Nineteenth Century Timeline of British Empire

1800British capture Malta, Ottawa foundedRobert Owen starts New Lanark model millNapoleon evacuates Egypt, Napoleon defeats Austrians at Margengo and advances towards Vienna, Humboldt explores the Orinoco River, Jefferson becomes US president, US Capital moves to Washington DCBeehoven's Symphony No 1Volta makes first battery, William Herschel discovers infra-red rays, Richard Trevithick invents high-pressure steam engine, Humphrey Davy researches Nitrous Oxide, Royal College of Surgeons founded, Eli Whitney makes muskets with interchangeable parts
1801Irish act of Union uniting Ireland and Britain, Battle of Copenhagen sees Nelson destroy Danish fleet, English enter Cairo, Madeira occupied by British (until 1814)Henry Addington PM, The Union Jack is amended and officially adopted as the flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, First census, London is the World's largest cityTreaty of Luneville sees Napoleon dismantle Holy Roman Empire, US goes to war with Barbary states over piracy (until 1805)Goya's The Two Majas, Haydn's The Seasons Gauss develops his Theory of Number in his Disquisitiones arithmeticae, J. S. Lalande catalogues 47,390 stars, Robert Fulton develops submarine 'Nautilus'
1802Peace of Amiens produces uneasy break in the fighting between Britain and France, Britain retains Ceylon, John Truter and William Somerville explore Bechuanaland, West India Docks built in London to facilitate Imperial Trade, Great Trigonometric Survey of India begins with the measurement of a baseline near Madras, Aboriginal Pemulwuy shot dead by Henry Hacking in New South Wales, Michael Symes travels to court of Ava Burma
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Sir William Herschel
Napoleon becomes President of Italian Republic and annexes Piedmont, Parma and Piacenza, Peace of Amiens, French suppress L'Ouverture's rebellion in Santo Domingo and reintroduce slavery, Alexander Humboldt almost succeeds in climbing Mount Chimborao in EcuadorBabylonian cuneiform deciphered by Grotefund, Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 Charlotte Dundas is the first Steamship, William Herschel discovers binary stars and coins term 'Asteroid', Treviranus coins term 'biology', John Dalton introduces atomic theory into chemistry, Thomas Wedgwood produces the world's first photography but has no means of fixing the image
1803Suppression of rebellion in Ireland, Irish rebel Robert Emmet is captured and executed, Wellesley defeats Indians in Second Maratha War and occupies Orissa after defeat of Marathas, First Passenger Act to regulate transportation of emigrants by shipping companiesDespart Plot to kill King George III, Resume war with Napoleon over French refusal to withdraw from NetherlandsLousiana Purchase, French occupation of Hanover, Napoleon formulates plans to invade Britain, Haitian army led by Dessalines defeats French, Kamehameha of Hawaii unites eight of the islands employing British and Americans to act as governorsBeethoven's Eroica Symphony, Elgin Marbles removed from Parthenon, Turner's Calais Pier exhibited, Joseph Lancaster's Improvements in Education as it Respects the Industrious ClassesHenry Shrapnel develops exploding shell, Dalton's Atomic theory
1804Hobart in Tasmania is founded, Matthew Flinders recommends that New Holland be renamed Australia, British occupy SurinamPitt the Younger PM, First Corn Law, Gas lighting used for the first time in London at the Lyceum Theatre, Spain declares war on Britain thanks to NapoleonCode Napoleon introduced into France and occupied territories, Napoleon is proclaimed as Emperor by French Senate, Napoleon is crowned by Pope Pius VII Haiti gains Independence from French, Lewis and Clark begin exploration of Missouri River systemWilliam Blake's Jerusalem, Wordsworth's Intimations of Immortality Trevithick's first steam rail locomotive, Nicolas Appert opens world's first vacuum bottling factory in France, Wollaston finds palladium in platinum, John Wedgwood founds the Royal Horticultural Society
1805Nelson wins Battle of Trafalgar giving the Royal Navy control of the seas, Arthur Wellesley resigns in India, Britain and US break diplomatic relations due to issues of trade in the West Indies, Mungo Park starts his second expedition along the Niger RiverNapoleon gathers forces at Boulogne for invasion of Britain, Third coalition formed by Austria, Russia, Sweden and Britain against FranceNapoleon defeats combined Austrian-Russian army at Austerlitz, Napoleon crowned as King of Italy in Milan, Treaty of Pressburg sees Austria and France end conflict, Mehemet Ali becomes Pasha of Egypt
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Battle of Trafalgar
Sir William Congreve develops rockets for use by the British army, Francis Beaufort develops his Beaufort scale for wind velocity, Sarturner isolates morphine
1806British occupy Cape of Good Hope, British impose continent wide blockade, Commodore Popham seizes Buenos AiresWilliam Wyndam Grenville PM, Dartmoor Prison construction beginsNapoleon's continental system, Napoleon installs one brother as King of Naples and another as King of Holland, Confederation of Rhine created by Napoleon - officially ending Holy Roman Empire, Prussians defeated by Napoleon at Jena, Napoleon occupies Berlin, Peace of Posen forms Saxony as a kingdomBeethoven's Symphony No. 4, Rossini's first opera Demetrio e Polibio Patrick Clark develops cotton thread as strong as linen thread, Humphrey Davy discovers electrolytic method for preparation of potassium and soda
1807Prohibition of shipment of slaves in British ships or to British colonies, British ban neutral nations from trading with France, British occupy Alexandria but are driven out by Turks, British ship Leopard fires on US ship Chesapeake and takes British deserters from American ship, US closes US ports to all British and French warships, Sierra Leone and Gambia become British Crown Colonies, British occupy Bonaire, Curacao, Saint Croix and Saint Thomas in the Caribbean and Heligoland off the coast of Germany to help with the blockade of Europe, The African Institution FormedWilliam Bentinck PMFrance invades Portugal whose Royal family flees to Brazil, Jerome Bonaparte becomes King of Westphalia, French victory at FriedlandHegel's Philosophy of History, Humboldt's Voyage aux Regions Equinoxiales du Nouveaux continent and Personal narrative of the travels to the Equinoxial Regions of the New Continent 1799-1804, and researches concerning tthe institutions and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of AmericaRobert Fulton designs the Clermont which becomes the first commercially successful steamboat which operates on the Hudson River
1808First Royal Navy ships sent to West Africa to help stop Slave Trade, Sierra Leone becomes a Crown Colony, The source of the Ganges is pinpointed for first timeWellesley lands in Lisbon with start of Peninsular War, Henry Crabb Robinson sent to cover the Peninsular War by the Times of London and is regarded as one of the earliest war reportersFrench occupy Madrid and Napoleon makes Joseph Bonaparte King of Spain, US prohibits importation of slaves from Africa, Erfurt CongressExtensive excavations begin at Pompeii, Beethoven's Symphonies No.5 and 6, Walter Scott's Marmion
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
The Peninsular War
1809David Thompson begins exploration of Canada between Lake Superior and Pacific, Treaty of Dardanelles between Turkey and Britain, British take control of Ionian Islands, Treaty of Amritsar sees EIC halt expansion of Sikh Confederacy, British seize Martinique, Senegal and Rodriguez from FrenchBritish defeated at Corunna, Wellesley succeeds Moore who is killed in battle Spencer Perceval PM, Cobbett imprisoned for criticising flogging in the army, Battle of Talavera sees Wellesley defeat Jospeph Bonaparte, Expansion of Bristol Harbour beginsFrench defeat Austrians at Wagram, Austria forced to join Continental System, Napoleon divorces Josphine, French annex Papal states and seizes Pope Pius VII, Ecuador gains independence from Spain
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Seizing Ionian Islands
Samuel Sommering's electric telegraph, Lamarck's System of Invertebrates
1810British seize Guadeloupe, Saba, Saint Martin and Saint Eustatius in the West Indies, British seize Mauritius, Moluccas and Reunion. First Anglo-Portuguese Treaty on SlaveryFrench issue Decree of Fontainebleau which authorises confiscation of British goods and shippingPrussia abolishes serfdom, Napoleon marries Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, Decree of Rambouillet authorises French sale of seized US ships, France formally annexes Holland, Hanover, Bremen, Hamburg, Lauenburg and Lubeck, Venezuela breaks from Spain and revolts throughout South America against Spanish control (until 1821)Walter Scott's Lady of the LakeSamuel Hahnemann founds homeopathy
1811British seize Batavia from Dutch, British take Seychelles, Fourth Kaffir (Xhosa) War begins (until 1812), Expulsion of Xhosa from Zuurveld begins, Selkirk receives Red River grant in CanadaGeorge III period of insanity begins, His son takes over as Regent, Luddites smash spinning and weaving machinery, British defeat French at Battle of Fuentes de Onoro and Albuera, Great Schism in Welsh Protestantism sees two-thirds leave Anglican Church, Slave Trading Made a FelonyMamelukes overthrown by Mohammed Ali in Egypt, Slave revolt in New Orleans, Paraguay declares independence from SpainJane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 Charles Bell's Idea of A New Anatomy of the Brain, Avogadro proposes hypothesis of the molecular composition of gases
