1902
1903
history - Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity" - the British take over the Fulani Empire (West Africa) - with the encouragement of the United States, Panama proclaims itself independent from Colombia - the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the U.S. exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone
culture - Orville Wright flies an aircraft with a petrol engine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in the first documented, successful, controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight - The Amsterdam Stock Exchange designed by Hendrik Berlage is opened - Isadora Duncan develops free dance, a dance technique influenced by the ancient Greeks and the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche - with the support of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Jacques Villon, Auguste Rodin and others, the first Salon d'Automne opens in Paris as a reaction to the conservatism of the Paris Salon - Wassily Kandinsky: The Blue Rider - Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann found the Wiener Werkstätte in Vienna, Austria - W.E.B. Du Bois: The Souls of Black Folk - Otto Weininger (†) - Paul Gauguin (†) - Camille Pissarro (†)
music - Anton Bruckner: 9th Symphony - Eugen d'Albert: Tiefland - Scott Joplin: Treemonisha - Broadway production: The Wizard of Oz - Hugo Wolf (†)
first released recordings - Enrico Caruso, Pete Hampton
- 1903.00.00? - Europe: UK: London - recordings for Edison Bell - Pete Hampton, Norris Smith?... / Pete Hampton...
- 1903.06.05 -- Europe: UK: London - recordings for Gramophone - Bert Williams, Landon Ronald?
- 1903.12.03 -- US: New Jersey: Camden - recordings for Berliner - Haydn Quartet