The 18th century

Africa

1. BFAPolitics & Power

   Burkina Faso · 18th century

   Yatenga becomes independent of Ouagadougou

   As central authority weakens, the kingdom of Yatenga, with its capital at Ouahigouya, breaks free of Ouagadougou's overlordship.

   The Mossi Kingdoms

   Sources: Wagadugu kingdom (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Mossi Kingdoms (Wikipedia)

2. CAFPolitics & Power

   Central African Republic · 18th century

   Zande and Bandia kingdoms expand

   Under the Avongara nobility the Zande spread across the south-east, while the Bandia clan founded Ubangi River states including the Nzakara kingdom and the sultanate of Bangassou.

   Zande States and the Slave Trade

   Sources: Azande (Wikipedia) · Bangassou-Nzakara (Wikipedia) · Central African Republic — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. COGEconomy & Trade

   Congo · 18th century

   Peak of the slave trade through Loango

   By the eighteenth century the Loango ports were embarking large numbers of enslaved Africans each year, bound mainly for the Caribbean and the Americas, drawing the coastal kingdoms ever deeper into the Atlantic economy.

   Loango ports and the Atlantic slave trade

   Sources: Kingdom of Loango (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Kingdom of Loango (Wikipedia) · Vili people (Wikipedia)

4. DJIPolitics & Power

   Djibouti · c. 17th–18th century

   Local Afar and Issa polities

   After Adal's decline the region fragments into Afar sultanates such as Tadjoura and Raheita and Issa Somali clan territories, the local powers France would later engage.

   The Afar, the Issa and the Muslim Sultanates

   Sources: History of Djibouti (Wikipedia) · Djibouti (country and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

5. CODPeoples & Migration

   DR Congo · 18th century

   Atlantic slave trade at its height

   Central African captives are funnelled in vast numbers into the transatlantic trade, hollowing out communities across the lower Congo.

   The Slave Trades & the Scramble

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

6. GMBPeoples & Migration

   Gambia · 17th–18th centuries

   The Atlantic slave trade on the river

   James Island, with the villages of Juffure and Albreda, became a major slaving station; captives from the interior were held there before being shipped across the Atlantic, while England and France fought repeatedly for control of the river.

   The river, European trade and the Atlantic slave trade

   Sources: Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Kunta Kinteh Island (Wikipedia) · The Gambia (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

7. GHAReligion

   Ghana · c. 1700

   Okomfo Anokye and the Golden Stool

   By Asante tradition the priest Okomfo Anokye called the Golden Stool from the sky onto Osei Tutu's lap, declaring it the dwelling of the nation's soul — the sacred emblem of Asante unity and kingship.

   The Asante Empire and the Golden Stool

   Sources: Golden Stool (Wikipedia) · Osei Kofi Tutu (c. 1680–1717) (BlackPast.org) · Asante Empire (Wikipedia)

8. LSOPolitics & Power

   Lesotho · 18th century

   Dispersed Sotho chiefdoms

   Numerous small, rivalrous Sotho-speaking chiefdoms occupy the highveld and mountains, with no single overarching authority.

   Hunters, Painters and Farmers

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

9. MWIPolitics & Power

   Malawi · early 18th century

   Decline of the confederacy

   Fighting among the sub-chiefs and the spreading slave trade eroded the Kalonga's authority, and the Maravi state fragmented into smaller Chewa chiefdoms.

   The Maravi Confederacy

   Sources: Maravi Confederacy (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Maravi (Wikipedia)

10. MOZColonisation

    Mozambique · 18th–19th century

    Prazo estates along the Zambezi

    The crown leases great estates, the prazos da coroa, to settlers along the Zambezi; their holders rule as semi-feudal lords with armies of slave-soldiers and a heavy stake in the slave trade.

    Prazos, the Gaza Empire and Conquest

    Sources: Prazo (Wikipedia) · Mozambique (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Colonial State Formation Without Integration: Tax Capacity and Labour Regimes in Portuguese Mozambique (1890s–1970s) (Cambridge University Press / International Review of Social History)

11. RWAPolitics & Power

    Rwanda · by the late 18th century

    A centralised Tutsi-led state

    A single kingdom under a Tutsi mwami controls much of present-day Rwanda, governing through clan chiefs and cattle-clientship arrangements such as ubuhake.

    The Kingdom of the Mwami

    Sources: History of Rwanda (Wikipedia) · Outreach Programme on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda — Historical Background (United Nations)

12. SYCWar & Rupture

    Seychelles · early 1700s

    A haunt of pirates

    For a century and a half the empty islands were used by pirates as a hideout and watering place while they preyed on Indian Ocean shipping.

    Empty Islands and Pirates

    Sources: History of Seychelles (Holidify) · Seychelles History — Timeline (SeyVillas Seychelles Travel Guide)

13. SOMFormation

    Somalia · c. late 17th century

    Rise of the Geledi Sultanate

    The Sultanate of the Geledi emerges from the breakup of the Ajuran state, with its capital at Afgooye, and under the Gobroon dynasty comes to dominate the trade of southern Somalia.

    The Ajuran, Geledi and Majeerteen Sultanates

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

14. TGOEconomy & Trade

    Togo · 17th–early 19th centuries

    The Slave Coast and the Atlantic trade

    The Togolese shore formed part of the 'Slave Coast', through whose ports including Aného enslaved Africans were trafficked to the Americas — a sustained system of violence and dispossession that reshaped coastal and interior societies.

    The coast, the Guin and the Slave Coast

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

15. ZMBFormation

    Zambia · early 18th century

    Founding of the Kazembe kingdom

    An offshoot of the Lunda crossed the Luapula River, subdued the Shila, and established the kingdom of the Mwata Kazembe, which grew wealthy on Lake Mweru fisheries and trade in copper, salt, and ivory.

    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)

Asia

1. BGDEconomy & Trade

   Bangladesh · 17th–18th century

   Dhaka muslin and the wealth of Bengal

   Mughal Bengal becomes the world's foremost exporter of fine muslin and a leading source of European trade with Asia, making the province the richest in the empire.

   Mughal Bengal and the Wealth of the Delta

   Sources: History of Bangladesh (Encyclopædia Britannica)

2. KWTPeoples & Migration

   Kuwait · early 18th century

   The Bani Utub settle the bay

   Clans of the Bani Utub, part of the Anizah confederation, migrated from the Arabian interior to the Gulf coast and founded the town of Kuwait around its sheltered bay.

   The Founding of Kuwait and the Rise of the Al Sabah

   Sources: Sabah dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Persian Gulf States: Country Studies (Kuwait) (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

Europe

1. ESPPolitics & Power

   Spain

   Death of Charles II and end of the Spanish Habsburgs

   The childless death of Charles II ended Habsburg rule in Spain. His will bequeathed the throne to the Bourbon Philip of Anjou, triggering a European war of succession.

   Decline, the Bourbons and the Napoleonic Crisis

   Sources: Spain (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Treaties of Utrecht (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. GUYEconomy & Trade

   Guyana · 17th-18th c.

   The engineered sugar coast

   Dutch planters drain the coastal plain with polders, dams, canals and koker sluice-gates, building a below-sea-level sugar landscape worked by enslaved Africans.

   The Dutch Colonies and the Engineered Coast

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

Africa

1. GHAFormation

   Ghana · c. 1701

   Founding of the Asante Empire

   Osei Tutu's alliance of Akan states defeated the dominant Denkyira at the Battle of Feyiase, founding the Asante Empire with its capital at Kumasi and the Golden Stool as its unifying symbol.

   The Asante Empire and the Golden Stool

   Sources: Osei Tutu (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Osei Kofi Tutu (c. 1680–1717) (BlackPast.org) · Asante Empire (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. ESPWar & Rupture

   Spain · 1701–1714

   War of the Spanish Succession

   A European war over the Spanish throne ended with the Bourbon Philip V confirmed as king by the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), which stripped Spain of its European territories and Gibraltar.

   Decline, the Bourbons and the Napoleonic Crisis

   Sources: Treaties of Utrecht (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. ANDPolitics & Power

   Andorra

   The Casa de la Vall

   The Andorran council established its seat and court at the Casa de la Vall in Andorra la Vella, long the symbolic home of the valleys' self-government.

   Two Princes, Neutrality and Endurance

   Sources: Six centuries of the Consell General (La Casa de la Vall (Consell General d'Andorra))

Europe

1. ESPWar & Rupture

   Spain

   Anglo-Dutch capture of Gibraltar

   During the War of the Spanish Succession an Anglo-Dutch force took Gibraltar; by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 Spain ceded it to Britain in perpetuity, and Spain continues to seek its return.

   Decline, the Bourbons and the Napoleonic Crisis

   Sources: The Closure of the Border, 1969–2019 (HM Government of Gibraltar) · Gibraltar: working paper prepared by the Secretariat (A/AC.109/2023/8) (United Nations, Special Committee on Decolonization)

Africa

1. TUNPolitics & Power

   Tunisia

   Husaynid dynasty founded

   Al-Husayn ibn Ali is proclaimed bey, founding the dynasty that rules Tunisia until 1957.

   Ottoman Rule & the Husaynid Beys

   Sources: Husaynid dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Husainid dynasty (Wikipedia)

North America

1. BHSWar & Rupture

   Bahamas · c. 1706–1718

   Nassau becomes a pirate haven

   Amid a collapse of royal authority, Nassau became the base of a loose pirate republic, home to Blackbeard, Charles Vane, Anne Bonny and others who preyed on Atlantic shipping.

   English settlers and the Republic of Pirates

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

Asia

1. INDPolitics & Power

   India

   Death of Aurangzeb and Mughal decline

   Aurangzeb dies after extending the empire to its greatest extent; his costly wars and religious policies leave the Mughal state weakened, and its authority rapidly fragments thereafter.