1812Americans invade Canada starting War of 1812, Red River settlement in Manitoba founded, French develop a system for extracting sugar from sugar beet on an industrial scale, this will lead to a collapse in sugar cane prices and widespread economic dislocation in sugar plantations of the Caribbean in subsequent decadesPM Spencer Perceval assassinated, Lord Liverpool becomes PM, Luddite disturbances spread, Duke of Wellington defeats French at Salamanca and enters Madrid, Baptist Union of Great Britain formedNapoleon's Russian campaign, Napoleon enters Moscow but begins disastrous retreatGrimm's Fairy TalesHumphrey Davy's Elements of Chemical Philosophy, Philippe Girard invents machine for spinning flax
1813English East India company loses trading monopoly with India, Restrictions on missionary activity in India are relaxed, Goa returned to Portuguese allies, War of 1812 sees HMS Shannon capture US frigate Chesapeake, Americans capture York (Toronto), Detroit and Fort St. George, Britiish defeat Americans at Montreal, Newark, Fort Niagara and burn BuffaloMethodist Missionary Society founded, Wellington defeats French at Vittoria and enters FranceSeries of Wars of Liberation against French in occupied Europe, Prussians, Russians, Austrians all fight against Napoleon, Napoleon defeated at Leipzig, Bolivar declares himself dictator of Venezuela, Mexico declares independence from SpainJane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
HMS Shannon capturing USS Chesapeake
1814British occupy Washington and burn White House, Americans forced to sue for peace and end war, British agree to return to the status quo before the conflict with the Treaty of Ghent, Highland Clearances begin in earnest, Many displaced Scots head for urban areas or emigrate to colonies like Canada, Lord Hastings declares war on the Gurkhas of Nepal, it is confirmed that the British will permanently keep Cape Colony, Mauritius, Saint Lucia, Guiana, Tobago, Ionian Islands and Malta as part of the Congress of Vienna peace treaty, CMS mission is established at Rangihoua in New Zealand
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Treaty of Ghent
Allies occupy Paris, Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba, Louis XVIII restored to throne of France, Congress of Vienna opens, Slave trade made illegal in HollandJane Austen's Mansfield Park, Matthew Flinders' A Voyage to Terra Australis, Goya's Execution of the Defenders of MadridaGeorge Stephenson constructs first practical steam locomotive at Killingworth Colliery near Newcastle
1815British East India Company retain Ceylon from the Dutch, Royal Navy takes Ascension Island to help guard Napoleon on St Helena, Slachtersnek Rebellion in Cape Colony, Governor Macquarie in NSW establishes first native institution for education of aborigines of both sexes, Second Anglo-Portuguese Treaty regarding slaveryWellington wins decisive victory at Waterloo, Income tax abolished with end of WarCongress of Vienna attempts to return Europe to pre-Revolutionary state with mixed success, Napoleon escapes from Elba and restarts War but is defeated at Waterloo and exiled to St Helena, End of Napoleonic War releases Spanish troops to return to South America, Simon Bolivar forced to flee Venezuela and seeks asylum in Jamaica
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Waterloo
Berzelius' Theory of Chemical Proportions and the Chemical Action of Electricity, John Macadam constructs roads with crushed stone, Humprhey Davy invents safety lamp, Fresnel researches the diffraction of light, Lamarck's Natural History of Animals, Prout's Hypothesis on relation between specific gravity and atomic weight, David Ricardo's The Influence of a Low Price of Corn on the Profits of Stock
1816 Britain returns many Dutch and French colonies as part of Congress of Vienna, Large scale emigration to Americas, Abortive Amherst mission to China, Slave rebellion in Barbados, Slave Registration Act to monitor legally held slaves and deter illegal slave trading
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Shaka Zulu
Shaka succeeds to the throne of Zulus, Brazil claims independence from Portugal, United Provinces of La Plata declares independence from SpainBritish museum acquires Elgin Marbles, Coleridge's Kubla Khan, Jane Austen's EmmaStethoscope invented by Laennec, David Brewster invents kaleidoscope
1817
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Third Mahratta War
Attempt on the life of the Prince Regent, Widespread disturbances and riots due to economic difficulties, Habeas Corpus suspendedChile gains independence from Spain, Bolivar once more claims independence for Venezuela, Spain prohibits slave trading North of the EquatorJames Mill's History of India, David Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy Walter Scott's Rob Roy, John Keats' Poems Berzelius discovers selenium and lithium
1818Third Mahratta War, American-Canadian border agreed upon 49th Parallel as far as the Rockies, John Franklin begins journey to Arctic (until 1822), Fifth Kaffir (Xhosa) War begins (until 1819), Anglo-Dutch, Anglo-Spanish and Anglo-Portuguese Mixed Commissions established in Sierra Leone to judge on slaving ships seized Order of St Michael and St George instituted by Prince Regent, Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society formed Shaka forms Zulu kingdomMary Shelley's Frankenstein, Beethoven becomes completely deaf, Austen's Northanger Abbey, Walter Scott's The Heart of MidlothianCadmium discovered by Stromeyer and Hermann, Bessel catalogues 3,222 stars in his Fundamenta Astronomiae
1819Raffles founds Singapore, Formation of West Africa Squadron with responsibility to fight slave tradePeterloo massacre sees British soldiers kill protesters against Corn Laws, Restrictions on Child Labour introducedUS purchases Florida from Spain, Bolivar proclaims independence for Great ColombiaSchopenhauer's The World as Will and Idea, Schubert's Trout Quintet, Byron's Mazeppa The Savannah is the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, First solid chocolate developed in Switzerland, David Napier constructs flat-bed cylinder press for printing, Hans Oersted discovers electromagnetism, Mitscherlich discovers isomorphism
1820Edward Bransfield surveys New South Shetland Islands for Royal Navy travelling as far south as 64 degrees, British emigration to Southern Africa begins in earnest at Algoa BayGeorge IV becomes kingLiberia founded by Washington Colonisation Society for repatriation of negroes, Revolution in Portugal and Spain, Slave trade made illegal in Spain, Slave trade deemed to be piracy in USAWalter Scott's Ivanhoe, Discovery of Venus de Milo on Greek island of Melos, Shelley's Prometheus UnboundAndre Ampere's Laws of the Electrodynamic Action
1821Sierra Leone, Gambia and the Gold Coast are combined to form British West Africa, Napoleon dies on St Helena, Merger of Hudson's Bay Company and North-West CompanyManchester Guardian published for first time, Famine in IrelandGreek War of Independence begins, Mexico and Peru gain independence, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama all declare independence from SpainJohn Constable's The Hay Wain, Quincy's Confessions of an Opium EaterFaraday invents electric motor
1822 Chinese monopoly on tea ended when tea bush grown in India, Bottle riots in Dublin, H. T. Colebrooke founds Royal Asiatic Society, Holland, Spain and Portugal agree that empty slave ships can be seized if they had carried slavesForeign Secretary Lord Castlereagh commits suicideBrazil gains independence from Portugal, Turks capture Chios and massacre Greek inhabitantsRosetta stone deciphered by Champollion, Walter Scott's The PirateFirst Iron Steamship sails
1823First Ashanti War begins (until 1833), Daniel O'Connell forms Catholic Association, Walter Oudney discovers Lake Chad in Central Africa, Demerara Slave Rebellion in Guiana, British merchants establish post at Natal, Equipment Clause agreed by Holland whereby ships equipped for slaving can be seizedAnti-Slavery Society formed, Rugby invented, Death penalty for 100 crimes removed from English statute booksMonroe Doctrine declared by America to deter European powers from returning to American colonies - it is tacitly supported by Britain which wished to maintain informal connections with newly independent nations in Latin America, United Provinces of Central America created, Mexico becomes Republic, French intervene to end Spanish War
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
First Ashanti War
Faraday liquifies Chlorine, Rubberized cotton developed by Macintosh, Charles Babbage attempts to construct a calculating machine, Oil drilled in Baku on the Caspian Sea for the first time
1824 First Anglo-Burmese War, Anglo-Dutch Treaty sees Britain cede Benkulen to Dutch in return for Malacca, Britain rejects protectorate over Mombasa, Slave trading deemed to be piracyCombination Laws repealed allowing British workers the right to Unionise, British recognise independent nations of Latin AmericaLouis XVIII dies and is replaced by his brother Charles X in FranceBeethoven's Symphony No.9 'Choral' Portland Cement developed by Joseph Aspdin
1825Anglo-Russian Treaty clarifies border between Alaska and Canada, Anglo-Brazilian Commercial Treaty
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Kingston Street, Jamaica
Decembrist revolt in Russia crushed, Egyptians capture CreteCharles Wolfe's The Burial of Sir John Moore, William Hazlitt's The Spirit of the Age John Nash expands Buckingham PalaceStockton Darlington railway opened, Erie Canal opens connecting the River Hudson with the Great Lakes, Faraday isolates benzene, Sir Goldsworthy Gurney invents oxygen-hydrogen limelight
