The Akan tribe breaks away from the large and powerful Asante Empire and founds a new state, the Baoul0é kingdom, on the Ivory Coast in western Africa.

1750-1754

The French and British fight an undeclared war in India.

1752

The Punjab and Sind provinces are ceded by the weakened Mughul Empire of India to the Afghans.

1753

Burma is united under the leadership of Alaungpaya, founder of the Konbaung dynasty.

1754

Spring Virginia militia officer George Washington leads colonial troops into the Ohio River valley in order to affirm British claims to the region.
28 May Washington defeats a French reconnaissance party near Fort Duquesne, sparking the French and Indian War.
19 June Colonial leaders in British North America assemble in Albany to discuss common defense against the French and to enlist the support of the Iroquois Confederacy.
4 July A large contingent of French and Native Americans besieges Fort Necessity at Great Meadows and forces Washington to capitulate.

1757

Mustafa III becomes the Ottoman sultan.
Bedouin raiders attack a Damascus caravan journeying to Mecca; thousands of Muslim pilgrims are killed.
23 June After seizing Calcutta, the English defeat the French at the Battle of Plassey in India.

1759

13 September French Canada falls to the British following General James Wolfe’s victory at the Plains of Abraham, outside Quebec City. Wolfe is killed in the battle, as is French commander Marquis de Montcalm.

1760

leharu begins a twenty-six-year reign as shogun of Japan.

1761

14 January A Hindu Marathan army is defeated by Muslim forces of Ahmad Shah in the Third Battle of Panipat in northern India.

1762

Catherine II (the Great) becomes ruler of Russia following the murder of her husband, Peter III.
The British capture the Spanish possessions of Havana, Cuba, and Manila, the Philippines.

1763

Senegambia is conquered by the English.
Ottawa war chief Pontiac leads a failed rebellion against the British in the northern Ohio region.
10 February The Seven Years’ War concludes with the Treaty of Paris; Great Britain wins control of Canada, Louisiana (except for New Orleans), and most of India from the French. Spain cedes control of Florida to the British.

1765

7 October British colonists in North America gather at the Stamp Act Congress in New York to protest a new tax on all commercial and legal documents. The British Parliament repeals the tax early the next year but reserves the right to impose taxes on the colonists without their consent (Declaratory Act).

1767

Parliament approves the Townshend duties (import taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea) in order to help pay for British rule in North America. The colonists oppose these duties and implement a policy of nonimportation.

1768

Russian troops advance into the Crimea against Ottoman Turkish forces.
Egypt, under the rule of Ali Bey al-Kabir, earns greater independence from the Ottomans.
French ships bombard Tunisian ports in response to the capture of some of its vessels and crews; a peace treaty is signed in 1770.

1769

The Great Famine of Bengal, one of the worst such calamities in recorded history, claims ten million lives.

1770

5 March In the Boston Massacre, British redcoats fire on a mob, killing five civilians and further inflaming colonial passions against British rule.

1771

Spain and Great Britain dispute control of the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands off the coast of Argentina.
A revolt breaks out in Vietnam; the ruling dynasties in the north and south are overthrown; and the country is unified by 1778.

1773

Emelian Pugachev, claiming he is Peter III, tries to overthrow Russian tsarina Catherine the Great; he fails and is executed in 1775.
16 December A group of colonists dumps tea from British ships into Boston Harbor. In response to the Boston Tea Party, the following year the British impose a series of acts that allow for the quartering of troops in private homes, close the port, and reduce the legal rights of Bostonians.

1774

Mustafa III dies and is succeeded on the Ottoman throne by his brother Abdulhamid I.
21 July The Treaty of Kuchuk Kaynarja ends Russian-Ottoman hostilities. The Crimea is made independent, and Russia gains land along the Dnieper and Bug Rivers.

1775

Janissaries (Ottoman slave soldiers in service to the sultan) revolt in Aleppo.
19 April In the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, British regulars and American colonists exchange fire, thereby beginning the American War of Independence.

1776

4 July Making official their break from Great Britain, representatives of the Thirteen Colonies adopt the Declaration of Independence.

1777

15 November The Articles of Confederation of the United States are passed.

1780

Mamluk leader Sulayman Pasha begins governing Baghdad; his reign lasts twenty-two years.
Portuguese slave traders, exporting their human cargoes primarily to the Western Hemisphere, establish a base of operations in Kilwa in southern Africa.
Tupac Amaru II leads a revolt of native troops against the Spanish in Peru; within two years colonial leaders crush the insurrection.