   The Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire

   Sources: Mughal dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. LAOPolitics & Power

   Laos · 1707 CE

   Lan Xang splits apart

   After a disputed succession, the kingdom of Lan Xang divides in 1707 into the separate kingdoms of Luang Prabang and Vientiane, ending its unity.

   The Kingdom of Lan Xang

   Sources: Sai Ong Hue and the division of Lan Xang (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Lan Xang (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. GBRFormation

   United Kingdom · 1 May 1707

   Acts of Union create Great Britain

   The Acts of Union merged the kingdoms and parliaments of England and Scotland into a single Kingdom of Great Britain, governed by one Parliament at Westminster.

   Union, revolution, and the rise of Britain

   Sources: Act of Union 1707 (UK Parliament) · Act of Union, 1707 (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. UZBPolitics & Power

   Uzbekistan · early 18th century

   The khanate of Kokand emerges

   A third Uzbek state, the khanate of Kokand, rises in the fertile Fergana Valley, completing the trio of khanates of Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand.

   The Uzbek Khanates

   Sources: Uzbekistan — The early Uzbeks (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. SWEWar & Rupture

   Sweden · 27 Jun 1709

   Battle of Poltava

   Peter the Great of Russia routed Charles XII's invading army at Poltava in Ukraine, a decisive defeat that broke Swedish military power and began Russian supremacy in eastern Europe.

   Stormaktstiden: The Swedish Empire and Its Fall

   Sources: Battle of Poltava (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. CIVFormation

   Ivory Coast · c. 1710

   Seku Watara founds the Empire of Kong

   Seku Watara united the Dyula of Kong into a state, often called the Wattara Empire, that grew rich controlling the gold and kola trade and reached into present-day Burkina Faso, Mali, and Ghana.

   The northern savannas, the Dyula, and the Empire of Kong

   Sources: Kong Empire (Wikipedia) · History of Ivory Coast (Wikipedia)

2. MUSColonisation

   Mauritius

   The Dutch abandon Mauritius

   After unprofitable settlements plagued by storms, pests and disease, the Dutch East India Company leaves the island.

   The Dutch & the Dodo

   Sources: Mauritius (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Mauritius (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. LVAWar & Rupture

   Latvia

   Russia takes Riga

   During the Great Northern War the forces of Peter the Great captured Riga from Sweden; the cession of Swedish Livonia was confirmed at the Peace of Nystad in 1721, bringing the region into the Russian Empire.

   Poland, Sweden, Courland and the Russian Empire

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

Africa

1. LBYPolitics & Power

   Libya

   Karamanli dynasty seizes power

   Ahmed Karamanli founds a hereditary dynasty that rules Tripoli in semi-independence for 124 years under nominal Ottoman suzerainty.

   Ottoman Rule and the Karamanli Dynasty

   Sources: Karamanli dynasty (Wikipedia) · Ottoman Tripolitania (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. MDAPolitics & Power

   Moldova

   Beginning of Phanariot rule

   After Prince Dimitrie Cantemir's failed alliance with Russia, the Porte ended native rule and began appointing Greek princes from the Phanar district of Constantinople, who governed until 1821.

   Ottoman Vassalage and the Phanariot Century

   Sources: Moldova: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Moldavia (historical principality) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. ROUPolitics & Power

   Romania · 1711–1821

   The Phanariot regime

   Under Ottoman suzerainty the Porte appointed the princes of Wallachia and Moldavia from among the Greek Phanariot families of Constantinople, a period of heavy tribute and misrule that lasted until 1821.

   Wallachia, Moldavia and the Ottoman centuries

   Sources: Walachia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Romania (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. CPVWar & Rupture

   Cape Verde

   Cassard's French raid destroys the city

   The French corsair Jacques Cassard stormed and looted Ribeira Grande, stripping its churches and houses; the coastal town, already declining, never recovered from the assault.

   Entrepôt of the slave trade — and its decline

   Sources: Cassard expedition (1712) (Wikipedia) · Cidade Velha (Wikipedia) · History of Cape Verde (Wikipedia)

2. MDGFormation

   Madagascar · c. 1712

   Ratsimilaho unites the Betsimisaraka

   Ratsimilaho forges the eastern peoples into the Betsimisaraka confederation, becoming a dominant king by 1730.

   Coastal Kingdoms & the Pirate Coast

   Sources: The Kingdoms of Madagascar (Lumen Learning / SUNY World Civilization)

3. MLIFormation

   Mali · c. 1712

   Bitòn Coulibaly consolidates the Bambara kingdom of Segou

   Mamari (Bitòn) Coulibaly transforms a youth society into an army, founding the centralised Bambara state of Segou on the middle Niger.

   Segou, the Tukulor and Samori

   Sources: Bamana Empire (New World Encyclopedia) · Bamana (Ségou) Empire (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. LIEEconomy & Trade

   Liechtenstein

   Purchase of the county of Vaduz

   Johann Adam Andreas I acquired the county of Vaduz, and from this time Vaduz Castle entered the possession of the princes of Liechtenstein, completing the territory of the future principality.

   Bought and Founded: The Imperial Principality of 1719

   Sources: The History of the Princely House of Liechtenstein (Fürstenhaus von Liechtenstein (official Princely House)) · How the Principality of Liechtenstein came into being (Swiss National Museum (Blog))

Africa

1. ZAFCatastrophe

   South Africa

   Smallpox devastates the Khoekhoe

   A smallpox epidemic introduced by passing ships killed great numbers of Khoekhoe, accelerating the loss of their land, herds and independence as the colony expanded.

   The Dutch Cape Colony and the frontier

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

Asia

1. LAOPolitics & Power

   Laos · 1713 CE

   Champasak secedes

   The far south breaks away to form the kingdom of Champasak, completing the fragmentation of Lan Xang into three rival Lao kingdoms.

   Three Kingdoms and Siamese Vassalage

   Sources: Sai Ong Hue and the division of Lan Xang (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Laos: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. BELPolitics & Power

   Belgium

   From Spanish to Austrian Netherlands

   By the Treaty of Utrecht ending the War of the Spanish Succession, the southern Netherlands passed from Spain to the Austrian Habsburgs, becoming the Austrian Netherlands.

   The Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands

   Sources: Belgium: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. FRAPolitics & Power

   France · 11 April 1713

   Treaty of Utrecht names the “Japoc or Vincent Pinson”

   Article 8 fixes the France–Portugal frontier in Guiana on a river of that name. Brazil later argued it was the Oyapock and France that it was the Araguari, a disagreement settled by arbitration in 1900.

   The Medieval & Early-Modern Kingdom

   Sources: Arbitral award on the Brazil/French Guiana boundary, 1 December 1900 (United Nations, Reports of International Arbitral Awards vol. XXVIII)

Africa

1. MUSColonisation

   Mauritius

   France claims the Isle de France

   France takes formal possession of the uninhabited island, renaming it Isle de France; colonisation begins under the French East India Company from 1721.

   Isle de France: Sugar & Slavery

   Sources: Mauritius (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Isle de France (Mauritius) (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. BGDPolitics & Power

   Bangladesh

   The nawabs of Bengal become autonomous

   As Mughal central power fades after Aurangzeb's death, the governors of Bengal rule as near-independent nawabs over the empire's wealthiest province.

   Mughal Bengal and the Wealth of the Delta

   Sources: History of Bangladesh (Encyclopædia Britannica)

North America

1. BHSPolitics & Power

   Bahamas

   Woodes Rogers ends the pirate republic

   Royal governor Woodes Rogers arrived at Nassau with the King's Pardon, accepted the surrender of many pirates, drove out the rest and restored Crown authority under the motto "Pirates Expelled, Commerce Restored".

   English settlers and the Republic of Pirates

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

Europe

1. LIEFormation

   Liechtenstein · 23 Jan 1719

   Foundation of the Principality of Liechtenstein

   Emperor Charles VI united Schellenberg and Vaduz and raised them to an Imperial Principality named Liechtenstein, granting the family the immediate standing and Diet seat it had sought; the founding diploma survives in the Princely Collections.

   Bought and Founded: The Imperial Principality of 1719

   Sources: Emperor Charles VI unites Vaduz and Schellenberg and raises them to the Imperial Principality of Liechtenstein (diploma, 23 Jan 1719) (LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna) · 1719 – 300 Years of Liechtenstein (exhibition) (LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna) · How the Principality of Liechtenstein came into being (Swiss National Museum (Blog)) · Liechtenstein: History (Alpine, Principality, Sovereignty) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Liechtenstein (Embassy of the Principality of Liechtenstein, Washington D.C.)

Asia

1. BTNWar & Rupture

   Bhutan

   A Chinese imperial army enters Bhutan

   Qing forces invade and briefly establish control — the first of three outside powers to reach into the valleys within two centuries.

   Civil Strife and the British Treaties

   Sources: Bhutan country profile (BBC News)

Europe

1. ESTPolitics & Power

   Estonia

   Treaty of Nystad

   Sweden ceded Estonia and Livonia to Russia, which organised them into governorates and confirmed the privileges of the Baltic German nobility, beginning two centuries of Russian imperial rule.

   The Russian Empire and the National Awakening

   Sources: Peace of Nystad (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Estonia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. RUSPolitics & Power

   Russia

   Peter the Great proclaims the Russian Empire

   After victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War and the Treaty of Nystad, the Senate proclaims Peter I 'Emperor of All Russia,' transforming the Tsardom into the Russian Empire and confirming Russia as a European great power.

