What happened in 1908

33 events　World 4, North America 11, Europe 12, USSR / Russia 1, Asia 2, Middle East 2, Africa 1

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Highlights of 1908

World4

  • Jan 1The British Nimrod Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand for Antarctica on the Nimrod.
  • Jan 3A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean and is the 46th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 130.
  • Jun 28An annular solar eclipse is visible from Central America, North America, Atlantic Ocean and Africa and is the 33rd solar eclipse of Solar Saros 135.
  • Dec 23A hybrid solar eclipse is visible from Atlantic Ocean and is the 23rd solar eclipse of Solar Saros 140.

North America11

  • Jan 15Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first race inclusive sorority is founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C.
  • Feb 29The State Normal and Industrial School for Women, precursor to James Madison University, is founded in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
  • Jul 26The Federal Bureau of Investigation is founded in the United States.
  • Aug 8The Hoover Company of Canton, Ohio, acquires manufacturing rights to the upright portable vacuum cleaner patented on June 22 by James M. Spangler.
  • Aug 28American Messenger Company, predecessor of United Parcel Service, is founded in Washington (state).
  • Sep 17At Fort Myer, Virginia, Thomas Selfridge becomes the first person to die in an airplane crash. The pilot, Orville Wright, is severely injured in the crash but recovers.
  • Oct 1Official launch of Henry Ford's Ford Model T automobile, the first having left the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan, on September 27. The initial price is set at US$850.
  • Oct 8The University of Omaha, precursor of the University of Nebraska Omaha, is founded as a private non-sectarian college.
  • Nov 31908 United States presidential election: Republican candidate William Howard Taft defeats William Jennings Bryan, 321 electoral votes to 162.
  • Nov 6Western bandits Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are supposedly killed in Bolivia, after being surrounded by a large group of soldiers. There are many rumors to the contrary however, and their grave sites are unmarked.
  • Nov 25The Christian Science Monitor newspaper is first published, in the United States.

Europe12

  • Jan 24Robert Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys begins publication in London. The book eventually sells over 100 million copies, and effectively begins the worldwide Boy Scout movement.
  • Feb 1Lisbon Regicide: King Carlos I of Portugal and Prince Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon.
  • Feb 3Panathinaikos A.O., a well-known professional multi-sports club of Greece, is founded in Athens.
  • Mar 27The first Scout troop outside the U.K. is formed in Gibraltar.
  • Apr 8H. H. Asquith of the Liberal Party takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, succeeding Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.
  • Jul 13The 1908 Summer Olympics are held in London. (Originally scheduled to be in Rome, but changed due to the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 1906. Figure skating events are held in London from October 28–29.)
  • Aug 17“Fantasmagorie”, an animated short film by Émile Cohl, which is widely regarded as the first animated cartoon is officially released.
  • Sep 10The first Minas Geraes-class Dreadnought battleship for Brazil, Minas Geraes, is launched at Armstrong Whitworth's yard on the River Tyne in England, catalysing the "South American dreadnought race".
  • Oct 5Bulgaria declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire; Ferdinand I of Bulgaria becomes Tsar.
  • Oct 6The Bosnian crisis begins, after the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Ottoman Empire.
  • Oct 29Olivetti, the well-known typewriter and business equipment company, is founded in Italy.
  • Dec 28The 7.1 Messina earthquake shakes Southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 75,000 and 200,000.

USSR / Russia1

  • JunJune 30 (June 17 OS) – The Tunguska event near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia, Russian Empire, is believed to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment, at an altitude of above the Earth's surface.

Asia2

  • Mar 4Bank of Communications, a major financial services provider in China, is founded in Beijing.
  • Nov 14The Guangxu Emperor of China dies, probably poisoned. The following day, his aunt and the power behind the throne, Empress Dowager Cixi, dies.

Middle East2

  • Jul 3Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire: Major Ahmed Niyazi, with 200 followers (Ottoman troops and civilians), begins an open revolution by defecting from the 3rd Army Corps in Macedonia, decamping into the hill country.
  • Jul 23Young Turk Revolution: The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) issues a formal ultimatum to Sultan Abdul Hamid II, to restore the constitution of 1876 within the Ottoman Empire; it is restored the following day.

Africa1

  • Mar 4The Pretoria branch of Transvaal University College, precursor to the University of Pretoria, is established.