1781

The British gain control of the western portions of Sumatra from the Dutch, although the English later give up physical possession in favor of trading rights.
19 October British general Lord Charles Cornwallis surrenders his troops to a combined American-French army at Yorktown, Virginia.

1782

Bangkok is made the capital of Siam (Thailand) by Rama I.

1783

The Treaty of Paris ends the Revolutionary War, and the United States of America is recognized as an independent nation.
The Treaty of Versailles returns control of Florida to Spain.
Russia annexes the Muslim-controlled territories in the Crimea.

1787

Freed British slaves are settled in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
The Northwest Ordinance is passed by the U.S. Congress to deal with government in the Ohio valley region; the act establishes the manner in which new states are formed and brought into the union, prohibits slavery in the area, and provides for public education.
Daniel Shays leads a rebellion of debtors and small farmers in western Massachusetts.
17 September After four months of meetings in Philadelphia, delegates sign the Constitution of the United States.

1788

Port Jackson, Australia, becomes a British penal colony; by 1800 more than 130,000 convicts are transported there.
Chinese troops invade Vietnam, but they are defeated by defending forces led by General Nguyen Hue. Nguyen Anh, with the help of the French, captures Saigon and later defeats Hue.

1789

Abdulhamid dies and is replaced on the Ottoman throne by his nephew, who becomes Selim III. The new ruler reorganizes the army, builds a modern navy, reforms government service, and broadens diplomatic contacts with Europe.
Mutineers aboard the English ship HMS Bounty take control of the vessel after they visit Tahiti.
Rebels in Minas Gerais, Brazil, attempt to make their region an independent state; they fail in the effort.
A slave rebellion led by Toussaint L’Ouverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and Henri Christophe devastates French rule in Haiti. Toussaint becomes dictator in 1794.
30 April George Washington is inaugurated as the first U.S. president.

1792

China invades Nepal.

1793

Ienari becomes the shogun of Japan and controls the country until 1837.

1794

King Kamehameha of Hawaii puts his kingdom under British protection.

1795

27 October American and Spanish representatives sign the Treaty of San Lorenzo (Pinckney’s Treaty), establishing the southern boundary of the United States at the thirty-first parallel and allowing for U.S. traffic on the Mississippi River.

1796-1804

The White Lotus Rebellion flares up in China against the Manchu dynasty. The uprising—led by the White Lotus Society, a Buddhist religious cult that opposes increased taxation and promises the restoration of the Ming dynasty—is suppressed.

1796

Catherine the Great dies; Paul I becomes the Russian tsar.
Agha Muhammad Shah establishes the Qajar dynasty in Iran, with their capital in Tehran.

1798

1 July Napoleon Bonaparte leads French troops into Alexandria and defeats Mamluk defenders at the Battle of the Pyramids (21 July), beginning a three-year occupation of Egypt. An attempt to capture Syria fails after French troops are devastated by disease.

1800

Gabriel Prosser leads an abortive slave rebellion near Richmond, Virginia.

1801

The North African state of Tripoli declares war on the United States in an attempt to compel the young nation to pay tribute to Arab pirates who have been raiding American ships along the Barbary Coast. The Americans refuse and respond by building a navy.
Paul I is assassinated; he is replaced as Russian tsar by his son, Alexander I.

1803

The Wahhabis, Muslim fundamentalists in Arabia, capture Mecca from Ottoman control.
Tasmania is settled by the English.
30 April The United States obtains the Louisiana Purchase from France, which doubles the size of the nation.

1804

Emperor Gia Long, who came to power in 1802, names his kingdom Vietnam. He rules until 1820, when he is succeeded by his son Ming-Manh.
Muslim leader Shehu Usuman dan Fodio leads a revolt against the Hausa kings in Sudan; he establishes the Sokoto Caliphate.

1805

Muhammad Ali, an Albanian officer sent to Egypt by the Ottomans, gains the right to rule the country; he establishes the dynasty that rules until 1953 and begins introducing reforms that set the groundwork for the modern Egyptian state.

1806

Russian troops invade Moldavia and Walachia, which leads to the capture of much of the Caucuses and Balkans.

1807

Muhammad Ali repels a British invasion of Alexandria and consolidates power in Egypt.
Protestant missionary Robert Morrison of Great Britain arrives in China.
29 May A conservative revolt in Istanbul overthrows Selim III, who is replaced by Mustafa IV; although the revolt is crushed in 1808, Selim dies during the fighting and is replaced on the throne by Mahmud II.
22 December In an effort to avoid entanglement in a British-French war, U.S. president Thomas Jefferson forbids all trade with foreign ports.