   The Russian Empire: Peter, Catherine, and the Romanov Zenith

   Sources: Russia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Peter the Great (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. SWEPolitics & Power

   Sweden · 30 Aug 1721

   Treaty of Nystad ends the empire

   The peace ending the Great Northern War ceded Sweden's Baltic provinces — Estonia, Livonia, Ingria and part of Karelia — to Russia, ending the age of greatness, though Finland was restored to Sweden.

   Stormaktstiden: The Swedish Empire and Its Fall

   Sources: Treaty of Nystad (1721) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Battle of Poltava (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. GRLColonisation

   Greenland

   Hans Egede reaches Greenland

   The Dano-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede landed in Greenland seeking the lost Norse colonists, found only Inuit, and founded a mission and trading post at Godthåb (Nuuk), beginning the Danish recolonisation.

   Hans Egede and Two Centuries of Danish Rule

   Sources: Hans Egede, Danish-Norwegian missionary (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Greenland: History (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. IRNWar & Rupture

   Iran · 1722 CE

   Afghan sack of Isfahan and Safavid decline

   Afghan invaders besiege and sack Isfahan, shattering Safavid power; the dynasty formally ends in 1736, opening a period of instability before the rise of the Qajars.

   Turkic and Mongol Rule and the Safavids

   Sources: Safavid dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Safavid Iran (Wikipedia)

Africa

1. MUSEconomy & Trade

   Mauritius · 18th century

   A slave-worked plantation economy

   Enslaved Africans, Malagasy and others are imported in large numbers to work sugar and other estates; they become the majority of the population.

   Isle de France: Sugar & Slavery

   Sources: Isle de France (Mauritius) (Wikipedia) · Le Morne Cultural Landscape (World Heritage List) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Asia

1. KAZWar & Rupture

   Kazakhstan · c. 1723

   The 'Great Disaster' of the Dzungar wars

   Devastating invasions by the Buddhist Dzungar confederation drive Kazakhs from their pastures with great loss of life, an episode remembered as the Aktaban Shubyryndy that gravely weakens the khanate.

   The Kazakh Khanate and the Three Jüz

   Sources: History of Kazakhstan (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Kazakhstan (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. BENWar & Rupture

   Benin

   Dahomey conquers Allada

   King Agaja's army overran Allada, the parent kingdom of the Fon dynasty, beginning Dahomey's drive toward the coast and the Atlantic trade.

   The Fon Kingdom of Dahomey and the palaces of Abomey

   Sources: Dahomey — historical kingdom, Africa (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of the Kingdom of Dahomey (Wikipedia)

North America

1. BLZPeoples & Migration

   Belize · early 18th century

   Enslaved Africans imported for the timber trade

   From the early 1700s the Baymen imported enslaved Africans, many via Jamaica and Bermuda, to cut and haul logwood and then mahogany — the labour on which the settlement's forest economy rested.

   The Baymen, the forest and the slaves

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

South America

1. URYWar & Rupture

   Uruguay · 1724 CE

   Spain expels the Portuguese at Montevideo

   A Spanish force under Bruno Mauricio de Zabala drives out a Portuguese garrison that had begun fortifying the bay of Montevideo, opening the way for a Spanish town.

   The Contested Frontier: Colonia and Montevideo

   Sources: Montevideo (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bruno Mauricio de Zabala (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. GINReligion

   Guinea · c. 1725

   Fulani jihad founds the Imamate of Futa Jallon

   Fulani pastoralists and Muslim traders rise against the non-Muslim chiefdoms of the Futa Jallon highlands, founding an Islamic theocratic state governed by sharia.

   The Imamate of Futa Jallon

   Sources: Imamate of Futa Jallon (Wikipedia) · Karamokho Alfa (Wikipedia) · Guinea — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. URYFormation

   Uruguay · 1726 CE

   Founding of Montevideo

   Zabala formally establishes Montevideo as a fortified Spanish port to counter Portuguese expansion; it grows into the chief stronghold of the Banda Oriental.

   The Contested Frontier: Colonia and Montevideo

   Sources: Montevideo (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bruno Mauricio de Zabala (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. BENWar & Rupture

   Benin

   Conquest of Ouidah (Whydah)

   Agaja seized the major slaving port of Whydah (Ouidah), giving Dahomey direct control of one of the busiest points of embarkation on the Slave Coast.

   The Fon Kingdom of Dahomey and the palaces of Abomey

   Sources: Dahomey — historical kingdom, Africa (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Ouidah: The Social History of a West African Slaving Port 1727–1892 (Robin Law) (Boydell & Brewer via Cambridge Core) · Ouidah (Wikipedia)

Africa

1. BENCulture & Ideas

   Benin

   First written record of the women warriors

   European observers recorded Dahomey's distinctive all-female troops — the Agojie or Mino, later called the 'Amazons' — who would become an elite, high-status corps of the royal army.

   Ouidah, the slave trade, King Ghezo and the Agojie

   Sources: Dahomey women warriors (the 'Amazons') (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The Dahomey Amazons (BlackPast.org / African American Registry)

Africa

1. BENPolitics & Power

   Benin · c. 1730

   Tributary to the Oyo Empire

   Dahomey's expansion brought it into conflict with the Yoruba empire of Oyo to the east, to which it became tributary for much of the eighteenth century.

   The Fon Kingdom of Dahomey and the palaces of Abomey

   Sources: History of the Kingdom of Dahomey (Wikipedia) · Dahomey — historical kingdom, Africa (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. NERFormation

   Niger · c. 1731

   Founding of the Sultanate of Damagaram

   Muslim aristocrats founded the Sultanate of Damagaram around Zinder; beginning as a vassal of the declining empire of Bornu, it would expand to dominate much of the southeast of present-day Niger.

   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)

Asia

1. KAZColonisation

   Kazakhstan

   The Little Horde accepts Russian protection

   Abu'l-Khayr Khan of the Little Horde swears allegiance to the Russian Empire for protection against the Dzungars; the Middle Horde follows in 1740 and part of the Great Horde in 1742, opening the steppe to Russian power.

   The Russian Conquest of the Steppe

   Sources: History of Kazakhstan (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Kazakhstan (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. MUSFormation

   Mauritius · 1735–1736

   La Bourdonnais founds Port Louis

   Governor Mahé de La Bourdonnais develops Port Louis as a fortified naval base, dockyard and capital, anchoring French power in the Indian Ocean.

   Isle de France: Sugar & Slavery

   Sources: Mauritius (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Isle de France (Mauritius) (Wikipedia)

Africa

1. CIVWar & Rupture

   Ivory Coast

   Kong expands northward

   Under Seku Watara and his kin the empire of Kong extended its reach, conquering toward Bobo-Dioulasso and cementing its dominance over the regional trade routes before central authority weakened after his death about 1745.

   The northern savannas, the Dyula, and the Empire of Kong

   Sources: Kong Empire (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. OMNWar & Rupture

   Oman

   Persian invasion amid Yarubid civil war

   A succession dispute fractured the Yarubid state, and the Persian ruler Nadir Shah's forces invaded and occupied parts of Oman, plunging the country into crisis.

   The Portuguese, Hormuz and the Yarubid Recovery

   Sources: Oman: The early period (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Ahmad ibn Said, imam of Oman (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. SMRPolitics & Power

   San Marino · 1739–1740

   Civil resistance

   Rather than fight, the Sammarinese practised civil disobedience and sent clandestine appeals to Rome documenting the legate's abuses, refusing to accept the imposed government.

   The Alberoni Occupation and Restored Liberty

   Sources: San Marino Liberation Day (Alberoni occupation and 1740 restoration) (Office Holidays)

2. SMRWar & Rupture

   San Marino · 17 Oct 1739

   The Alberoni occupation

   Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, papal legate of Ravenna, occupied San Marino with troops, suspended its constitution and sought to annex it to the Papal States, abolishing the Captains Regent.

   The Alberoni Occupation and Restored Liberty

   Sources: San Marino Liberation Day (Alberoni occupation and 1740 restoration) (Office Holidays) · History of San Marino (Visit San Marino (official tourism site))

North America

1. JAMPolitics & Power

   Jamaica · 1739-1740

   Maroon treaties

   Treaties with Cudjoe's Leeward Maroons and Nanny's Windward Maroons end the First Maroon War, granting them land and autonomy.

   Sugar, Slavery, and Resistance

   Sources: Jamaica: British rule (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The Jamaican Maroons (National Library of Jamaica) · Blue and John Crow Mountains (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

South America

1. COLPolitics & Power

   Colombia · 1717, restored 1739

   Viceroyalty of New Granada

   Spain governs the territory through the Viceroyalty of New Granada, capital Bogota, encompassing modern Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

   Conquest and the Viceroyalty of New Granada

   Sources: Viceroyalty of New Granada (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. AUTPolitics & Power

   Austria · 1740–1780

   Reign of Maria Theresa

   Inheriting the Habsburg lands under the Pragmatic Sanction, Maria Theresa survived the War of the Austrian Succession and reformed the administration, army and education across her dominions.

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

   Sources: Maria Theresa: Empress and mother of her peoples (Die Welt der Habsburger (The World of the Habsburgs))

2. SMRIndependence

   San Marino · 5 Feb 1740

   Independence restored by Clement XII

   Pope Clement XII condemned the occupation and on 5 February 1740 recognised San Marino's rights and restored its independence, an event still celebrated each year on the feast of Saint Agatha.

   The Alberoni Occupation and Restored Liberty

   Sources: San Marino Liberation Day (Alberoni occupation and 1740 restoration) (Office Holidays)

Asia

1. OMNFormation

   Oman · c. 1744-1749

   Ahmad bin Said founds the Al Bu Said dynasty

   Ahmad bin Said, governor of Suhar, expelled the Persian invaders and was elected imam, founding the Al Bu Said dynasty that still rules Oman.

