The 1870s

Europe

1. BGRReligion

   Bulgaria

   Creation of the Bulgarian Exarchate

   An Ottoman decree established an autonomous Bulgarian Exarchate, separating the national church from Greek ecclesiastical control and giving institutional form to the awakening nation.

   Ottoman Rule and the National Revival

   Sources: Bulgaria: Ottoman rule, National Revival and the end of the 19th century (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. ITAIndependence

   Italy · 20 September 1870

   Capture of Rome

   Italian troops breached the Aurelian Walls at Porta Pia and took Rome from the Papal States; after a plebiscite, Rome became Italy's capital, completing unification.

   Foreign Domination and the Risorgimento

   Sources: Italy: The acquisition of Venetia and Rome (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Italy (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. VATWar & Rupture

   Vatican City · 20 Sep 1870

   The capture of Rome

   Italian troops breached the walls at the Porta Pia and took Rome, ending more than a thousand years of papal temporal rule and completing the unification of Italy.

   The Loss of Rome and the Roman Question

   Sources: Italy: The acquisition of Venetia and Rome (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Roman question (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. PRYWar & Rupture

   Paraguay · 1 Mar 1870

   Death of Lopez at Cerro Cora

   Brazilian troops kill Francisco Solano Lopez at Cerro Cora, ending the war; Paraguay has lost territory and a vast, disputed share of its population (figures are estimates).

   The War of the Triple Alliance

   Sources: War of the Triple Alliance (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Francisco Solano Lopez (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Paraguay (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. PRYPolitics & Power

   Paraguay · 1870s-1880s

   Rebuilding and the party system

   Paraguay slowly rebuilds after the war as foreign capital returns and land is sold off; the Colorado and Liberal parties emerge to dominate national politics.

   Rebuilding and the Chaco War

   Sources: History of Paraguay (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. VENPolitics & Power

   Venezuela · 1870-1888

   The era of Guzman Blanco

   The Liberal caudillo Antonio Guzman Blanco dominates Venezuela, modernising Caracas and centralising power while ruling through personal authority.

   Caudillos, the Federal War and the Rise of Oil

   Sources: Venezuela (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Venezuela: A Country Study (U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

Oceania

1. VUTCatastrophe

   Vanuatu · 19th century

   Depopulation by introduced disease

   Measles, dysentery, influenza and other introduced diseases, together with the labour trade, devastated island populations across the colonial period.

   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)

Africa

1. DZAWar & Rupture

   Algeria

   The Mokrani (Kabyle) revolt

   A major uprising in Kabylia is crushed, followed by further confiscations of land that deepen the dispossession of the Muslim population.

   French Conquest and Settler Colony

   Sources: History of Algeria (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. LSOColonisation

   Lesotho

   Annexation to the Cape Colony

   Basutoland is annexed to the Cape Colony without Basotho consent, beginning a deeply unpopular period of colonial rule.

   Basutoland: Protectorate and the Gun War

   Sources: Gun War (1880–81) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Lesotho (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. QATPolitics & Power

   Qatar

   Ottoman garrison established

   The Ottoman Empire extended its presence into eastern Arabia and placed a garrison on the Qatari peninsula, beginning several decades of nominal Ottoman authority.

   The Rise of the Al Thani and the 1868 Agreement

   Sources: Qatar: History (Persian Gulf, Oil, Gas) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The Battle of Al-Wajba (The Founder) (Government of Qatar (qatar.qa))

Europe

1. DEUFormation

   Germany · 18 Jan 1871

   Proclamation of the German Empire

   Following victory in the Franco-Prussian War, the German states united as the German Empire, proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles with Wilhelm I as Emperor and Bismarck as Chancellor.

   Prussia, Fragmentation and the Road to Unity

   Sources: Proclamation of the German Empire, 1871 (Château de Versailles) · Germany (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. DEUEconomy & Trade

   Germany · 1871–1890

   The Bismarckian empire and industrial rise

   Under Bismarck's chancellorship the empire industrialised rapidly and introduced the world's first national social insurance, while maintaining a careful balance of power in Europe.