1808

The United States prohibits the transatlantic slave trade.
Portuguese king John VI transfers his court to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

1809

Russia acquires control of Finland following a war with Sweden.
Rama I dies, and Rama II takes the Thai throne; he rules until 1824.
Kamehameha unifies the Hawaiian Islands.

1810

Simón Bolívar begins a revolution against Spanish rule in South America by taking part in the Venezuelan uprising.
Bahrain and Qatar fall to the Wahhabis.

1811

Mamluk power in Egypt is destroyed after Muhammad Ali massacres Mamluk leaders at a meeting in Cairo.
Paraguay declares its independence from Spain.

1812

The Americans declare war on Britain, triggered by the forced impressment of U.S. sailors into the British navy. The conflict spreads to the western frontier of the United States, where some Native American tribes have allied with the British.
28 May Facing an imminent French invasion, the Russians sign the Treaty of Bucharest, thereby returning control of Moldavia and Walachia to the Ottomans.

1813

Mecca is recaptured by the Ottomans, which leads to the fall in 1818 of the first Wahhabi state.
12 October Russia annexes Georgia from the Iranians with the Treaty of Gulistan.

1814

13 May Great Britain is officially given control of the Cape Colony in South Africa.
September British troops burn much of Washington, D.C., including the White House and the Library of Congress.
24 December The Treaty of Ghent ends the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain.

1815

8 January News of the Treaty of Ghent has not yet reached North America, and a British army is defeated by an American force under Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans.
April The enormous Tambora volcano erupts in Indonesia and kills ten thousand people. Volcanic ash is so dense that it obscures sunlight and causes crop failures that lead to disease and famine that will take another eighty thousand lives in the region.
22 December The United States and Algeria sign a peace treaty ending the Barbary Wars, a series of conflicts involving piratical attacks on American shipping in the Mediterranean Sea since 1801.

1816

Argentina declares its independence from Spain.

1817

Shaka becomes the ruler of the Zulu kingdom; he rules until he is assassinated by his brothers in 1828.

1818

Chile declares its independence from Spain after José de San Martin leads revolutionary forces in victorious battle.

1819

Singapore, in Indonesia, is purchased by the British East India Company.

1820

Long-staple cotton is discovered in Egypt; cotton production will soon become more than 20 percent of the agricultural output of the nation. This discovery has serious effects on cotton production and prices in the Southern states of the United States.
3 March In an attempt to appease proslavery and antislavery factions, Congress passes the Missouri Compromise: Missouri is admitted as a slave state; Maine becomes a free state; and slavery is prohibited in the northern parts of the Louisiana Purchase.

1821

Mexico declares its independence from Spain.
War breaks out between the Ottomans and Persians. At the same time, the Greeks revolt against Ottoman rule; the rebels achieve, with help from France and England, independence in 1830.

1822

Liberia is founded in West Africa by the American Colonization Society as a haven for freed slaves from the Americas. In 1847 it becomes the first independent republic in Africa.
Pedro I becomes emperor of Brazil and reigns until 1831.

1823

A war between Great Britain and the Asante Empire begins in western Africa; the conflict concludes with a peace treaty in 1831.
An assembly at Guatemala City proclaims the Central American Federation (Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and El Salvador). The federation collapses by 1840.
2 December U.S. president James Monroe formulates the Monroe Doctrine, which prohibits further colonization of the Western Hemisphere by European powers.

1824

The First Burmese War begins when the Burmese attack territories held by the British East India Company. After initial successes the capable Burmese general Bandula dies, and the British are victorious; Burma is forced to grant further territorial concessions to the company in the Treaty of Yandabu (24 February 1826).
Arabian emir Turki ibn Abdallah establishes the Saudi capital at Riyadh.
Rama III takes control of the Thai kingdom. He rules until 1851.

1825

Russian tsar Alexander I dies. Despite a military revolt of the Decembrists, Nicholas I succeeds to the throne.
The Javanese revolt against Dutch rule. The uprising is quelled in 1830, though additional revolts break out in 1849 and 1888.
Construction of the Erie Canal is completed, opening the western United States to agricultural development.
6 August Chile declares its independence from Spain.

1826

15 June The Janissaries are massacred in their barracks in Istanbul, ending their influence on Ottoman politics.

1827

A revolt, the Anu Rebellion, in Laos is put down by the Thais.
20 October A British fleet destroys an Egyptian naval force at the Battle of Navarino, blocking Egyptian expansion into the Mediterranean. The Egyptians maintain control of Crete, however, which they had captured in 1823.

1828

The Dutch annex western New Guinea.

1829

The treaty of Adrianople gives Russia control of the eastern Black Sea region.
Perth is founded in western Australia.