   The Al Bu Said Dynasty and the Empire of Zanzibar

   Sources: Ahmad ibn Said, imam of Oman (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Al Bu Said dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. SAUFormation

   Saudi Arabia

   The Diriyah pact founds the First Saudi State

   Muhammad ibn Saud, ruler of Diriyah, and the reformer Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab formed an alliance joining political power and religious revival, the foundation of the first Saudi state.

   The First and Second Saudi States and the Al Saud-Wahhab Alliance

   Sources: First Saudi state (Wikipedia) · First Saudi State (Saudipedia) · At-Turaif District in ad-Dariyah (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Africa

1. SWZFormation

   Eswatini · mid-18th century

   Reign of Ngwane III

   Ngwane III, traditionally regarded as the first king of the modern Swazi, leads his followers across the Pongola and is remembered for founding the kingdom, with a capital at Shiselweni.

   Nguni Migrations and the House of Dlamini

   Sources: Ngwane III (Wikipedia) · History of Eswatini (Wikipedia) · History of Eswatini (facts for kids) (Kiddle)

Asia

1. AFGFormation

   Afghanistan

   Ahmad Shah Durrani founds the Afghan state

   A jirga at Kandahar elects Ahmad Shah Durrani ruler after Nadir Shah's death; the Durrani Empire he founds is regarded as the origin of the modern Afghan state.

   The Durrani Empire and the Great Game

   Sources: Ahmad Shah Durrani — History, Empire & Accomplishments (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Afghanistan: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

2. TJKPolitics & Power

   Tajikistan · 18th–19th centuries

   Division between Bukhara and Kokand

   The territory of present-day Tajikistan is split mainly between the Emirate of Bukhara, which holds the south, and the Khanate of Kokand, which controls the northern Ferghana fringe.

   Turkic, Mongol and Bukharan Rule

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

Africa

1. BWAFormation

   Botswana · mid-18th century

   Rise of the Tswana merafe

   The Bangwaketse form the first major Tswana state in the region, followed by the Bakwena, Bangwato and Batawana, cattle-keeping chiefdoms ruled by dikgosi.

   The Tswana Nations and the Difaqane

   Sources: History of Botswana (Wikipedia) · Botswana — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. CIVFormation

   Ivory Coast · mid-18th century

   The Agni kingdoms of Indénié and Sanwi

   Other Akan groups fleeing the Asante established the Agni (Anyi) kingdoms of Indénié and Sanwi in the south-east, near the lagoons and the Gold Coast, extending Akan institutions across the forest zone.

   The Akan migrations: Baoulé and Agni kingdoms

   Sources: History of Ivory Coast (Wikipedia) · History of Côte d'Ivoire (Encyclopædia Britannica)

3. CIVPeoples & Migration

   Ivory Coast · c. 1750

   The Baoulé migrate under Queen Abla Pokou

   By tradition, Queen Abla Pokou broke from the Asante after a succession struggle and led her people west across the Comoé River, founding the Baoulé kingdom around Sakasso — the largest people of modern Côte d'Ivoire.

   The Akan migrations: Baoulé and Agni kingdoms

   Sources: Queen Pokou (Wikipedia) · Baoulé people (Wikipedia) · History of Ivory Coast (Wikipedia)

4. SLEEconomy & Trade

   Sierra Leone · c. 1750

   Bunce Island at its height

   Under the London firm of Grant, Sargent and Oswald, Bunce Island became one of the largest British slave castles on the Rice Coast, with many captives — valued as skilled rice-growers — sold to planters in South Carolina and Georgia.

   The Atlantic slave trade and Bunce Island

   Sources: Bunce Island, Sierra Leone River (Sierra Leone Heritage) · Bunce Island in Sierra Leone (Gilder Lehrman Center) (Yale University, Gilder Lehrman Center) · Bloody Bunce: A Legacy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Sierra Leone (Royal Historical Society)

South America

1. PRYWar & Rupture

   Paraguay · 1750-1757

   Treaty of Madrid and the Guarani War

   A planned transfer of seven mission towns to Portugal provokes Guarani resistance and a Spanish-Portuguese campaign, hardening official hostility to the Jesuits.

   The Jesuit Missions and the Colonial Province

   Sources: Paraguay: The colonial period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. GINPolitics & Power

   Guinea · c. 1751

   Ibrahima Sori succeeds Karamokho Alfa

   On the death of the first leader Karamokho Alfa, the military commander Ibrahima Sori takes power and consolidates the imamate as a regional force.

   The Imamate of Futa Jallon

   Sources: Imamate of Futa Jallon (Wikipedia) · Karamokho Alfa (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. KWTFormation

   Kuwait · c. 1752

   Sabah I becomes the first Al Sabah ruler

   The Bani Utub chose Sabah ibn Jabir, founder of the Al Sabah dynasty, to be their sheikh, beginning a line of rulers that continues to the present day.

   The Founding of Kuwait and the Rise of the Al Sabah

   Sources: Sabah dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. MMRFormation

   Myanmar · 1752 CE

   Alaungpaya founds the Konbaung dynasty

   The village chief Alaungpaya leads a revolt against Mon overlords and establishes the Konbaung dynasty, the last royal house of Burma.

   Empires Reborn: Toungoo and Konbaung

   Sources: Alaungpaya Dynasty (Konbaung) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Myanmar (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. USAWar & Rupture

   United States · 1754–1763

   French and Indian War

   Britain's victory in the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War expelled France from the continent but left Britain heavily indebted, prompting new colonial taxes.

   European colonisation and the Thirteen Colonies

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

Europe

1. PRTCatastrophe

   Portugal · 1 Nov 1755

   The great Lisbon earthquake

   An earthquake, tsunami and fire destroyed much of Lisbon and killed tens of thousands, prompting the reconstruction and reforms directed by the Marquis of Pombal.

   Earthquake, Napoleon and the Loss of Brazil

   Sources: Lisbon earthquake of 1755 (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Marquis de Pombal (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. SYCColonisation

   Seychelles · 1 November 1756

   France claims and names the islands

   Corneille Nicholas Morphey laid a stone of possession and named the archipelago after finance minister Jean Moreau de Séchelles; the main island was named Mahé.

   The French Claim and First Settlers

   Sources: History of Seychelles (Wikipedia) · The French History of the Seychelles (Kreol Magazine)

Asia

1. BGDColonisation

   Bangladesh · 23 Jun 1757

   Battle of Plassey

   Robert Clive's East India Company forces defeat Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah after the betrayal of Mir Jafar, beginning British political control of Bengal and, in time, of India.

   British Conquest and Colonial Bengal

   Sources: Battle of Plassey (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Sirāj al-Dawlah (Encyclopædia Britannica)

2. INDColonisation

   India · 23 Jun 1757

   Battle of Plassey

   Robert Clive's East India Company forces defeat the Nawab of Bengal, marking the beginning of British political and military dominance in India.

   The East India Company and the British Raj

   Sources: Battle of Plassey (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · British raj (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. MMRWar & Rupture

   Myanmar · 1757 CE

   Reconquest of Lower Burma

   Alaungpaya's forces capture Pegu and subdue the Mon south, reuniting the country under Konbaung rule.

   Empires Reborn: Toungoo and Konbaung

   Sources: Alaungpaya Dynasty (Konbaung) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. CANWar & Rupture

   Canada · 13 September 1759

   Battle of the Plains of Abraham

   British forces defeated the French outside Quebec City in the decisive Battle of the Plains of Abraham, the turning point of the Seven Years' War in North America that led to the fall of New France.

   New France and the fur trade

   Sources: Canada (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Quebec Act, 1774 (The Canadian Encyclopedia)

Africa

1. GABEconomy & Trade

   Gabon · c. 1760s–1840s

   Peak of the Atlantic slave trade

   The Atlantic slave trade on the Gabon coast reached its height, driven by Brazilian and Cuban demand; the Orungu kingdom and the Loango coast served as middlemen channelling captives from the interior to European slavers.

   The Myènè coast, the Fang, and the Atlantic trade

   Sources: History of Gabon (Encyclopædia Britannica) · History of Gabon (Wikipedia) · Slave Trade of the Gabon Estuary (University of Wisconsin Digital Collections)

Asia

1. TKMCulture & Ideas

   Turkmenistan · 18th century

   Magtymguly Pyragy and Turkmen poetry

   The poet Magtymguly Pyragy (1724–c. 1807) wrote in the Turkmen language and called for the unity of the tribes; he is revered as the father of Turkmen literature and national identity.

   The Turkmen Tribes and the Russian Conquest

   Sources: Turkmenistan — Turkmen tribes and Russian invasion (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Turkmenistan: A Country Study (in 'Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan: Country Studies') (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

North America

1. JAMWar & Rupture

   Jamaica · 1760 CE

   Tacky's Revolt

   A major slave rebellion led by the Akan leader Tacky sweeps the island before being crushed with the aid of the Maroons.

   Sugar, Slavery, and Resistance

   Sources: Jamaica: British rule (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. SURPolitics & Power

   Suriname · 1760s onward

   Maroon peace treaties

   Unable to defeat the Maroons, the Dutch sign treaties from the 1760s recognising the freedom of the Ndyuka, Saramaka, and Matawai and their lands in the interior.

   Plantation Colony and the Maroons

   Sources: Suriname: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Suriname: People (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. MUSPeoples & Migration

   Mauritius · 18th – early 19th century

   Maroons of Le Morne Brabant

   Escaped slaves take refuge on the isolated cliffs of Le Morne, later inscribed by UNESCO as a symbol of the struggle for freedom.

   Isle de France: Sugar & Slavery

   Sources: Le Morne Cultural Landscape (World Heritage List) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Le Morne Brabant (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. BGRCulture & Ideas

   Bulgaria

   Paisius of Hilendar and the National Revival

   The monk Paisius of Hilendar completed his 'Slavonic-Bulgarian History', a passionate call to national pride conventionally taken as the start of the Bulgarian National Revival.

