The 1830s

Africa

1. DZAColonisation

   Algeria · 5 July 1830

   France captures Algiers

   A French expeditionary force takes Algiers, ending the Ottoman regency and beginning 132 years of French rule in Algeria.

   French Conquest and Settler Colony

   Sources: France Conquers Algeria (EBSCO Research Starters) · History of Algeria (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. CAFPolitics & Power

   Central African Republic

   Dar al-Kuti founded under Wadai

   The sultanate of Dar al-Kuti was established as a tributary of Dar Runga and ultimately of Wadai, becoming a staging ground for slave raids into the Banda and Nzakara lands to the south.

   Zande States and the Slave Trade

   Sources: Dar al-Kuti (Wikipedia) · Central African Republic — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. IDNEconomy & Trade

   Indonesia

   The Cultivation System

   The Dutch impose the Cultuurstelsel, forcing Javanese peasants to grow export crops for the colonial state; it enriches the Netherlands while causing widespread hardship and local famines.

   The Dutch East Indies and the National Awakening

   Sources: History of Indonesia (Islamic influence; Dutch rule) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Indonesian National Awakening (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. BELIndependence

   Belgium · Aug–Sep 1830

   The Belgian Revolution

   Rebellion in Brussels drove out the Dutch garrison; a National Congress proclaimed independence and adopted a liberal constitution, breaking the southern provinces away from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.

   Revolution, Independence and the Guaranteed Neutral Kingdom

   Sources: Belgium: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. GRCIndependence

   Greece · 3 February 1830

   London Protocol recognizes Greek independence

   Britain, France and Russia signed the London Protocol declaring Greece an independent state, the first international act recognizing Greek sovereignty.

   Ottoman Rule and the War of Independence

   Sources: 3 February 1830: Greece becomes a state (London Protocol) (Greek News Agenda (General Secretariat for Media and Communication)) · Greek Independence from the Ottoman Empire (EBSCO Research Starters)

3. MNECulture & Ideas

   Montenegro · 1830–1851

   Rule of Petar II Petrovic-Njegos

   The poet-prince Petar II strengthened the state, founded schools and reformed taxation, and wrote The Mountain Wreath, becoming Montenegro's most celebrated cultural figure.

   The Prince-Bishopric and the Petrovic-Njegos Resistance

   Sources: Peter II (Petar II Petrovic-Njegos), prince-bishop of Montenegro (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The Mountain Wreath (Gorski vijenac) (Projekat Rastko)

4. NLDIndependence

   Netherlands

   Belgian Revolution

   The southern provinces rebel and declare independence as Belgium, dividing the United Kingdom of the Netherlands; separation is recognised in 1839.

   Decline, French Rule and the Kingdom of the Netherlands

   Sources: Netherlands (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

5. POLWar & Rupture

   Poland · 1830–1831

   The November Uprising

   Poles in the Russian partition rose against the tsar; after initial successes the rising was crushed, bringing reprisals, the end of the Kingdom's autonomy and a wave of political exile.

   The Partitions and the Long Fight for Independence

   Sources: History of Poland (1795-1918) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. HNDPolitics & Power

   Honduras · 1830-1840

   Morazán leads the federation

   The Honduran Liberal Francisco Morazán serves as president of the United Provinces, fighting to preserve the union against Conservative revolts.

   Independence, Federation, and Morazán

   Sources: Francisco Morazán (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. COLPolitics & Power

   Colombia · 1830 CE

   Breakup of Gran Colombia

   Venezuela and Ecuador secede and Bolivar dies near Santa Marta; the union dissolves, leaving New Granada as a separate state.

   Independence and Gran Colombia

   Sources: Gran Colombia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Simon Bolivar (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. ECUFormation

   Ecuador · 13 May 1830

   Republic of Ecuador founded

   An assembly in Quito separates the southern district from Gran Colombia and founds the Republic of Ecuador, with Juan Jose Flores as first president.

   The Light of America: Independence and the Republic

   Sources: History of Ecuador (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Gran Colombia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. URYPolitics & Power

   Uruguay · 18 July 1830

   First constitution sworn

   The Oriental Republic of Uruguay adopts its first national constitution, formally organising the new state.

   Artigas, the Thirty-Three, and Independence

   Sources: Uruguay: The struggle for national identity (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

4. VENFormation

   Venezuela · 1830 CE

   Separation from Gran Colombia

   As Gran Colombia dissolves and Bolivar dies, Jose Antonio Paez leads Venezuela to declare itself a separate republic and becomes its first president.

