| 1900 | The Boxer Rebellion in China openly opposes foreign influence. |
| 1901 | The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. |
| 1902 | The first full-time movie theater in the United States opens in Los Angeles. |
| 1903 | The Wright brothers make the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft, known as ‘Flyer’, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA. |
| 1904 | The Russo-Japanese war begins when Japan lays siege to Port Arthur, a Russian naval base in China. |
| 1905 | Albert Einstein published the Special Theory of Relativity and E=MC^2. |
| 1906 | The San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire kills an estimated 3,000 people and destroys over 75% of the city. |
| 1907 | The first Boy Scout troop is organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell. |
| 1908 | The Ford Model T, the first car for millions of Americans, goes into production in Detroit, Michigan, USA. |
| 1909 | Explorer Robert E. Peary reaches the North Pole. |
| 1910 | In Japan, the cherry blossom festival is held for the first time. |
