Events January January 1 The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton becomes the first Prime Minister of Australia. Nigeria becomes a British protectorate. January 9 – Lord Kitchener reports that Christiaan de Wet has shot one of the "peace" envoys, and flogged two more, who had gone to his commando to ask the Burgher citizens of South Africa to halt fighting. January 22 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom dies at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. She is 81 years old and has served as monarch for nearly 64 years – longer than any other British monarch in history up to this date. Her eldest son, The Prince Albert Edward, "Bertie", the longest-serving Prince of Wales to this time, succeeds his mother at the age of 59, reigning as King Edward VII, and also becoming Emperor of India. February February 2 – The State funeral of Queen Victoria, held at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, UK, is attended by many European royals, including Kaiser Wilhelm II and Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. February 5 – The Hay–Pauncefote Treaty is signed by the United Kingdom and United States, ceding control of the Panama Canal to the United States. February 12 – Viceroy of India Lord Curzon creates the new North-West Frontier Province in the north of the Punjab region, bordering Afghanistan. February 14 – Edward VII opens his first parliament of the United Kingdom. February 16 – Bulgaria: Macedonian demonstrators in Sofia demand independence from Turkey. February 20 – The Hawaii Territory Legislature convenes for the first time. February 22 – The Pacific Mail Steamship Company's sinks entering San Francisco Bay, killing 128. February 23 – The United Kingdom and Germany agree on the frontier between German East Africa and the British colony of Nyasaland. February 25 – U.S. Steel is incorporated by industrialist J. P. Morgan, as the first billion-dollar corporation. February 26 Chi-hsui and Hsu-cheng-yu, Boxer Rebellion leaders, are executed in Peking. The Middelburg peace conference fails in South Africa, as Boers continue to demand autonomy. February 27 – The Sultan of Turkey orders 50,000 troops to the Bulgarian frontier because of unrest in Macedonia. March–April March 1 The United Kingdom, Germany and Japan protest the Sino-Russian agreement on Manchuria. The 1901 Census of India is taken, the fourth, and