1830

13 May The Republic of Ecuador is formed.
5 July The French gain control of Algiers. This occupation will be contested by Abd al-Qadir until 1847, when he is captured by the French.

1831

Samuel Sharp leads a rebellion in Jamaica, forcing slave owners to sign legal documents freeing their slaves; the revolt is suppressed, and British authorities hang Sharp and hundreds of rebellious slaves.
A slave revolt in Virginia is led by Nat Turner. Scores of whites are murdered before the rebellious slaves, including Turner, are captured or killed.
The Egyptians begin to occupy Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria.

1832

24 November A South Carolina convention declares null and void the Tariff of 1828 (Tariff of Abominations).

1833

The British Parliament emancipates slaves in the British colonies but compensates the slave owners.
2 March U.S. president Andrew Jackson signs a tariff with reduced rates and the Force Act, which authorizes the president to enforce the collection of import duties by use of military force if necessary.

1834

The Kaffir War erupts in South Africa between Xhosa tribesmen and Dutch Afrikaners. After fierce fighting, the Xhosa are defeated.
Slavery is abolished in the Cape Colony.

1835

The Ottomans regain control of Libya.

1836

The Great Trek of Afrikaners—descendants of Dutch settlers in Capetown in South Africa—begins as they move northward, escaping British rule.
A rebellion of Texans against Mexico, which had abolished slavery in 1829, results in the declaration of the Republic of Texas. A defending American force is attacked and slaughtered at the Alamo (23 February to 6 March); the Americans revenge this loss by defeating the Mexicans at the Battle of San Jacinto (21 April).

1837

Ahmad Bey becomes the leader of Tunisia and introduces European reforms to the military and government. He also ends the practice of slavery in the nation.
Oshio Heihachiro leads a rebellion around Osaka in response to corrupt government and local famine, but the revolt is put down. leyoshi becomes the new shogun and rules until 1853.

1838

The Egyptians defeat the Saudis and remove Emir Faysal ibn Turki, who took over the throne from his father in 1834.
The United States forces a massive removal of Cherokees from the East to Oklahoma, resulting in the death of nearly 25 percent of these Native Americans.
16 December A Boer army defeats a Zulu force at the Battle of Blood River, which leads to the establishment by the Boers of Natal.

1839

The Opium War between China and Britain begins after a Chinese official orders the destruction of twenty thousand chests of opium brought by British merchants to Canton for sale to the Chinese. The Chinese government attempts to prevent the importation of the addictive drug, but the sale of opium is so profitable that the British go to war to keep the market open.
The British invade Afghanistan in an attempt to overthrow Dost Muhammad, who came to power in 1826. The ruler is temporarily unseated but returns in 1840.
British troops capture the Arabian port of Aden.
Sultan Mahmud dies and is replaced on the Ottoman throne by his son Abdulmejid I.

1840

The Maori tribe in New Zealand cedes sovereignty to Great Britain.
The last British convicts are transported to Australia.
The Central American Federation collapses.
Pedro II comes to the Brazilian throne.

1841

New Zealand becomes a formal colony of Great Britain.
The Vietnamese throne is taken by Thieu-Tri, who rules for only six years.

1842

The Treaty of Nanjing ends the Opium War, further weakening China and opening it to exploitation by the West. China is forced to grant special privileges to Europeans in r lany ports; Hong Kong is ceded to the British, who do not return it to China until 1997.
Nasir al-Din Shah, son of Muhammad Shah, becomes the ruler of Iran.
The French annex the Marquesas Islands and make Tahiti a protectorate.
Boer and British forces clash in Natal; by 1843 the British have gained control of the region.
9 August The United States and Canada agree on the northeastern boundary between their countries.

1843

Faysal escapes from Egypt and returns to rule Arabia. He stays on the throne until 1865.

1845

Sikhs in India begin a series of revolts against British rule, but they are subdued.

1846

War breaks out between Mexico and the United States over the southern boundary of Texas.
15 June Great Britain and the United States agree that the 49th parallel will be the northern boundary of Louisiana Purchase lands.
8 August The Wilmot Proviso declares that slavery should be prohibited in all lands to be captured from Mexico. Although the bill passes in the House of Representatives, it is rejected in the Senate.

1848

Tu-Duc becomes the emperor of Vietnam and reigns until 1883.
24 January Gold is discovered in California, sparking a massive migration of Americans and foreigners to the West Coast.
2 February The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends hostilities between the United States and Mexico. Mexico gives up claims to Texas, California, and New Mexico; the Rio Grande is established as the border between the countries; and the United States pays Mexico $15 million.