1826Straights Settlement created from Penang, Malacca and Singapore, Treaty of Yandabu ends Burmese War by giving British Arakan and Assam, British force defeats Ashanti near Accra, Major Edmund Lockyer arrives at King George Sound to take possession of the western part of Australia, establishing a settlement near Albany, Select Committee of Enquiry on the Expediency of Encouraging Emigration from Britain, Anglo-Brazilian Treaty regarding slaveryUniversity of London openedRussia and Persia go to war, Dost Mohammed becomes Amir of Kabul, Seku Ahmadu conquers TimbuktuJ. F. Cooper's Last of the Mohicans, Denham's Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa in the years 1822, 1823, and 1824Stamford Raffles founds Royal Zoological Society in London, Lobachevsky develops system of non-Euclidean geometry, Ampere's Electrodynamics
1827Joint Anglo-French-Russian force defeats Turks at NavarinoGeorge Canning PM but dies in office, Viscount Goderich PMFrance intervenes in Algeria
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
English Harbour, Antigua
photographs produced on a metal plate, Frederick William Herschel invents contact lenses, Joseph Ressel and Robert Wilson develop screw propeller for ships, Joseph Henry develops electro-magnet
1828
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Battle of Navarino
Duke of Wellington becomes Prime MinisterQueen Ranavalona rules Madacasgar and is hostile to British and French interest in her domain, Treaty of Turkmanchai ends Russian - Persian War and gives Russian fleet exclusive access to Caspian Sea, Uruguay created between Brazil and Argentina, Shaka murdered and replaced by brothers, Portuguese Civil War begins, Tariff of Abominations in US curtails imports through excessive customs dutiesDeath of Goya, J F Cooper's The Red RoverDutch manufacturer Houten develops a chocolate bar, Niels Abel begins study of elliptic functions, John Franklin publishes his Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea
1829Swan River Colonisation Association settlement established at Perth, Western Australia, Britain claims entire Australian continent as a British preserve, Abolition of Suttee in India, E.G. Wakefield's A Letter from SydneyCatholic Emancipation, Police founded in LondonJackson US president, Peace of Adrianople ends Russo-Turkish War and recognises Greek Independence, Venezuela withdraws from Gran Colombia to become independent nation, Slavery abolished in MexicoStephenson's Rocket wins competition to run between Liverpool and Manchester
1830Mysore comes under EIC control in India, Founding of the Royal Geographic Society in London, Ripon Regulations inaugurate sales of Australian lands by auction, Attempts at suppressing thugee beginEarl Grey PM, William IV KingFrance takes Algeria, Charles X of France deposed and succeeded by Louis Philippe, Belgium becomes independent, Ecuador leaves Gran Colombia, Uprising in Poland against Russian rule, Death of Simon Bolivar, Mormon Church founded by Joseph SmithJeremy Bentham's Constitutional Code; for the use of All Nations and All Governments professing Liberal Opinions, Victor Hugo's Hernani, Tennyson's Poems, Chiefly LyricalRobert Brown discovers the cell nucleus in plants, Liverpool-Manchester railway formally opened, Charles Lyell divides geological system into three distinct areas - eocene, miocene and pliocene
1831James Ross finds the location of magnetic North Pole, Anglo-Ashanti Treaty, Slave Rebellion in JamaicaCholera epidemic, Riots in Bristol, Reform Bill introduced to abolsih 'rotten' boroughs, London Bridge openedFrench Foreign Legion formed, Polish revolt defeated by Russians, Virginia Slave Revolt, Syria attacked by Egyptians, Americans begin forcible eviction of Indians towards OklahomaFriedrich Maximilian von Klinger's Sturm und Drang which gives its name to German literary movement, Alexander Pushkin's Boris Godunov , Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, Darwin begins Beagle voyage, Faraday discovers principle of the Dynamo, Charles Sauria develops method of making matches easy to ignite, Chloroform discoverd by Samuel Guthrie and Justus von Liebig
1832
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
The 'Sir Walter Scott' Arriving in New York
Great Reform Act doubles electorate, redistributes seats and reduces 'rotten' boroughs Mazzini founds Giovine Italia with the aim of achieving national independenceDeath of Sir Walter Scott, Frances Trollope's Domestic Manners of the Americans, Mendelssohn's New Hebrides Overture, Goethe's Faust published postumously, Pushkin's Eugene Onegin Nicolas Carnot develops Second Law of Thermodynamics
1833Abolition of slavery throughout British Empire, Falklands annexed by Royal Navy, Alexander Burnes crosses Hindu Kush mountain range in Central Asia, Sir John Ross returns from his Arctic expeditionDeath of William Wilberforce, Factory Acts provides system of inspections
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Alexander Burnes
Charles Lamb's Last Essays, Felix Mendelssohn's Symphony Number 4 Contraceptive diaphragm invented by Friedrich Wilde, Death of Richard Trevithick, Gauss and Weber devise electromagnetic telegraph which functions over 3,000 metres distance, First steamer crosses Atlantic
1834South Australia founded with support from the Duke of Wellington, Tolpuddle martyrs transported to Australia, East India Company's monopoly of trade with China is ended, Sixth Kaffir (Xhosa) War sees settlers in Cape Colony clash with African tribes on their frontier, Boers cross the Orange River attempting to escape British control, Agents appointed to British ports to ensure protection of migrantsViscount Melbourne PM, Duke of Wellington PM, Sir Robert Peel PM, Workhouses established, Houses of Parliament largely destroyed by fire, Lord Palmerston creates Quadruple Alliance with France, Spain and PortugalRanjit Singh takes Peshawar, Portuguese Civil War ends, Spanish Carlist War begins, German Customs Union (Zollverein) begins to operateDisraeli's The Infernal Marriage, Pushkin's The Queen of Spades, Death of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Braille develops raised writing system for the blind, Charles Babbage develops the principle of the 'analytical engine', Faraday develops Law of Electrolysis
1835Boers start Great Trek in an attempt to escape British control, they come into contact with Zulu nation, Melbourne is founded in Victoria, British impose treaties of protection on Gulf states like Trucial Oman and Bahrain, Missionaries start to arrive in Fiji, Chesney's Euphrates expedition, Equipment Clause regarding slavery accepted by SpainViscount Melbourne PM, Railway Boom in full swing, Municipal Corporation Act gives extensive powers to boroughs to govern themselvesJuan Manuel de Rosas becomes dictator of Argentina, Second Seminole War in US, Texas declares its right to secede from MexicoHans Christian Andersen publishes his first Fairy Tales, Bulwer-Lytton's Rienzi, J. P. Kennedy's Horse Shoe Robinson about the Revolutionary War, William Gilmore Simms' The Yemassee, Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, Turner's The Burning of the Houses of ParliamentJames Paget identifies Trichina Spiralis which caused trichinosis for those who ate undercooked or raw pork, Halley's Comet reappears, Samuel Colt takes a patent in England to protect his single-barrelled pistol and revolver, Charles Chubb patents a burglar proof safe, Foundation of the Geological Survey of Great Britain
1836Adelaide is founded in South Australia as settlers begin to arrive in number, Great Trek continues as Boers move into Natal, the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal, First railway opens in Canada linking Laprairie to St. Johns, Report of Select Committee on the Disposal of Land in British ColoniesChartists demand universal suffrage and secret ballot, Famine in Scottish HighlandsTexas declares independence from Mexico resulting in Alamo and Battle of San JacintoRalph Waldo Emerson's Nature, Schopenhauer's On the Will in Nature, Nikolai Gogol's The Government InspectorSamuel Morse develops electrical telegraph system, John Frederic Daniell develops voltaic cell which prevents polarisation, Asa Gray's Elements of Botany
1837 Revolts in Lower Canada and Upper Canada, USS Caroline set on fire and sunk by British to prevent it from attempting to transport supplies to rebels across Niagara River, Aboriginal Protection Society formedVictoria Queen, Mazzini arrives in London as an exile, Birth registrations made compulsoryPresident of France Sadi Carnot is assassinated, Padri War comes to an end in Sumatra with intervention by Dutch who sack the fortress of Bonjol, Economic downturn in USA, The French army besieges and captures Constantine in French Algeria
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Rebellion in Canada
Electric Telegraph patented by Wheatstone and Cooke Euston becomes London's first railway station, Pitman develops short hand system, Louis Daguerre develops the daguerreotype
1838First Afghan War starts (until 1842), Myall creek massacre in NSWAnti-Corn Law League established by Richard Cobden Battle of Blood River sees Boers clash and decisively defeat Zulus in South Africa, Pastry War between sees French troops invade Mexico, First railway opens in RussiaCharles Dickens' Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby, Turner's The Fighting TemeraireGreat Western sails from Bristol to New York, Bessel makes the first parallax measurement for a fixed star