   The Cradle of Independence and Simon Bolivar

   Sources: Jose Antonio Paez (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Venezuela (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. ZMBEconomy & Trade

   Zambia · 1831–1832

   Gamitto's mission to Kazembe

   A second Portuguese expedition, led by António Gamitto, visited the Mwata Kazembe, leaving a detailed account of a Lunda state deeply engaged in the regional trade in ivory, copper, and captives.

   Kingdoms of the Zambezi and Luapula: Lozi, Bemba, Chewa and Kazembe

   Sources: Kazembe (Lunda kingdom of the Luapula) (Wikipedia) · Zambia: External contacts and the slave and ivory trade (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. BELFormation

   Belgium · 21 Jul 1831

   Leopold I, first King of the Belgians

   The German prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was installed as the first king and took his constitutional oath on 21 July 1831, a date still observed as Belgium's national day.

   Revolution, Independence and the Guaranteed Neutral Kingdom

   Sources: Leopold I, king of Belgium (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Belgium: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. JAMWar & Rupture

   Jamaica · Dec 1831 - 1832

   The Baptist War

   Samuel Sharpe leads a Christmas rebellion of tens of thousands; its suppression hastens the end of slavery in the empire.

   Sugar, Slavery, and Resistance

   Sources: Jamaica: British rule (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. FLKWar & Rupture

   Falkland Islands · December 1831

   USS Lexington raid on Port Louis

   Reacting to the seizure of American sealing ships, the U.S. warship Lexington under Commander Silas Duncan arrived at Port Louis, arrested Vernet's deputy Matthew Brisbane and six others, and took 38 members of the colony to Montevideo and Buenos Aires at their request.

   Buenos Aires, Vernet, and 1833

   Sources: Duncan, Silas (Dictionary of Falklands Biography) · Falkland Islands — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. GUYColonisation

   Guyana

   Creation of British Guiana

   Britain unites the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice into a single Crown colony, British Guiana, with Georgetown as its capital.

   British Guiana: Emancipation and Indenture

   Sources: A Guide to the History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations: Guyana (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian) · Guyana — History (Colonialism, Independence, Culture) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. URYWar & Rupture

   Uruguay · 11 Apr 1831

   Massacre of the Charrua at Salsipuedes

   Government forces ambush and massacre the Charrua at Salsipuedes, a campaign that destroyed them as a distinct people and is remembered as a foundational injustice.

   Blancos, Colorados, and the Guerra Grande

   Sources: Charrua (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Uruguay: The struggle for national identity (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. DZAWar & Rupture

   Algeria · 1832–1847

   Abd al-Qadir's resistance

   Proclaimed amir in 1832, Abd al-Qadir builds a state across much of Algeria and leads armed resistance to the French until his surrender in 1847.

   French Conquest and Settler Colony

   Sources: Abdelkader (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · France Conquers Algeria (EBSCO Research Starters)

2. LBRCulture & Ideas

   Liberia · c. 1832–1833

   Invention of the Vai script

   Momolu Duwalu Bukele and fellow Vai elders are credited with devising the Vai syllabary, one of the few indigenous writing systems created in sub-Saharan Africa, which remains in use; some accounts place its origin earlier.

   Indigenous peoples of the Grain Coast

   Sources: Momolu Duwalu Bukele (Wikipedia) · Vai syllabary (Wikipedia) · Liberia — People (Ethnic Groups, Languages) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. GRCIndependence

   Greece · July 1832

   Treaty of Constantinople and the Kingdom of Greece

   The Ottoman sultan recognized Greek independence and the new state's frontiers in the Treaty of Constantinople; the Bavarian prince Otto was chosen as the first king of Greece.

   Ottoman Rule and the War of Independence

   Sources: War of Greek Independence (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Otto, king of Greece (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. LSOReligion

   Lesotho

   Paris missionaries arrive

   Moshoeshoe invites the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society into his kingdom; the missionaries help create a written Sesotho and advise him on dealings with Europeans.

   Moshoeshoe and the Birth of the Basotho

   Sources: Lesotho: The Sotho kingdom (1824–69) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Lesotho (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. OMNPolitics & Power

   Oman · 21 September 1833

   Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States

   Said bin Sultan's government concluded a Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States, the first bilateral treaty between Washington and an Arab Gulf state.