1849

Muhammad Ali, who has been senile and unable to personally rule Egypt since 1847, dies. His grandson Abbas Hilmi I had gained control of the state in 1848, but he is murdered in 1854.
21 February The British defeat Afghan forces at the Battle of Gujat, and India annexes the Punjab and Peshawar provinces.

1850

September After much debate the U.S. Congress agrees to the Compromise of 1850: California is to be a free state; the residents of New Mexico and Utah are to decide whether or not to have slavery; the slave trade in the District of Columbia is abolished; and a stricter fugitive-slave law is implemented.

1851

Emperor Wenzong begins a ten-year reign. The Taiping Rebellion against the Manchu dynasty begins in China; Christian rebels are led by the mystic Hung Hsiu-ch’iian, who proclaims himself related to Jesus Christ.
Rama IV becomes the king of Siam and opens the country to Western influence and ideas. He builds roads, introduces the printing press, creates a currency, and attempts to reform slavery. To educate his children, Rama hires an English governess, who later writes a memoir of her experiences on which the book by Margaret Landon, Anna and the King of Siam (1944), and the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I (1951) are based.
12 February Gold is discovered in Australia.

1852

The British capture Rangoon.
New Zealand becomes a self-governing colony of Great Britain.
Alhaj Umar begins a jihad (holy war) from Upper Guinea in western Africa and founds the Tuculor state on the Middle Niger River.

1853-1868

The Nian Rebellion supplants the imperial Manchu government in northern China. Only when the emperor fields new armies, equipped with modern weapons, is the rebellion put down.

1854

The Western-educated Sa’id Pasha takes control of Egypt. He continues modernization reforms in the country.
Antislavery and proslavery sides begin to battle in Kansas.
13 February A U.S. fleet commanded by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, which had first visited Japan on 8 July 1853, enters Tokyo Bay; he demands that Japan open its ports to the importation of American goods. Japan concedes its weakness and opens two ports. To slow Western penetration, Japan begins to build a stronger, more modern army.

1855

Alexander II becomes the Russian tsar upon the death of Nicholas I.
Tewodros II begins his reign as king of Ethiopia, ushering the country into the modern era by establishing a reformed army and government.

1856

12 July Natal becomes a British colony.
26 October The Iranians capture Herat but are forced by the British the following year to give up lands captured in Afghanistan.

1857

The Sepoy Rebellion breaks out in Bengal, India. The revolt of sepoys (Indian soldiers who served in the army of the British East India Company) soon spreads across the subcontinent.
The Montenegrins revolt against Ottoman rule.
Slavery is abolished in Libya.

1858

The British quash the Sepoy Rebellion and begin a period of direct rule of India; British officials replace those of the East India Company.
Russia and China sign the Treaty of Aigun, establishing borders along the Amur River.
Iemochi becomes the shogun of Japan.
The French and Spanish begin colonial expeditions against Vietnam.

1859

The first railway in the British Cape Colony in South Africa is built.
Spain sends troops into Morocco and gains some territorial concessions and indemnities.
Control of Timor is divided between the Dutch and the Portuguese.
19 October Abolitionist John Brown leads a group of white and black abolitionists in a raid on the armory at Harpers Ferry (present-day West Virginia) in an attempt to foment a slave uprising. The raid fails, and Brown is later executed.

1860

12 October British and French troops occupy Beijing.

1861

Serfdom is officially ended in Russia.
Abdulmejid dies and is replaced as Ottoman sultan by his brother Abdulaziz.
Tunisia promulgates the first constitution in an Islamic nation, establishing a limited monarchy, although it is abrogated in 1864.
Lagos (Nigeria) is made a British Crown colony.
4 March Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the sixteenth president of the United States. In response to his election ten Southern states secede from the Union, form the Confederate States of America, and elect Jefferson Davis as president.
12 April Confederate forces open fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston (S.C.) harbor, initiating the Civil War.

1862

Emperor Muzong takes the Chinese throne and rules until 1875.
The French gain control of three regions of southern Vietnam. By 1867 they expand into western Vietnam.
9 March Two ironclad warships, the CSS Merrimac and the USS Monitor, engage in a draw battle in Hampton Roads, Virginia.
17 September Federal forces repulse a Confederate invasion of Maryland at the Battle of Antietam.