   The German Empire and the First World War

   Sources: Germany (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. VATReligion

   Vatican City

   Pius IX, 'prisoner in the Vatican'

   Refusing to accept the loss of Rome, Pope Pius IX withdrew into the Vatican and declared himself a prisoner, a position his successors held until 1929.

   The Loss of Rome and the Roman Question

   Sources: Roman question (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. GTMPolitics & Power

   Guatemala · 1871 CE

   Liberal revolution

   Justo Rufino Barrios and the Liberals seize power, launching coffee-based modernisation and the expropriation of communal and Maya lands.

   Coffee and the Liberal Dictatorships

   Sources: Guatemala: History (Postcolonial period and after) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Oceania

1. SLBReligion

   Solomon Islands

   Killing of Bishop Patteson

   John Coleridge Patteson, first Anglican Bishop of Melanesia, is killed at Nukapu, reportedly in reprisal for blackbirders' raids on islanders.

   Blackbirding, Missions and the Protectorate

   Sources: John Coleridge Patteson, Missionary Bishop of Melanesia (Project Canterbury / Anglican History) · The Melanesian Mission, 1877–1909 (ANU Press)

Asia

1. AZEEconomy & Trade

   Azerbaijan

   The Baku oil boom begins

   Modern commercial oil extraction began in Baku in 1872; by 1900 the Abşeron field was the largest in the world, turning the city into a global energy capital.

   The Baku oil boom and the 1918 republic

   Sources: Baku: location, history and economy (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Abşeron Peninsula (Encyclopædia Britannica)

2. YEMColonisation

   Yemen · late 19th century

   Ottoman return to the highlands

   The Ottomans reoccupied northern Yemen in the 19th century, meeting sustained resistance from the Zaidi tribes and imams of the mountainous interior.

   Ottomans, Britain and the Port of Aden

   Sources: Yemen: History (ancient kingdoms, Islam, the imamate, unification and war) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. CRIEconomy & Trade

   Costa Rica · 1872 CE

   Minor Keith and the banana railways

   Minor C. Keith begins building railways and planting bananas, ventures that in 1899 merge into the United Fruit Company and reshape the Caribbean coast.

   Coffee, Bananas, and a Maturing Democracy

   Sources: Minor C. Keith (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. TZAPolitics & Power

   Tanzania

   Zanzibar bans the seaborne slave trade

   Under British pressure Sultan Barghash signs a treaty prohibiting the maritime slave trade and closing the Stone Town slave market, though domestic slavery endures for decades.

   The Portuguese and Omani Zanzibar

   Sources: Slavery in Zanzibar (Wikipedia) · Zanzibar Outlaws Slavery (EBSCO Research Starters)

Europe

1. HUNCulture & Ideas

   Hungary

   The founding of Budapest

   Buda, Óbuda and Pest were unified into a single capital that grew into one of Europe's great cities; its historic core along the Danube is today a UNESCO World Heritage site.

   Habsburg Rule, Revolution and the Dual Monarchy

   Sources: Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

North America

1. GTMEconomy & Trade

   Guatemala · from 1870s

   The coffee economy

   Coffee becomes Guatemala's dominant export, financing railways and ports while binding the Maya to plantation labour.

   Coffee and the Liberal Dictatorships

   Sources: Guatemala: History (Postcolonial period and after) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. PRIPolitics & Power

   Puerto Rico · 1873 CE

   Abolition of slavery

   Spain abolishes slavery in Puerto Rico, a reform widely linked to the pressure generated by the Lares revolt.

   Plantation, Abolition, and the End of Spanish Rule

   Sources: The Grito de Lares: The Rebellion of 1868 (Library of Congress)

South America

1. SURPeoples & Migration

   Suriname · 1873-1916

   Hindustani indentured labour

   Contract labourers from British India, the Hindustanis, are recruited to the plantations; roughly thirty-four thousand arrive over the period.