   The Al Bu Said Dynasty and the Empire of Zanzibar

   Sources: History of the U.S.-Oman Relationship (U.S. Embassy in Oman) · Said ibn Sultan, Omani ruler and Zanzibar sultan (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. LKAPolitics & Power

   Sri Lanka

   One administration for the whole island

   Reform dissolves the separate systems of the maritime provinces and the highlands, governing Ceylon as a single colony for the first time.

   British Ceylon and the Road to Independence

   Sources: Sri Lanka country profile (BBC News)

Europe

1. GBRPolitics & Power

   United Kingdom

   Slavery Abolition Act

   Parliament abolished slavery across most of the British Empire, effective 1834, freeing more than 800,000 people while compensating former slave-owners rather than the enslaved.

   Empire, industry, and the Victorian age

   Sources: Slavery Abolition Act (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. CHLPolitics & Power

   Chile · 1833 CE

   The Constitution of 1833

   A conservative constitution shaped by Diego Portales establishes a strong centralised presidency, anchoring decades of unusual political stability.

   Independence and the Building of a Republic

   Sources: History of Chile (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. FLKFormation

   Falkland Islands · 2 January 1833

   Britain re-establishes control (founding of continuous administration)

   A British force required the small Argentine garrison to leave Port Louis and re-asserted British control — the start of continuous British administration, which Argentina contests as illegitimate occupation.

   Buenos Aires, Vernet, and 1833

   Sources: Falkland Islands — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Our History (Falkland Islands Government) · The South Atlantic Crisis, 1982 (Conflict over the Falkland Islands / Islas Malvinas) (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian) · 188 years of illegal occupation of the Malvinas Islands (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Comercio Internacional y Culto, Argentina)

Africa

1. MUSPeoples & Migration

   Mauritius · 1834–c. 1910

   Indian indenture and the Aapravasi Ghat

   Around half a million indentured labourers from India arrive through the Port Louis depot, the 'Great Experiment', reshaping the island's population.

   British Mauritius: Abolition & Indenture

   Sources: Aapravasi Ghat (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Aapravasi Ghat (World Heritage List) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

2. ZAFPolitics & Power

   South Africa · 1 December 1834

   Abolition of slavery at the Cape

   Slavery was abolished across the British Empire, freeing enslaved people at the Cape and deepening Boer discontent that helped spark the Great Trek.

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

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

North America

1. BHSPolitics & Power

   Bahamas · 1 August 1834

   Slavery Abolition Act takes effect

   The British Slavery Abolition Act came into force in the Bahamas on 1 August 1834, beginning emancipation; after an apprenticeship period, full freedom followed in 1838.

   Loyalists, slavery and emancipation

   Sources: Bahamas: Local History and Genealogy — Research Guide (Library of Congress) · The Bahamas — British colonization (History) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. TTOPolitics & Power

   Trinidad and Tobago · 1 August 1834

   Abolition of slavery

   Under Britain's Slavery Abolition Act, slavery ended in Trinidad and Tobago on 1 August 1834, though a transitional 'apprenticeship' kept the freed people tied to the estates.

   British conquest and the much-contested Tobago

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

Africa

1. LBYPolitics & Power

   Libya

   Ottomans restore direct rule

   Sultan Mahmud II ends the Karamanli dynasty and reimposes direct Ottoman administration over Tripolitania.

   Ottoman Rule and the Karamanli Dynasty

   Sources: Ottoman Tripolitania (Wikipedia)

2. MDGReligion

   Madagascar

   Ranavalona I bans Christianity

   Fearing foreign influence, the queen proscribes Christian practice; persecution and executions follow over decades.

   The Merina Monarchy

   Sources: Ranavalona I (Wikipedia) · Madagascar (Encyclopædia Britannica)

3. MUSPolitics & Power

   Mauritius · 1 February 1835

   Abolition of slavery

   Slavery is formally ended in Mauritius, freeing tens of thousands of enslaved people, followed by a transitional 'apprenticeship'.

   British Mauritius: Abolition & Indenture

   Sources: Mauritius (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Le Morne Cultural Landscape (World Heritage List) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

4. SYCPolitics & Power

   Seychelles

   Abolition of slavery

   Emancipation freed the several thousand enslaved Africans who formed the majority of the colony's population.