1863

The French army occupies Mexico City and offers the Mexican throne to Austrian archduke Maximilian, who becomes emperor of Mexico.
Shir Ali becomes the ruler of Afghanistan after the death of his father, Dost Muhammad, and he stays on the throne until 1879 (although unseated temporarily between 1866 and 1868).
Sa’id Pasha dies and is replaced on the Egyptian throne by his nephew Khedive Isma’il, who continues rapid modernization. His policies bankrupt the country, which opens the door for foreign occupation.
An antiforeign rebellion breaks out in Japan; it is put down by an allied European-American force.
1 January Under the provisions of the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln frees all slaves in territories occupied by Confederate forces.
1-3 July In the turning point of the Civil War, Confederate and Union forces fight a three-day battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. After this engagement the South is placed on the defensive.
4 july Federal forces capture Vicksburg, Mississippi, effectively dividing the Confederacy in half.

1864

Aided by Western armies, the Manchu dynasty puts down the Taiping Rebellion.
Twelve-year-old Kujong, with his father serving as regent, becomes king of Korea and rules until 1919.

1865

Paraguayan president Francisco Solano Lopez initiates a five-year conflict known as the South American War of the Triple Alliance against Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Much of the Paraguayan army is destroyed, and Lopez is killed. Paraguay loses territory and approximately one-half its male population in the war.
9 April General Robert E. Lee surrenders his Confederate army to U.S. general Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War.
14 April Lincoln is assassinated in Washington by John Wilkes Booth; Andrew Johnson becomes the new president.
18 December The Thirteenth Amendment is ratified, ending slavery in the United States.

1866

Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky publishes Crime and Punishment.
Christians on Crete revolt against Muslim rule.
Iranian mystic Mirza Husayn Ali Nuri founds the Baha’i faith.
The USS General Sherman is attacked and sunk on the Taedong River by the Koreans; all twenty-four American crewmen are killed.

1867

Mexican emperor Maximilian I surrenders to Benito Juarez’s forces. He is condemned to death and is executed by firing squad, ending formal French influence in Mexico.
Diamonds are discovered in South Africa.
A British expedition invades Ethiopia in an effort to free some captured British soldiers; Tewodros II commits suicide.
Russia sells Alaska to the United States.
Singapore becomes a British Crown colony.

1868

The Meiji Restoration begins in Japan; Emperor Meiji regains control of national affairs from the shoguns. The new regime limits the power of feudal clans and creates a strong central state dedicated to economic and military modernization.
Rama IV dies and is replaced on the Thai throne by Rama V, who rules until 1910. Rama V ends slavery, centralizes the government, abolishes feudalism, and modernizes the military.
Cubans revolt against Spanish rule in a conflict that gains the name the Ten Years’ War.

1869

17 November The Suez Canal is officially opened.

1871

American forces make an aborted attempt to open Korea to American trade.
Henry M. Stanley searches for and finds the lost explorer David Livingstone near Lake Tanganyika.

1872

A revolt in Algeria, led by Muhammad al-Muqrani, is put down by the French.
January Yohannes IV takes the Ethiopian throne; he rules until 1889.

1874

The French gain control of Vietnamese foreign policy.
31 January Despite a victory over British forces the previous year, the Asante suffer a loss at Amoafo, which leads to the decline of their power.

1875

Muzong dies and is replaced on the Chinese throne by Dezong, who rules until 1908.

1876

Ottoman sultan Abdulaziz is deposed by his nephew Murad and dies; Murad is quickly replaced by Abdulhamid II. Taking advantage of a weakened Ottoman government in a time of dynastic transition, the Serbs, Montenegrins, and Bulgarians in the Balkans rebel against their Turkish overlords. The Turks quell the uprising but also enact a new constitution that grants more civil and political rights to all subjects of the Ottoman Empire.
Japan forces Korea to open its ports to Japanese trade.
The period known as Reconstruction comes to an end in the American South with the disputed election of Rutherford B. Hayes; Democrats soon return to power, eliminating most Republican opposition, and begin establishing laws that gradually restrict the rights of African Americans.
25 June U.S. troops under General George A. Custer are wiped out by Lakota and Cheyenne warriors under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse at the Battle of Little Big Horn in present-day Montana.

1877

The traditional samurai warrior class, led by Saigo Takamori, rebels against the Meiji regime in Japan, opposing its modernizing policies. They are defeated by a modern army.

1878

British and Indian forces invade Afghanistan.
16 January Samoa and the United States sign a treaty of friendship; Pago Pago becomes an American coaling station.
3 March The Russo-Turkish Wars conclude with an Ottoman surrender to the Russians. The Treaty of San Stefano grants independence to Romania, Montenegro, and Serbia, as well as greater autonomy for Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria. Russia also gains territorial concessions. The Turkish defeat further signals the decline of the Ottoman Empire. Cyprus is transferred to British control.

