The 1850s

Africa

1. 🇨🇬COG

   Congo · Politics & Power · 19th century

   Decline as the slave trade is suppressed

   The European suppression of the Atlantic slave trade undercut the Loango coast's economy; the kingdom fragmented into small chieftaincies and had effectively ceased to exist as a unified state by the early 1880s.

   Loango ports and the Atlantic slave trade

   Sources: Kingdom of Loango (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Kingdom of Loango (Wikipedia) · Congo-Brazzaville — Early History (GlobalSecurity.org)

2. 🇬🇭GHA

   Ghana · Colonisation

   Denmark sells its Gold Coast forts to Britain

   Denmark sold its coastal forts to Britain, an early step in the consolidation of British control over the Gold Coast that would culminate in the formal colony.

   The British Gold Coast colony

   Sources: Ghana (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇹🇬TGO

   Togo · Economy & Trade · mid-19th century

   From slaving to 'legitimate' trade

   As the slave trade was suppressed, commerce on the coast turned to palm oil and other goods, and German and other European merchant houses established themselves at Aného and along the shore.

   The coast, the Guin and the Slave Coast

   Sources: Togo (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Togoland (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇱🇻LVA

   Latvia · Culture & Ideas · c. 1850–1880

   The First National Awakening

   The Young Latvians led a cultural revival that championed the Latvian language and folklore against Baltic German dominance, creating the basis for a modern Latvian nation.

   National Awakening, Independence and the First Republic

   Sources: Latvia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Latvia (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia)

North America

1. 🇧🇸BHS

   Bahamas · Economy & Trade · 19th century

   An economy of wrecking and sponging

   The poor post-emancipation colony lived largely on salvaging shipwrecks, sponge-fishing and salt, with wrecking for a time its single largest source of income.

   Wrecking, blockade-running and rum

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

Africa

1. 🇧🇯BEN

   Benin · Economy & Trade · 1851–1852

   British blockade of Dahomey's ports

   Britain imposed a naval blockade to force Dahomey to end the slave trade; Ghezo agreed in 1852 but soon resumed slaving, as palm oil rose to become the kingdom's chief legitimate export.

   Ouidah, the slave trade, King Ghezo and the Agojie

   Sources: The compatibility of the slave and palm oil trades in Dahomey, 1818–1858 (Cambridge University Press (From Slave Trade to 'Legitimate' Commerce)) · Ghezo (Wikipedia)

2. 🇳🇪NER

   Niger · Politics & Power · mid-19th century

   Bornu's enduring influence

   The empire of Kanem-Bornu near Lake Chad continued to project Islamic culture and political weight over Niger's east, where many small states had begun as its tributaries.

   Hausa states, Damagaram and the shadow of Bornu

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

South America

1. 🇫🇰FLK

   Falkland Islands · Economy & Trade

   Falkland Islands Company chartered

   The Falkland Islands Company received a royal charter in 1851 and grew into the colony's largest landowner and sheep rancher, central to its wool economy.

   The Pastoral Colony of Sheep and Wool

   Sources: Falkland Islands — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇺🇾URY

   Uruguay · War & Rupture · 1851 CE

   End of the long war

   The Guerra Grande ends without outright victory, leaving Uruguay exhausted but independent and its two-party rivalry entrenched.

   Blancos, Colorados, and the Guerra Grande

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

Oceania

1. 🇦🇺AUS

   Australia · Economy & Trade

   Gold rushes begin

   Discoveries of gold in New South Wales and Victoria triggered rushes that drew hundreds of thousands of migrants, transforming the colonies' population, economy, and society within a decade.

   Colonial expansion, gold rushes, and frontier conflict

   Sources: Australian gold rushes (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Defining Moments: Eureka Stockade (National Museum of Australia)

Africa

1. 🇧🇼BWA

   Botswana · War & Rupture

   Boer attack on the Bakwena

   Transvaal Boers attack Sechele's Bakwena and sack Livingstone's Kolobeng mission, part of mounting pressure from the Transvaal on Tswana land.

