What happened in 1897

32 events　World 1, Japan 1, North America 11, Europe 10, Asia 7, Latin America 1, Africa 1

Highlights of 1897

Feb 18AfricaBenin is put to the torch by the British Army's Benin Expedition. Ovonramwen, Oba of Benin, is exiled from his kingdom and the Benin Bronzes are carried off to London.
Apr 18EuropeThe Greco-Turkish War of 1897 breaks out.
Jun 18JapanKyoto University is officially established in Japan.
Jul 11WorldS. A. Andrée's Arctic Balloon Expedition of 1897 begins. The ill-fated expedition to fly over the Arctic results in the death of the entire team within months.
Nov 25North AmericaSpain grants Puerto Rico autonomy.
Dec 14AsiaPact of Biak-na-Bato: The Philippine Revolution is settled, with Spanish promises to reform.

Jul 11S. A. Andrée's Arctic Balloon Expedition of 1897 begins. The ill-fated expedition to fly over the Arctic results in the death of the entire team within months.

Mar 13San Diego State University is founded.
Apr 19The first Boston Marathon is held in the United States, with fifteen men competing, and is won by John McDermott.
Apr 23Representatives of the Chickasaw Nation, Choctaw Nation and U.S. Dawes Commission sign the Atoka Agreement, which becomes an important precursor for creating the State of Oklahoma.
May 14The Stars and Stripes Forever, an American patriotic march by John Philip Sousa, is performed for the first time.
Jul 17The Klondike Gold Rush begins when the first successful prospectors arrive in Seattle
Jul 25Writer Jack London sails to join the Klondike Gold Rush, where he will write his first successful stories.
Aug 21The Olds Motor Vehicle Co. is founded in Lansing, Michigan, by Ransom E. Olds.
Sep 10Lattimer massacre: A sheriff's posse kills 19 unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania.
Sep 21Francis P. Church responds (anonymously) to a letter to the editor of The Sun (New York City) that is known as the famous "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" letter.
Nov 25Spain grants Puerto Rico autonomy.
Dec 12The comic strip The Katzenjammer Kids debuts in the New York Journal.

Apr 18The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 breaks out.
Apr 276 May – Greco-Turkish War of 1897: Battle of Velestino.
May 14(or May 15) – The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK) is founded in Berlin as an LGBT campaigning organization, the first such in history.
May 22The Blackwall Tunnel, at this time the longest underwater road tunnel in the world, is opened for traffic beneath the River Thames in the East End of London by the Prince of Wales.
May 26Irish-born theatrical manager Bram Stoker's contemporary Gothic horror novel Dracula is first published (in London); it will influence the direction of vampire literature for the following century.
Aug 29The First Zionist Congress convenes in Basel, Switzerland.
Sep 20Greece and Turkey sign a peace treaty to end the Greco-Turkish War.
Dec 9The first issue of the feminist newspaper La Fronde is published by Marguerite Durand in Paris.
Dec 28The play Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand, premieres in Paris.
Émile Durkheim publishes his classic study Suicide.

Mar 22Emilio Aguinaldo unseats Andrés Bonifacio at the Tejeros Convention, becoming the new head of the Filipino revolutionary group Katipunan.
Jun 121897 Assam earthquake: An earthquake of magnitude of 8.0 rocks Assam, India, killing over 1,500 people.
Jul 26Siege of Malakand: British troops are besieged by Pashtun tribesmen in Malakand, on the Northwest frontier of British India (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan).
Sep 12Battle of Saragarhi: Twenty-one Sikhs of the 36th Sikhs regiment of the British Indian Army defend an army post to the death, against 10,000 Afghan and Orakzai tribesmen, in the Tirah Campaign on the Northwest frontier of the British Raj (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan).
Oct 12The Korean Empire is proclaimed, marking the end of the Joseon dynasty after just over 500 years.
Dec 14Pact of Biak-na-Bato: The Philippine Revolution is settled, with Spanish promises to reform.
Zhejiang University is founded in China.

Oct 5After a long siege, Brazilian government troops take Canudos in north Brazil, crushing Antônio Conselheiro and his followers.

Feb 18Benin is put to the torch by the British Army's Benin Expedition. Ovonramwen, Oba of Benin, is exiled from his kingdom and the Benin Bronzes are carried off to London.