- — Africa:
Conquest of the Ovimbundu kingdoms
Portuguese forces conquered the Ovimbundu kingdoms of the central highlands, bringing one of Angola's largest peoples under colonial control.
Era: The slow conquest of the interior
Sources: Angola — Ovimbundu and Kwanhama Kingdoms · U.S. Library of Congress Country Studies, Angola — Colonialism, Independence, Civil War (history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
Burundi assigned to German East Africa
Burundi is incorporated into German East Africa; Germany rules indirectly through the mwami while establishing military posts over the following years.
Era: Ruanda-Urundi: German and Belgian Rule
Sources: Kingdom of Burundi · Wikipedia, History of Burundi · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
Colony of Eritrea proclaimed
Italy unites its Red Sea holdings into the colony of Eritrea, promoted as its colonia primogenita or 'first-born colony', with the capital initially at Massawa.
Era: Italy's First-Born Colony
Sources: Italian Colonialism in Eritrea · World History Encyclopedia, Italian Eritrea · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
Britain accepts a French protectorate
London concedes the imposition of a protectorate over the island; the government in Antananarivo, never consulted, refuses to accept it.
Era: French Conquest & Colony
Sources: Madagascar country profile · BBC News, A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition: Madagascar · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian
- — Africa:
The Lochner Concession
The Lozi king Lewanika granted mineral rights to Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company in exchange for promises of protection, opening the territory to company rule.
Era: Company rule, Northern Rhodesia and the Copperbelt
Sources: Barotseland (the Lozi kingdom) · Wikipedia, Northern Rhodesia · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
Colony of French Guinea established
The coastal territory of Rivières du Sud is reorganised into the colony of French Guinea, its borders extended over the conquered interior.
Era: French Guinea
Sources: French Guinea · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
British Central Africa Protectorate proclaimed
Britain proclaimed a protectorate over the lake region and the Shire highlands, with Harry Johnston as first commissioner; he suppressed the slave trade by force and parcelled out land to European settlers through certificates of claim.
Era: Protectorate, Nyasaland and the Chilembwe rising
Sources: British Central Africa Protectorate · Wikipedia, Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
Mozambique Company chartered
The Mozambique Company receives a vast concession with powers to tax, govern and recruit labour, one of several chartered companies to which Portugal subcontracts colonial rule.
Era: Chartered Companies and Forced Labour
Sources: Mozambique · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Mozambique · Wikipedia, Colonial State Formation Without Integration: Tax Capacity and Labour Regimes in Portuguese Mozambique (1890s–1970s) · Cambridge University Press / International Review of Social History
- — Africa:
A separate military district
Lisbon made Guinea a distinct military district to promote "effective occupation", but Portuguese authority still reached little beyond the coastal forts and trading towns.
Era: Portuguese Guinea and the late conquest
Sources: Portuguese Guinea · Wikipedia
- — Asia:
The Exclusive Agreement with Britain
The Trucial rulers agreed to cede no territory and form no foreign relations except through Britain, in return for British protection, making the coast in effect a British protected zone.
Era: The Qawasim and the Making of the Trucial States
Sources: Exclusive Agreement (British history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of the United Arab Emirates · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
France constitutes the colony of Côte d'Ivoire
After protectorate treaties negotiated by Binger and Treich-Laplène, France formally established the colony of Côte d'Ivoire on 10 March 1893, naming Louis-Gustave Binger its first governor.
Era: The ivory coast, the French, and the conquest
Sources: History of Ivory Coast · Wikipedia, History of Côte d'Ivoire · Encyclopædia Britannica
- — Asia:
French protectorate established
Following the Franco-Siamese crisis, Siam cedes the territory east of the Mekong and France makes the Lao states a protectorate within French Indochina, administered from Vientiane.
Era: The French Protectorate
Sources: Auguste Pavie · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Laos: Under foreign rule · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Oceania:
British protectorate proclaimed
Britain declares a protectorate over the southern Solomons to curb labour-trade abuses and forestall French and German expansion.
Era: Blackbirding, Missions and the Protectorate
Sources: British Solomon Islands Protectorate, 1893–1978 · University of Queensland (Law), History of Solomon Islands · Encyclopædia Britannica
- — Africa:
Behanzin deposed and exiled
France deposed the last independent king of Dahomey and exiled him to Martinique and later Algeria, where he died in 1906; the kingdom passed under French control.
Era: Behanzin, the French conquest, and colonial Dahomey
Sources: Behanzin — king of Dahomey · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Behanzin · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
Protectorate of the South African Republic
By convention the Transvaal (South African Republic) takes over the administration of Swaziland as a protectorate, while the kingdom keeps nominal autonomy.
Era: The Concessions Era and Foreign Control
Sources: Swaziland — History · Nations Encyclopedia, History of Eswatini · Wikipedia, Eswatini · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
First European contact
The German explorer Count Gustav Adolf von Götzen reaches the Rwandan court; Rwanda is incorporated into German East Africa and ruled indirectly through the mwami.
