its outreach to European-Americans in weekly lectures beginning on January 4.
2/1/1900. New York’s first electric omnibus began operating.
2/12/1899. In Washington, the USA, Britain, and Germany signed a treaty dividing the Samoan Islands between the USA and Germany.
24/11/1899. US forces finally captured Luzon in the Philippines after nine months of jungle warfare. The US was awarded the Philippines in 1898 but found it hard to subdue the territory. Insurrectionist leader Emilio Aguinaldo wanted independence and declared the Malolos Republic in 1898. Aguinaldo continued a guerrilla war from the mountains.
18/10/1898, The USA took formal possession of Puerto Rico from Spain.
6/9/1899. The US Secretary of State, John Hay, embarked on an ‘open door’ policy towards China. He also urged the European powers, and Japan, to respect China’s territorial integrity and pursue a policy of free trade with China.
1/7/1899, The first juvenile court sat, at Cork County Court, Chicago.
18/3/1899, Othniel Charles Marsh, US palaeontologist, died in new Haven, Connecticut.
4/2/1899, A rebellion against US rule broke out on the Philippines. The US had backed General Emilio Aguinaldo against Spanish colonial rule (see 10/12/1898), but instead of independence the Philippines came under US rule.
17/1/1899, Al Capone, American gangster who operated in Chicago, was born in Naples, Italy.
1/1/1899, The official date on which US military rule succeeded Spanish rule of Cuba.
12/12/1898, The Treaty of Paris ended the US-Spanish war.
10/12/1898. The war between Spain and the USA ended. The USA acquired Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and. for a US$20 million indemnity, the Philippines. See 4/2/1899.
13/8/1898. US forces captured Manila, capital of the Philippines.
28/7/1898. Puerto Rico surrendered to US forces.
3/7/1898, The US navy destroyed a Spanish fleet attempting to escape the US blockade on the port of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. On 5/7/1898 US forces captured Santiago itself.
20/6/1898. The US navy seized the island of Guam.
1/5/1898. US forces under George Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, Philippines.
24/4/1898. The United States declared war on Spain as a result of the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana harbour on 15 February 1898. Fighting began in the Philippine Islands at the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898, where Commodore George Dewey destroyed a Spanish fleet. The war ended when the USA and Spain signed a peace treaty in Paris on 10 December 1898. As a result Spain lost control over the remains of its empire, including Cuba.
20/4/1898, The US demanded the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Cuba.
27/3/1898, Gloria Swanson, American silent-film star, was born.
15/2/1898. The US warship Maine blew up in Havana harbour, Cuba. Spanish sabotage was suspected. The USA declared war on Spain on 24/4/1898.
1/1/1898. The boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Richmond, Manhattan, and The Bronx united to form Greater New York.
19/2/1897. The Women’s Institute organisation was founded at Stoney Creek in Ontario by Mrs Hoodless. The first W I meeting was on 25/9/1897. The W I idea was brought to England by a Mrs Watt during World War One.
13/1/1897, Mr and Mrs Bradley Martin, members of New York’s ‘top 400’, threw an extremely extravagant party in which the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria was made into a replica of Versailles. This event, in the face of an economic recession, attracted much criticism in the popular press, and the Martins fled to England.
26/6/1896. The world’s first permanent cinema opened in New Orleans; admission was 10 cents. Britain’s first cinema opened in Islington on 5/8/1901, and charged between 6d and 3s for entry. However by World War One most cinemas were only charging 3d or 6d. The first drive in cinema opened on 6/6/1933 in Camden, New Jersey, and could hold 400 cars.
4/1/1896. Utah became the 45th State of the USA.
17/12/1895. Relations between the US and Britain were under severe strain because of a border dispute between Guiana and Venezuela.
26/8/1895. A hydroelectric plant designed by Nikola Tesla and built b