The 1800s

Africa

1. 🇳🇪NER

   Niger · Economy & Trade · 19th century

   Zinder, a trans-Saharan hub

   Damagaram's capital Zinder grew rich astride the desert route linking Tripoli to Kano, becoming a walled and well-armed trading state and one of the strongest powers in the region.

   Hausa states, Damagaram and the shadow of Bornu

   Sources: Sultanate of Damagaram (Wikipedia) · A history of the Damagaram sultanate of Zinder, ca. 1730–1899 (African History Extra)

2. 🇸🇱SLE

   Sierra Leone · Peoples & Migration

   Jamaican Maroons arrive

   About 550 Jamaican Maroons, exiled after the Second Maroon War, arrived in Freetown and helped put down a revolt by the Nova Scotian settlers against the Sierra Leone Company.

   The Province of Freedom and the founding of Freetown

   Sources: Freetown, Sierra Leone (1792– ) (BlackPast.org) · Sierra Leone (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇸🇴SOM

   Somalia · Politics & Power · 18th–19th century

   Majeerteen and Hobyo sultanates

   In north-eastern Somalia the Majeerteen Sultanate (Migiurtinia) and the Sultanate of Hobyo control the coast and its maritime trade, maintaining centralised authority and treaty relations with outside powers.

   The Ajuran, Geledi and Majeerteen Sultanates

   Sources: Majeerteen Sultanate (Wikipedia) · The Sultanates of Somalia (Lumen Learning, Early World Civilizations)

Asia

1. 🇰🇼KWT

   Kuwait · Economy & Trade · 18th-19th century

   A pearling and trade entrepot

   Kuwait grew wealthy as a maritime port, its dhows trading to India and Africa, its shipyards renowned, and its pearling fleets diving the Gulf oyster beds each summer.

   The Founding of Kuwait and the Rise of the Al Sabah

   Sources: Persian Gulf States: Country Studies (Kuwait) (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division) · The reign of Mubarak Al-Sabah and the British Protectorate (1896-1950) (Fanack)

Africa

1. 🇱🇾LBY

   Libya · War & Rupture · 1801–1805

   First Barbary War with the United States

   Yusuf Karamanli's tribute demands provoke war with the United States; the US Navy blockades Tripoli until a treaty ends the conflict in 1805.

   Ottoman Rule and the Karamanli Dynasty

   Sources: First Barbary War (Wikipedia) · Karamanli dynasty (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇬🇪GEO

   Georgia · Colonisation

   Russia annexes Kartli-Kakheti

   The Russian Empire unilaterally annexed eastern Georgia and abolished the Bagrationi monarchy, beginning the absorption of the Georgian lands that was completed over the following decades.

   Fragmentation, Foreign Pressure and Russian Annexation

   Sources: History of Georgia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Treaty of Georgievsk (1783) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇮🇪IRL

   Ireland · Politics & Power · 1 Jan 1801

   Act of Union

   The Act of Union merged the Kingdom of Ireland with Great Britain into the United Kingdom on 1 January 1801, abolishing the Irish Parliament and placing Ireland under direct rule from Westminster.

   Union, Famine and the National Movement

   Sources: Charles Stewart Parnell and the Home Rule Movement (University of Delaware Library (Easter Rising exhibition)) · Irish History Timeline – From 1916 to Today (GPO Witness History Museum, Dublin)

2. 🇵🇹PRT

   Portugal · War & Rupture · 1801 / 1815

   The Olivenca dispute

   Spain occupied Olivenca in 1801 and acquired it by the Treaty of Badajoz; the Congress of Vienna recommended its return to Portugal in 1815, but the sovereignty remains contested.

   Republic, Dictatorship, Revolution and Europe

   Sources: Written question on the Olivenca issue (Portugal/Spain) and the Ajuda Bridge, E-1298/2003 (European Parliament / EUR-Lex Official Journal) · Treaty of Alcanices (1297) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇬🇧GBR

   United Kingdom · Formation · 1 January 1801

   Union with Ireland forms the United Kingdom

   The Acts of Union 1800 merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and abolishing the separate Irish parliament.