Era: German and Belgian Rule
Sources: History of Rwanda · Wikipedia, Rise of Rwanda · EBSCO Research Starters
- — Africa:
Uganda Protectorate declared
Britain proclaims a protectorate over Buganda, soon extended across the wider territory, beginning sixty-eight years of colonial rule administered through the kingdoms.
Era: The Uganda Protectorate
Sources: Protectorate of Uganda · Wikipedia, History of Uganda · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
Capital moved to Mafeking
The protectorate's administration is seated at Mafeking, a town outside the territory's own borders, where it remains until the 1960s.
Era: The Bechuanaland Protectorate
Sources: Bechuanaland Protectorate · Wikipedia, Botswana — History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
Incorporation into French West Africa
French Guinea becomes a constituent colony of the federation of French West Africa, administered from Dakar.
Era: French Guinea
Sources: French Guinea · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
East Africa Protectorate established
Britain proclaims the East Africa Protectorate over the territory that would become Kenya, beginning nearly seven decades of formal British rule.
Era: British East Africa and the Settler Colony
Sources: History of Kenya · Wikipedia, U.S. Relations With Kenya / History · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian
- — Africa:
French capture Antananarivo
Franco-Hova war ends with the fall of the capital; Madagascar is forced into a French protectorate.
Era: French Conquest & Colony
Sources: Madagascar · Encyclopædia Britannica, Ranavalona III · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
Bamba exiled; French West Africa formed
France exiles Amadou Bamba to Gabon for his independent influence; the same year Senegal is incorporated into French West Africa.
Era: French Conquest, the Four Communes and the Marabouts
Sources: Amadou Bamba · Wikipedia, French conquest of Senegal · Wikipedia
- — Asia:
Treaty of Shimonoseki cedes Taiwan to Japan
Ending the First Sino-Japanese War, the treaty obliges the Qing empire to cede Taiwan and the Pescadores to Japan, beginning fifty years of Japanese colonial rule.
Era: Fifty Years of Japanese Colonial Rule
Sources: Treaty of Shimonoseki · Encyclopaedia Britannica, First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Asia:
Japanese colonial administration
Japan develops Taiwan with railways, ports, public health and expanded agriculture while suppressing resistance and, from the late 1930s, pursuing intensive assimilation campaigns.
Era: Fifty Years of Japanese Colonial Rule
Sources: Taiwan · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
French conquest of the Mossi
France claims the Volta region and occupies Ouagadougou; Mossi resistance collapses and the Mogho Naba Wobgo goes into exile.
Era: Conquest and the Colony of Upper Volta
Sources: French Upper Volta · Wikipedia, Mossi Kingdoms · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
Colony of French Somaliland created
A French decree constitutes the holdings as the colony of the Côte française des Somalis (French Somaliland), with Djibouti as its capital, replacing Obock as the seat of government.
Era: The French Foothold and the Founding of Djibouti
Sources: Djibouti (country and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Djibouti · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
French annexation of Futa Jallon
After decades of nominal autonomy, the imamate is brought under French colonial control as European expansion absorbs the Guinea interior.
Era: The Imamate of Futa Jallon
Sources: Imamate of Futa Jallon · Wikipedia, French Guinea · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
The Uganda Railway is built
The 'Lunatic Line' is driven from Mombasa to Lake Victoria, built largely by indentured Indian labourers; it reaches Nairobi in 1899 and opens the interior to settlement.
Era: British East Africa and the Settler Colony
Sources: Uganda Railway · Wikipedia, History of Kenya · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
The Protectorate proclaimed
Britain declared a Protectorate over the interior of Sierra Leone, extending colonial rule over the Temne, Mende, and other peoples beyond the coastal Crown Colony.
Era: Protectorate, the Hut Tax War, and independence
Sources: Sierra Leone (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hut Tax War of 1898 · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
Asmara becomes the colonial capital
The colonial seat is moved from Massawa to the highland town of Asmara, later rebuilt as a planned modernist city.
Era: Italy's First-Born Colony
Sources: Asmara: A Modernist City of Africa · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Italian Eritrea · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
Monarchy abolished, Ranavalona III exiled
France ends the Merina monarchy and exiles the last queen, ultimately to Algiers, where she dies in 1917.
Era: French Conquest & Colony
Sources: Ranavalona III · Wikipedia, Madagascar · Encyclopædia Britannica
- — Africa:
British sack of Benin City
A British punitive expedition destroyed Benin City, exiled the Oba, and looted thousands of the Benin Bronzes, dispersing centuries of court art to foreign museums and collectors.
