- Africa
Denmark sells its Gold Coast forts to Britain
Denmark sold its coastal forts to Britain, an early step in the consolidation of British control over the Gold Coast that would culminate in the formal colony.
Era: The British Gold Coast colony
Sources: Ghana (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Oceania
France annexes New Caledonia
Rear Admiral Febvrier-Despointes took possession of the archipelago for France, beginning formal colonial rule and pre-empting British ambitions in the region.
Era: Annexation, the Bagne and Nickel
Sources: New Caledonia — History · Encyclopaedia Britannica, New Caledonia · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Faidherbe begins the conquest
Governor Louis Faidherbe pushes up the Senegal River, conquering Waalo and building forts that subdue the interior kingdoms over decades.
Era: French Conquest, the Four Communes and the Marabouts
Sources: French conquest of Senegal · Wikipedia
- Africa
Spain installs effective rule under Carlos Chacón
Spain sent the naval officer Carlos Chacón as governor in 1858 to organise a colonial administration on Fernando Pó; Baptist missionaries established under the British were pressed to withdraw in favour of Spanish Catholic missions.
Era: The British base and the Spanish cocoa colony
Sources: History of Equatorial Guinea · Wikipedia, History of Equatorial Guinea · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Asia
British Crown rule begins
After the suppression of the 1857 rebellion, the Crown abolishes East India Company rule and assumes direct governance of India, beginning the British Raj.
Era: The East India Company and the British Raj
Sources: British raj · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Partition of the island
A Portuguese-Dutch treaty divides Timor between Dutch West Timor and Portuguese East Timor, leaving Portugal the eastern half plus the Oecusse enclave; the border is finalized in the early 20th century.
Era: Portuguese Timor and the Divided Island
Sources: East Timor · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Boundaries in the Island of Timor (Netherlands v. Portugal), Award of 25 June 1914 · Permanent Court of Arbitration
Colonisation in the 1850s
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged colonisation — the establishment, administration and ending of colonial rule, narrowed to the 1850s — 6 of them, drawn from 6 nations, running from 1850 to 1859. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 6
- Nations
- 6
- Earliest
- 1850
- Latest
- 1859
- Africa
- 3
- Asia
- 2
- Oceania
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.