   Missionaries, Boers and Mounting Pressure

   Sources: History of Botswana (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇲🇲MMR

   Myanmar · War & Rupture · 1852 CE

   Second Anglo-Burmese War

   British forces annex Lower Burma, including the Irrawaddy delta and the province renamed Pegu, tightening control of the coastline.

   The Anglo-Burmese Wars and British Rule

   Sources: Anglo-Burmese Wars (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇲🇪MNE

   Montenegro · Politics & Power

   Montenegro becomes a secular principality

   Danilo renounced the office of prince-bishop, married and proclaimed himself prince, ending the theocracy; his 1855 code gave the principality its first modern legal framework.

   Secular Principality, the Congress of Berlin and the Kingdom

   Sources: Montenegro: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Danilo II, prince-bishop and first secular prince of Montenegro (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇦🇷ARG

   Argentina · War & Rupture · 3 Feb 1852

   Battle of Caseros

   Justo Jose de Urquiza defeats Rosas at Caseros, opening the way to the constitutional organisation of the country.

   Civil Wars, Unification and the Liberal Republic

   Sources: Justo Jose de Urquiza (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Argentina (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇦🇪ARE

   United Arab Emirates · Politics & Power

   The Perpetual Maritime Truce

   The Treaty of Maritime Peace in Perpetuity committed the rulers to a permanent truce at sea, giving the coast the name Trucial Coast and its statelets the name Trucial States.

   The Qawasim and the Making of the Trucial States

   Sources: Perpetual Maritime Truce of 1853 (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of the United Arab Emirates (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇦🇷ARG

   Argentina · Politics & Power · 1 May 1853

   The National Constitution

   A constituent congress at Santa Fe sanctions the Constitution of 1853, establishing a federal, representative and republican state.

   Civil Wars, Unification and the Liberal Republic

   Sources: Justo Jose de Urquiza (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Argentina (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Oceania

1. 🇳🇨NCL

   New Caledonia · Colonisation · 24 September 1853

   France annexes New Caledonia

   Rear Admiral Febvrier-Despointes took possession of the archipelago for France, beginning formal colonial rule and pre-empting British ambitions in the region.

   Annexation, the Bagne and Nickel

   Sources: New Caledonia — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · New Caledonia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Oceania

1. 🇦🇺AUS

   Australia · Politics & Power · 3 December 1854

   Eureka Stockade

   Goldminers at Ballarat rebelled against oppressive licensing and the denial of political rights; troops stormed their stockade, killing more than twenty, but the revolt helped secure democratic reforms.

   Colonial expansion, gold rushes, and frontier conflict

   Sources: Defining Moments: Eureka Stockade (National Museum of Australia) · Australian gold rushes (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇫🇯FJI

   Fiji · Religion

   Cakobau converts to Christianity

   Seru Epenisa Cakobau, paramount chief of Bau and self-styled Tui Viti, accepts Christianity, bringing many Fijians under Methodist influence.

   European Contact & the Rise of Cakobau

   Sources: Cakobau — king of Fiji (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Fiji — History (Melanesian, Colonialism, Independence) (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇪🇹ETH

   Ethiopia · Politics & Power

   Tewodros II reunifies Ethiopia

   Kassa Hailu defeats the regional warlords and is crowned Emperor Tewodros II, ending the Era of the Princes and launching efforts to centralise and modernise the state.

   Gondar, the Era of the Princes and Reunification

   Sources: Gondarine period (Wikipedia) · Ethiopia (country overview) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇸🇳SEN

   Senegal · Colonisation · 1854–1855

   Faidherbe begins the conquest

   Governor Louis Faidherbe pushes up the Senegal River, conquering Waalo and building forts that subdue the interior kingdoms over decades.

   French Conquest, the Four Communes and the Marabouts

   Sources: French conquest of Senegal (Wikipedia)

3. 🇿🇲ZMB

   Zambia · Culture & Ideas · 16 November 1855

   Livingstone reaches Victoria Falls

   Guided by local people, David Livingstone became the first European recorded to see the falls the inhabitants called Mosi-oa-Tunya, renaming them Victoria Falls and drawing European attention to the region.

