The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France, to celebrate the achivements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next.

More than 50 million people attended the exhibition (a world record at the time), yet it still failed to turn a profit, costing the French government 2,000,000 Francs. The fair included more than 76,000 exhibitors and covered 1.12 square kilometres of Paris.

The Exposition Universelle was where motion pictures were first unveiled.

The exhibition lasted from April 15 until November 12, 1900.

A number of Paris' most noted structures were built for the Exposition including the Gare de Lyon, the Gare d'Orsay (now the Musée d'Orsay), the Pont Alexandre III , the Grand Palais , La Ruche, and the Petit Palais .

A sideshow at the Exposition was the Second Olympic Games, which were spread over five months. So unnoted were these games that many athletes died, unaware that they had been Olympians. The games also marked the first participation by female athletes and, in such sports as tennis, football (soccer), polo, rowing and tug of war, teams were multinational.