   Empire, industry, and the Victorian age

   Sources: Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland (UK Parliament) · Act of Union (United Kingdom, 1801) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇻🇳VNM

   Vietnam · Formation · 1802 CE

   Gia Long founds the Nguyen dynasty

   Nguyen Anh defeats the Tay Son, reunifies the country, and is crowned emperor as Gia Long at Hue, founding Vietnam's last imperial dynasty.

   The Nguyen Dynasty and Expansion South

   Sources: Gia Long (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Nguyen dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇧🇿BLZ

   Belize · Peoples & Migration

   The Garifuna reach the southern coast

   The Garifuna (Garinagu), deported by the British from St. Vincent, settled the southern coast around Stann Creek and Punta Gorda; their arrival on 19 November is marked as Garifuna Settlement Day, a national holiday from 1941.

   British Honduras and a plural society

   Sources: Guyana and Belize: Country Studies (Federal Research Division) (Library of Congress) · History of Belize (Encyclopædia Britannica)

2. 🇭🇹HTI

   Haiti · War & Rupture · 1802 CE

   Napoleon's expedition; Toussaint deported

   Napoleon sends an army to restore slavery; Toussaint Louverture is seized and deported to France, where he dies in 1803.

   The Haitian Revolution and Independence

   Sources: Toussaint Louverture (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Haitian Revolution (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇹🇹TTO

   Trinidad and Tobago · Colonisation

   Trinidad ceded to Britain by treaty

   The Treaty of Amiens confirmed Trinidad as a British colony, beginning more than a century and a half of British rule over the island.

   British conquest and the much-contested Tobago

   Sources: Trinidad and Tobago: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · T&T History Timeline (National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago)

Europe

1. 🇨🇭CHE

   Switzerland · Politics & Power · 19 Feb 1803

   Napoleon's Act of Mediation

   After years of factional strife Napoleon imposed the Act of Mediation, restoring a confederal system and creating six new full cantons, including Vaud and Ticino, while keeping Switzerland tied to France.

   The Helvetic Republic, Napoleon and the Recognition of Neutrality

   Sources: Helvetic Republic (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇺🇸USA

   United States · Politics & Power

   Louisiana Purchase

   The United States bought France's Louisiana territory for $15 million, roughly doubling the nation's size and opening the trans-Mississippi West.

   Revolution and the founding of the Republic

   Sources: Lewis and Clark Expedition (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇹🇩TCD

   Chad · Economy & Trade · c. 1804–1815

   Wadai's commercial expansion

   Under Muhammad Sabun, Wadai expanded and prospered by controlling caravan routes from Abéché north to Benghazi and the east-west trade between Darfur and Bornu.

   Baguirmi, Wadai and the Saharan trade

   Sources: Wadai (sultanate) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Wadai Sultanate (Wikipedia)

2. 🇳🇪NER

   Niger · Religion · early 19th century

   Sokoto jihad reshapes the Hausa lands

   The Sokoto Caliphate's rise to the south drove Hausa rivals such as Gobir and the Katsina rulers northward into present-day Niger, recasting the politics of the southern savanna.

   Hausa states, Damagaram and the shadow of Bornu

   Sources: History of Niger (Wikipedia) · Niger (country) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇳🇬NGA

   Nigeria · Religion

   Usman dan Fodio launches his jihad

   The Fulani scholar Usman dan Fodio began a jihad in the Hausa lands, rallying followers against the existing rulers and igniting a religious and political revolution across the north.

   The Atlantic slave trade and the Sokoto Caliphate

   Sources: Sultanate of Sokoto (Sokoto Caliphate): 1804–1903 (BlackPast.org) · Usman dan Fodio (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇻🇳VNM

   Vietnam · Politics & Power · 1804 CE

   The name Vietnam adopted

   The unified realm is recognized under the name Vietnam, with its capital at Hue and a centralized administration modeled on Qing China.

   The Nguyen Dynasty and Expansion South

   Sources: Nguyen dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Vietnam (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇦🇹AUT

   Austria · Formation · 11 Aug 1804

   The Empire of Austria proclaimed

   In response to Napoleon's imperial coronation, Franz II issued a patent assuming the hereditary title of Emperor of Austria as Franz I, formally constituting the Habsburg lands as an empire.