   Ottoman Rule and the National Revival

   Sources: Bulgaria: Ottoman rule, National Revival and the end of the 19th century (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bulgarian Revolt Against the Ottoman Empire (EBSCO Research Starters)

2. RUSPolitics & Power

   Russia · 1762-1796

   The reign of Catherine the Great

   Catherine II expands the empire to the Black Sea and through the three Partitions of Poland, patronizes the arts and Enlightenment ideas, and founds the Hermitage collection, while serfdom reaches its most oppressive extent.

   The Russian Empire: Peter, Catherine, and the Romanov Zenith

   Sources: Russia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Catherine the Great (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. FRACatastrophe

   France · 1763–1765

   The Kourou expedition

   After the Treaty of Paris, France sends thousands of settlers to the Kourou coast in French Guiana with little prepared for them. Disease kills a large share of them within about two years; sources differ on the totals.

   The Medieval & Early-Modern Kingdom

   Sources: Kourou, 1763: le dernier rêve de l’Amérique française (review) (Académie des sciences d’outre-mer) · Welcome to Kourou, Colony of Death (The Mariners’ Museum)

North America

1. BLZEconomy & Trade

   Belize · 1763 and 1783

   Spain concedes cutting rights

   By the treaties of Paris (1763) and Versailles (1783) Spain granted British subjects the right to cut logwood — and after 1786 the more valuable mahogany — within defined limits, while reserving sovereignty over the territory.

   The Baymen, the forest and the slaves

   Sources: History of Belize (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Our History (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Belize) · Guyana and Belize: Country Studies (Federal Research Division) (Library of Congress)

2. CANWar & Rupture

   Canada

   Treaty of Paris cedes New France to Britain

   The Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years' War, with France ceding its North American mainland territories to Britain and bringing the French Catholic population of Canada under British rule.

   British conquest and colonial British North America

   Sources: British North America Act (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Quebec Act, 1774 (The Canadian Encyclopedia)

South America

1. GUYWar & Rupture

   Guyana · Feb 1763

   The Berbice slave rebellion

   Enslaved Africans led by Cuffy rise in Berbice, holding much of the colony for almost a year in one of the largest slave revolts in the Americas before being suppressed.

   The Dutch Colonies and the Engineered Coast

   Sources: Guyana — History (Colonialism, Independence, Culture) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The 1763 Monument (National Trust of Guyana)

South America

1. FLKColonisation

   Falkland Islands

   French Port Louis founded

   Louis-Antoine de Bougainville established the first settlement, Port Louis, on East Falkland, and named the islands the Malouines — origin of the Spanish Malvinas.

   Empty Shores and Competing Claims

   Sources: Falkland Islands — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. GNBColonisation

   Guinea-Bissau

   Bissau founded as a fortified post

   The Portuguese founded Bissau in 1765 as a military and slave-trading station; it grew into the region's main commercial centre and, in 1942, replaced Bolama as the colonial capital.

   The Rivers of Guinea and the Atlantic slave trade

   Sources: Portuguese Guinea (Wikipedia) · A Guide to the History of Recognition: Guinea-Bissau (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian) · Guinea-Bissau (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. FLKColonisation

   Falkland Islands · 1765–1766

   British Port Egmont established

   A British expedition under Commodore John Byron claimed West Falkland in 1765, and Britain founded Port Egmont on Saunders Island the following year.

   Empty Shores and Competing Claims

   Sources: Falkland Islands — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Our History (Falkland Islands Government)

Asia

1. QATFormation

   Qatar · c. 1760s

   Founding of Al Zubarah

   Families migrating from Kuwait, including the Al Khalifa, settled the northwest coast and built Al Zubarah, which grew into a flourishing walled pearling and trading town.

   Pearls, Tribes and the Town of Al Zubarah

   Sources: Al Zubarah: Qatar's Largest Heritage Site (Qatar Museums) · Persian Gulf States: Country Studies (Qatar) (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

Asia

1. THAWar & Rupture

   Thailand

   Sack of Ayutthaya by Burma

   A Burmese army storms and burns Ayutthaya after a prolonged siege, ending the kingdom and leaving the celebrated city in ruins.

   The Kingdom of Ayutthaya

   Sources: Thailand (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Taksin (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Historic City of Ayutthaya (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

2. THAFormation

   Thailand

   Taksin establishes Thonburi

   Taksin rallies resistance after the fall of Ayutthaya, drives out the Burmese, and founds a new capital at Thonburi, where he is crowned king.

   Thonburi, Taksin, and the Founding of the Chakri Dynasty

   Sources: Taksin (Encyclopædia Britannica)

South America

1. FLKColonisation

   Falkland Islands

   Spain buys out the French and administers from Buenos Aires

   Spain purchased the French settlement around 1767 and governed the islands from Buenos Aires; in 1770 it expelled the British from Port Egmont, restored after a 1771 settlement.

   Empty Shores and Competing Claims

   Sources: Falkland Islands — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. PRYReligion

   Paraguay · 1767 CE

   Expulsion of the Jesuits

   Charles III expels the Jesuits from Spanish America; the Guarani missions are abandoned and fall into ruin, their populations scattered.

   The Jesuit Missions and the Colonial Province

   Sources: Paraguay: The colonial period (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Jesuit Missions of La Santisima Trinidad de Parana and Jesus de Tavarangue (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Asia

1. NPLFormation

   Nepal · 1768–69

   Conquest of the Kathmandu Valley

   Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha captures Kathmandu in 1768 and the Malla kingdoms by 1769, unifying the hill states into the kingdom of Nepal.

   Gorkha Unification and the British War

   Sources: Prithvi Narayan Shah (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Nepal — History (Himalayas, Monarchy, Unification) (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Oceania

1. VUTColonisation

   Vanuatu

   Bougainville sails through the group

   The French navigator Louis-Antoine de Bougainville charted parts of the archipelago and showed that Quirós's 'southern continent' was a group of islands.

   European Contact and Naming

   Sources: Vanuatu — History (Melanesian, Colonization, Independence) (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. ETHPolitics & Power

   Ethiopia

   Onset of the Zemene Mesafint

   Central royal authority collapses as regional lords seize real power, beginning the 'Era of the Princes' in which emperors at Gondar rule in name only.

   Gondar, the Era of the Princes and Reunification

   Sources: Gondarine period (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. TLSColonisation

   Timor-Leste

   Capital established at Dili

   The Portuguese move their administrative seat from Lifau in Oecusse to Dili on the north coast, which becomes the lasting capital of Portuguese Timor.

   Portuguese Timor and the Divided Island

   Sources: East Timor (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Dili (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Oceania

1. NZLColonisation

   New Zealand · 6 October 1769

   James Cook charts the islands

   James Cook sighted New Zealand and over 175 days circumnavigated and accurately charted both main islands aboard HMB Endeavour, fixing the country's outline for European maps.

   European contact, missionaries, and the musket wars

   Sources: European voyaging and discovery (NZ History (Manatū Taonga — Ministry for Culture and Heritage)) · European discovery of New Zealand (Te Ara — The Encyclopedia of New Zealand) · New Zealand (country) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. CPVPolitics & Power

   Cape Verde

   Capital moves to Praia

   As the slave trade waned and Ribeira Grande lay in ruins, administration shifted to the more defensible plateau of Praia, which became the capital in 1770 and remains so today.

   Entrepôt of the slave trade — and its decline

   Sources: History of Cape Verde (Wikipedia) · Cidade Velha (Wikipedia)

2. SYCPeoples & Migration

   Seychelles · 12 August 1770

   First permanent settlement

   Colonists, enslaved Africans and Indians established the first lasting settlement near Mahé to begin spice cultivation.

   The French Claim and First Settlers

   Sources: History of Seychelles (Wikipedia) · Seychelles History — Timeline (SeyVillas Seychelles Travel Guide)

Asia

1. BGDCatastrophe

   Bangladesh · 1769–1770

   The Great Bengal Famine

   An estimated ten million people — about a third of Bengal's population — die as monsoon failure compounds the East India Company's insistence on collecting land revenue from a starving peasantry.

   British Conquest and Colonial Bengal

   Sources: History of Bangladesh (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Oceania

1. AUSColonisation

   Australia · 22 August 1770

   Cook charts and claims the east coast

   Lieutenant James Cook charted the eastern coast of the continent aboard HMB Endeavour and claimed it for Britain as New South Wales, opening the way to British colonisation.

   European contact and the First Fleet

   Sources: Defining Moments: Cook claims Australia (National Museum of Australia) · Australia (country) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. SYCEconomy & Trade

   Seychelles · c. 1771

   Spice and plantation economy

   Pierre Poivre promoted spice gardens to challenge the Dutch monopoly; cotton, coconut, maize and cinnamon followed, all worked by enslaved Africans.

   The French Claim and First Settlers

   Sources: The French History of the Seychelles (Kreol Magazine) · History of Seychelles — French Settlement and Rule (Liquisearch)

Asia

1. KAZPolitics & Power

   Kazakhstan

   Ablai Khan elected ruler of the Kazakhs

   Ablai (Abylai) is elected khan of the Kazakhs and balances between the Russian and Qing empires to preserve a degree of independence; he endures as a national symbol of Kazakh sovereignty.

   The Russian Conquest of the Steppe

   Sources: Abylai the King: A Warrior, Diplomat and Patriot (Portal 'History of Kazakhstan' (e-history.kz), National Academic Library) · History of Kazakhstan (Encyclopædia Britannica)

2. VNMWar & Rupture

   Vietnam · 1771-1789 CE

   Tay Son rebellion

   A peasant-led uprising overthrows the Nguyen and Trinh lords and the Le dynasty, and in 1789 routs an invading Chinese Qing army near Thang Long.