   Abolition and the Plural Society

   Sources: Suriname death records reveal fate of Hindustani indentured labourers after slavery (Radboud University) · Suriname: People (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Oceania

1. PNGColonisation

   Papua New Guinea · 19th century

   Traders, missionaries, and labour recruiters arrive

   Whalers, plume hunters, and beche-de-mer traders worked the coasts, missionaries founded stations, and labour recruiters — including coercive 'blackbirders' — drew Melanesian workers to plantations in Queensland and Fiji.

   European contact and colonial partition

   Sources: Papua New Guinea: forty years of independence (State Library of New South Wales) · Papua New Guinea — History (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. GHAWar & Rupture

   Ghana

   British expedition burns Kumasi

   In the third Anglo-Asante war a British force advanced inland and burned the Asante capital at Kumasi, marking a decisive shift of power toward Britain on the Gold Coast.

   The Asante Empire and the Golden Stool

   Sources: The Anglo-Ashanti Wars (1823–1900) (BlackPast.org) · Ghana (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. GHAColonisation

   Ghana

   The Gold Coast becomes a crown colony

   Britain formally proclaimed the coastal territories the Gold Coast crown colony, having bought out Dutch interests including Elmina in 1872 and defeated the Asante in war.

   The British Gold Coast colony

   Sources: Ghana (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Europe

1. ISLPolitics & Power

   Iceland

   Constitution on the settlement millennium

   On the thousandth anniversary of the settlement, Denmark granted Iceland a constitution and increased control over domestic affairs, though executive power remained with the crown.

   National Awakening, Home Rule and Sovereignty

   Sources: History of Iceland, 1840s to the Second World War (nordics.info (Aarhus University)) · Þingvellir and the Independence Campaign (Þingvellir National Park (official))

2. VATPolitics & Power

   Vatican City · 1870–1929

   The Roman Question

   For nearly six decades the popes refused to recognise the Italian state's seizure of Rome, leaving the church-state dispute known as the Roman Question unresolved.

   The Loss of Rome and the Roman Question

   Sources: Roman question (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Lateran Treaty (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Oceania

1. FJIColonisation

   Fiji · 10 October 1874

   Deed of Cession to Britain

   Cakobau and other chiefs cede Fiji to Queen Victoria at Levuka, which becomes the first colonial capital of the new Crown colony.

   Cession, Colony & the Girmitiyas

   Sources: Fiji — History (Melanesian, Colonialism, Independence) (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Levuka Historical Port Town (World Heritage List) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Fiji — Countries (A Guide to the History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations) (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian)

Africa

1. BWAPolitics & Power

   Botswana

   Khama III becomes kgosi of the Bangwato

   The Christian reformer Khama III takes the Bangwato chieftainship, banning liquor and aligning his powerful morafe with the missionaries.

   Missionaries, Boers and Mounting Pressure

   Sources: Khama III (Encyclopaedia Africana) · History of Botswana (Wikipedia)

2. SWZPolitics & Power

   Eswatini

   Mbandzeni becomes king

   Mbandzeni (Dlamini IV) ascends the throne; his reign coincides with an influx of European concession-seekers into the kingdom.

   The Concessions Era and Foreign Control

   Sources: Mbandzeni (Dlamini IV) (Wikipedia) · Mbandzeni (Dlamini IV) (Encyclopaedia Africana)

3. GABColonisation

   Gabon · 1875–1882

   Brazza explores the Ogooué

   Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza led expeditions up the Ogooué and on to the Congo River, founding Franceville in 1880 and signing treaties that opened the interior to French rule.

