What happened in 1902

24 events　World 2, Japan 1, North America 6, Europe 8, Middle East 1, Latin America 2, Africa 2, Oceania 2

Highlights of 1902

Jan 23JapanHakkōda Mountains incident: A snowstorm in the Hakkōda Mountains of northern Honshu, Japan, kills 199 during a military training exercise.
Jan 30WorldThe Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed.
Feb 15EuropeThe Berlin U-Bahn underground is opened.
May 12Latin AmericaBrazilian aeronaut Augusto Severo de Albuquerque Maranhão and Georges Saché, his French mechanic, are killed when Severo's airship Pax catches fire and explodes a little over 1,000 ft above Paris. Severo and Saché are both killed upon impact with the ground.
Oct 17North AmericaFirst Cadillac completed, sold and sent to Buffalo, New York
Dec 10Middle EastThe first Aswan Dam on the Nile is completed.

Jan 30The Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed.
DecFebruary 1903 – Venezuelan crisis: Britain, Germany and Italy sustain a naval blockade on Venezuela, in order to enforce collection of outstanding financial claims. This prompts the development of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.

Jan 23Hakkōda Mountains incident: A snowstorm in the Hakkōda Mountains of northern Honshu, Japan, kills 199 during a military training exercise.

Jan 29The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, D.C., to promote scientific research with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie.
Jun 13Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, predecessor of global consumer goods brand 3M, begins trading as a mining venture at Two Harbors in the United States.
Jun 15The New York Central Railroad inaugurates the 20th Century Limited passenger train between Chicago and New York City.
Jul 8The United States Bureau of Reclamation is established within the U.S. Geological Survey.
Oct 17First Cadillac completed, sold and sent to Buffalo, New York
Daniels Linseed, predecessor of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), a global livestock, commodities trading, food processing brand, is founded in Minnesota, United States.

Feb 15The Berlin U-Bahn underground is opened.
Mar 8Jean Sibelius's Symphony No. 2 is premiered in Helsinki.
May 22The White Star Liner SS Ionic is launched by Harland and Wolff in Belfast.
Jun 26Edward VII institutes the Order of Merit, an order bestowed personally by the British monarch on up to 24 distinguished Empire recipients.
Sep 1The first science fiction film, the silent A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans La Lune), is premièred at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin in Paris, France, by actor/producer Georges Méliès, and proves an immediate success.
Oct 16The first Borstal (youth offenders' institution) opens in Borstal, Kent, U.K.
Dec 30Discovery Expedition: British explorers Scott, Shackleton and Wilson reach the furthest southern point reached thus far by man, south of 82°S.
De'Longhi home appliance brand is founded in Treviso, Italy.

Apr 19The 7.5 Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800 and 2,000.
May 12Brazilian aeronaut Augusto Severo de Albuquerque Maranhão and Georges Saché, his French mechanic, are killed when Severo's airship Pax catches fire and explodes a little over 1,000 ft above Paris. Severo and Saché are both killed upon impact with the ground.

Mar 7Second Boer War: Battle of Tweebosch – South African Boers win their last battle over the British Army, with the capture of a British general and 200 of his men.
May 31The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the Second Boer War, providing for the Transvaal Colony and Orange Free State to transition to self-governing British colonies.

Jan 1The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's first registered nurse.
Feb 27Australian officers Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock are executed for the murder of Boer prisoners of war near Louis Trichardt.