   The Nguyen Dynasty and Expansion South

   Sources: Gia Long (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Vietnam (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. BTNWar & Rupture

   Bhutan · 1772–1773

   The first British intervention

   A century before the Duar War, British forces intervene in Bhutan — the beginning of the Raj's long pressure on its southern frontier.

   Civil Strife and the British Treaties

   Sources: Bhutan country profile (BBC News)

Europe

1. BLRPolitics & Power

   Belarus · 1772-1795

   Partitions of Poland and Russian annexation

   In three partitions Russia, Prussia and Austria divided the Commonwealth; Russia took most of the Belarusian lands, and after 1795 all of Belarus was ruled by the Russian Empire.

   The Commonwealth, Partition and the Russian Empire

   Sources: History of Belarus (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Belarus (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. POLPolitics & Power

   Poland · 1772–1795

   The Partitions of Poland

   In three stages (1772, 1793, 1795) Russia, Prussia and Austria divided the Commonwealth among themselves, despite the reforming Constitution of 3 May 1791, ending Polish statehood for 123 years.

   The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: Golden Age and Decline

   Sources: Partitions of Poland (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Constitution of 3 May 1791 (Polish History Museum / Google Arts & Culture)

3. UKRPolitics & Power

   Ukraine · 1772–1795

   Galicia to Austria, right bank to Russia

   The partitions of Poland transferred Galicia to the Habsburg Empire in 1772 and most of the right-bank Ukrainian lands to the Russian Empire by 1795, dividing the Ukrainian people between two empires.

   The Cossack Hetmanate and the Partition of Ukrainian Lands

   Sources: History of Ukraine (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. GTMCatastrophe

   Guatemala · 1773 CE

   Santa Marta earthquakes ruin Antigua

   Powerful earthquakes devastate the colonial capital, leading to the transfer of government to present-day Guatemala City.

   Colony, Independence, and Federation

   Sources: Antigua Guatemala (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Antigua Guatemala (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

North America

1. CANPolitics & Power

   Canada

   Quebec Act

   The Quebec Act restored French civil law, guaranteed freedom of Catholic worship, and enlarged Quebec's boundaries, securing the loyalty of French Canadians while inflaming the Thirteen Colonies.

   British conquest and colonial British North America

   Sources: Quebec Act, 1774 (The Canadian Encyclopedia) · Quebec Act 1774 (UK Parliament)

South America

1. FLKColonisation

   Falkland Islands · May 1774

   Britain withdraws from Port Egmont, leaving a lead plate

   The British government decided to abandon Port Egmont; on 21 May 1774 Commander Samuel Clayton fixed a lead plate to the fort door asserting George III's right to the island and fort, and sailed for England the same day. Britain treats the plate as a continuing claim; Argentina holds that the withdrawal ended it.

   Empty Shores and Competing Claims

   Sources: Clayton, Samuel Wittewrong (Dictionary of Falklands Biography)

Oceania

1. NCLPeoples & Migration

   New Caledonia

   Cook names New Caledonia

   The British explorer James Cook landed at Balade on the east coast and named the territory New Caledonia after the classical name for Scotland, marking the first recorded European contact.

   Cook, Sandalwood and Blackbirding

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

2. VUTColonisation

   Vanuatu · July 1774

   Cook names the New Hebrides

   On his second voyage James Cook surveyed and charted the islands, naming them the New Hebrides — a name they kept until independence in 1980.

   European Contact and Naming

   Sources: Vanuatu — History (Melanesian, Colonization, Independence) (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Who gave our former name — the 'New Hebrides' — and where did it originate from? (Vanuatu Daily Post)

Europe

1. UKRPolitics & Power

   Ukraine

   Destruction of the Zaporozhian Sich

   Russian troops destroyed the Zaporozhian Sich, the bastion of Cossack self-government, completing the suppression of Cossack autonomy under the Russian Empire.

   The Cossack Hetmanate and the Partition of Ukrainian Lands

   Sources: Zaporozhian Sich (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Ukraine: The Cossacks (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. SENCulture & Ideas

   Senegal · 1770s–1780s

   House of Slaves built on Gorée

   The Maison des Esclaves is constructed on Gorée; it later becomes a museum and a contested memorial to the Atlantic slave trade.

   Atlantic Trade, Gorée and Saint-Louis

   Sources: House of Slaves (Wikipedia) · Island of Gorée (World Heritage List) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

North America

1. GRLEconomy & Trade

   Greenland

   The royal trade monopoly

   Denmark established the Royal Greenland Trading Department, granting the crown a strict monopoly over all trade with Greenland and sealing the colony off from foreign contact for nearly two centuries.

   Hans Egede and Two Centuries of Danish Rule

   Sources: Greenland: History (Encyclopædia Britannica)

2. USAIndependence

   United States · 4 July 1776

   Declaration of Independence

   The Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, formally announcing the separation of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain.

   Revolution and the founding of the Republic

   Sources: The Declaration of Independence (U.S. National Archives)

South America

1. ARGPolitics & Power

   Argentina · 1776 CE

   Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata created

   Charles III establishes the new viceroyalty with Buenos Aires as capital, routing Potosi silver through the port and spurring its rise.

   The Viceroyalty and the Colonial Era

   Sources: Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Argentina (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. PRYPolitics & Power

   Paraguay · 1776 CE

   Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata

   The new viceroyalty centred on Buenos Aires makes Asuncion and Paraguay dependent on the river port, feeding Paraguayan resentment of its decline.

   The Jesuit Missions and the Colonial Province

   Sources: Paraguay: The colonial period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. URYPolitics & Power

   Uruguay · 1776 CE

   Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata

   Spain creates the new viceroyalty centred on Buenos Aires, drawing the Banda Oriental into its administration and stoking eastern resentment of the centralising capital.

   The Contested Frontier: Colonia and Montevideo

   Sources: Uruguay (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. VENPolitics & Power

   Venezuela · 8 Sept 1777

   Captaincy General of Venezuela created

   A royal decree unites the scattered provinces into the Captaincy General of Venezuela, with Caracas as capital, giving the territory the outline of the future nation.

   Colonial Venezuela and the Captaincy General

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

Africa

1. GNQColonisation

   Equatorial Guinea · 1778–1780

   The Argelejo expedition fails

   A Spanish expedition under the Conde de Argelejo arrived to take possession but was broken by disease and disorder; Spain effectively abandoned the islands for decades, administering them on paper from its American viceroyalties.

   Fernão do Pó, the Portuguese, and the cession to Spain

   Sources: History of Equatorial Guinea (Wikipedia) · Treaty of El Pardo (1778) (Wikipedia)

2. GNQColonisation

   Equatorial Guinea · 11 March 1778

   Treaty of El Pardo cedes the islands to Spain

   By the Treaty of El Pardo, Portugal ceded Fernando Pó, Annobón and commercial rights on the adjacent African coast to Spain, in exchange for recognition of Portuguese claims in South America; Spain sought a base for the slave trade.

   Fernão do Pó, the Portuguese, and the cession to Spain

   Sources: Treaty of El Pardo (1778) (Wikipedia) · History of Equatorial Guinea (Encyclopædia Britannica) · History of Equatorial Guinea (Wikipedia) · Equatorial Guinea (New World Encyclopedia)

South America

1. ARGEconomy & Trade

   Argentina · 1778 CE

   Free trade reforms

   Bourbon commercial reforms loosen Spain's trade monopoly, allowing Buenos Aires to trade more freely and accelerating its growth as an Atlantic port.

   The Viceroyalty and the Colonial Era

   Sources: Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. ZAFWar & Rupture

   South Africa

   First Cape Frontier War

   As trekboers reached the Great Fish River they clashed with the Xhosa, beginning a century-long series of frontier wars along the colony's eastern edge.

   The Dutch Cape Colony and the frontier

   Sources: South Africa (country, history and government) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. LAOWar & Rupture

   Laos · later 18th century

   The Lao kingdoms become Siamese vassals

   Divided and weakened, the rulers of Luang Prabang, Vientiane, and Champasak each fall under a Siamese commissioner and must pay tribute to Bangkok.

   Three Kingdoms and Siamese Vassalage

   Sources: Lan Xang (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Laos: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. ESPWar & Rupture

   Spain · 1779–1783

   The Great Siege of Gibraltar

   During the American Revolutionary War, Spain and France besieged British Gibraltar from June 1779 to February 1783 in an unsuccessful attempt to capture it.

   Decline, the Bourbons and the Napoleonic Crisis

   Sources: Great Siege of Gibraltar (Wikipedia)

South America

1. PERWar & Rupture

   Peru · Nov 1780

   Revolt of Tupac Amaru II

   Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, taking the name Tupac Amaru II, leads a vast Indigenous uprising against Spanish rule across the southern Andes.

   Rebellion and Independence

   Sources: Tupac Amaru II (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Peru: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. BOLWar & Rupture

   Bolivia · 1781 CE

   Tupac Katari besieges La Paz

   The Aymara leader Tupac Katari, part of the great Andean rebellion begun by Tupac Amaru II, lays siege to La Paz before being captured and executed.

   The Revolt of Tupac Katari and Independence

   Sources: Tupac Amaru II (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bolivia: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

2. COLPolitics & Power

   Colombia · 1781 CE

   The Comunero revolt

   A popular rising against new Bourbon taxes sweeps the interior, an early sign of the unrest that would lead to the independence movement.

   Conquest and the Viceroyalty of New Granada

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

3. GUYFormation

   Guyana

   Founding of Stabroek (Georgetown)

   A British occupying force lays out the town of Stabroek at the mouth of the Demerara River; renamed Georgetown in 1812, it becomes the colony's capital.