1839First Opium War in China (until 1842), Ranjit Singh dies leaving power vacuum in Sikh Kingdom, James Ross and F. Crozier set out on Antarctic expedition in HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, Samuel Cunard starts British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, Lord Durham's report on the affairs of British North America, East India Company seizes Aden, British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society formed, Equipment Clause regarding slavery accepted by Portugal
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
The Pastry War
Dutch agree to recognise Belgian independence with Treaty of London, Boers found Natal, Egyptians defeat Ottomans in Syria, Uruguay declares war on Argentina, John Lloyd Stephens discovers many of antiquities from Mayan Civilisation in Central AmericaTurner's The Slave Ship, Jared Sparks' Life of George WashingtonKirkpatrick MacMillan develops bicycle, Charle Goodyear discovers a way to vulcanise rubber
1840Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand, Lower Canada and Upper Canada united and organised into provinces, Treaty of London sees creation of alliance of Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia form a military alliance against Mehemet Ali of Egypt, British gunboats bombard Beirut and land troops, Transportation of criminals to New South Wales, Colonial Land Emigration Commission appointed, Anglo-Zanzibar anti-slave trade treaty, British assault slave barracoons in West AfricaVictoria marries Albert, first postage stamps,
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Opium for Export to China
Proudhon's Property is Theft, James Fennimore Cooper's The Pathfinder, Donizetti's The Daughter Of The Regiment Botanical Gardens at Kew opened, Liebig discovers fundamentals of artificial fertilisers, Agassiz Etudes sur les glaciers on the movement and effects of glaciers
1841Hong Kong established, Livingstone arrives in Africa, Shah Shujah assassinated in Afghanistan leading to disastrous British retreat from Kabul, Falkland Islands become a Crown Colony, James Brooke arrives in Sarawak, British Consul stationed at Zanzibar, Niger ExpeditionSir Robert Peel PM, Thomas Cook offers first holiday excursions, Punch begins to be publishedStraits Convention guarantees Ottoman sovereignty and denies access to the Bosphorous and Dardanelles of all foreign warships, Said ibn Sayyid makes Zanzibar his capitalJames Fennimore Cooper's Deerslayer, Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop, Thomas Carlyle's On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History, Robert Schumann's Symphonies 1 and 4James Baird develops idea of hypnosis, Bessel deduces a value for the ellipticity of the earth, Joseph Whitworth proposes idea of standardising screw threads
1842Treaty of Nanking ends Opium War and confirms British ownership of Hong Kong, Kabul garrison annihilated in Khyber Pass, Webster-Ashburton Treaty defines US-Canadian border between North Brunswick and Maine, James Brooke made Rajah of Sarawak, Constitution Act grants representative government to New South Wales, Third Anglo-Portuguese Treaty regarding SlaveryIncome tax reintroduced, Riots and strikes in industrial North, Queen Victoria takes first railway journeyFrance occupies Tahiti, Guinea and GabonNikolai Gogol's Dead Souls, Mendelssohn's Symphony Number 3, Alfred Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott, Verdi's Verdi: Nabucco, Charles Dickens' American Notes First use of Anaesthetic in an operation by Crawford Long
1843Maori revolts against British rule in New Zealand leading to First Maori War, Sind conquered, British occupy Hawaii briefly to forestall French seizure of the islands, British take control of Natal from Boers, First British settlement on Vancouver Island established, British Settlements Act, Annexation of SindThe Economist is foundedMilitary revolt in Spain
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Maoris of New Zealand
British Archaeological Association and Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland founded, Brunel's propeller driven ship SS Great Britain is launched, James Prescott Joule calculates the amount of work required to produce a unit of heat, Erbium discovered by C. Mosander
1844Daniel O'Connell found guilty of political conspiracy against British rule in IrelandCooperative movement begins in Rochdale, YMCA founded, Factory Acts, Founding of the Ethnological Society of London by Thomas HodgkinTreaty of Tangier ends French war in Morocco, Karl Marx meets Friedrich Engels in Paris, James Polk becomes President of the US with promise to expand American territory North-Westwards at the expense of the BritishTurner's Rain, Steam and Speed
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Royal Naval Anti-Slavery Patrol
1845First Sikh War (until 1846), Irish potato famine (until 1848), John Franklin goes missing whilst searching for North-West Passage in Arctic Canada, Anglo-Sikh War begins, Anglo-French blockade of Buenos Aires begins (until 1848), Hutt's Select Committee to investigate effectiveness of anti-slavery campaign
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Franklin Expedition for North-West Passage
Widespread famine as poor wheat harvest in Europe is compounded by disastrous potato blight, US annexes Texas and FloridaEngels' Condition of the working class in England, Austen Henry Layard begins excavation at Nimrod in Iraq, Wagner's Tannhauser, Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, Disraeli's Sybil, or The Two Nations, Robert Browning's Home Thoughts from Abroad Galvanised corrugated Iron invented, Pneumatic tyre invented, Humboldt's Cosmos, Kolbe synthesizes acetic acid, William M'Naught develops compound steam engine, Joshua Heilman patens machine for combing cotton and wool, First submarine cable laid across English Channel, Arthur Cayley's Theory of Linear Transformations, Bigelow constructs power loom for carpet manufacturing, William Armstrong develops hydraulic crane
1846EIC defeats Sikhs at Aliwal and Sobraon, Treaty of Lahore ends First Sikh War, Seventh Kaffir (Xhosa) War begins (until 1847), Oregon Treaty sees boundary of 49th parallel extend all the way to Pacific except for Vancouver Island which was to remain British, Earl Grey's colonial defence reviewLord John Russell PM, Corn Laws repealed, Evangelical Alliance formed in London, French invasion scare, Sugar Duties ActMexican-US war (until 1848), Black Bear Revolt sees settlers in California declare seccesion from Mexico, Brigham Young leads Mormons to Salt Lake in UtahFirst appreance of printed Christmas Cards, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense, Herman Melville's Typee, Dostoevsky's Poor Folk Rotary Printing Press developed, Smithsonian Institute is founded with a bequest from James Smithson, Carl Zeiss founds Optical factory in Jena, American dentist W. T. Morton uses ether as an anaesthetic, Ascanio Sobrero prepares nitroglycerine, John Deere constructs plough with steel moldboard, Sewing machine patented by Elias Howe, von Mohl identifies protoplasm
1847Large scale Irish emigration as a result of Irish famineFactory Act restricts working day for children and women to 10 hours a dayLiberia proclaimed independent republic, US forces capture Mexico City, Bakunin expelled from Paris for advocating overthrown of monarchy in RussiaCharlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Thackeray's Vanity Fair
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Irish Eviction
1848Second Sikh War (until 1849), Orange River Sovereignty claimed as being under British control (until 1854), Labuan becomes a Crown Colony off Borneo, Matale Rebellion against British rule in Ceylon, British, Dutch, and German governments lay claim to New Guinea, Scottish settlers establish Dunedin in New Zealand, Marquess of Dalhousie becomes Governor-General of India instituting a period of liberal reformsFirst Public Health Act establishes Boards of Health giving cities broad authority to build modern sanitary systems, Chartist RalliesWidespread European revolutions and uprisings, Abdication of Louis Philippe in France, Revolution in Vienna, Franz Josef succeeds as Emperor of Austria, Gold discovered in California leading to Gold Rush, US takes Mexican lands north of Rio Grande River, Serfdom abolished in AustriaKarl Marx's Communist Manifesto, Macaulay's History of England, J. S. Mill's Principles of the Political Economy, Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary BartonFirst appendectomy, Safety matches designed by Bottger
1849British defeat Sikhs at Chillianwalla and Gujerat, British annex Punjab, David Livingstone crosses Kalahari Desert and discovers Lake Ngami, Cape Colony refuses to accept any future convicts from BritainNavigation Acts repealed to encourage Laissez-Faire tradeVenice submits to Austria, Austria subdues Hungarian rebels, Kossuth flees to Turkey, Mazzini claims Rome as a Republic but French use troops to restore Rome to Pope Pius IX, Garibaldi flees to USACharles Dickens' David CopperfieldSafety Pin patented, Speed of Light accurately measured by Fizeau, Edward Frankland isolates amyl
1850Don Pacifico Affair sees British aggresively defend the rights of a citizen of Empire (from Gibraltar) in Greece through the use of a naval blockade of Athens, Edward Eyre is the first European to cross the Nullarbar Plain in Australia, Eighth Kaffir (Xhosa) War begins (until 1853), Royal Navy seize Brazilian slave ships in Brazilian waters Irish Franchise Act, Hutt's Motion to end anti-slavery patrols defeated in ParliamentTaiping Rebellion in China, Prussia and Denmark sign Peace of Berlin on issue of Schleswig-Holstein, California joins America as a State, Brazil introduces anti-slave trade legislation
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
St. George's, Grenada