   Maria Theresa, the Empire of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire

   Sources: The foundation of the Empire of Austria in 1804 (Die Welt der Habsburger (The World of the Habsburgs))

2. 🇫🇷FRA

   France · Politics & Power

   Napoleon crowned Emperor

   Bonaparte founds the First Empire and exports the Napoleonic Code across Europe.

   Revolution & Empire

   Sources: Napoleon I (Encyclopædia Britannica)

3. 🇷🇸SRB

   Serbia · War & Rupture · 1804–1813

   First Serbian Uprising

   Led by Karađorđe, Serbs rose against Ottoman rule and for nearly a decade governed a self-proclaimed state, the opening act of the Serbian Revolution before its suppression in 1813.

   The Serbian Revolution and the Road to Independence

   Sources: Karadjordje (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Serbia: The disintegration of Ottoman rule (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇩🇴DOM

   Dominican Republic · Independence · 1804 CE

   Independence of Haiti

   After defeating France, the formerly enslaved people of Saint-Domingue proclaim Haiti, the first nation founded by a successful slave revolt, reshaping the whole island.

   A Divided Island and the French Era

   Sources: Hispaniola (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇭🇹HTI

   Haiti · Independence · 1 Jan 1804

   Independence proclaimed

   Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares independence at Gonaives, founding Haiti as the world's first Black republic.

   The Haitian Revolution and Independence

   Sources: Jean-Jacques Dessalines (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Haiti (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Oceania

1. 🇫🇯FJI

   Fiji · Economy & Trade · early 19th century

   Sandalwood and bêche-de-mer trades

   A sandalwood rush at Bua Bay, then the bêche-de-mer trade with China, draw traders, missionaries and muskets that reshape chiefly power.

   European Contact & the Rise of Cakobau

   Sources: Fiji — History (Melanesian, Colonialism, Independence) (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇪🇬EGY

   Egypt · Politics & Power

   Muhammad Ali takes power

   Recognised as Ottoman governor, Muhammad Ali founds a reforming dynasty and modernises Egypt's army, economy and administration.

   Ottoman Rule, Muhammad Ali and British Occupation

   Sources: Egypt: Ottoman administration (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇿🇦ZAF

   South Africa · Colonisation

   Britain seizes the Cape

   British forces occupied the Cape Colony during the Napoleonic Wars, beginning lasting British rule confirmed by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

   British rule, the Mfecane, the Zulu kingdom and the Boer republics

   Sources: South Africa (country, history and government) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of slavery and early colonisation in South Africa (South African History Online)

Europe

1. 🇦🇹AUT

   Austria · Politics & Power · 6 Aug 1806

   Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire

   Franz II laid down the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, which was dissolved after some thousand years, leaving the Habsburg ruler as Emperor of Austria alone.

   Maria Theresa, the Empire of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire

   Sources: The foundation of the Empire of Austria in 1804 (Die Welt der Habsburger (The World of the Habsburgs))

2. 🇩🇪DEU

   Germany · Politics & Power · 6 Aug 1806

   Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire

   Under pressure from Napoleon, Emperor Francis II abdicated the imperial crown and dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, ending the medieval framework of German statehood after more than eight centuries.

   Prussia, Fragmentation and the Road to Unity

   Sources: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇱🇮LIE

   Liechtenstein · Independence

   Sovereignty through the Confederation of the Rhine

   On the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, Liechtenstein was admitted to Napoleon's Confederation of the Rhine, gaining recognised sovereignty and surviving the Napoleonic reordering of Germany.

   From the Empire to Sovereignty

   Sources: Liechtenstein: History (Alpine, Principality, Sovereignty) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The History of the Princely House of Liechtenstein (Fürstenhaus von Liechtenstein (official Princely House))

South America

1. 🇦🇷ARG

   Argentina · War & Rupture · 1806-1807

   British invasions repelled

   British forces seize Buenos Aires twice and are twice expelled by local militias, kindling creole self-confidence and a taste for autonomy.