   British Rule and Emancipation

   Sources: History of Seychelles (Wikipedia) · History of Slavery (Seychelles National Museum)

5. ZMBPeoples & Migration

   Zambia · 1830s

   Ngoni incursions from the south

   Ngoni warbands driven north by the upheavals of the Mfecane crossed the Zambezi under leaders such as Zwangendaba, raiding and absorbing peoples and settling in the east of the region.

   Upheaval, the slave trade and Livingstone

   Sources: History of Zambia (Wikipedia) · History of Zambia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. HRVCulture & Ideas

   Croatia · 1830s–1840s

   The Illyrian movement and national revival

   Led by Ljudevit Gaj, intellectuals and clergy promoted a standard Croatian literary language and South Slav cultural unity, laying the foundations of the modern Croatian nation.

   The National Revival and the End of Austria-Hungary

   Sources: Croatia: The Croatian national revival (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Croatia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. FINCulture & Ideas

   Finland

   Elias Lonnrot publishes the Kalevala

   Lonnrot published the Kalevala, a national epic assembled from oral folk poetry collected in Karelia; it strengthened the Finnish language and fed the national awakening that would culminate in independence.

   The Grand Duchy of Finland under the Russian Empire

   Sources: Elias Lonnrot (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Kalevala: the Finnish national epic (thisisFINLAND (Finland Promotion Board))

South America

1. ECUCulture & Ideas

   Ecuador · 1835 CE

   Darwin reaches the Galapagos

   The naturalist Charles Darwin visits the Galapagos aboard HMS Beagle, gathering observations that help shape his theory of evolution by natural selection.

   Cacao, Liberals and Bananas

   Sources: History of Galapagos (Galapagos Conservancy) · About Galapagos (Charles Darwin Foundation)

Africa

1. AGOPolitics & Power

   Angola

   Portugal abolishes the slave trade

   Portugal formally outlawed the transatlantic slave trade, ending Luanda's centuries as a slaving port, though clandestine traffic and later forced labour persisted in Angola.

   The slow conquest of the interior

   Sources: Slavery in Angola (Wikipedia) · Portuguese Angola (Wikipedia)

2. ZAFPeoples & Migration

   South Africa · from 1836

   The Great Trek

   Thousands of Voortrekkers left the Cape Colony for the interior, seeking independence from British rule and founding new Boer communities on lands occupied by African peoples.

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

   Sources: Origins of the Battle of Blood River 1838 (South African History Online) · South Africa (country, history and government) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. BWAWar & Rupture

   Botswana · 1830s

   Ndebele raids under Mzilikazi

   Mzilikazi's Ndebele raid Tswana communities through the 1830s, capturing cattle, women and children before migrating north across the Limpopo.

   The Tswana Nations and the Difaqane

   Sources: Matabele Wars 1836–1896 (South African History Online) · Matabeleland: The Ndebele Empire in Southern Africa (World History Encyclopedia)

2. LBYReligion

   Libya

   Founding of the Senussi order

   Muhammad ibn Ali al-Senussi founds the Sanusi religious order, which from the 1840s becomes the leading power in Cyrenaica and the eastern Sahara.

   Ottoman Rule and the Karamanli Dynasty

   Sources: al-Sanusi (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Sanusiyya (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. KAZWar & Rupture

   Kazakhstan · 1837–1847

   Kenesary Kasymov's revolt

   Kenesary Kasymov, a grandson of Ablai Khan, leads the largest Kazakh uprising against Russian rule, fighting to restore the independent khanate until he is killed in 1847.

   The Russian Conquest of the Steppe

   Sources: History of Kazakhstan (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan: Country Studies (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

Europe

1. GBRPolitics & Power

   United Kingdom · 1837–1901

   The Victorian era and the height of empire

   During Queen Victoria's long reign Britain became the world's foremost industrial and imperial power, its empire eventually spanning about a quarter of the globe.

   Empire, industry, and the Victorian age

   Sources: Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · British Empire (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. CANPolitics & Power

   Canada · 1837–1838

   Rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada

   Armed uprisings against oligarchic colonial rule in both Canadas were suppressed but led to Lord Durham's report and, ultimately, to responsible government.

   British conquest and colonial British North America

   Sources: Canada (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. ZAFWar & Rupture

   South Africa · 16 December 1838

   Battle of Blood River

   A Voortrekker commando under Andries Pretorius defeated a large Zulu army at the Ncome (Blood) River, a battle long mythologised in Afrikaner nationalism and preceding the rise of Boer republics.

