Editing 1897 (section)

=== January&ndash;March ===
[[File:Mckinley.jpg|thumb|120px|right| [[March 4]], President [[William McKinley]]]]
* [[January 2]] &ndash; The International [[Alpha Omicron Pi]] sorority is founded, in [[New York City]].
* [[January 4]] &ndash; A British force is ambushed by Chief [[Ologbosere]], son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a [[punitive expedition]] against [[Benin City|Benin]].
* [[January 7]] &ndash; A [[1897 Darwin cyclone|cyclone]] destroys [[Darwin, Northern Territory|Darwin]], [[Australia]].
* [[January 8]] &ndash; Lady [[Flora Shaw]], future wife of Governor General [[Frederick Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard|Lord Lugard]], officially proposes the name "Nigeria" in a newspaper contest, to be given to the British [[Niger Coast Protectorate]]. 
* [[January 22]] &ndash; In this date's issue of the journal ''Engineering'', the word ''[[computer]]'' is first used to refer to a mechanical calculation device.<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''. {{cite book|first=Lisa|last=McCoy|title=Computers and Programming|url=https://archive.org/details/computersprogram0000mcco|url-access=registration|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2010|page=[https://archive.org/details/computersprogram0000mcco/page/1 1]}}</ref>
* [[January 31]] &ndash; The [[Czechoslovak Trade Union Association]] is founded in [[Prague]].
* [[February 10]] &ndash; Freedom of religion is proclaimed in [[Madagascar]].
* [[February 16]] &ndash; The French conquer the island of [[Raiatea]] and capture the rebel chief [[Teraupo'o]], ending the [[Leeward Islands War]] and bringing all of the [[Society Islands]] under their control.
* [[February 18]] &ndash; [[Benin City|Benin]] is put to the torch by the British Army's [[Benin Expedition of 1897|Benin Expedition]]. [[Ovonramwen]], [[Oba of Benin]], is exiled from his kingdom and the [[Benin Bronzes]] are carried off to London.
* [[February 26]] &ndash; The [[Sigma Pi]] fraternity is founded in Vincennes, Indiana.
* [[February 27]] &ndash; The [[French Third Republic|French]] military governor of [[Madagascar]], [[Joseph Gallieni]], exiles Queen [[Ranavalona III]] to [[Réunion]], abolishing the [[Merina Kingdom|monarchy]] the next day.
* [[March 13]] &ndash; [[San Diego State University]] is founded.
* [[March 22]] &ndash; [[Emilio Aguinaldo]] unseats [[Andrés Bonifacio]] at the [[Tejeros Convention]], becoming the new head of the Filipino revolutionary group [[Katipunan]].