   Libreville, Brazza, and French conquest

   Sources: Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza (Wikipedia) · Pierre de Brazza (Encyclopædia Britannica) · French Equatorial Africa (Wikipedia)

4. MWIReligion

   Malawi · 1875–1876

   Scottish missions founded at Livingstonia and Blantyre

   Inspired by Livingstone, the Free Church of Scotland established the Livingstonia mission in 1875 and the Church of Scotland the Blantyre mission in 1876; both campaigned against the slave trade and trained an African Christian elite.

   Migrations, missionaries and the slave trade

   Sources: Livingstonia Mission (Wikipedia) · David Livingstone (Zambezi expedition) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Christianity in Malawi (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. BIHWar & Rupture

   Bosnia and Herzegovina · 1875–1878

   Herzegovinian uprising and the Eastern Crisis

   A peasant revolt in Herzegovina widened into a great-power crisis over the 'Eastern Question', ending Ottoman rule and leading to Austro-Hungarian occupation in 1878.

   Ottoman Bosnia and the Making of a Multi-Confessional Land

   Sources: Bosnia and Herzegovina: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ottoman Bosnia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Oceania

1. FJICatastrophe

   Fiji

   Measles epidemic devastates Fiji

   A measles epidemic with no prior immunity kills roughly a quarter of the Fijian population, striking the chiefly class especially hard.

   Cession, Colony & the Girmitiyas

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

Asia

1. KGZColonisation

   Kyrgyzstan

   Russia annexes Kokand; Kyrgyzstan under imperial rule

   After suppressing an uprising, the Russian Empire abolished the Khanate of Kokand and annexed its lands as the Fergana Province, bringing the Kyrgyz country under direct Russian colonial rule.

   The Khanate of Kokand and the Russian Conquest

   Sources: Khanate of Kokand (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Kyrgyzstan: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. UZBColonisation

   Uzbekistan · 1868–1876 CE

   Khanates absorbed into Russian Turkestan

   Bukhara (1868) and Khiva (1873) become Russian protectorates and Kokand is annexed in 1876, completing the conquest and the creation of Russian Turkestan.

   Russian Conquest and Soviet Rule

   Sources: Uzbekistan — The Russian Conquest (Country Studies) (U.S. Library of Congress Country Studies) · Uzbekistan — Russian and Soviet rule (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. BGRWar & Rupture

   Bulgaria · Apr 1876

   The April Uprising and the 'Bulgarian Horrors'

   A rising organised by Bulgarian revolutionaries was crushed with massacres of civilians at Batak and elsewhere; reported across Europe as the 'Bulgarian Horrors', it inflamed opinion and helped precipitate the Russo-Turkish War.

   Ottoman Rule and the National Revival

   Sources: Bulgarian Revolt Against the Ottoman Empire (EBSCO Research Starters) · Treaty of San Stefano (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. CANPolitics & Power

   Canada

   The Indian Act

   The Indian Act consolidated federal control over the lives, lands, and governance of First Nations peoples, becoming a central instrument of assimilation and dispossession that remains in force in amended form.

   Confederation and nation-building across the continent

   Sources: First Nations and Indigenous peoples in Canada (The Canadian Encyclopedia) · Truth and Reconciliation Commission reports (National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation)

2. MEXPolitics & Power

   Mexico · 1876-1911

   The Porfiriato

   Porfirio Diaz rules Mexico for over three decades, modernising the economy while entrenching authoritarian government and land inequality.

   Reform, Porfiriato, and Revolution

   Sources: Benito Juarez (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. CODColonisation

   DR Congo

   Stanley descends the Congo River

   Henry Morton Stanley completes the first European traverse of the Congo from interior to the Atlantic, mapping the basin for would-be colonisers.

   The Slave Trades & the Scramble

   Sources: Congo Free State (1885–1908) (BlackPast.org) · Congo Free State (Wikipedia)

2. UGAReligion

   Uganda

   Anglican missionaries arrive

   Agents of the Church Missionary Society reach Buganda after Stanley publicises Mutesa I's apparent interest in Christianity, beginning Protestant evangelism at the kabaka's court.

