Events from the year 1900 in France.
Incumbents
President: Émile Loubet
President of the Council of Ministers: Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau
Events
31 March – The length of a workday for women and children is limited to 11 hours by law. 1 April – Every French policeman is assigned to carry a gun. 14 April – Paris World Exhibition opens. 21 April – Battle of Kousséri takes place in Chad, linking all French possessions in Western Africa. 27 June – Treaty of Paris is signed between the Spanish Empire and the French Empire by which Río Muni is relieved of all conflicting claims. 19 July – The first line of the Métro is inaugurated in Paris. First Michelin Guide published.
Arts and literature
2 February – First performance of Gustave Charpentier's opera, Louise. 21 November – Claude Monet's paintings shown at Gallery Durand-Ruel in Paris
Sport
14 May–28 October - Olympic Games held in Paris.
Births
January to March
3 January – Marcel Gobillot, cyclist and Olympic medallist (died 1981) 5 January – Yves Tanguy, surrealist painter (died 1955) 9 January – Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie, journalist, politician and French Resistance member (died 1969) 11 January – Benoît Fauré, cyclist (died 1980) 24 January – René Guillot, author (died 1969) 4 February – Jacques Prévert, poet and screenwriter (died 1977) 11 February – Raymond Cambefort, one of the last three fully verified World War I veterans living in France (died 2008) 21 February – Madeleine Renaud, actress (died 1994) 6 March – Henri Jeanson, writer and journalist (died 1970) 8 March – Pierre David-Weill, investment banker (died 1975) 19 March – Frédéric Joliot-Curie, physicist and Nobel laureate (died 1958)
April to June
13 April – Pierre Molinier, painter and photographer (died 1976) 15 April – Pierre Nord, writer, spy and resistance member (died 1985) 20 April – Jacques Adnet, designer, architect and interior designer (died 1984) 27 April – Marcel Légaut, philosopher and mathematician (died 1990) 28 April Maurice Thorez, communist politician (died 1964) Jean Vaysse, rugby union player (died 1974) 17 May – Achille Souchard, cyclist (died 1976) 22 May – Yvonne de Gaulle, married to Charles de Gaulle (died 1979) 14 June – Roger Bourdin, baritone (died 1973) 29 June – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, pilot and writer (died 1944)
July to December
4 July – Robert Desnos, surrealist poet (died 1945) 12 July – Marcel Paul, trade unionist and communist politician (died 1982) 17 July – Marcel Dalio, actor (died 1983) 19 July – Pierre Coquelin de Lisle, sport shooter and Olympic gold medallist (died 1980) 26 July – Jacques Février, pianist (died 1979) 11 August – Georges Limbour, writer (died 1970) 6 September – Marc Bernard, writer (died 1983). 30 September – Pierre Yvert, philatelic editor (died 1964) 9 October – Henri Lauvaux, athlete and Olympic medallist (died 1970) 13 October – Ghislaine Marie Françoise Dommanget, actress and Princess of Monaco (died 1991) November – Émile Gagnan, engineer and inventor (died 1979) 15 December – Hellé Nice, model, dancer and motor racing driver (died 1984)
Full date unknown
Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil, lover and later married to Samuel Beckett (died 1989) Georges Neveux, dramatist and poet (died 1982)
Deaths
11 February – Émile Blanchard, zoologist and entomologist (born 1819) 19 March – Charles-Louis Hanon, piano pedagogue and composer (born 1819) 26 March – Victor Auguste, baron Duperré, colonial administrator (born 1825) 5 April – Joseph Louis François Bertrand, mathematician (born 1822) 15 April - Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux, writer (born 1868) 22 April – Amédée-François Lamy, military officer (born 1858) 18 May – Félix Ravaisson-Mollien, philosopher and archaeologist (born 1813) 16 June – François d'Orléans, prince de Joinville, admiral (born 1818) 24 September – Louis Ratisbonne, writer and man of letters (born 1827) 13 October – Louis Adolphe Cochery, politician and journalist (born 1819) Full date unknown – Jules Adenis, dramatist and opera librettist (born 1823)