   The Viceroyalty and the Colonial Era

   Sources: Argentina (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇬🇲GMB

   Gambia · Politics & Power

   Britain abolishes its slave trade

   Britain outlawed its transatlantic slave trade and later built defences such as Fort Bullen at the river mouth to help suppress slaving — among the few regional structures built against the trade rather than for it.

   The river, European trade and the Atlantic slave trade

   Sources: Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Kunta Kinteh Island (Wikipedia)

2. 🇬🇭GHA

   Ghana · Politics & Power

   Britain abolishes its slave trade

   Britain outlawed its own transatlantic slave trade and began using naval patrols to suppress the traffic along the West African coast, though illegal slaving persisted for years afterward.

   European forts, gold, and the Atlantic slave trade

   Sources: Ghana (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Elmina Castle (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇳🇬NGA

   Nigeria · Politics & Power

   Britain abolishes its slave trade

   Britain outlawed its own transatlantic slave trade and began naval patrols of the West African coast, though illegal slaving from the region continued for decades.

   The Atlantic slave trade and the Sokoto Caliphate

   Sources: Nigeria (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bight of Biafra (Slavery and Remembrance (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation))

4. 🇸🇱SLE

   Sierra Leone · Politics & Power

   Britain abolishes the slave trade

   The British Parliament outlawed the transatlantic slave trade, ending Bunce Island's slave-trading operations and clearing the way for Freetown to become a base for naval suppression of the traffic.

   The Atlantic slave trade and Bunce Island

   Sources: Sierra Leone (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bloody Bunce: A Legacy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Sierra Leone (Royal Historical Society)

Europe

1. 🇩🇰DNK

   Denmark · War & Rupture

   The bombardment of Copenhagen

   To stop the Danish fleet falling to Napoleon, a British force bombarded Copenhagen and carried off the navy, driving Denmark into alliance with France and toward ruin in the Napoleonic Wars.

   The Napoleonic Catastrophe and the Birth of Constitutional Denmark

   Sources: A Guide to the History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations: Denmark (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian) · Treaty of Kiel (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇵🇹PRT

   Portugal · War & Rupture · 27 Nov 1807

   Court flees to Brazil

   As a French army invaded, the prince regent and royal court sailed for Brazil under British escort, moving the seat of the Portuguese monarchy to Rio de Janeiro.

   Earthquake, Napoleon and the Loss of Brazil

   Sources: Peninsular War (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · John VI, king of Portugal (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇬🇧GBR

   United Kingdom · Politics & Power

   Abolition of the British slave trade

   The Slave Trade Act prohibited the Atlantic slave trade across the British Empire, though it did not free those already enslaved in British colonies.

   Empire, industry, and the Victorian age

   Sources: Slavery Abolition Act (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇳🇬NGA

   Nigeria · Formation · c. 1808–1815

   Founding of the Sokoto Caliphate

   Dan Fodio's victories consolidated into the Sokoto Caliphate, a vast confederation of emirates under Islamic law that became one of nineteenth-century Africa's largest states.

   The Atlantic slave trade and the Sokoto Caliphate

   Sources: Sultanate of Sokoto (Sokoto Caliphate): 1804–1903 (BlackPast.org) · Usman dan Fodio (Wikipedia)

2. 🇸🇱SLE

   Sierra Leone · Colonisation

   Sierra Leone becomes a Crown Colony

   The British Crown took over from the Sierra Leone Company, making Freetown a Crown Colony and the principal base for the Royal Navy's suppression of the Atlantic slave trade.

   Crown Colony, Liberated Africans, and the Krio

   Sources: Sierra Leone (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Liberated Africans in Sierra Leone (Wikipedia)

3. 🇸🇱SLE

   Sierra Leone · Peoples & Migration · 1808–1860s

   The West Africa Squadron frees the recaptives

   Courts at Freetown emancipated more than 80,000 'Liberated Africans' rescued from slave ships by the Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron, who were resettled in and around the colony.

   Crown Colony, Liberated Africans, and the Krio

   Sources: Liberated Africans in Sierra Leone (Wikipedia) · Sierra Leone (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇫🇮FIN

   Finland · War & Rupture · 1808–1809

   The Finnish War and the end of Swedish rule

   Russia conquered Finland from Sweden in the war of 1808-09, ending some six centuries during which Finland had formed the eastern half of the Kingdom of Sweden.

