The Russian Social Democratic Party splits into two wings, the Mensheviks and the more radical Bolsheviks, during a meeting in London.

Oct.

The Women's Social and Political Union is founded by British feminist Emmeline Pankhurst.

1 Nov.

German historian Theodor Mommsen, world-renowned scholar of ancient Rome, dies.

3 Nov.

The U.S. warship Nashville arrives off the coast of Colon, Colombia. Colombia refuses Theodore Roosevelt's demand for permission to construct the Panama Canal.

6 Nov.

Panama declares its independence from Colombia as a U.S. protectorate.

13 Nov.

French Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro dies.

18 Nov.

The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty between Panama and the United States cedes control of the Panama Canal Zone to the United States.

8 Dec.

British philosopher and social theorist Herbert Spencer dies. Spencer is widely credited with disseminating what became known as social Darwinism, the idea that society benefited from living by the rule of "survival of the fittest."