Modern Era
Mount Pelee Eruption (1902): The Destruction of Saint-Pierre
A pyroclastic flow destroyed Saint-Pierre in minutes, killing about 28,000 people, the deadliest volcanic eruption of the twentieth century.
Region
Americas
Modern Era
Wright Brothers' First Flight (1903): The Birth of Aviation
The Wright Flyer made four powered, controlled, sustained flights, the longest covering 852 feet (260 m) in 59 seconds.
Modern Era
Panama Canal (1904-1914): Building the Path Between the Seas
The United States completed a lock canal across Panama, linking the Atlantic and Pacific; it opened on 15 August 1914 and remained under US control until 1999.
Modern Era
General Slocum Disaster (1904): Fire on New York's East River
An estimated 1,021 people died; the captain was imprisoned and federal steamboat inspection was reformed, while Little Germany in Manhattan declined.
Modern Era
1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire: A City Destroyed
The earthquake and fires destroyed about 28,000 buildings and killed an estimated 3,000 or more people; the city was rebuilt and the event founded modern earthquake science in the United States.
Modern Era
Ford Model T (1908): The Car That Put America on Wheels
The Model T became the best-selling car of its age, with about 15 million built in the United States, and turned the automobile into an everyday necessity.
Prehistory
Dinosaur National Monument: Earl Douglass and the Carnegie Quarry
Douglass's quarry yielded thousands of Jurassic dinosaur bones, and the site became Dinosaur National Monument in 1915, famed for its exposed wall of bones.
Modern Era
Mexican Revolution (1910-1920): Madero, Villa and Zapata
Porfirio Díaz was overthrown, the old federal army was destroyed, the Constitution of 1917 was adopted and power passed to the Sonoran revolutionary leaders by 1920.
Modern Era
Sinking of the Titanic (1912): The Night the Unsinkable Sank
The Titanic sank in under three hours; more than 1,500 people died, leading to new international rules on lifeboats, radio watches and ice patrols.
Modern Era
Ford's Moving Assembly Line (1913): Mass Production Begins
Moving assembly cut the time to build a Model T chassis from about 12.5 hours to about 1.5 hours, and mass production spread across the world.
Modern Era
Empress of Ireland Sinking (1914): Canada's Worst Sea Disaster
The Empress of Ireland sank after being struck by the collier Storstad; 1,012 of the 1,477 people on board died.
Modern Era
Battle of the Falkland Islands (1914): Revenge for Coronel
Decisive British victory; four German cruisers were sunk and the East Asia Squadron ceased to exist.