Robert Knox's The Races of Man, Royal Meteorological Society formed, Stephenson builds cast-iron railway bridge in Newcastle, Chebyshev's On Primary Numbers, Helmholtz establishes speed of nervous impulse, Clausius formulates second law of thermodynamics, and kinetic theory of gases, bunsen burner invented
1851Gold discovered in New South Wales, Basuto War (until 1853), Victoria becomes Colony, Emigration Advances Act, First telegraph laid in India, Bombardment of Lagos
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
The Kaffir (Xhosa or Frontier) Wars
Destruction of French Second Republic by Coup D'etat of Louis NapoleonHerman Melville's Moby Dick, Death of J.M.W. Turner, Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies, Emanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing the DelawareGreat Exhibition at Crystal Palace, Kelvin's Law of conservation of energy, Isaac Singer devises continuous stitch sewing machine, Ruhmkoff invents high tension induction coil
1852Second Anglo-Burmese War (until 1855), Livingstone explores the Zambesi (until 1856), Britain recognizes the independence of the Transvaal with the Sand River Convention, HMS Birkenhead sinks near Cape Town, Highland and Island Emigration Society sends migrants to Australia, Udaipur lapses to EIC controlEarl of Derby PM, Earl of Aberdeen PM, Death of Duke of WellingtonArgentina and Uruguay go to war, Napoleon III becomes Emperor of the French, French invasion scareHarriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Tolstoy's Childhood, Boyhood, Youth, Charles Dickens' Bleak House Mathysen impregnates bandages with plaster, Herbert Spencer's The Development Hypothesis uses the term 'Evolution' for the first time, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children admits first patient,
1853First railways in India, British annexe Nagpur in India, Tasmania ends importing of convicts, Britain takes Pegu from Burma as Second Anglo-Burmese War endsRussia and Turkey clash over Danubian territories and in the Black Sea leading to Crimean WarCommodore Perry arrives in Japan with a US fleet, Turkey and War clash leading to Crimean War, Shanghai falls to Taiping rebels, French annex New CaledoniaGeorges Hausmann begins reconstruction of Paris, Verdi's La Traviata, Charlotte Bronte's Villette, Charles Kingsley' Hypatia, Nathaniel Hawthorn's Tanglewood Tales, Matthew Arnold's The Scholar Gypsy Hypodermic syringe invented by Alexander Wood, Queen Victoria agrees to the use of chloroform during birth of her seventh child, vaccination against smallpox becomes compulsory in Britain, Brunel begins work on SS Great Eastern
1854Eureka rebellion in Victoria, Convention of Bloemfontein sees British leave territory north of Orange River and so abandon claims to Orange River Colony, Elgin Treaty regulates trade between US and Canada, Great Ganges Canal openedBritish forces land on Crimean Peninsular, Siege of Sevastapol begins, battle of Balaklava and Inkerman, Civil Service formedCrimean War (1854-56), US forces Japanese to open up to foreign trade with Treaty of Kanagawa, New Khedive of Egypt grants concession to build Suez Canal to Ferdinand de Lesseps
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
First Shots of Crimean War
John Snow proves cholera is a water borne disease, Benjamn Silliman fractionates petroleum by distallation, SS Brandon is the first ship with compound expansion engines, Heinrich Goebel invents first form of electric light bulb
1855Britain and Afghanistan join together against Persia with Treaty of PeshawarViscount Palmerston PM, Livingstone is the first European to see the Victoria Falls
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Victoria Falls
William Russell pioneers war reporting with his Crimean War coverage, Charles Kingsley's Westward Ho!, Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, Berlioz' Te Deum, Franz Liszt's Piano Concertos 1Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit, Longfellow's The Song of HiawathaMendel's discovery of laws of heredity
1856Oudh annexed, Second Chinese 'Opium' or 'Arrow' War (until 1860), Natal becomes a Crown Colony, Anglo-Persian War beginsVictoria Cross established, First cigarette factory opened by Robert Gloag who was a veteran of the Crimean War where British soldiers came into contact with the paper rolled tobacco for the first time, Big Ben is castTreaty of Paris makes the Black Sea neutral and asserts the independence of the Ottoman EmpireFlaubert's Madame Bovary published, J. A. Froude's A History of EnglandFossilised remains of Neanderthal found in Rhineland, First refrigerator ship, Synthetic colours developed by William Perkins, Henry Bessemer invents Bessemer converter which makes low-cost steel, Sir William Siemens makes ductile steel for boiler plating
1857Peace of Paris ends Anglo-Persian War and guarantees independence of Afghanistan, Indian Mutiny, British and French take Canton, Irish Republican Brotherhood (Fenians) founded in New York, First Indian Universities founded, Baikie's Niger expedition (until 1864)
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
The Indian Mutiny
Financial and economic crisis in Europe and North America due to speculation on US railroad shares, Garibaldi forms Italian National Association with a view towards the unification of Italy, Mountain Meadows massacre sees Mormons coordinate an attack on the Fancher waggon trainVictoria and Albert Museum opened, Trollope's Barchester Towers, Henry T. Buckle's History of Civilisation in England, Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's School Days Pasteur proves that fermentation is caused by living organisms, Trans-Atlantic cable completed, Science Museum opened in South Kensington
1858East India Company dissolved, Treaty of Tientsin obliges Chinese to open more ports to foreign access, Burton and Speke discover Lake Tanganyika, Ottawa becomes the capital of CanadaEarl of Derby PM, Lionel de Rothschild becomes the first Jewish Member of ParliamentTsar Alexander II begins the emancipation of serfs in Russia, Orsini Assassination attempt on Napoleon III strains relations between Britain and France as plotters were found to have based themselves in London, Suez Canal Company formedDion Boucicault's Jessie Brown, or The Relief of Lucknow, Tom Taylor's Our American CousinFerdinand Carre develops a refrigerator, T.H. Huxley's The Theory of the Vertebrate Skull, William Thomson invents mirror galvanometer, Joseph Lister studies coagulation of blodd, SS Great Eastern is launched
1859Queensland becomes a Crown Colony, First Bengal Rent Act, Universities' Mission to Central Africa formedViscount Palmerston PMFrance and Piedmont fight and defeat Austria, John Brown tries to instigate insurrection of slaves at Harper's Ferry but is defeated and hangedJ.S. Mill's On Liberty, Edouard Manet's The Absinthe Drinker, Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, Ivan Goncharov's Oblomov, Edward Fitzgerald translates The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Johannes Brahms' Brahms: The Piano Concertos; Fantasias Op.116 Darwin's Origin of Species, Oil pumped in Pennsylvania, Canada's Grant Trunk Railway completed
1860Anglso French force defeats Chinese at Pa-li-Chau, Kowloon leased from China, Hankou and Tientsin open as 'Treaty Ports' with British concessionary areas, Taranaki Wars in NZ (until 1870), John Speke and James Grant expedition to locate source of Nile in Lake Victoria (until 1863), Sturt Expedition transversing Australia from south to north (until 1862)
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Ireland Island, Bermuda
American Civil War begins (until 1865), Italian Unification Wars, Vladivostock founded, German explorer Karl von der Decken explores East Africa with a view to starting German colonies there George Eliot's Mill on the Floss, William Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White, Robert Schumann's Cello Concerto Machine-made single-shot breech-loading rifles proliferate, Bunsen and Kirchoff discover Cesium and rubidum, Lenoir constructs first practical internal combustion engine, First horse-drawn tram
1861British annexation of Lagos, Mills Committee on Colonial Military Expenditure, Indian Councils ActDeath of Prince Albert, Food and Drugs Act, Queen Victoria creates the Order of the Star of India, Trent Affair sees Britain and the Union clash over the arrest of Confederate diplomats on a British ship, British launch Alabama which was ordered by Confederacy and goes on to cause great destruction in Union shippingAmerican Civil War (until 1865), Russia abolishes Serfdom, Allied intervention in Mexico, French extend their control over Cochin, A united Italy is proclaimed with Victor Emanuel declared King, Warsaw massacre sees Russian troops firing on Polish protesters, United States institutes passport system to control movement in and out of the countryMrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, George Eliot's Silas Marner, Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, Anthony Trollope's Framley Parsonage, William Monk's Abide with Me, Dostoevsky's The House of the Dead, Herbert Spencer's Education: Moral, Intellectual, Physical Pasteur's Germ Theory of disease, Richard Gatling invents the Gatling Gun, Archaeopteryx discovered in Germany, William Crookes discovers thallium, Daily weather forecasts in Britain begin