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

   Sources: Origins of the Battle of Blood River 1838 (South African History Online) · South Africa (country, history and government) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. ZWEPeoples & Migration

   Zimbabwe · c. 1838–1840

   The Ndebele settle the south-west

   Mzilikazi led the Ndebele north during the Mfecane and established a centralised military kingdom around Bulawayo, dominating the south-western plateau and its Shona inhabitants.

   The Ndebele kingdom and British conquest

   Sources: Mzilikazi (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Lobengula (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Zimbabwe: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. BLZPolitics & Power

   Belize · 1 August 1838

   Emancipation completed

   Following abolition across the British Empire from 1834, the apprenticeship system ended in British Honduras on 1 August 1838, freeing the enslaved; the freed African population formed the core of the colony's Creole society.

   British Honduras and a plural society

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

2. CRIPolitics & Power

   Costa Rica · 1838 CE

   Withdrawal from the federation

   Disenchanted with the strife of the United Provinces of Central America, Costa Rica severs its federal ties and charts an independent course.

   Independence and a Coffee Republic

   Sources: History of Costa Rica (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Costa Rica: Independence (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. DOMPolitics & Power

   Dominican Republic · 16 Jul 1838

   Founding of La Trinitaria

   Juan Pablo Duarte founds the clandestine society La Trinitaria, organised in three-man cells, to undermine Haitian rule and build a movement for Dominican independence.

   Haitian Rule and Dominican Independence

   Sources: Juan Pablo Duarte (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

4. HTIPolitics & Power

   Haiti · 1838 CE

   The indemnity reduced to 90 million

   A new treaty with France recognises Haitian independence without conditions and cuts the indemnity to 90 million francs, spread over thirty annual payments.

   Kingdom, Republic, and the Indemnity

   Sources: La dette de l'indépendance d'Haïti. L'esclave comme unité de compte (1794-1922), by Gusti-Klara Gaillard-Pourchet (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Patrimoines partagés France-Amériques)

5. HNDIndependence

   Honduras · 1838 CE

   Honduras becomes sovereign

   Amid the federation's collapse, Honduras separates to become a fully independent state.

   Independence, Federation, and Morazán

   Sources: A Guide to the History of Recognition: Honduras (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian) · United Provinces of Central America (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

6. JAMPolitics & Power

   Jamaica · 1 Aug 1838

   Emancipation

   After the Abolition Act of 1833 and a period of apprenticeship, the enslaved people of Jamaica gain full freedom.

   Sugar, Slavery, and Resistance

   Sources: Jamaica: British rule (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Jamaica: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

7. NICPolitics & Power

   Nicaragua · 1838 CE

   Separation from the Central American federation

   Amid regional rivalry, Nicaragua withdraws from the Federal Republic of Central America to become a fully sovereign state.

   Independence, Rivalry, and the Filibuster

   Sources: History of Nicaragua (Encyclopædia Britannica)

8. TTOPolitics & Power

   Trinidad and Tobago · 1 August 1838

   Full emancipation

   The apprenticeship system ended on 1 August 1838, granting the formerly enslaved full freedom and leaving the colony's planters scrambling for new sources of labour.

   British conquest and the much-contested Tobago

   Sources: Trinidad and Tobago: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Indian Arrival Day (National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS), Trinidad and Tobago)

9. USAPeoples & Migration

   United States

   Trail of Tears

   Under the Indian Removal Act, the United States forcibly marched the Cherokee and other southeastern nations west of the Mississippi; thousands died en route.

   Expansion, slavery, and the Civil War

   Sources: Abraham Lincoln and Emancipation; U.S. History Collections (Library of Congress)

South America

1. GUYPeoples & Migration

   Guyana

   Emancipation and Indian indenture

   Full emancipation takes effect on 1 August 1838; the first indentured labourers from India arrive on 5 May 1838, beginning decades of immigration that reshape the colony's population.

   British Guiana: Emancipation and Indenture

   Sources: Guyana — History (Colonialism, Independence, Culture) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Guyana and Belize: Country Studies (U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

Africa

1. CPVEconomy & Trade

   Cape Verde · from c. 1838

   Mindelo becomes an Atlantic coaling station

   The deep harbour of Porto Grande at Mindelo on São Vicente was developed as a coaling station for transatlantic steamships and later a submarine-cable relay, briefly making the port cosmopolitan and prosperous.

