In so many ways. Just like today. Entrepreneurs exploitted emerging industries and technologies to create wealth while others were the good old merchants, financiers or even plantation farmers. The leading sources of wealth around 1900 were probably steel, coke, railroads, cotton, shipping etc. read more
Fashion in the period 1900–1909 in the Western world continued the long elegant lines of the 1890s. Tall, stiff collars characterize the period, as do women's broad hats and full "Gibson Girl" hairstyles. A new, columnar silhouette introduced by the couturiers of Paris late in the decade signaled the approaching abandonment of the corset as an indispensable garment. read more