1862Amalgamation of Lower Burma, Arakan and Tenasserim, British naval intervention against Taiping rebels, Anglo-French agreement over Zanzibar, Samuel Baker's expedition to discover Nile's Abyssinian tributaries and Lake Albert (until 1865), English cricket team tours Australia for first time, British and Spanish troops withdraw from Mexico due to France's ambitions there, Anglo-American Treaty establishing Mixed Commission Courts for slave shipsAmerican Civil war results in the steep reduction of cotton supplies which in turn forces many mills to close, International Exhibition in LondonCreation of Red Cross proposed by Jean Henri DunantHerbert Spencer's First Principles, Victor Hugo's Les MiserablesLion Foucault successfully measures the speed of light, Julius Sachs demonstrates that starch is produced by photosynthesis, Pasteurisation developed by Louis Pasteur
1863Taiping rebels lose Soochow to Manchu forces being advised by Charles Gordon, Civil war in Afghanistan after the death of Dost MohammedFootball Association formedLincoln issues Gettysburg Address which includes the call for the Emancipation of slaves, French offer throne of Mexico to Archduke Maximilian of Austria Anthropological Society of London founded, Sir Francis Galton's Meteorographica or, Methods of Mapping the Weather
1864Elizabeth Sinclair buys the island of Niihau in the Sandwich Islands, General Gordon helps imperial troops sack Nanjing and end Taiping Rebellion, Samuel Baker discovers Lake AlbertOctavia Hill begins London tenement dwelling reformsAustria and Prussia attack Denmark and divide Schleswig-Holstein between themselves, Maximillian accepts throne of Mexico, Brazil invades Uruguay, Geneva Convention establishes the neutrality of battlfield medical facilitiesJules Verne's Voyage to the Centre of the Earth, Dostoevsky's Letters From the Underground, Anthony Trollope's The Small House at Allington, Tolstoy begins War and Peace, Charles Dickens' Our Mutual FriendGeorge Marsh's Man and Nature, Joseph Bertrand writes Treatise on Differential and Integral Calculus
1865Colonial Naval Defence Act, China Inland Mission established by J. Hudson Taylor, Colonial Laws Validity Act, Morant Bay rebellion in Jamaica, Parliamentary Select Committee on West African settlementsLord John Russell PM, Salvation Army started by William Booth, Queensberry Rules for boxing are first outlinedAmerican Civil War comes to an end with Union victory, Lincoln assassinated, Slavery abolished throughout USA, War of Triple Alliance sees Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay fight Paraguay (until 1870), Ku Klux Klan formed in TennesseeWinslow Homer's Prisoners from the Front, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Wagner's Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, Anthony Trollope's The Belton EstateGregor Mendel explains his law of heredity, Pullman introduces the sleeper car, Pasteur succeeds in curing Silk Worm disease, Joseph Lister uses carbolic acid in surgery and so introduce concept of antiseptic surgery, Atlantic Cable re-established
1866Livingstone's third journey in Africa to look for source of Nile (until 1873), Abrogation of Recipocity Treaty with Canada by USA, Fenian raids on Canada, British Kaffraria joins Cape Colony, Vancouver becomes a part of British ColombiaEarl of Derby PM, Black Friday on London Stock Exchange, Dr Barnardo opens his first home for destitute children in London Prussia and Italy defeat Austria, Cholera epidemic in Europe and North America, US fails to recognise Maximillian regime in Mexico
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
The Capture of Tubabecelong, Gambia
Nobel invents dynamite, Aeronautical Society of Great Britain formed, Ernst Haeckel's General Morphology, Robert Whitehead develops torpedo
1867Canada unites provinces and becomes a Dominion, Diamonds discovered in South Africa, Straits Settlements become a Crown ColonySecond Parliamentary Reform ActUS buys Alaska from Russia, Meiji restoration in Japan, Bismarck organises a north German Confederation under Prussian leadership, Maximillian surrenders in Mexico and is executed by firing squad, US claim Midway Islands in Pacific OceanJapanese art exhibited in Paris, Edouard Manet's The Execution of Maximilian, Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Anthony Trollope's The Last Chronicle of Barset, Ouida's Under Two Flags, Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt, Johann Strauss' The Blue Danube Waltz
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Federation of Canada, 1867
1868Abyssinian campaign, The Colonial Society is founded in London, Annexation of BasutolandBenjamin Disraeli PM, William Ewart Gladstone PM, TUC formedBoshin War in Japan, Shogunate abolished, Russians occupy Samarkand, Revolution in SpainCharles Dilke's Greater Britain, L.M. Alcott's Little Women, Dostoevsky's The Idiot, Wilkie Collins' Moonstone, Whitaker's Almanac begins to be publishedTraffic signals are used in London, Helium discovered, Christopher Sholes patents a typewriter with a QWERTY layout of the keys, Charles Darwin's The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, Ernst Haeckel's The History of Creation, Skeleton of Cro Magnon man found in France,
1869Suez Canal opened, Red River Rebellion delays transfer of Hudson's Bay Company territories to Canada, Newfoundland rejects incorporation into Canada, Stanley is recruited by New York Times to search for Livingstone
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Suez Canal
Parliamentary system reintroduced into France, Greece agrees to leave Crete after a Turkish ultimatum, Gustav Nachtigal explores the Sudan and SaharaMark Twain's Innocents Abroad, Tolstoy's War and Peace finished, Anthony Trollope's Phineas Finn, R.D. Blackmore's Lorna Doone, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Symphony Number 2 J.W. Hyatt invents celluloid, Dmitri Mendeleev lays out elements in his Periodic Table,
1870Rhodes arrives in Africa, Cable links Australia and London, British troops withdraw from Canada, Australia and New ZealandElementary education actFranco-Prussian war ends Napoleon III's rule of France, Schliemann discovers Troy, Paraguayan War ends, Pope is declared to be infallible when speaking on spiritual matters, Italians enter Rome and declare it the capital of Italy, Adolf Nordenskjold explores the interior of Greenland, Rockefeller founds Standard Oil CompanyJules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, William Morris' Earthly Paradise, Richard Wagner's Die Walk're, Tchaikovsky's Romeo And Juliet, Death of Charles Dickens' leaving Edwin Drood unfinished. Undersea cabling proliferates to connect overland telegraphs creating a worldwide network, T.H. Huxley's Biogenesis
1871Stanley finds Livingstone at Ujiji, British Columbia joins Canada, Annexation of Griqualand West to Cape Colony, Closure of Admiralty Courts in Freetown due to slave trade being effectively ended.Trade Unions become legal, Bank Holidays introduced, F.A. Cup established, Branding abolished as a punishment in the British Army and Royal NavyParis Commune, Unification of Germany announced in the Hall of Mirrors in ParisVerdi's Aida performed, Dostoevsky's The Possessed, George Eliot's Middlemarch, Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, Rossetti's Dream of DanteCharles Darwin's The Descent of Man, Simon Ingersoll invents pneumatic rock drill, G.A. Hansen discovers leprosy bacillus, White Star Line launches SS Oceanic the first of the large modern luxury liners
1872Earl Mayo the Viceroy of India is murdered, Cape Colony is granted responsible government<, Pacific Islanders Protection Act/TD>Secret ballot introduced, British pay compensation to US for damage caused by Alabama ship built in Britain during American Civil War, First international football game sees England play ScotlandCarlists defeated in Spanish Civil War, Three Emperors League between Germany, Russia and Austria, Compulsory military service introduced in Japan, US General Amnesty Act pardons most ex-confederates, Bakunin expelled from First InternationalJules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days, Turgenev's A Month in the Country, Thomas Hardy's Under the Greenwood Tree, Marx's Das Kapital Volume 1 George Ebers discovers oldest collection of Egyptian medical writings yet discovered, Edison perfects the 'duplex' telegraph, George Westinghouse develops air brakes
1873Royal Canadian Mounted Police formed, Missionary activity begins in New Guinea, Death of David Livingstone, Anglo-Zanzibar Treaty ending slave trade in Zanzibar, Ashanti War (until 1874), Famine in Bengal
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
British Consulate in Zanzibar
German troops withdraw from France keeping Alsace and Lorraine, White Star liner 'Atlantic' is wrecked off Nova Scotia, Dutch suppress revolt in Sumatra in the Aceh war (until 1903), Exiled Napoleon III dies in England, Spanish Republic proclaimed, Financial panic in Vienna and New York, Austrian explorers discover Franz Josef Land in Arctic OceanTolstoy's Anna Karenina, Anthony Trollope's The Eustace Diamonds, Mark Twain and Charles Warner's The Gilded Age, J.S. Mill's Autobiography, Bruckner's Symphony No. 2, Herbert Spencer's The Study of Sociology Barbed wire invented by Henry Rose, James Clerk Maxwell's Electricity and Magnetism, Wilhelm Wundt's Physiological Psychology
1874Gold Coast becomes colony, H,M> Stanley expedition to search for source of Nile (until 1877), British annexation of Fiji, Treaty of Pangkor sees British Residents in Malayan States, Sir Garnet Wolseley enters Kumasi, The Agra canal opens in IndiaBenjamin Disraeli PMJapan invades Taiwan to seek compensation from China for a Japanese shipwreck on the island. The Chinese reluctantly agree to pay compensation allowing the Japanese to withdraw, Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trading rights, Spanish Republic replaced by MonarchyFirst impressionist exhibition in Paris - the term impressionism is derived from a work by Claude Monet - Impression, Sunrise, Mussorgsky' Boris Godunov, Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, Anthony Trollope's Phineas Redux Billroth discovers streptococci and staphylococci, H. Solomon introduces pressure cooking methods for canning foods
