- — Africa:
Battle of Kousséri
Converging French columns defeated and killed Rabih near the Chari River; the French commander Major Lamy also fell, ending Rabih's empire and opening the basin to France.
Era: Rabih's empire and French conquest
Sources: Battle of Kousséri · Wikipedia, Rabih az-Zubayr · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
Treaty of Paris fixes Río Muni
The 1900 Treaty of Paris with France delimited Spain's mainland enclave of Río Muni at roughly 26,000 km², far smaller than Spain had claimed, setting the borders with French Cameroon and Gabon.
Era: The British base and the Spanish cocoa colony
Sources: History of Equatorial Guinea · Wikipedia, Spanish Guinea · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
The Buganda Agreement
Sir Harry Johnston and Buganda's regents sign the agreement recognising the kabaka and Lukiiko, creating the 'mailo' land system and entrenching Buganda's privileged status under indirect rule.
Era: The Uganda Protectorate
Sources: Buganda Agreement (1900) · Wikipedia, History of Uganda · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
Administrative line drawn for nomadic tribes on the Sudan border
The Egyptian Minister of the Interior activates an administrative boundary east of the Nile that departs from the 22nd parallel so as to keep tribal areas together: the Ababda under Egyptian administration, the Bisharin under Sudanese. Egypt describes such arrangements as provisional; the 22nd parallel remained the international boundary.
Era: Ottoman Rule, Muhammad Ali and British Occupation
Sources: 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
- — Africa:
Colony and Protectorate established
Britain organised its possession into the Colony of the Gambia, centred on Bathurst, and a larger inland Protectorate governed indirectly through local chiefs, completing the colonial framework.
Era: The British colony and the river enclave
Sources: History of the Gambia · Wikipedia, The Gambia (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Kingdom of Niumi · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
Asante annexed and Northern Territories added
Following the War of the Golden Stool, Britain annexed the Asante kingdom and established a protectorate over the Northern Territories, completing the colonial framework of the Gold Coast.
Era: The British Gold Coast colony
Sources: Ghana (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, The Anglo-Ashanti Wars (1823–1900) · BlackPast.org
- — Africa:
Coppolani's pacification campaign begins
Xavier Coppolani launches France's drive to extend control over Mauritania, combining alliances with marabout tribes and military pressure on the emirates.
Era: French Conquest and Pacification
Sources: Mauritania · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Mauritania · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
An administrative line departs from the 22nd parallel
A decree of the Egyptian Minister of the Interior, following an arrete of 25 July 1902, sets an administrative boundary in the east to facilitate the administration of nomadic tribes: the Bisharin under Sudanese administration and the Ababda under Egyptian administration. It leaves an area north of the parallel by the Red Sea administered by Sudan and an area south of it administered by Egypt; the international boundary remains the 22nd parallel. The difference between the two lines leaves the Halaib area, about 20,580 square kilometres on the Red Sea coast, and the landlocked Bir Tawil, about 2,060 square kilometres, which in practice neither state claims.
Era: Independence and the Long Civil Wars
Sources: 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, The Egypt-Sudan Border Dispute · WorldAtlas, Creating the Kingdom of North Sudan (11 May 2015) · Al Jazeera
- — Africa:
Fall of the Sokoto Caliphate
Frederick Lugard's forces defeated the Sokoto army in March 1903; the last independent sultan, Attahiru I, was killed at Burmi in July, ending the caliphate's independence and bringing the north under British control.
Era: British conquest, amalgamation and colonial Nigeria
Sources: Muhammadu Attahiru I · Wikipedia, Nigeria (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
Côte d'Ivoire joins French West Africa
The colony became a constituent territory of the Federation of French West Africa, governed from Dakar, and was developed as a source of cocoa, coffee, and timber for the metropole.
Era: Colony, forced labour, and the road to independence
Sources: History of Ivory Coast · Wikipedia, Background Notes: Cote d'Ivoire · U.S. Department of State
- — Africa:
Mauritania organised within French West Africa
The territory is formally constituted as the civil territory of Mauritania within French West Africa.
Era: French Conquest and Pacification
Sources: History of Mauritania · Wikipedia, Mauritania · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Asia:
Korea made a Japanese protectorate
After defeating Russia, Japan imposes a protectorate treaty stripping Korea of its diplomatic sovereignty, a prelude to full annexation.
Era: The Joseon Dynasty
Sources: Korea Under Japanese Rule · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Korea (history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Asia:
British Residency system imposed
A supplementary agreement installs a British Resident to advise the sultan on all matters but Malay custom and Islam; in practice the Resident comes to run the administration.
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:
A High Commission Territory
After the Second Boer War, control of Swaziland passes from the Transvaal governor to the High Commissioner for South Africa, making it a High Commission Territory under direct British oversight.
Era: The Concessions Era and Foreign Control
Sources: Eswatini — Colonial administration · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Eswatini · Wikipedia, Eswatini History · FamilySearch
- — Oceania:
Australia takes over Papua
Following the Papua Act of 1905, British New Guinea became the Australian Territory of Papua, and formal Australian administration began in 1906.
Era: European contact and colonial partition
Sources: Papua New Guinea — The colonial period · Encyclopædia Britannica, Administration of Papua · Parliamentary Education Office (Australia)
- — Oceania:
Anglo-French Condominium established
Britain and France agreed to govern the New Hebrides jointly, creating a famously duplicated administration with two of nearly everything.
Era: The Anglo-French Condominium
Sources: Vanuatu — History (Melanesian, Colonization, Independence) · Encyclopædia Britannica, U.S. Relations With Vanuatu · U.S. Department of State
- — Africa:
The protectorate renamed Nyasaland
The British Central Africa Protectorate was renamed the Nyasaland Protectorate, the name by which the territory would be known until independence.
Era: Protectorate, Nyasaland and the Chilembwe rising
Sources: British Central Africa Protectorate · Wikipedia, Malawi (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Europe:
Annexation of the Congo by Belgium
Under international pressure over the atrocities, Leopold II was forced to cede his private colony to the Belgian state, which took it over as the Belgian Congo.
Era: Leopold II, the Congo, and the Curiosities of the Border
Sources: Belgian Congo · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Congo Free State · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Africa:
Annexation and administration via Madagascar
The islands are formally brought under French possession and attached to the colony of Madagascar; the last sultan relinquishes power by 1912.
Era: French Colonisation
Sources: History of the Comoros · Wikipedia, Comoros: History · Encyclopædia Britannica, Said Ali bin Said Omar of Grande Comore · Wikipedia
- — Africa:
Belgium annexes the Belgian Congo
Under international pressure, Belgium takes the territory from Leopold II, ending the Free State and creating the Belgian Congo colony.
Era: The Congo Free State
Sources: Congo Free State · Wikipedia, Congo Free State (1885–1908) · BlackPast.org
- — Africa:
Belgian Congo established
The colony is administered by Belgium for half a century, its economy built on Katangan copper and other minerals.
Era: Belgian Congo & Independence
Sources: Congo Free State · Wikipedia, Congo, Democratic Republic of the · CIA World Factbook
Colonisation in the 1900s
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged colonisation — the establishment, administration and ending of colonial rule, narrowed to the 1900s — 21 of them, drawn from 19 nations, running from 1900 to 1908. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 21
- Nations
- 19
- Earliest
- 1900
- Latest
- 1908
- Africa
- 16
- Asia
- 2
- Oceania
- 2
- Europe
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.