What happened in 1896

12 entries recorded for 1896, listed by date. That was 130 years ago.

1896 at a glance

February 1
Giacomo Puccini
Historical event
Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème premiered at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy, eventually becoming one of the most frequently performed operas internationally.

March 1
Henri Becquerel
Historical event
French physicist Henri Becquerel discovered the principle of radioactive decay when he exposed photographic plates to uranium salts.
March 1
Battle of Adwa
Historical event
Ethiopia defeated Italy at the Battle of Adwa, ending the First Italo-Ethiopian War.
March 22
Charilaos Vasilakos
Historical event
Charilaos Vasilakos (pictured) won the first modern marathon in preparation for the inaugural Summer Olympics.
March 26
Brunner Mine disaster
Historical event
An explosion at the Brunner Mine in New Zealand killed 65 coal miners in the country's deadliest mining accident.

April 7
Nansen's Fram expedition
Historical event
An Arctic expedition led by Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen (pictured) reached 86°13.6′N, almost three degrees beyond the previous Farthest North latitude.

May 18
List of landmark court decisions in the United States
Historical event
Ruling in the landmark decision Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the legality of racial segregation in public transportation under the "separate but equal" doctrine.

June 15
1896 Sanriku earthquake
Historical event
A magnitude-8.5 earthquake and a subsequent tsunami struck Japan, killing at least 22,000 people and destroying about 9,000 homes.

July 9
William Jennings Bryan
Historical event
Politician William Jennings Bryan made his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetallism, considered one of the greatest political speeches in American history.

August 16
George Carmack
Historical event
A group including George Carmack and Skookum Jim Mason discovered gold near Dawson City, Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
August 27
Anglo-Zanzibar War
Historical event
In the shortest recorded war in history, the Sultanate of Zanzibar surrendered to the United Kingdom after less than an hour of conflict.
August 30
Philippine Revolution
Historical event
Philippine Revolution: In the Battle of San Juan del Monte, the first real battle of the war, a Katipunan force temporarily captured a powder magazine before being beaten back by a Spanish garrison.

This site records 12 entries for 1896, including Giacomo Puccini on February 1. They are listed below by date.

130 years ago, counting from 2026. Anyone born in 1896 turns 130 this year.

1896 falls in the 19th century, in the 1890s.

Lost Generation (1883–1900). Came of age during the First World War.

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