- 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
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
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 — 19 of them, drawn from 17 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
- 19
- Nations
- 17
- Earliest
- 1900
- Latest
- 1908
- Africa
- 14
- 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.