   Traders, Missionaries and the Uganda Martyrs

   Sources: History of Uganda (Wikipedia) · White Fathers, Islam and Kiswahili in Nineteenth-Century Uganda (Asian and African Studies (V. Vilhanová))

Africa

1. GINFormation

   Guinea

   Samori proclaims the Wassoulou Empire

   Samori Touré declares himself faama of the Wassoulou Empire, the state he has built in the savannas of present-day Upper Guinea and beyond.

   Samori Touré and the Resistance to France

   Sources: Samori Ture (Wikipedia) · Guinea — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. LBRPolitics & Power

   Liberia

   True Whig Party dominance begins

   From 1878 the True Whig Party, the party of the Americo-Liberian elite, held power virtually without interruption for more than a century, marginalising the indigenous majority.

   The republic and the True Whig order

   Sources: True Whig Party (Wikipedia) · Liberia — History (Colonialism, Civil War, Reconstruction) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. NAMColonisation

   Namibia

   Britain annexes Walvis Bay

   Britain annexed Walvis Bay, the territory's only deep-water harbour, creating an enclave that would remain in South African hands long after the rest of the country, until 1994.

   The desert coast, the Orlam migration and the Nama polities

   Sources: Namibia (country, history and government) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Namibia (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. AFGWar & Rupture

   Afghanistan · 1878–1880

   Second Anglo-Afghan War and the Treaty of Gandamak

   Britain invades again over fears of Russian influence; the 1879 Treaty of Gandamak gives Britain control of Afghan foreign affairs in return for subsidy and protection.

   The Durrani Empire and the Great Game

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

2. CYPColonisation

   Cyprus

   Britain takes over Cyprus

   Under the Cyprus Convention, Britain assumed the administration of Cyprus from the Ottoman Empire, which retained nominal sovereignty, gaining a strategic Mediterranean base near the route to India.

   British Rule, the Demand for Énosis and the EOKA Campaign

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

3. CYNColonisation

   Northern Cyprus

   British administration of Cyprus begins

   Under the Cyprus Convention the Ottoman Empire transferred the administration of Cyprus to Britain, which annexed the island in 1914 and made it a Crown colony in 1925.

   British Rule and the Roots of Conflict

   Sources: Cyprus - History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Cyprus: A Country Study (U.S. Library of Congress (Federal Research Division))

4. QATPolitics & Power

   Qatar · 18 December 1878

   Sheikh Jassim succeeds as ruler

   Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani formally succeeded his father, an event commemorated as Qatar's National Day and marking the consolidation of the tribes under Al Thani leadership.

   Between the Ottomans and Britain: The 1916 Protectorate

   Sources: The Battle of Al-Wajba (The Founder) (Government of Qatar (qatar.qa)) · Sheikh Mohammed bin Thani — Qatar's Rulers (The Amiri Diwan, State of Qatar)

Europe

1. ALBPolitics & Power

   Albania · 1 Jul 1878

   League of Prizren

   Founded at Prizren in response to the Congress of Berlin, the Albanian League sought to unify the Albanian lands into one autonomous unit and to resist their partition among neighbouring states.

   Five Centuries of Ottoman Rule and the National Awakening

   Sources: Albanian League (League of Prizren) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Albania: Nationalism, Ethnicity, Culture (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. BIHPolitics & Power

   Bosnia and Herzegovina

   Austro-Hungarian occupation

   The Congress of Berlin authorised Austria-Hungary to occupy and administer Bosnia and Herzegovina, ending effective Ottoman rule while leaving nominal sovereignty in Istanbul.

   Habsburg Rule, Sarajevo 1914 and the Yugoslav Kingdom

   Sources: Bosnia and Herzegovina: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ottoman Bosnia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. BGRIndependence

   Bulgaria · 1877–1878

   Russo-Turkish War and liberation

   Russia's war against the Ottoman Empire ended Ottoman rule over Bulgaria; the Treaty of San Stefano of 3 March 1878 restored a Bulgarian state, a date Bulgarians commemorate as Liberation Day.

   Ottoman Rule and the National Revival

   Sources: Treaty of San Stefano (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · San Stefano, Treaty of (1878) (Encyclopedia.com) · History of Bulgaria (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria)

4. BGRPolitics & Power

   Bulgaria · Jul 1878

   Treaty of Berlin dismembers the state

   The Congress of Berlin revised San Stefano, splitting Greater Bulgaria into a small autonomous principality, the separate province of Eastern Rumelia, and Macedonia left under Ottoman rule, the foundational grievance of Bulgarian nationalism.

   San Stefano, Berlin and the Making of Modern Bulgaria

   Sources: Bulgaria: Treaties of San Stefano and Berlin (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · San Stefano, Treaty of (1878) (Encyclopedia.com)

5. BGRIndependence

   Bulgaria · 3 Mar 1878

   Treaty of San Stefano creates 'Greater Bulgaria'

   The Russo-Ottoman treaty created a large autonomous Bulgarian principality reaching from the Danube to the Aegean and embracing most of Macedonia, an expansive state soon known as Greater Bulgaria.

   San Stefano, Berlin and the Making of Modern Bulgaria

   Sources: Treaty of San Stefano (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · San Stefano, Treaty of (1878) (Encyclopedia.com) · Bulgaria: Treaties of San Stefano and Berlin (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

6. ESTCulture & Ideas

   Estonia

   Jakobson and the national press

   Carl Robert Jakobson founded the newspaper Sakala, a leading voice of the national awakening that demanded equal rights for Estonians and an end to Baltic German privilege.

   The Russian Empire and the National Awakening

   Sources: Carl Robert Jakobson and the national awakening (Estonian World) · Estonia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

7. KOSFormation

   Kosovo · 1 Jul 1878

   The League of Prizren

   Albanian leaders founded the League of Prizren in Kosovo, the first Albanian nationalist organisation, seeking to unite Albanian-inhabited lands and promote the Albanian language amid the Congress of Berlin's partition plans.

   Ottoman Rule and the Albanian National Awakening

   Sources: Albanian League (League of Prizren, 1878) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

8. MNEIndependence

   Montenegro · 13 Jul 1878

   Independence recognised at the Congress of Berlin

   The Treaty of Berlin recognised Montenegro's independence under Article XXVI, ending Ottoman suzerainty, and under Article XXIX enlarged the state and granted it the port of Antivari (Bar).

   Secular Principality, the Congress of Berlin and the Kingdom

   Sources: Treaty of Berlin (1878), Articles XXVI-XXXIII on Montenegro (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian (FRUS 1878)) · Congress of Berlin and recognition of Montenegro, 1878 (Encyclopaedia Britannica (Students)) · Montenegro: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

9. ROUIndependence

   Romania

   Independence recognised at the Congress of Berlin

   After fighting in the Russo-Turkish War, Romania's full independence was recognised by the great powers at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, though it ceded southern Bessarabia to Russia.

   Union, independence and the Kingdom of Romania

   Sources: Carol I (Encyclopedia.com) · 24 January 1859: A Glimpse on the Union of Romanian Principalities (AGERPRES / ACT Media)

10. SRBIndependence

    Serbia

    Independence recognised at the Congress of Berlin

    The Treaty of Berlin confirmed Serbia's full independence in international law and enlarged the principality, which became the Kingdom of Serbia in 1882.

    The Serbian Revolution and the Road to Independence

    Sources: Serbia: The disintegration of Ottoman rule (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country: Serbia (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian)

North America

1. HTIEconomy & Trade

   Haiti · 1878-1922

   The independence debt paid off

   Haiti settles the indemnity in 1878 with a loan placed in France in 1875; the last repayments on the loans raised to pay it end in 1921-22.