1875Britain buys Suez Canal shares, Canada creates Supreme Court, Prince of Wales visits India, New Zealand parliament formed, James Birch the Resident of Perak is murdered, Tension between Britain and China over the murder of Augustus Margary on Burmese-China border, Bonin Islands transferred to JapanCaptain Webb becomes first person to swim across the English ChannelFrench republican constitution passedBizet's Carmen, Saint-Saens' Danse macabre, Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live NowBell patents telephone, Henry Schliemann publishes his Troy and its Remains about his excavations there
1876Victoria becomes Empress of India, Famine in India, Egypt declared bankrupt leading to Anglo-French 'Dual Control' of Egyptian finances, Confederation riots in Barbados, Completion of Canada's Inter-colonial RailwayPlimsoll line introduced to protect ships from being overloadedBulgarian insurrection against Turkish rule escalates into Balkan Crisis, Battle of Little Bighorn, Korea becomes independent of Chinese rule, Ethiopians defeat Egyptians at Gura, Nickel Ore found in New CaledoniaBrahms' Symphony No 1, George Eliot's Daniel Deronda, Archibald Willard's The Spirit of '76 Robert Koch discovers anthrax bacillus, Heinrich Schliemann begins excavations of Mycenae
1877Ninth Kaffir (Xhosa) War begins (until 1879), Annexation of Transvaal, Western Pacific High Commission set up, Delhi Durbar, Sir Bartle Frere appointed High Commissioner for South AfricaBritain threatens war with Russia if Russians occupy Constantinople, Wimbledon Tennis Championship startsRusso-Turkish war (until 1778), Satsuma Revolt in Japan is suppressedTchaikovsky's Swan Lake, Henry James' The American, Henrik Ibsen's The Pillars of Society, Brahms' Symphony No 2; Hungarian Dances Edison invents Phonograph, Frozen meat shipped from Argentina to Europe for the first time, Robert Kock develops technique to stain and identify bacteria, Oxygen liquified
1878Cyprus occupied, Second Afghan War (until 1880), Walvis Bay Annexed, Fur farming begins in CanadaWilliam Booth's movement changes its name to Salvation Army, CID at New Scotland Yard is establishedRussians defeat Ottomans and take Adrianople but do not enter Constantinople when British fleet arrives there, Treaty of San Stefano gives independene to Romania, Montenegro and Serbia, Congress of Berlin to discuss consequences of Russo-Ottoman War ends with Treaty of Berlin, Paris World Exhibition
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
HMS Pinafore
Channel tunnel attempted, Karl Benz builds motorised tricycle, Electric street lighting in London, Mannlicher produces a repeating rifle
1879 Zulu War (until 1880), Anglo-French control confirmed over Egypt, Carnarvon Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce (until 1882), Adoption of National Policy of tariff protection adopted in Canada, Australian frozen meat goes on sale in London for first time, Irish Land League is formed, British legation in Kabul is massacred
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
The Great Game
German and Austo-Hungarian Dual Alliance formed, Khedive Ismail is deposed and replaced by Tewfik in Egypt, War of the Pacific sees Chile fight Peru (until 1884), Prince Imperial of France is killed by Zulus whilst campaigning with the BritishIbsen's The Doll's House, Robert Louis Stephenson's Travels with a Donkey, Henry James' Daisy Miller, Herbert Spencer's Principles of Ethics, Tchaikovsky's Tchaikovsky: Evgeny OneginFirst electric tramways in Berlin, Europe connected to East and West Africa by telegraph cables, London's first telephone exchange established, Fahlberg and Remser discover saccharin, Scandium discovered by L.F. Nilson
1880Borneo and Brunei become British Protectorates, Rhodes founds De Beers, Ned Kelly hanged in Melbourne, First Boer War (until 1881), First Canadian High Commissioner appointed to London, Captain Boycott is 'boycotted' for treatment of Irish tenantsGladstone's Midlothian campaign, William Ewart Gladstone PM, First Australia - England cricket game in Britain, Parcel post introduced in BritainFrench Equatorial Africa established by Pierre Brazza Savorgnani, Morocco is recongised as an independent nation by European powers, France annexes Tahiti Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, Mark Twain's A Tramp Abroad, Lew Wallace's Ben Hur, Anthony Trollope's The Duke's Children Canned fruits and meats become widespreadly available, First electric street light in New York, Charles Lavern proves that Malaria is caused by a parasite in the blood, James Wimshurst invents electrostatic generator, Pasteur discovers a chicken cholera vaccine, Edison and Swan both develop a practical electric light
1881Mahdi war in Sudan (1881-98), British defeated at Majuba Hill, Pretoria Convention restores independence to Transvaal, British North Borneo Company granted Royal Charter, Irish land and coercion acts, Parnell imprisoned Flogging abolished in the British Army and Royal Navy Urabi Pasha Revolution in Egypt, Jewish pogroms in East Europe, Alexander II assassinated, US President Garfield assassinated, Bey of Tunis accepts French protection
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Bombay Station
Natural History Museum opened in London, Electricity exhibition in Paris
1882Bombardment of Alexandria and occupation of Egypt, Kilmainham agreement between Parnell and British governmentPhoenix Park murders, Queen Victoria gives Epping Forest to nationTriple Alliance between Italy, Austria and Germany, US bans Chinese immigrants for ten years, three mile limit on territorial waters agreed at Hague ConventionRobert Louis Stephenson's Treasure Island, Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Wagner's Wagner: Parsifal First hydro-electric station built in US
1883Formation of National Association for Promoting State-Directed Emigration and Colonisation, British decide to evacuate SudanBoys' Brigade establishedFrench claim Tonkin, Cochin and Annam as French Protectorates, Krakatoa explodes, Bismarck introduces sickness insurance in Germany, French gain control of TunisDeath of Wagner, J.R. Seeley's The Expansion of England, Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra, Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi, Johannes Brahms' Symphony No.3, Olive Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm Hiram Maxim patents recoil operated machine gun, William Thomson's On the Size of Atoms, Sir Joseph Swan produces a synthetic fibre, Robert Koch develops a method of inoculation against anthrax, First skyscrapers built in Chicago
1884Berlin conference to discuss colonisation in Africa, Walvis Bay subsumed into Cape Colony, Formation of Imperial Federation League, Ilbert Bill allows Indian judges to try British offenders, British Protectorate over British New Guinea in response to German claims in the area, Egyptian Forces evacuated from Sudan although Gordon remains in Khartoum, Anglo-Portuguese Treaty to control the mouth of the River CongoThird Reform act, Fabian Society foundedTreaty of Valparaiso ends War of Pacific, Germans claim Togoland and South-West Africa as colonies, Sino-French war (until 1885), Civil War in Ashanti
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Battle of El Teb
First underground train in London, Sir Charles Parsons invents first practical steam turbine engine, Sir Oliver Lodge discovers electrical precipitation, Arthur Nicolaier discovers tetanus bacillus, Rayon develops artificial fibres, Rickman Godlee undertakes first ooperation to remove a brain tumour
1885Gordon killed in Khartoum, Indian National Congress formed, Canadian Pacific railway completed, Third Anglo-Burmese War sees Burma fully occupied, Panjdeh Incident sees Russians encroach into Afghan territory, Colonial Defence Committee founded, Bechuanaland and Niger Coast Protectorates established, North-West Rebellion in CanadaSalisbury PMCongo Free State established as a private fiefdom for King Leopold, Gold discovered in Transvaal, Treaty of Tientsin sees Chinese recognition of French claims in Indo-ChinaRider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, Brahms' Symphony No.4, Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck, Richard Burton's translation of The Arabian Nights, Marx's Das Kapital Volume 2, Gilbert and Sullivan's The MikadoKarl Benz builds single cylinder engine for motor car, unique quality of fingerprints established, Royal Scottish Geographical Society founded, George Eastman makes coated photographic paper available, Pasteur develops a rabies vaccine
1886Royal Niger Company receives Charter, Colonial and Indian exhibition in South Kensington, Anglo-German agreement over respective spheres of influence in East Africa, First Indian National Congress Meets, China recognises British control of BurmaWilliam Ewart Gladstone PM, Gladstone resigns over Ireland Home Rule Bill being defeated, Chamberlain forms Liberal Unionists, Salisbury PM
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Colonial and Indian Exhibition
British School of Archaeology opens in Athens, Frances Hodgson Burnett's Little Lord Fauntleroy, Robert Louis Stephenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Andrew Carnegie's Triumphant Democracy, William Dean Howells' Indian Summer, Camille Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3 Germanium discovered by Clemens Winkler, Henri Moissan produces fluorine, Ernst von Bergmann uses steam to sterilize surgical instruments, Aluminium produced by electrolysis for first time