1879

Egyptian emir Khedive Isma’il is deposed and replaced by Khedive Tawfiq.
Bolivia and Peru declare war on Chile over mining rights. The conflict, known as the War of the Pacific, is won by Chile in 1883.
22 January The Zulus win a stunning victory over the British at the Battle of Isandlwana in South Africa. The British recover and eventually defeat the Zulus; Zululand is then divided into thirteen separate kingdoms.

1880

Abd al-Rahman Khan becomes the ruler of Afghanistan and remains in power until 1901.
Great Britain expands its influence in the Middle East, first by gaining control of the foreign policy of Bahrain.
The British begin to allow a measure of local control in India.
The United States and Korea establish friendly relations.

1881

Alexander II dies and is succeeded on the Russian throne by Alexander III.
Egyptian military officer Ahmad Urabi begins a nationalist revolt, sparking many anti-European riots.
The French invade Tunisia and establish a protectorate.

1882

Urabi’s army is defeated by the British, who occupy Egypt, and Khedive Tawfiq is returned to power. Jewish immigrants from Europe begin arriving in Palestine in increasing numbers.
The U.S. Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act, blocking Chinese immigration to the United States.

1883

Tonkin and Cochin China are recognized by European powers as French protectorates. China, however, denounces this imperialistic action. After a series of battles, the French by 1885 gain complete control over Vietnam.
26 August The volcano Krakatoa explodes in Indonesia. The eruption creates a massive tidal wave that obliterates 163 Indonesian villages and kills more than 36,000 people.

1884

Germany gains control of several Pacific islands, including the Solomons; the following year it gains the Marshall Islands. Germany also gains a colony in Togo, Africa. Representatives from the European nations interested in colonial expansion in Africa hold a conference in Berlin establishing rules so that they do not begin wars over their colonial possessions.
Porfirio Diaz establishes a dictatorship in Mexico that lasts until 1911.

1885

The Sudanese, led by Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad, overthrow Egyptian control of Sudan.
27 December The first Indian National Congress meets.

1886

Great Britain annexes Burma to the empire; China recognizes the action in return for tribute payments.

1887

A massive flood of the Yellow River kills nine hundred thousand Chinese.
The Yemenis revolt against Ottoman rule, but the rebels are put down by Turkish troops.
Apache leader Geronimo is captured by U.S. troops.

1888

15 May Brazil outlaws slavery.

1889

A constitution in Japan establishes a measure of bicameral government, although the powers of the emperor, such as making war, are carefully delineated.
Menelik II becomes the king of Ethiopia; he expands Ethiopian territory, establishes Addis Ababa as the capital, and modernizes government functions.
22 April Land in Oklahoma is opened to settlement, leading to the formation of the territory (it will become a state in 1907). Twelve other western states are brought into the union by 1912, the last of this group being Utah.
16 November Pedro II is forced into exile, and the first Republic of Brazil is founded.

1893

New Zealand grants female suffrage; women can vote in national elections, a first for any nation.
France gains control of Laos.

1894

Nicholas II becomes the tsar of Russia upon the death of Alexander III.
4 July The Republic of Hawaii is established after the Hawaiian monarchy, led by Queen Liliuokalani, is overthrown by Sanford Dole and white sugar planters.

1895

Cubans begin a revolt against the Spanish that will later draw the United States into the conflict.
17 April The Sino-Japanese War, begun in 1894, ends with a Japanese victory and a weakening of the Manchu dynasty, setting the stage for a republican revolution in China.

1896

Nasir al-Din Shah is assassinated by an Islamic activist and is replaced by a weak ruler who gives many oil concessions to the British.
Mubarak ibn Abdallah gains control of Kuwait from his brother Muhammad ibn Abdallah, who has ruled since 1892. Mubarak obtains support from the British to block Ottoman interests in the state in exchange for a pro-British foreign policy.
Nasir al-Din Shah is assassinated by an Islamic activist and is replaced by a weak ruler who gives many oil concessions to the British.
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the doctrine of “separate but equal” in Plessy v.Ferguson, which is used by many states and cities, especially in the South, to provide inferior services to African Americans, a policy that will stand until 1954.
1 March Italian troops invade Ethiopia, but they are defeated by the Ethiopians at the battle of Adua.

1897

German troops occupy Jiaozhoa Bay, initiating a surge of European expansion in China.
The French establish a protectorate over Vietnam.
Benin is captured by the British. The British also put down a revolt in Uganda.

