16 – The first large-scale bodybuilding competition in America takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
January 18 – The Herero Rebellion in German South-West Africa begins.
January 23 – The Ålesund Fire destroys most buildings in the town of Ålesund, Norway, leaving about 10,000 people without shelter.
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.
February
February 7 – The Great Baltimore Fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
Port Arthur from Gold Hill
February 8 – A Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur (Lushun) starts the Russo-Japanese War.
February 10 – Roger Casement publishes his account of Belgian atrocities in the Congo.
February 23 – For $10 million, the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.
February 28 – Sport Lisboa e Benfica is founded in Portugal.
March
March 3 – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a political recording of a document, using Thomas Edison's cylinder.
March 4 – Russo-Japanese War: Russian troops in Korea retreat toward Manchuria, followed by 100,000 Japanese troops.
March 26 – 80,000 demonstrators gather in Hyde Park, London, to protest against the importation of Chinese labourers to South Africa by the British government.
March 31 – British expedition to Tibet – Battle of Guru: British troops under Colonel Francis Younghusband defeat ill-equipped Tibetan troops.
April
April 8
The Entente Cordiale is signed between the UK and France.
Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
Aleister Crowley begins writing Liber Al vel Legis, better known as The Book of the Law, a text central to Thelema. He completes this task on April 10.
April 19 – The Great Toronto Fire destroys much of that city's downtown, but there are no fatalities.
April 27 – The Australian Labor Party becomes the first such party to gain national government, under Chris Watson.
April 30 – The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri (closes December 1).
May
May 4
United States Army engineers begin work on the Panama Canal.
German football club FC Schalke 04 is established.
May 5
Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
Hundreds of Tibetans attacked the camp at Changlo and, for a while, held the advantage before being defeated by the British's superior weapons and losing at least 200 men.
May 9 – GWR 3440 City of Truro becomes the first railway locomotive to exceed 100 mph.
May 15– The Russian minelayer Amur lays a minefield about 15 miles (24 km) off Port Arthur and sank Japan's battleships Hatsuse, 15,000 tons, with 496 crew and Yashima.
May 21 – The International Federation of Association Football, FIFA, is established.
May 30 – Alpha Gamma Delta, now an international women's fraternity, is founded by 11 women at Syracuse University.
June
June 10 – Irish author James Joyce meets his future wife Nora Barnacle.
June 15 – A fire aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York City's East River kills 1,021.
June 16
Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolai Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland.
James Joyce walks to Ringsend with Nora Barnacle; he later uses this date (Bloomsday) as the setting for his novel Ulysses.
June 28 – The Danish ocean liner SS Norge runs aground and sinks close to Rockall, killing 635, including 225 Norwegian emigrants.
June 28 – The original icon of Our Lady of Kazan was stolen and subsequently destroyed in Russia.
June 29 – The 1904 Moscow tornado occurs.
July
July 1 – The third Modern Olympic Games opens in St. Louis, Missouri, United States as part of the World's Fair.
August
August 3 – British expedition to Tibet: The British expedition under Colonel Francis Younghusband takes Lhasa in Tibet.
August 11 – Battle of Waterberg: Lothar von Trotha defeats the Herero in German South-West Africa and drives them into the Omaheke desert, start of the Herero and Namaqua Genocide.
August 14 – Ismael Montes becomes President of Bolivia.
August 17 – Russo-Japanese War: A Japanese infantry charge fails to take Port Arthur.
August 18 – Chris Watson resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeeded by George Reid.
September
September 7 – British expedition to Tibet: The Dalai Lama signs the Anglo-Tibetan Treaty with Colonel Francis Younghusband.
September 25 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Joseph F. Smith issues a Second Manifesto against polygamy.
September 26 – New Zealand dolphin Pelorus Jack is individually protected by Order in Council under the Sea Fisheries Act.[2]
October
October 1 – Phi Delta Epsilon, the international medical fraternity, is founded by Aaron Brown and eight of his friends at Cornell University Medical College.
October 5 – Alpha Kappa Psi, the co-ed Professional Business Fraternity, is founded on the campus of New York University.
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.
October 15 – Theta Tau, the Professional Engineering Fraternity, is founded at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
October 19 – Polytechnic University of the Philippines is founded as Manila Business School through the superintendence of the American C.A. O'Reilley.
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.
October 27 – The first underground line of the New York City Subway opens.
October 28 – Panama and Uruguay establishes diplomatic links.
November
November 8 – U.S. presidential election, 1904: Republican incumbent Theodore Roosevelt defeats Democrat Alton B. Parker.
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.[3]
November 24 – The first successful caterpillar track is made (it later revolutionizes construction vehicles and land warfare).
December
December 2 – The St. Petersburg Soviet urges a run on the banks: the attempt fails and the executive committee is arrested.
December 3 – Charles Dillon Perrine discovers Jupiter's largest irregular satellite, Himalia.
December 4 – The K.U. or Konservativ Ungdom (Young Conservatives) is founded by Carl F. Herman von Rosen in Denmark.
December 6 – Theodore Roosevelt announced his "Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States would intervene in the Western Hemisphere should Latin American governments prove incapable or unstable.
December 10 – The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity is founded at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC.
December 27 – The stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up premieres in London.
December 30 – The East Boston Tunnel opens.
December 31 – In New York City, the first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square.