1898 in biology

Events

January–March

* January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island.
* January 13 – Novelist Émile Zola's open letter to the President of the French Republic on the Dreyfus affair, ''J'Accuse…!'', is published on the front page of the Paris daily newspaper ''L'Aurore'', accusing the government of wrongfully imprisoning Alfred Dreyfus and of antisemitism.
* February 12 – The automobile belonging to Henry Lindfield of Brighton rolls out of control down a hill in Purley, London, England, and hits a tree; thus he becomes the world's first fatality from an automobile accident on a public highway.
* February 15 – Spanish–American War: The USS ''Maine'' explodes and sinks in Havana Harbor, Cuba, for reasons never fully established, killing 266 men. The event precipitates the United States' declaration of war on Spain, two months later.

* February 23 – Émile Zola is imprisoned in France, after writing ''J'Accuse…!''.
* March 1 – Vladimir Lenin creates the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party.
* March 14 – Association football and sports club BSC Young Boys is established in Bern, Switzerland, as the ''Fussballclub Young Boys''.
* March 16 – In Melbourne the representatives of five colonies adopt a constitution, which will become the basis of the Commonwealth of Australia.
* March 24 – Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania becomes the first person to buy an American-built automobile, when he buys a Winton automobile that has been advertised in ''Scientific American''.
* March 26 – The Sabie Game Reserve in South Africa is created, as the first officially designated game reserve.

April–June

* April 5 – Annie Oakley promotes the service of women in combat situations, with the United States military. On this day, she writes a letter to President McKinley "offering the government the services of a company of 50 'lady sharpshooters' who would provide their own arms and ammunition should war break out with Spain." In the history of women in the military, there are records of female U.S. Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers who enlisted using male pseudonyms, but Oakley's letter represents possibly the earliest political move towards women's rights for combat service, in the United States military.
* April 22 – Spanish–American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports and the USS ''Nashville'' captures a Spanish merchant ship.
* April 23 – Spanish–American War: A conference of senior Spanish Navy officers led by naval minister Segismundo Bermejo decide to send Admiral Pascual Cervera's squadron to Cuba and Puerto Rico.
* April 25 – Spanish–American War: The United States declares war on Spain; the U.S. Congress announces that a state of war has existed since April 21 (later backdating this one more day to April 20).
* April 25 – In Essen, German company Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk RWE is founded.
* April 26 – An explosion in Santa Cruz, California kills 13 workers, at the California Powder Works.
* April 29 – A first time of large scale for commercial vehicle exhibition show, Paris Auto Show was held in Tuileries Garden, Paris, France.
* May 1 – Spanish–American War – Battle of Manila Bay: Commodore Dewey destroys the Spanish squadron, in the first battle of the war, as well as the first battle in the Philippines Campaign.
* May 2 – Thousands of Chinese scholars and Beijing citizens seeking reforms protest in front of the capital control yuan.
* May 7– 9 – Bava Beccaris massacre: Hundreds of demonstrators are killed, when General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris orders troops to fire on a rally in Milan, Italy.
* May 8 – The first games of the Italian Football Federation are played, in which Genoa played against Torino.
* May 12 – Spanish–American War: The Puerto Rican Campaign begins, with the Bombardment of San Juan.
* May 27 – The territory of Kwang-Chou-Wan is leased by China to France, according to the Treaty of 12 April 1892, as the ''Territoire de Kouang-Tchéou-Wan'', forming part of French Indochina.
* May 28 – Secondo Pia takes the first photographs of the Shroud of Turin and discovers that the image on the Shroud itself appears to be a photographic negative.

* June 1 – The Trans-Mississippi Exposition World's Fair opens, in Omaha, Nebraska.
* June 7 – William Ramsay and Morris Travers discover neon at their laboratory at University College London, after extracting it from liquid nitrogen.
* June 9 – The British government arranges a 99-year rent of Hong Kong from China.
* June 10 – Tuone Udaina, the last known speaker of the Dalmatian language, is killed in an explosion.
* June 11 – Peking Normal University Hall, as predecessor for Peking University was founded in Qing Dynasty. (present day of People's Republic of China)
* June 12 – Philippine Declaration of Independence: After more than 377 years of Spanish dominance, General Emilio Aguinaldo declares the Philippines' independence from Spain.
* June 13 – Yukon Territory is formed in Canada, with Dawson chosen as its capital.
* June 19 – A snack food processing giant Nabisco founded in New Jersey, United States.
* June 21 – Spanish–American War: The United States captures Guam, making it the first U.S. overseas territory.
* June 28 – Effective date of the Curtis Act of 1898 which will lead to the dissolution of tribal and communal lands in Indian Territory and ultimately the creation of the State of Oklahoma in 1907.

July–September

* July 1 – Spanish–American War: Battle of San Juan Hill – United States troops (including Buffalo Soldiers and Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders) take a strategic position close to Santiago de Cuba from the Spanish.
* July 3
** Spanish–American War: Battle of Santiago de Cuba – The United States Navy destroys the Spanish Navy's Caribbean Squadron.
** American adventurer Joshua Slocum completes a 3-year solo circumnavigation of the world.
* July 4 – En route from New York to Le Havre, the ocean liner collides with another ship and sinks off the coast of Sable Island with the loss of 549 lives.
* July 7 – The United States annexes the Hawaiian Islands.
* July 9 – The Nationale Tentoonstelling van Vrouwenarbeid 1898 took place in The Hague and becomes a milestone for the Dutch women's movement.
* July 17 – Spanish–American War: Battle of Santiago Bay – Troops under United States General William R. Shafter take the city of Santiago de Cuba from the Spanish.
* July 18 – "The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont" first appear in ''The Wide World Magazine'', as its August 1898 issue goes on sale.
* July 25 – Spanish–American War: The United States invasion of Puerto Rico begins, with a landing at Guánica Bay.
* August 12 – Spanish–American War: Hostilities end between American and Spanish forces in Cuba.
* August 13 – Spanish–American War: Battle of Manila – By prior agreement, the Spanish commander surrenders the city of Manila to the United States, in order to keep it out of the hands of Filipino rebels, ending hostilities in the Philippines.
* August 20 – The Gornergrat railway opens, connecting Zermatt to the Gornergrat in Switzerland.
* August 21 – Clube de Regatas Vasco da Gama is founded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
* August 23 – The Southern Cross Expedition, the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, sets sail from London.
* August 24 – Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes sign the Atoka Agreement, a requirement of the Curtis Act of 1898.
* August 25 – 700 Greeks and 15 Englishmen are slaughtered by the Turks in Heraklion, Greece, leading to the establishment of the autonomous Cretan State.
* August 28 – American pharmacist Caleb Bradham names his soft drink ''Pepsi-Cola''.
* September 2 – Battle of Omdurman: British and Egyptian troops led by Horatio Kitchener defeat Sudanese tribesmen led by Khalifa Abdullah al-Taashi, thus establishing British dominance in the Sudan.
* September 10 – Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni assassinates Empress Elisabeth of Austria in Geneva, as an act of propaganda of the deed.
* September 18 – Fashoda Incident: A powerful flotilla of British gunboats arrives at the French-occupied fort of Fashoda on the White Nile, leading to a diplomatic stalemate, until French troops are ordered to withdraw on November 3.
* September 21
** Empress Dowager Cixi of China engineers a coup d'état, marking the end of the Hundred Days' Reform; the Guangxu Emperor is arrested.
** Geert Adriaans Boomgaard