1898

The Hawaiian Islands become a protectorate of the United States.
German kaiser Wilhelm II visits Istanbul and Jerusalem, strengthening relations between Germany and the Ottoman Empire.
15 February U.S. battleship Maine blows up in Havana harbor, killing 260 American sailors and precipitating the Spanish-American War. The war ends (10 December) in defeat for Spain and the loss of its last colonies in the Americas. Cuba gains its independence, while Puerto Rico, Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippines become American protectorates.

1898-1901

The Boxer Rebellion breaks out; Chinese nationalists attack foreign diplomats and missionaries, hoping to expel Western influence from China. The United States, Japan, and European nations send troops and put down the uprising.

1898-1908

Bubonic plague sweeps China and India, killing approximately three million people.

1899

The Boer War begins in South Africa after Afrikaners deny British advances into the gold-rich Transvaal province.
Filipino rebels fight against American control of the Philippines.
6 September U.S. secretary of state John Hay issues the Open Door note, which declares that China must allow free trade to foreign powers.

1900

Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States (it will become a state in 1959).

1901

Zionist leader Theodor Herzl proposes to the Ottoman sultan the establishment of an independent Jewish region in Palestine.
1 January The Commonwealth of Australia is established.
3 March Filipino rebel leader Emilio Aquinaldo, who has led opposition to both the Spanish and Americans, is captured; formal civil government of the islands is established by the United States under Governor William Howard Taft.
31 May The British win sovereignty over South Africa with the Treaty of Vereeniging; the Boers win limited local rule and the promise of financial aid to repair war damage.
14 September President William McKinley is assassinated; Theodore Roosevelt becomes president.
26 September The Asante kingdom is absorbed into the Gold Coast.

1902

The British are victorious in the Boer War, but the Afrikaners are granted lands in the Colony of South Africa and are guaranteed legal racial superiority over the African population, thus creating the system of apartheid.
The foundations of the modern state of Saudi Arabia are established under the rule of Abd al-Aziz ibn Sa’ud, who returns from exile and captures control of Riyadh from the Ottomans.
The Aswan Dam is built in Upper Egypt.
Italy takes over colonial control of Libya from the French, leading to an invasion of the country by the Italians in 1911.

1903

The Social Democratic Party (Marxist) in Russia splits into two factions: the Mensheviks (moderates) and the Bolsheviks (extremists).
Yemen gains independence.
The Russo-Japanese War begins. Japanese forces quickly defeat the Russians on land in Manchuria and at sea.
17 December Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first manned flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, setting a landmark in aviation history.

1904

The French and English secretly agree to separate spheres of influence in Morocco and Egypt, respectively.

1908

5 September The Treaty of Portsmouth ends the Russo-Japanese War. The conflict humiliates Russia and prompts a revolutionary uprising by the workers. Korea is later made a Japanese protectorate.

1908

July Turkish military officers, known as the Young Turks and led by Ahmed Niyazi Bey, rebel in Macedonia and force the reestablishment of the 1876 constitution, which significantly reduces the power of the sultan.
5 October Bulgaria declares its independence from Turkey.
18 October Belgium annexes the Congo Free State.

1909

The Japanese begin a thirty-six-year occupation of Korea, which is formally annexed in 1910.
Ahmad Shah becomes shah of Iran, the last of the Qajar rulers.

1910

A revolution begins in Mexico; a new constitution will be enacted in 1917.
The Manchu emperor abolishes slavery in China.
Rama VI takes the Thai throne.
Korea is annexed by Japan.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is formed to seek civil rights for African Americans.
13 May The Union of South Africa is formed.

1911

A revolution ends the 267-year Manchu dynasty and introduces liberal reforms to China. Puyi, the last Chinese emperor, abdicates on 12 February 1912. Nationalist leader Sun Yat-sen, dedicated to the principles of democracy and livelihood for the people, returns from exile and is elected president of the new republic.
Mexican president Diaz is overthrown.
29 September Italy declares war on the Ottomans and invades Libya.

1912

U.S. Marines invade Honduras, Cuba, and Nicaragua to protect American business and agricultural interests. American troops will remain in Nicaragua until 1933.
After years of de facto control of Moroccan affairs, the French establish a protectorate in the country.
The South African Native National Congress (later the African National Congress) is founded.
30 July Emperor Meiji dies and is followed on the Japanese throne by Yoshishito.
15 October The Treaty of Ouchy gives Italy control of Tripoli.

1913

The British gain exclusive rights to oil exploration in Kuwait.
Yuan Shikai, provisional president of the Chinese Republic after the resignation of Sun Yat-sen, dissolves the parliament and takes dictatorial powers. When Yuan dies in 1916, political chaos sweeps China and warlordism ensues.
Ethiopian king Menelik II dies.
4 March Woodrow Wilson becomes president of the United States.