   The Dutch Colonies and the Engineered Coast

   Sources: Georgetown, Guyana (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

4. PERWar & Rupture

   Peru · 18 May 1781

   Execution of Tupac Amaru II

   Captured by the Spanish, Tupac Amaru II is forced to witness the deaths of his family and is then executed at Cusco; the rebellion is suppressed but remembered.

   Rebellion and Independence

   Sources: Tupac Amaru II (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. THAFormation

   Thailand

   Founding of the Chakri dynasty and Bangkok

   After Taksin's fall, the general Chao Phraya Chakri takes the throne as Rama I, founds the Chakri dynasty, and establishes the new capital of Bangkok.

   Thonburi, Taksin, and the Founding of the Chakri Dynasty

   Sources: Rama I (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Thailand (Encyclopædia Britannica)

2. THAPolitics & Power

   Thailand · 1782–1809

   Reign of Rama I

   Rama I rebuilds the Siamese state, revising its laws and Buddhist scriptures and restoring its power over neighbouring vassal states.

   Thonburi, Taksin, and the Founding of the Chakri Dynasty

   Sources: Rama I (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. GEOPolitics & Power

   Georgia · 24 July 1783

   Treaty of Georgievsk

   King Erekle II of Kartli-Kakheti placed his kingdom under Russian protection, ceding control of foreign affairs in exchange for guarantees of its integrity and dynasty against Persia and the Ottomans.

   Fragmentation, Foreign Pressure and Russian Annexation

   Sources: Treaty of Georgievsk (1783) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Georgia: Turkish and Persian domination (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. ISLCatastrophe

   Iceland · 8 Jun 1783

   The Laki eruption

   The Laki fissure erupted for eight months from June 1783, producing about 14.7 cubic kilometres of lava and immense quantities of toxic gas that poisoned the land and spread a haze across Europe.

   Under Norway and Denmark: Reformation, Monopoly and Famine

   Sources: The Laki Fissure eruption, 1783–1784 (Encyclopedia of the Environment) · Iceland: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. ISLCatastrophe

   Iceland · 1783–1785

   The Móðuharðindin famine

   Fallout from Laki killed most of Iceland's livestock; the ensuing 'famine of the mist' killed roughly a fifth of the population, the worst disaster in the country's history.

   Under Norway and Denmark: Reformation, Monopoly and Famine

   Sources: The Laki Fissure eruption, 1783–1784 (Encyclopedia of the Environment)

3. GBRIndependence

   United Kingdom

   Loss of the American colonies

   The Treaty of Paris recognised the independence of the United States, ending the American Revolutionary War and stripping Britain of its thirteen mainland colonies.

   Union, revolution, and the rise of Britain

   Sources: The British Library: history and collections (The British Library)

North America

1. BHSColonisation

   Bahamas

   Spain cedes the Bahamas to Britain

   Under the Treaty of Paris of 1783 Spain ceded the Bahamas to Britain, securing the colony's future under the Crown after years of contest and a brief Spanish occupation.

   Loyalists, slavery and emancipation

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

2. TTOPeoples & Migration

   Trinidad and Tobago · 24 November 1783

   The Cédula de Población

   King Charles III's Cédula de Población offered free land and tax breaks to Roman Catholic settlers, drawing French planters with their enslaved Africans and free coloureds and remaking Trinidad as a plantation society.

   Spanish neglect and the Cédula de Población

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

3. USAWar & Rupture

   United States

   Treaty of Paris

   Great Britain recognised the independence of the United States, ending the Revolutionary War and ceding territory east of the Mississippi.

   Revolution and the founding of the Republic

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

Asia

1. MMRWar & Rupture

   Myanmar · 1784-1785 CE

   Annexation of Arakan

   Konbaung expansion absorbs the kingdom of Arakan on the western coast, bringing the Burmese frontier up against British-held Bengal.

   Empires Reborn: Toungoo and Konbaung

   Sources: History of Myanmar (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Anglo-Burmese Wars (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. BHSPeoples & Migration

   Bahamas · from 1783

   American Loyalists and enslaved Africans arrive

   Loyalist refugees from the new United States emigrated to the Bahamas after the American Revolution, bringing thousands of enslaved Africans and roughly trebling the colony's population.

   Loyalists, slavery and emancipation

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

Africa

1. COMWar & Rupture

   Comoros · c. 1785–1820

   Malagasy slaving raids

   Sakalava and Betsimisaraka war-fleets from Madagascar raid the Comoros for captives over several decades, devastating communities across the archipelago.

   The Swahili-Muslim Sultanates

   Sources: Slavery in the Comoros (Wikipedia) · Comoros: History (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. MARPolitics & Power

   Morocco

   Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship

   Morocco and the United States conclude a treaty of peace and friendship, recognised in 1786, making Morocco one of America's earliest treaty partners.

   The Alaouite Dynasty and the Protectorates

   Sources: A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition: Morocco (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian)

Asia

1. MYSColonisation

   Malaysia

   Penang, Singapore and the Straits Settlements

   Britain founds Penang in 1786 and Singapore in 1819 and, with Malacca, combines them in 1826 as the Straits Settlements, the base for expanding British control over the peninsula.

   European Powers and the Making of British Malaya

   Sources: Straits Settlements (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. COGPolitics & Power

   Congo · late 18th century

   Succession crisis weakens Loango

   A succession crisis after the death of the king recorded as Buatu, together with the growing power of provincial governors and traders, undermined the maloango's central authority and began Loango's long decline.

   Loango ports and the Atlantic slave trade

   Sources: Kingdom of Loango (Wikipedia) · A history of the Loango kingdom (c. 1500–1883) (African History Extra)

2. MDGFormation

   Madagascar · 1787–1810

   Andrianampoinimerina unifies Imerina

   From Ambohimanga and Antananarivo, the king ends civil war and begins the conquest of much of the island.

   The Merina Monarchy

   Sources: Andrianampoinimerina (Wikipedia) · Madagascar (Encyclopædia Britannica)

3. SLEFormation

   Sierra Leone

   The 'Province of Freedom' founded

   Abolitionists associated with Granville Sharp settled about 400 of London's 'Black Poor' on the Sierra Leone peninsula, founding the 'Province of Freedom' and the settlement of Granville Town.

   The Province of Freedom and the founding of Freetown

   Sources: Founding of Sierra Leone, 1787 (BlackPast.org) · On the Foundings of Sierra Leone, 1787–1808 (BRANCH (Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History))

Europe

1. SVKCulture & Ideas

   Slovakia · 1780s

   Bernolák's first written Slovak

   The Catholic priest Anton Bernolák codified an early written Slovak based on western dialects, an opening move in the national awakening that the next generation would supersede.

   The Slovak National Awakening

   Sources: Slovak literature (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Slovakia (Slovakia.travel (official tourism portal))

Africa

1. GABEconomy & Trade

   Gabon

   Captives embarked at Gabon and Cape Lopez

   Records describe roughly 500 captives a year being embarked at points called Gabon and Cape Lopez in the late eighteenth century, an index of the trade run through the coastal Myènè kingdoms.

   The Myènè coast, the Fang, and the Atlantic trade

   Sources: History of Gabon (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Slave Trade of the Gabon Estuary (University of Wisconsin Digital Collections)

North America

1. USAFormation

   United States · 21 June 1788

   Constitution ratified

   With New Hampshire's ratification the Constitution took effect; the federal government began operating on 4 March 1789 and Washington was inaugurated that April.

   Revolution and the founding of the Republic

   Sources: The Declaration of Independence (U.S. National Archives)

Oceania

1. AUSColonisation

   Australia · 26 January 1788

   The First Fleet founds the penal colony

   Captain Arthur Phillip's First Fleet established a British penal colony at Sydney Cove, beginning permanent European settlement and the dispossession of Aboriginal peoples of the Sydney region.

   European contact and the First Fleet

   Sources: Defining Moments: Convict cargo and the First Fleet (National Museum of Australia) · Australia (country) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. ANDPolitics & Power

   Andorra · 1789–1815

   Neutrality through revolution and war

   Through the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars the co-principality survived; the French co-princely role transferred to each new French regime while Andorra guarded its neutrality.

   Two Princes, Neutrality and Endurance

   Sources: Andorra: History, Facts & Points of Interest (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Andorra: Member state (Council of Europe)

2. FRAPolitics & Power

   France · Aug 1789

   Declaration of the Rights of Man

   Proclaims liberty, equality and popular sovereignty — a founding text of modern democracy.

   Revolution & Empire

   Sources: Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Encyclopædia Britannica)

3. FRAWar & Rupture

   France · 14 July 1789

   Storming of the Bastille

   The opening act of the French Revolution; later France's national day.

   Revolution & Empire

   Sources: French Revolution (Encyclopædia Britannica)

North America

1. HTIEconomy & Trade

   Haiti · by 1789

   World's richest colony

   Saint-Domingue, with roughly half a million enslaved Africans, has become the leading producer of sugar and coffee and France's most valuable colony.

   Saint-Domingue: The Richest Colony on Earth

   Sources: Saint-Domingue (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Haitian Revolution (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Oceania

1. AUSCatastrophe

   Australia

   Smallpox devastates Aboriginal peoples

   A smallpox epidemic spread among Aboriginal peoples around Sydney, killing a large proportion of the Eora and neighbouring peoples and compounding the impact of land seizure and conflict.

   European contact and the First Fleet

   Sources: Australia (country) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Defining Moments: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history (National Museum of Australia)

2. FJIColonisation

   Fiji

   Bligh charts Fijian waters

   Cast adrift after the Bounty mutiny, Captain William Bligh navigates his open boat between Fiji's main islands, through what is now Bligh Water.