   The Finnic Peoples and Six Centuries as Part of Sweden

   Sources: Finland: Finland under Swedish rule (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Finland (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇵🇹PRT

   Portugal · War & Rupture · 1808-1814

   The Peninsular War

   British, Portuguese and Spanish forces fought the French in the Iberian Peninsula, eventually expelling Napoleon's armies from Portugal and Spain.

   Earthquake, Napoleon and the Loss of Brazil

   Sources: Peninsular War (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇪🇸ESP

   Spain · War & Rupture · 2 May 1808

   Dos de Mayo uprising

   The people of Madrid rose against the occupying French army; the brutal repression that followed ignited the Peninsular War, Spain's war of independence against Napoleon.

   Decline, the Bourbons and the Napoleonic Crisis

   Sources: Spain (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇧🇷BRA

   Brazil · Politics & Power · 1808-1821

   The court moves to Rio

   Fleeing Napoleon, the Portuguese royal court relocates to Rio de Janeiro, which becomes the seat of the empire and is opened to wider trade.

   Portuguese Colony: Sugar, Slavery, and Gold

   Sources: Brazil (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇨🇲CMR

   Cameroon · Religion · c. 1809

   Modibo Adama founds the Adamawa Emirate

   Acting under Usman dan Fodio, the Fulani leader Modibo Adama launched a jihad into Fombina and established the Adamawa Emirate, spreading Islam and Fulani rule across the north as part of the Sokoto Caliphate.

   Grassfields kingdoms, the Douala coast and the Fulani north

   Sources: Modibo Adama (Wikipedia) · Adamawa (traditional emirate) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇭🇷HRV

   Croatia · Politics & Power · 1809–1813

   Napoleon's Illyrian Provinces

   Napoleon gathered much of the coast and hinterland into the short-lived Illyrian Provinces, an episode that helped stir a sense of shared South Slav identity among the Croats.

   The National Revival and the End of Austria-Hungary

   Sources: Croatia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇫🇮FIN

   Finland · Politics & Power

   Finland becomes an autonomous Grand Duchy

   By the Treaty of Fredrikshamn Sweden ceded Finland to Russia; it became the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, joined to the empire through the tsar, who reigned as Grand Duke, and kept its own laws and religion.

   The Grand Duchy of Finland under the Russian Empire

   Sources: History of Finland (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Finland (InfoFinland (Finnish public authorities))

3. 🇸🇮SVN

   Slovenia · Politics & Power · 1809–1813

   The Illyrian Provinces

   Napoleon organised the southern Slovene lands as the Illyrian Provinces of the French Empire, with Ljubljana as their capital, introducing reforms and giving the Slovene language a place in public life.

   The Illyrian Provinces and the National Awakening

   Sources: History of Slovenia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Slovenia (Government of Slovenia (gov.si))

4. 🇸🇪SWE

   Sweden · War & Rupture · 17 Sep 1809

   Treaty of Fredrikshamn: the loss of Finland

   Ending the Finnish War, the Treaty of Fredrikshamn (Hamina) ceded the whole of Finland and the Åland Islands to Russia, stripping Sweden of about a third of its territory and people.

   Loss of Finland, Union with Norway and the Birth of Neutrality

   Sources: Treaty of Hamina (Fredrikshamn, 1809) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Sweden: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇧🇴BOL

   Bolivia · Independence · 1809 CE

   Uprisings at Chuquisaca and La Paz

   Revolts in Upper Peru in 1809, sparked by the Spanish crisis under Napoleon, are remembered among the first independence movements in the Americas.

   The Revolt of Tupac Katari and Independence

   Sources: Bolivia: Early period (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bolivia: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

2. 🇪🇨ECU

   Ecuador · Independence · 10 Aug 1809

   The first cry of independence

   Quito criollos depose the colonial authorities and form a governing junta, one of the earliest such acts in Spanish America, earning Quito the title Luz de America.

   The Light of America: Independence and the Republic

   Sources: History of Ecuador (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Santa Cruz y Espejo, Francisco Javier Eugenio de (1747-1795) (Encyclopedia.com (Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture))