- Africa
Brazza's treaty with Makoko
In September 1880 Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza signed a treaty with the Teke ruler Makoko Iloo I, placing his lands under French protection and securing France's claim to the north bank of the Congo River.
Era: Brazza, Brazzaville, and the colony of Middle Congo
Sources: Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza · Wikipedia, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza · GlobalSecurity.org, Iloo I (Makoko of the Teke) · Wikipedia
- Africa
The concessions era
Mbandzeni grants extensive land, grazing and mineral concessions to Boer and British fortune-seekers, ceding control over most of the kingdom's land and resources.
Era: The Concessions Era and Foreign Control
Sources: Mbandzeni (Dlamini IV) · Wikipedia, Swaziland — History · Nations Encyclopedia, History of Eswatini · Wikipedia
- Africa
Treaty of Bardo
The bey signs the Treaty of Bardo, placing Tunisia under a French protectorate.
Era: French Protectorate & Independence
Sources: Treaty of Bardo (1881) · Wikipedia, French protectorate of Tunisia · Wikipedia
- Africa
British occupation begins
Britain defeats the Urabi revolt and occupies Egypt, taking effective control of the country while leaving the khedive nominally in place.
Era: Ottoman Rule, Muhammad Ali and British Occupation
Sources: Egypt: Ottoman administration · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Douala treaty and German protectorate
The Douala kings Bell and Akwa signed a treaty of protection with German agents; Gustav Nachtigal then proclaimed a German protectorate over Kamerun, beginning colonial rule.
Era: German Kamerun
Sources: History of Cameroon · Wikipedia, Cameroon (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, A Guide to the History of Recognition: Cameroon · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian
- Africa
Lagarde extends French control
Léonce Lagarde is sent to oversee French interests; treaties with Afar and Somali rulers over the following years extend a French protectorate around the Gulf of Tadjoura.
Era: The French Foothold and the Founding of Djibouti
Sources: Léonce Lagarde · Wikipedia, Djibouti (country and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
- Africa
Founding of Conakry
The French establish Conakry on the Atlantic coast; it becomes the capital of the colony of French Guinea.
Era: French Guinea
Sources: French Guinea · Wikipedia, Conakry · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Return to direct British rule
Unable to control the territory, the Cape gives it up; Basutoland reverts to direct rule from Britain under a resident commissioner.
Era: Basutoland: Protectorate and the Gun War
Sources: Gun War (1880–81) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Lesotho · Wikipedia
- Africa
Berlin Conference and the scramble
The Berlin Conference requires Portugal to occupy the territory it claims, spurring a drive to subdue the Mozambican interior.
Era: Prazos, the Gaza Empire and Conquest
Sources: Mozambique · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Mozambique · Wikipedia
- Africa
Germany declares a protectorate
Following Adolf Lüderitz's purchase at Angra Pequena in 1883, Bismarck declared a German protectorate over the territory in 1884, founding the colony of German South West Africa.
Era: German South West Africa and the genocide of the Herero and Nama
Sources: Namibia (country, history and government) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Namibia · Wikipedia
- Oceania
The island is partitioned
Germany proclaimed a protectorate over the north-east (German New Guinea) and Britain over the southern coast (British New Guinea) within days of each other, splitting eastern New Guinea between two empires.
Era: European contact and colonial partition
Sources: Papua New Guinea — The colonial period · Encyclopædia Britannica, British New Guinea and German New Guinea · The National Archives (UK)
- Africa
British Somaliland protectorate
Britain signs treaties with northern Somali clans and establishes a protectorate over the northern coast to safeguard supplies for Aden, creating British Somaliland.
Era: Colonial Partition and the Dervish Resistance
Sources: Somalia (country and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, British Somaliland · Wikipedia
- Africa
Britain establishes the Somaliland Protectorate
Through protection treaties signed with northern Somali clans from the 1880s, Britain established a protectorate over the coast to safeguard the sea route to India, administered separately from Italian Somaliland to the south.
Era: The British Somaliland Protectorate
Sources: British Somaliland · Wikipedia, British Somaliland: The Protectorate on the Horn of Africa · World History Encyclopedia
- Africa
Nachtigal proclaims a protectorate
Gustav Nachtigal signed a protectorate treaty on the coast, associated with a ruler styled Mlapa, declaring German authority over the shore — the founding act of the colony of Togoland.
Era: German Togoland, the 'model colony'
Sources: Togoland · Wikipedia, Togo (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Gustav Nachtigal · Wikipedia
- Africa
The Berlin Conference recognises Togoland
At the Berlin Conference the European powers laid down rules for partitioning Africa and recognised the German protectorate that became the colony of Togoland.
Era: German Togoland, the 'model colony'
Sources: Togoland · Wikipedia, Togo (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Berlin Conference and the Scramble
The Berlin Conference required Portugal to demonstrate effective occupation of Angola, spurring the military campaigns that would subdue the independent interior kingdoms.
Era: The slow conquest of the interior
Sources: Portuguese Angola · Wikipedia, Angola — Colonialism, Independence, Civil War (history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Foundation of the Congo Free State
After winning recognition at the Berlin Conference, Leopold II proclaimed the Congo Free State as his private possession, a regime whose forced labour and atrocities caused massive loss of life.
Era: Leopold II, the Congo, and the Curiosities of the Border
Sources: Congo Free State · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Leopold II, king of Belgium · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Bechuanaland Protectorate declared
After Sir Charles Warren's expedition, Britain proclaims a protectorate over the territory north of the Molopo to check Boer and German expansion.
Era: The Bechuanaland Protectorate
Sources: Bechuanaland Protectorate · Wikipedia, Botswana — History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Berlin Conference divides the two Congos
The Berlin Conference recognised French claims north of the Congo River and assigned the south bank to Leopold II's Congo Free State, fixing the lasting division between the Republic of the Congo and the future Democratic Republic.
Era: Brazza, Brazzaville, and the colony of Middle Congo
Sources: Republic of the Congo · Encyclopædia Britannica, History of the Republic of the Congo · Wikipedia
- Africa
Congo Free State proclaimed
Following the Berlin Conference, Leopold II establishes the Congo Free State as his personal possession, recognised by the European powers.
Era: The Congo Free State
Sources: Congo Free State · Wikipedia, Congo Free State (1885–1908) · BlackPast.org, Leopold II, king of the Belgians · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Africa
Italy occupies Massawa
As Egypt withdraws amid the Mahdist crisis, Italian troops occupy Massawa, the key port of the coast, beginning Italy's drive to build a colony.
Era: Ottomans, Egyptians and the Contested Coast
Sources: Italian Eritrea · Wikipedia, Massawa · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Third Anglo-Burmese War and the end of the monarchy
Britain takes Mandalay, exiles King Thibaw, and annexes Upper Burma on 1 January 1886, abolishing the Burmese monarchy and completing the conquest.
Era: The Anglo-Burmese Wars and British Rule
Sources: Anglo-Burmese Wars · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Myanmar: The British in Burma, 1885-1948 · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Germany establishes German East Africa
Following Carl Peters's treaties, the German government charters his company, founding the colony of German East Africa over the Tanzanian mainland and the Great Lakes territories.
Era: German East Africa and the British Mandate
Sources: German East Africa · Encyclopaedia Britannica, German East Africa · World History Encyclopedia
- Asia
Russian annexation completed
Following Geok Tepe, the Transcaspian region was annexed as part of the Russian Empire, completing the conquest of the lands of modern Turkmenistan.
Era: The Turkmen Tribes and the Russian Conquest
Sources: Turkmenistan — Turkmen tribes and Russian invasion · Encyclopædia Britannica, Turkmenistan: A Country Study (in 'Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan: Country Studies') · Library of Congress, Federal Research Division
- Africa
Protectorates over the three islands
France establishes protectorates over Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli, dealing with sultans including Said Ali bin Said Omar of Grande Comore.
Era: French Colonisation
Sources: History of the Comoros · Wikipedia, Said Ali bin Said Omar of Grande Comore · Wikipedia, Comoros: History · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Asia
Cambodia joined to French Indochina
Cambodia is incorporated into the colonial federation of French Indochina, its monarchy preserved as a figurehead while the French administer the country.
Era: Decline, Foreign Pressure, and the French Protectorate
Sources: Cambodia Gains Independence from France · EBSCO Research Starters, Cambodia · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
French Indochina established
France unites Cochinchina, Annam, Tonkin, and Cambodia into the Indochinese Union; Laos is added in 1893, binding Vietnam into a colonial federation centered on Hanoi.
Era: French Indochina
Sources: French Indochina / Conquest of Vietnam · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Brunei becomes a British protectorate
Sultan Hashim signs a treaty placing Brunei under British protection, transferring control of its foreign affairs to Britain while preserving the sultanate from absorption.
Era: Decline, the White Rajahs, and the British Protectorate
Sources: History of Brunei · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Country Facts: Brunei Darussalam · Permanent Mission of Brunei Darussalam to the United Nations
- Africa
Rudd Concession and the Pioneer Column
Lobengula signed the 1888 Rudd Concession granting mining rights to Rhodes's agents; Rhodes won a royal charter in 1889 and in 1890 the British South Africa Company's Pioneer Column occupied Mashonaland, raising the flag at Fort Salisbury on 13 September.
Era: The Ndebele kingdom and British conquest
Sources: Zimbabwe: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Lobengula · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Pioneer Column · Wikipedia
- Africa
France founds Bangui
French forces established a post at Bangui on the Ubangi River, the base from which they extended control over the territory that became the colony of Ubangi-Shari.
Era: Conquest and the Concession Regime
Sources: History of the Central African Republic · Kiddle Encyclopedia, Central African Republic — History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Anglo-French agreements draw the enclave
Boundary agreements between Britain and France fixed The Gambia's frontiers as a narrow band following the river, leaving the territory almost entirely surrounded by French Senegal.
Era: The British colony and the river enclave
Sources: History of the Gambia · Wikipedia, The Gambia (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Italy's protectorates and Italian Somaliland
Italy signs protectorate treaties with the Hobyo and Majeerteen sultanates and occupies the Benadir coast, building up Italian Somaliland in the south; the Benadir colony is formally established in 1905.
Era: Colonial Partition and the Dervish Resistance
Sources: Italian Somaliland · Wikipedia, Somalia (country and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
Colonisation in the 1880s
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged colonisation — the establishment, administration and ending of colonial rule, narrowed to the 1880s — 33 of them, drawn from 30 nations, running from 1880 to 1889. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 33
- Nations
- 30
- Earliest
- 1880
- Latest
- 1889
- Africa
- 25
- Asia
- 5
- Europe
- 2
- Oceania
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.