Era: British conquest, amalgamation and colonial Nigeria
Sources: Benin Bronzes · Encyclopaedia Britannica, The Benin Bronzes · The British Museum, The British raid on Benin 1897 · National Museums Scotland
- — Africa:
- — Africa:
Capture of Samori Touré
French forces seize Samori Touré, founder of the Wassoulou Empire and Mali's last great armed resister, ending nearly two decades of war.
Era: Segou, the Tukulor and Samori
Sources: Samori Touré (1830–1900) · BlackPast.org, Samory — Mandingo Empire, Jihad, Abolitionist · Encyclopædia Britannica, Samori Ture · Wikipedia
- — Asia:
Treaty of Paris: Spain cedes the Philippines to the U.S.
By the Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish-American War, Spain cedes the Philippines to the United States without consulting Filipinos, who had already declared independence.
Era: Cession to America, the Philippine-American War and the Commonwealth
Sources: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 (Treaty of Paris cession) · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian
- — North America:
U.S. takes control of Puerto Rico
American military rule begins; the island passes from Spain to the United States as a new colonial relationship is established.
Era: Under the United States: Citizenship and a New Order
Sources: The Changing of the Guard: Puerto Rico in 1898 · Library of Congress, Puerto Rico: Rule by the United States · Encyclopædia Britannica
- — Africa:
Colony of French Dahomey
Dahomey was organised as a French colony with its capital at Porto-Novo and incorporated into the federation of French West Africa, where it remained for six decades.
Era: Behanzin, the French conquest, and colonial Dahomey
Sources: French Dahomey · Wikipedia, Benin — History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
Anglo-Egyptian agreement fixes the 22nd parallel as the Sudan limit
Britain and Egypt agree on the joint administration of the Sudan, defining it as all territories south of the 22nd parallel of latitude. Egypt still cites this line as its international boundary with Sudan.
Era: Ottoman Rule, Muhammad Ali and British Occupation
Sources: Sudan Convention (1899) · Wikisource, International Boundary Study No. 18: Egypt (United Arab Republic) – Sudan Boundary (1962) · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Geographer (via FSU College of Law), Egypt: Declaration to the UN Secretary-General (4 May 2017) · UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea
- — Asia:
The Anglo-Kuwaiti agreement
Mubarak signed a secret treaty placing Kuwait's foreign relations under British control in exchange for protection, making the sheikhdom a British protectorate and shielding it from the Ottomans.
Era: Mubarak the Great and the British Agreement
Sources: The reign of Mubarak Al-Sabah and the British Protectorate (1896-1950) · Fanack, Kuwait: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
The Voulet-Chanoine mission
A French military column under Captains Voulet and Chanoine drove across the region with extreme brutality, massacring the people of Birni-N'Konni on 8 May 1899 before disintegrating into mutiny and the murder of Colonel Klobb.
Era: Conquest, the Voulet-Chanoine column and colonial Niger
Sources: Voulet–Chanoine Mission · Wikipedia, France Signals Willingness to Discuss Reparations for Colonial Massacres in Niger · International Center for Transitional Justice, History of Niger · Wikipedia
- — Oceania:
Germany cedes the northern islands
Germany transfers most of the northern Solomons to Britain in exchange for recognition of its claims elsewhere, enlarging the protectorate.
Era: Blackbirding, Missions and the Protectorate
Sources: British Solomon Islands Protectorate, 1893–1978 · University of Queensland (Law), History of Solomon Islands · Encyclopædia Britannica
- — Africa:
Anglo-Egyptian Condominium established
Britain and Egypt establish joint rule over Sudan, with the largely Christian and traditionalist south administered separately from the Arab-Muslim north.
Era: The Condominium and the Southern Policy
Sources: Anglo-Egyptian Condominium · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of South Sudan · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
Anglo-Egyptian Condominium established
Sudan is placed under joint British and Egyptian rule by the Condominium agreements of January and July 1899.
Era: Turco-Egyptian Rule and the Mahdist Revolt
Sources: Anglo-Egyptian Condominium · Encyclopædia Britannica, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
The 22nd parallel fixed as the limit of the Sudan
Article I of the Anglo-Egyptian agreement on the administration of the Sudan defines the Sudan as all the territories south of the 22nd parallel of latitude, initially the boundary with Egypt. Egypt continues to cite the parallel as the international boundary.
Era: Turco-Egyptian Rule and the Mahdist Revolt
Sources: Sudan Convention (1899) · Wikisource, International Boundary Study No. 18: Egypt (United Arab Republic) – Sudan Boundary (1962) · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Geographer (via FSU College of Law), Egypt: Declaration to the UN Secretary-General (4 May 2017) · UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea
Colonisation in the 1890s
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged colonisation — the establishment, administration and ending of colonial rule, narrowed to the 1890s — 44 of them, drawn from 34 nations, running from 1890 to 1899. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 44
- Nations
- 34
- Earliest
- 1890
- Latest
- 1899
- Africa
- 35
- Asia
- 6
- Oceania
- 2
- North America
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.