   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)

South America

1. ARGWar & Rupture

   Argentina · 1878-1885

   The Conquest of the Desert

   Military campaigns led by Julio Argentino Roca seize the Pampas and northern Patagonia from the Mapuche and other peoples through killing, subjugation and displacement.

   Civil Wars, Unification and the Liberal Republic

   Sources: Argentina (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Oceania

1. NCLWar & Rupture

   New Caledonia

   The revolt of Ataï

   The high chief Ataï led a major Kanak insurrection against land dispossession; the rising killed about 200 colonists and gendarmes and was crushed at the cost of roughly a thousand Kanak lives, with Ataï killed and his head sent to Paris.

   Annexation, the Bagne and Nickel

   Sources: New Caledonia — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. CODColonisation

   DR Congo · 1879–1884

   Leopold hires Stanley for the Congo

   King Leopold II commissions Stanley to build stations and obtain treaties from local chiefs, laying the basis for a private colonial claim.

   The Slave Trades & the Scramble

   Sources: Congo Free State (Wikipedia) · Congo Free State (1885–1908) (BlackPast.org)

2. GNBColonisation

   Guinea-Bissau

   Guinea separated from Cape Verde

   Portuguese Guinea was detached from Cape Verde and constituted as a separate colony; after the Berlin Conference its frontiers with French possessions were fixed by agreement with France.

   Portuguese Guinea and the late conquest

   Sources: Portuguese Guinea (Wikipedia) · Guinea-Bissau (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. UGAReligion

   Uganda

   Catholic White Fathers arrive

   Roman Catholic missionaries of the White Fathers reach Buganda, adding a third faith to the rivalry of Muslim, Protestant and Catholic factions at court.

   Traders, Missionaries and the Uganda Martyrs

   Sources: History of Uganda (Wikipedia) · White Fathers, Islam and Kiswahili in Nineteenth-Century Uganda (Asian and African Studies (V. Vilhanová))

Europe

1. IRLPolitics & Power

   Ireland

   The Land League and the Land War

   The Irish National Land League, founded in 1879 with Charles Stewart Parnell as president, mobilised tenant farmers against landlordism, opening the 'Land War' over rents and ownership.

   Union, Famine and the National Movement

   Sources: Charles Stewart Parnell and the Home Rule Movement (University of Delaware Library (Easter Rising exhibition))

South America

1. BOLWar & Rupture

   Bolivia · 1879-1883

   War of the Pacific

   Chile defeats Bolivia and its ally Peru and annexes Bolivia's coast; Bolivia loses its Pacific province of Antofagasta and becomes landlocked.

   Lost Wars, the Sea, and the Tin Republic

   Sources: War of the Pacific (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bolivia: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

2. CHLWar & Rupture

   Chile · 1879-1883

   The War of the Pacific

   A dispute over nitrate taxes leads Chile to war with Peru and Bolivia; Chilean victories win the nitrate-rich Atacama and leave Bolivia landlocked.

   The Nitrate Age and the Twentieth Century

   Sources: War of the Pacific (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Chile (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. PERWar & Rupture

   Peru · 1879-1883

   War of the Pacific

   Allied with Bolivia, Peru fights Chile over the nitrate-rich Atacama; Chilean forces occupy Lima in 1881 and Peru is defeated.

   The Young Republic and the War of the Pacific

   Sources: War of the Pacific (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Peru: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Oceania

1. FJIPeoples & Migration

   Fiji · 14 May 1879

   Arrival of the Leonidas — first girmitiyas

   The first ship of indentured Indian labourers reaches Fiji, beginning a system that brings over 60,000 girmitiyas to the sugar plantations.

   Cession, Colony & the Girmitiyas

   Sources: Fiji — History (Melanesian, Colonialism, Independence) (Encyclopædia Britannica) · The historical significance of Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna (University of the South Pacific)