   Upheaval, the slave trade and Livingstone

   Sources: David Livingstone (New World Encyclopedia) · Livingstone Sees the Victoria Falls (EBSCO Research Starters)

Asia

1. 🇹🇭THA

   Thailand · Economy & Trade

   The Bowring Treaty

   King Mongkut signs the Bowring Treaty with Britain, opening Siam to Western trade and granting extraterritoriality; comparable treaties with other powers follow.

   Siam's Survival: Mongkut, Chulalongkorn, and the Imperial Century

   Sources: Bowring Treaty (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Mongkut (Rama IV) (Encyclopædia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇳🇮NIC

   Nicaragua · War & Rupture · 1855–1857

   William Walker's filibuster

   Hired by León's Liberals, the American filibuster William Walker seizes Granada and makes himself president of Nicaragua in 1856 before a coalition of Central American states expels him.

   Independence, Rivalry, and the Filibuster

   Sources: William Walker (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Territorial Expansion, Filibustering, and U.S. Interest in Central America (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian)

2. 🇵🇦PAN

   Panama · Economy & Trade

   Panama Railroad completed

   Spurred by the California Gold Rush, a U.S. company completes the trans-isthmus railroad, the shortest route between the oceans.

   A Province of Colombia

   Sources: Panama: A Country Study (Library of Congress Country Studies) · Panama (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇧🇮BDI

   Burundi · Peoples & Migration · 1850s

   First European contact

   European explorers and missionaries reach the Lake Tanganyika region for the first time, beginning sustained outside contact with the kingdom.

   The Kingdom of the Mwami

   Sources: History of Burundi (Wikipedia) · Kingdom of Burundi (Wikipedia)

2. 🇹🇿TZA

   Tanzania · Politics & Power

   Zanzibar becomes a separate sultanate

   On Said's death his domains are divided; his son Majid becomes the first sultan of Zanzibar, separating the islands from Oman.

   The Portuguese and Omani Zanzibar

   Sources: Sultanate of Zanzibar (1856–1964) (BlackPast.org) · Saʿīd ibn Sulṭān (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇴🇲OMN

   Oman · Politics & Power

   Death of Said and the split of the empire

   On Said bin Sultan's death his realm was divided between his sons, one taking Muscat and Oman and the other Zanzibar, severing the African empire from Arabia.

   The Al Bu Said Dynasty and the Empire of Zanzibar

   Sources: Said ibn Sultan, Omani ruler and Zanzibar sultan (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Al Bu Said dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇲🇩MDA

   Moldova · War & Rupture

   Southern Bessarabia briefly returned

   The Treaty of Paris ending the Crimean War returned the southern strip of Bessarabia to Moldavia; Russia recovered it in 1878 at the Congress of Berlin, underlining the province's status as a contested borderland.

   Russian Bessarabia

   Sources: Bessarabia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Moldova: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇨🇷CRI

   Costa Rica · War & Rupture · 1856-1857

   National War against William Walker

   Costa Rica joins Central America in defeating the American filibuster William Walker; the soldier Juan Santamaria becomes a national hero.

   Independence and a Coffee Republic

   Sources: William Walker (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Juan Santamaria (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇲🇽MEX

   Mexico · Politics & Power · 1857 CE

   Constitution of the Reform

   The liberal Constitution of 1857 limits church and army privileges and establishes a bill of rights, deepening conflict between liberals and conservatives.

   Reform, Porfiriato, and Revolution

   Sources: La Reforma (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Benito Juarez (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇬🇶GNQ

   Equatorial Guinea · Colonisation

   Spain installs effective rule under Carlos Chacón

   Spain sent the naval officer Carlos Chacón as governor in 1858 to organise a colonial administration on Fernando Pó; Baptist missionaries established under the British were pressed to withdraw in favour of Spanish Catholic missions.