   Creole culture, the coaling port, and the years of hunger

   Sources: History of Cape Verde (Wikipedia) · History of Cabo Verde (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. GABColonisation

   Gabon

   France treats with King Denis

   The French officer Bouët-Willaumez signed a treaty in 1839 with the Mpongwe ruler Antchouwe Kowe Rapontchombo ("King Denis"), securing French trading and basing rights on the Gabon Estuary.

   Libreville, Brazza, and French conquest

   Sources: Libreville (Wikipedia) · History of Gabon (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. AFGWar & Rupture

   Afghanistan · 1839–1842

   First Anglo-Afghan War

   Britain invades to install a friendly ruler but is overwhelmed; a British-Indian force is destroyed during its disastrous 1842 retreat from Kabul, an early clash of the Great Game.

   The Durrani Empire and the Great Game

   Sources: Anglo-Afghan Wars — History, Significance & Facts (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. CHNColonisation

   China · 1839 CE

   First Opium War and the 'unequal treaties'

   War with Britain over the opium trade ends in Qing defeat and the Treaty of Nanjing (1842), ceding Hong Kong and opening treaty ports, the start of a century of foreign encroachment China calls its century of humiliation.

   Empires of Conquest and Restoration: Yuan, Ming, Qing

   Sources: China (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. TURPolitics & Power

   Türkiye · 1839–1876

   The Tanzimat reforms

   A wave of modernising reforms reorganised Ottoman law, taxation, education and the military in an effort to halt the empire's decline and integrate its diverse subjects.

   The Ottoman Empire: Height and Decline

   Sources: Ottoman Empire (Encyclopædia Britannica)

4. YEMColonisation

   Yemen

   Britain captures Aden

   The British East India Company seized the port of Aden, establishing a coaling station on the route to India that grew into one of the world's busiest ports after the Suez Canal opened in 1869.

   Ottomans, Britain and the Port of Aden

   Sources: Aden: Yemen, Map, Population and Facts (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · A Short History of the Aden Emergency (Imperial War Museums)

Europe

1. BLRReligion

   Belarus

   Suppression of the Uniate Church and Russification

   The Uniate (Greek Catholic) Church was abolished and absorbed into Russian Orthodoxy, part of a sustained imperial policy of Russification that discouraged the Belarusian language and name.

   The Commonwealth, Partition and the Russian Empire

   Sources: History of Belarus (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. BELIndependence

   Belgium · 19 Apr 1839

   Treaty of London guarantees Belgian neutrality

   Austria, Britain, France, Prussia, Russia and the Netherlands recognised Belgium as an independent and perpetually neutral state and guaranteed its neutrality, the treaty later cited by Britain to enter the First World War.

   Revolution, Independence and the Guaranteed Neutral Kingdom

   Sources: The Treaty of London, 1839 (primary text) (FirstWorldWar.com Primary Documents) · Belgium: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. LUXPolitics & Power

   Luxembourg

   Treaty of London: the cession to Belgium

   The 1839 Treaty of London partitioned the Grand Duchy a third time, ceding its larger French-speaking western half to the new kingdom of Belgium while confirming the independence of the German-speaking remainder.

   The Grand Duchy, the Second and Third Partitions, and Neutrality

   Sources: The history of the Nassau dynasty (Cour grand-ducale (Grand Ducal Court of Luxembourg)) · History of the city of Luxembourg (Luxembourg City Tourist Office)

South America

1. URYWar & Rupture

   Uruguay · 1839-1851

   The Guerra Grande

   The rivalry of Colorados and Blancos erupts into the Guerra Grande; the Blanco Oribe besieges Montevideo for nine years while the Colorados, aided by foreign legions, hold the city.

   Blancos, Colorados, and the Guerra Grande

   Sources: Uruguay: The struggle for national identity (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Uruguay (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Oceania

1. VUTReligion

   Vanuatu

   Missionaries arrive; Williams killed at Erromango

   Christian missions began in the islands; the LMS missionary John Williams was killed at Erromango, the first of several martyrdoms as Christianity slowly took hold.

   Sandalwood, Blackbirding and Missions

   Sources: An Archaeology of Early Christianity in Vanuatu (Ch. 2: contact, labour and missions) (ANU Press) · Vanuatu — History (Melanesian, Colonization, Independence) (Encyclopædia Britannica)