   European Contact & the Rise of Cakobau

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

North America

1. BHSEconomy & Trade

   Bahamas · 1780s–1800s

   The failed cotton plantations

   Loyalists planted cotton on the "Cotton Islands", but exhausted soils and pests ruined the crop within a couple of decades, collapsing the plantation economy.

   Loyalists, slavery and emancipation

   Sources: The Bahamas — British colonization (History) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. SLEColonisation

   Sierra Leone

   The Sierra Leone Company chartered

   After Granville Town's destruction, the abolitionist-backed Sierra Leone Company was chartered to revive and govern the colony as a base for legitimate commerce and Christian settlement.

   The Province of Freedom and the founding of Freetown

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

North America

1. CANPolitics & Power

   Canada

   Constitutional Act divides the Canadas

   The Constitutional Act split Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada, creating separate English- and French-majority colonies each with an elected assembly.

   British conquest and colonial British North America

   Sources: Canada (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. HTIWar & Rupture

   Haiti · Aug 1791

   The slave uprising begins

   A massive revolt of the enslaved erupts on the northern plain of Saint-Domingue, opening the Haitian Revolution.

   The Haitian Revolution and Independence

   Sources: Haitian Revolution (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. SLEPeoples & Migration

   Sierra Leone

   Nova Scotian settlers found Freetown

   Some 1,100–1,200 Black settlers from Nova Scotia — African Americans who had sought freedom with the British in the American Revolution — landed and founded Freetown beneath the Lion Mountains.

   The Province of Freedom and the founding of Freetown

   Sources: Freetown, Sierra Leone (1792– ) (BlackPast.org) · Nova Scotian Settlers (Wikipedia)

2. SDNPolitics & Power

   Sudan

   Darfur's capital fixed at al-Fashir

   The Keira sultans establish al-Fashir as their capital; Darfur controls caravan routes across the Sahara.

   Islam, Sennar and Darfur

   Sources: Sultanate of Darfur (Wikipedia)

South America

1. ECUCulture & Ideas

   Ecuador · 1792 CE

   Espejo founds Quito's first newspaper

   The physician and writer Eugenio Espejo, precursor of independence, launches Quito's first newspaper and presses Enlightenment ideas.

   Conquest, Colony and the Quito School

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

Europe

1. MCOWar & Rupture

   Monaco

   Revolutionary France annexes Monaco

   Revolutionary France abolished the Grimaldi sovereignty and annexed the principality, expelling the dynasty and scattering the palace's art collections.

   Revolution, the Cession of 1861 and the Birth of Monte-Carlo

   Sources: Secession of Menton and Roquebrune (Treaty of 1861) (Government of Monaco (gouv.mc)) · Monaco - Prince's Palace (Government of Monaco (gouv.mc))

South America

1. SURWar & Rupture

   Suriname

   Death of the Maroon leader Boni

   Boni, leader of the Aluku, is killed after years of guerrilla war against colonial forces, becoming an enduring symbol of resistance.

   Plantation Colony and the Maroons

   Sources: Suriname: People (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Suriname: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. SYCWar & Rupture

   Seychelles · 1794–1811

   Capitulations during the Napoleonic Wars

   Administrator Quéau de Quincy surrendered the islands to British squadrons several times, restoring French rule whenever they left.

   British Rule and Emancipation

   Sources: History of Seychelles (Wikipedia) · Seychelles History — Timeline (SeyVillas Seychelles Travel Guide)

Europe

1. BELWar & Rupture

   Belgium

   French annexation of the southern Netherlands

   Revolutionary France annexed the Austrian Netherlands and the prince-bishopric of Liège, ending Habsburg rule and governing the region directly from Paris for twenty years.

   Revolution, Independence and the Guaranteed Neutral Kingdom

   Sources: Belgium: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. LVAPolitics & Power

   Latvia

   Courland annexed by Russia

   In the third partition of Poland-Lithuania the Duchy of Courland was incorporated into the Russian Empire, completing Russian rule over all the Latvian lands.

   Poland, Sweden, Courland and the Russian Empire

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

3. LTUPolitics & Power

   Lithuania

   Final partition and annexation by Russia

   In the third partition of the Commonwealth, Russia, Prussia and Austria completed its dismemberment; the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was annexed almost wholly by the Russian Empire, ending Lithuanian statehood.

   The Commonwealth, the Partitions and the National Revival

   Sources: Partitions of Poland (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Lithuania (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

4. LUXWar & Rupture

   Luxembourg

   Revolutionary France captures the fortress

   After a long blockade, French Revolutionary forces took the fortress in 1795 and Luxembourg was annexed to the French Republic, ending the era of Habsburg rule.

   The Gibraltar of the North and the First Partition

   Sources: History of the City of Luxembourg (Ville de Luxembourg (City of Luxembourg)) · History of the city of Luxembourg (Luxembourg City Tourist Office)

5. NLDPolitics & Power

   Netherlands

   The Batavian Republic

   French Revolutionary forces and Dutch Patriots overthrow the stadtholderate and proclaim the Batavian Republic, ending the old Dutch Republic.

   Decline, French Rule and the Kingdom of the Netherlands

   Sources: Batavian Republic (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. DOMPolitics & Power

   Dominican Republic · 22 Jul 1795

   Treaty of Basel

   By the Treaty of Basel, Spain cedes the colony of Santo Domingo to France, although the upheavals of the Haitian Revolution delay any effective handover.

   A Divided Island and the French Era

   Sources: French Revolutionary Wars: the campaigns and peace of 1795 (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of the Dominican Republic (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. BDIPolitics & Power

   Burundi · c. 1796–1850

   Expansion under Ntare IV Rugamba

   The kingdom roughly doubles in size under Mwami Ntare IV Rutaganzwa Rugamba; by mid-century its borders broadly match those of present-day Burundi.

   The Kingdom of the Mwami

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

Asia

1. LKAColonisation

   Sri Lanka

   Britain takes the Dutch coasts

   With the Netherlands under French control in Europe, Britain begins taking over the maritime provinces — the island changes hands as a consequence of a war fought elsewhere.

   European Coasts and the Kandyan Kingdom

   Sources: Sri Lanka country profile (BBC News)

Europe

1. ITAPolitics & Power

   Italy · 1796–1814

   Napoleonic reorganization of Italy

   Napoleon's campaigns swept aside the old states and spread revolutionary, legal and national ideas across Italy, before the powers restored the former rulers in 1815.

   Foreign Domination and the Risorgimento

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

Europe

1. SMRPolitics & Power

   San Marino

   Napoleon's offer declined

   Napoleon offered San Marino friendship, artillery and an extension of territory to the sea; the republic accepted the gifts but declined the land, satisfied with its existing borders, and was recognised by the Treaty of Tolentino.

   Napoleon, Garibaldi and Lincoln: a Republic Among Friends

   Sources: History of San Marino (Visit San Marino (official tourism site)) · San Marino: Garibaldi, Lincoln and the 19th century (SanMarinoSite) · San Marino (Napoleon, Congress of Vienna, 1862 treaty) (New World Encyclopedia)

North America

1. TTOWar & Rupture

   Trinidad and Tobago · 18 February 1797

   Britain captures Trinidad

   A British expedition under Sir Ralph Abercromby took Trinidad from Spain almost without a fight; the last Spanish governor, Chacón, signed the capitulation at the Valsayn estate.

   British conquest and the much-contested Tobago

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

Africa

1. ZMBEconomy & Trade

   Zambia

   Lacerda reaches Kazembe

   A Portuguese expedition under Francisco de Lacerda reached the court of the Mwata Kazembe seeking to open trade links across the continent, an early European contact with the Luapula kingdom.

   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. MLTWar & Rupture

   Malta · 1798–1800

   Maltese uprising and French surrender

   French seizures of church property triggered a Maltese revolt; with British and Sicilian naval support the insurgents blockaded the French garrison in Valletta until it surrendered in 1800.

   Napoleon, British Rule and the Naval Fortress

   Sources: History of Malta (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. MLTWar & Rupture

   Malta · Jun 1798

   Napoleon seizes Malta

   On his way to Egypt, Napoleon Bonaparte captured Malta from the Knights of St John, whose rule collapsed almost without a fight, ending two and a half centuries of the Order's sovereignty.

   Napoleon, British Rule and the Naval Fortress

   Sources: History of Malta (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Knights Hospitaller (World History Encyclopedia)

3. CHEWar & Rupture

   Switzerland

   French invasion and the Helvetic Republic

   Revolutionary France conquered Switzerland and replaced the old Confederation with the Helvetic Republic, a centralised unitary state that abolished cantonal sovereignty and the privileges of the patrician towns.

   The Helvetic Republic, Napoleon and the Recognition of Neutrality

   Sources: Helvetic Republic (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The History of Switzerland (Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (aboutswitzerland.eda.admin.ch))

North America

1. BLZWar & Rupture

   Belize · 10 September 1798

   Battle of St. George's Caye

   In engagements off St. George's Caye, the outnumbered Baymen, a small British force and enslaved Africans repelled a Spanish fleet from the Yucatán; the Spanish withdrew on 10 September, ending the last attempt to expel the settlers.

   The Baymen, the forest and the slaves

   Sources: History of Belize (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Our History (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Belize) · A Guide to the History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country: Belize (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian)

Asia

1. IDNPolitics & Power

   Indonesia · 31 Dec 1799

   Dissolution of the VOC

   Bankrupt after decades of war, debt and corruption, the VOC is dissolved and its possessions pass to the Dutch state, ushering in direct colonial rule.

   Portuguese and Dutch Colonialism and the VOC

   Sources: Dutch East India Company (Wikipedia)