   The British base and the Spanish cocoa colony

   Sources: History of Equatorial Guinea (Wikipedia) · History of Equatorial Guinea (Encyclopædia Britannica)

2. 🇱🇸LSO

   Lesotho · War & Rupture

   Senekal's War with the Orange Free State

   Conflict erupts with the Boers of the Orange Free State over land in the western lowlands, the first of the Free State–Basotho Wars.

   Moshoeshoe and the Birth of the Basotho

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

Asia

1. 🇮🇳IND

   India · Colonisation

   British Crown rule begins

   After the suppression of the 1857 rebellion, the Crown abolishes East India Company rule and assumes direct governance of India, beginning the British Raj.

   The East India Company and the British Raj

   Sources: British raj (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇻🇳VNM

   Vietnam · War & Rupture · 1858 CE

   French attack on Da Nang

   A French and Spanish naval force assaults Da Nang, beginning the military conquest that would bring Vietnam under colonial rule.

   The Nguyen Dynasty and Expansion South

   Sources: French Indochina / Conquest of Vietnam (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Vietnam (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇲🇼MWI

   Malawi · Culture & Ideas · September 1859

   Livingstone reaches Lake Nyasa

   David Livingstone, on the Zambezi expedition, reached Lake Nyasa and reported it as a corridor of the slave caravans, calling for commerce and Christianity to end the trade.

   Migrations, missionaries and the slave trade

   Sources: David Livingstone (Zambezi expedition) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Universities' Mission to Central Africa (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇹🇱TLS

   Timor-Leste · Colonisation

   Partition of the island

   A Portuguese-Dutch treaty divides Timor between Dutch West Timor and Portuguese East Timor, leaving Portugal the eastern half plus the Oecusse enclave; the border is finalized in the early 20th century.

   Portuguese Timor and the Divided Island

   Sources: East Timor (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Boundaries in the Island of Timor (Netherlands v. Portugal), Award of 25 June 1914 (Permanent Court of Arbitration)

Europe

1. 🇷🇴ROU

   Romania · Formation · Jan 1859

   Union of the Principalities

   Moldavia (5 January) and Wallachia (24 January) elected Alexandru Ioan Cuza as their common prince, uniting the two principalities and founding the modern Romanian state.

   Union, independence and the Kingdom of Romania

   Sources: 24 January 1859: A Glimpse on the Union of Romanian Principalities (AGERPRES / ACT Media)

2. 🇨🇭CHE

   Switzerland · Culture & Ideas

   Dunant at the Battle of Solferino

   The Geneva businessman Henri Dunant witnessed the carnage of Solferino and organised relief for the wounded, an experience that inspired his 1862 book A Memory of Solferino and his call for protection of war victims.

   The Federal State and the Birth of Humanitarian Geneva

   Sources: Founding and early years of the ICRC (1863-1914) (International Committee of the Red Cross) · The Geneva Conventions: a common priority and ongoing relevance (Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (aboutswitzerland.eda.admin.ch))

North America

1. 🇧🇿BLZ

   Belize · Politics & Power

   The Anglo-Guatemalan boundary treaty

   Britain and Guatemala signed a treaty fixing the settlement's limits from the Río Hondo to the Sarstoon; the unfulfilled Article 7, promising a means of communication never built, became the root of Guatemala's later claim.

   British Honduras and a plural society

   Sources: The Belize–Guatemala Territorial Differendum (Peace Fund) (Organization of American States) · Guatemala's Territorial, Insular and Maritime Claim (Guatemala/Belize), Case No. 177 (International Court of Justice) · Our History (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Belize)

South America

1. 🇻🇪VEN

   Venezuela · War & Rupture · 1859-1863

   The Federal War

   A devastating civil war between Liberal federalists and Conservative centralists ravages the country and ends with the Treaty of Coche and a federal constitution.

   Caudillos, the Federal War and the Rise of Oil

   Sources: Federal War (Venezuela, 1859-1863) (Encyclopedia.com (Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture)) · Venezuela (Encyclopaedia Britannica)