1887 Zululand becomes protectorate, First Colonial Conference held in London, Anglo-French Condominium over New HebridesVictoria's Golden jubileeGeneral Boulanger fails to take power in France, Macao is ceded to Portugal by China, Italians defeated by Ethiopians at DogaliConan Doyle'sSherlock Holmes makes his first appearance in A Study in Scarlet, Henry Rider Haggard's She and Allan Quatermain, Van Gough's Moulin de la Galette, Esperanto devised by L.L. Zamenhof, Thomas Hardy's The WoodlandersJoseph Lockyer's The Chemistry of the Sun, H.W. Goodwin invents celluloid film
1888Imperial British East Africa Company charter awarded, Cook Islands become British Protectorate, Imperial Exhibition in Glasgow, Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei become British Protectorates, Cecil Rhodes amalgamates Kimberley Diamond Companies, Lobengula grants mining rights to British in Matabeleland and Mashonaland, Suez Canal Convention signed at Constantinople declaring it to be free and open to all shipping in both peace and warCounty Councils formed, Jack the Ripper murders in LondonSlavery ended in Brazil, Wilhelm II becomes Kaiser of GermanyRudyard Kipling's Plain Tales from the Hills, Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince, Mark Rutherford's The Revolution in Tanner's Lane, James Bryce's The American Commonwealth, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, Gilbert and Sullivan's The Yeoman Of The Guard Radio waves discovered by Hertz, Dunlop develops pneumatic tyre, Nikola Tesla constructs an electric mother, George Eastman perfects 'Kodak' camera
1889British South Africa Co. Royal Charter awarded, Rhodesia established, Shire districts of Nyasaland become a British Protectorate, Naval Defence Act, Anglo-German-American supervision of SamoaLondon Dock strikeJapan's Meiji constitution, Brussels Conference on the Slave Trade, Italy takes Somalia and Ethiopia, Eiffel Tower completed, First Pan-American Conference in Washington, Brazil becomes a Republic, French Panama Canal Company bankruptMark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Robert Louis Stevenson's The Master of Ballantrae, Gustav Mahler's Symphony No.1, T.H. Huxley's Agnosticism, Van Gogh's Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear Schiaparelli discovers synchronous rotations of planets Mercury and Venus, Frederick Abel invents cordite
1890Heligoland ceded to Germans in return for primacy in Witu, Zanzibar and Uganda, Anglo-French declaration on West Africa, Cecil Rhodes becomes PM of Cape ColonyParnell resignsBismarck dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II, German control over East African territories confirmed, Indians massacred at Wounded Knee, Baring Crisis due to poor lending decisions in ArgentinaDeath of Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Alfred Mahan's The Influence of Sea Power upon History
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Baring Crisis, Argentina
1891Australian demands for Trade protection and unification due to economic depression, Pahang rising in Malaya, Anglo-Portuguese Treaty establishes respective spheres of influence in South-East Africa
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
The Australian Stockman
Trans-Siberian railway begun, Chilean civil war, Germany develops first old age pension scheme, Pan-German League founded, Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy is renewedGaughin travels to Tahiti, Goldwin Smith's Canada and the Canadian Question, Rudyard Kipling's The Light that Failed, Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Ubervilles, James Barrie's The Little Minister, Rachmaninov's Piano Concertos No. 1 Beginnings of wireless telegraphy, Samuel Langley's Experiments in Aerodynamics
1892Failure of British East Africa Company, First sitting of Maori Parliament, British Protectorate over Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands, Britain and Germany agree to demarcation of CameroonsWilliam Ewart Gladstone PM, Keir Hardie becomes first Labour Party MPFranco-Russian allianceRudyard Kipling's Barrack Room Ballads, Mark Twain's The American Claimant, Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan, Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, Bruckner's Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 G.J. Romanes' Darwin and After Darwin, Diesel patents his internal combustion engine, C.F. Cross and E.J. Bevan discover viscose
1893Matabele War, East African protectorate, Women's suffrage in New Zealand, British Protectorate of Solomon Islands, Imperial Institute in London foundedSecond Irish Home Rule passed by Commons by rejected by Lords, Independent labour party formed, Manchester Ship Canal completedFranco-Russian Alliance, French colonise Ivory Coast, Laos and Guinea, Swaziland annexed by Transvaal, Fridjtof Nansen's exploration of Arctic, World Exhibition in ChicagoHerman Sudermann's Heimat, Death of Tchaikovsky's after Symphony No. 6 and death Dvorak's From The New World
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
The Shangani Patrol
1894Uganda becomes a Protectorate, Jameson occupies Matabeleland, Cape Colony annexes Pondoland, British secret Congo Treaty with King Leopold IIEarl of Rosebery PM, Death Duties introduced in BritainCoup in Hawaii sees temporary US occupation, Sino-Japanese War (until 1895), Tsar Nicholas II, French take Madacasgar, Dreyfus Affair in France, Sven Hedin explores Tibet, Baron de Coubertin founds committee to organise modern Olympic GamesMarx's Das Kapital Volume 3, G. and W. Grossmith's Diary of a Nobody, Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book, Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda, George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man, Sidney and Beatrice Webb's History of Trade Unionism, Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 5, Sibelius' Finlandia Berliner pioneers use of discs (records) instead of cylinders for sound reproduction, Flagstaff Observatory erected in Flagstaff Arizona, Plague bacillus discovered, Argon discovered by Lord Rayleigh and William Ramsay
1895Jameson Raid, Anglo-Venezuelan border dispute, British East Africa Protectorate establishedSalisbury PM, Joseph Chamberlain becomes Colonial Secretary, Navy League foundedJapan takes Taiwan, Cuban rebellion against Spanish control begins, Kiel Canal opened in Germany, Italians defeated by Abyssinians at Amba AlagiOscar Wilde imprisoned, Joseph Conrad's first novel is Almayer's Folly, Art Nouveau style predominates, Sienkiewicz' Quo Vadis, H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, Hillaire Belloc's Verses and Sonnets, W.B. Yeats' Poems, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being EarnestRontgen discovers X-Rays, First motion picture house in Paris, Gillette invents the safety razor, Konstantin Isiolkovski formulates the principle of rocket reaction propulsion, C. von Linde constructs a machine for the liquefaction of air, Marconi invents radio telegraphy, Sigmund Freud's Studies on Hysteria
1896Famine in India, Reconquest of Sudan begins (until 1899), Kaiser telegram to Kruger, Cecil Rhodes resigns as Premier of Cape Colony, Matabele Revolt Brutally suppressed (until 1897), Anglo-French declaration on Siam, Formation of the Federated Malay States, Election of first French-Canadian PM in Canada, British take Kumasi in Fourth Ashanti War, Anglo-Zanzibar WarThe 'Daily Mail' begins publishing, Royal Victorian Order founded, Czar Nicholas visits LondonItalians defeated by Ethiopians at Adowa and withdraw their plans for an Italian Protectorate, Nobel peace prizes started, France annexes Madagascar, Russia and China sign Manchuria ConventionAnton Chekhov's The Seagull, A.E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad, Oscar Wilde's Salome, Theodore Herzl's The Jews' State a founding text in the history of Zionism, Pucchini's Puccini: La Boh'me, Gilbert and Sullivan's final comic operetta The Grand Duke Antoine Becquerel discovers radioactivity in Uranium, William Ramsay discovers helium, Ernest Rutherford develops magnetic detection of electrical waves, first all-steel building in Britain built in Hartlepool
1897Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, Destruction of Benin city, Uprisings on North West frontier, Anglo-Thai secret convention, Second Colonial Conference in London, Sir Aflred Milner appointed High Commissioner for South Africa, Klondike Gold Rush, Zanzibar abolishes slavery
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Victoria's Diamond Jubilee
Crete declares union with Greece but Turkish easily defeat Greeks and keeps Crete, Germany occupies Kiao-chow in China, Russia occupies Port Arthur, US claims Hawaii, Zionist Congress in BaselSir Henry Tate donates Tate Gallery to Britain, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous, Joseph Conrad's Nigger of the Narcissus, H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man, Sidney and Beatrice Webb's Industrial DemocracyRonald Ross discovers malaria bacillus, William Thomson studies cathode rays, JJ, Thomson discovers electrons, aspirin marketed; diesel engines invented, Havelock Ellis' Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Julius Hann's Handbook of Climatology, David Schwarz flies first rigid framed airship
1898Battle of Omdurman and Fashoda Crisis in Sudan, Curzon Viceroy of India, Sierra Leone Hut Tax War, Anglo-German Agreement on future of Portuguese colonies, Anglo-French Agreement on West Africa, Weihaiwei and Kowloon leasedDeath of GladstoneSpanish-American war, Germany's Tirpitz plan, Zola's J'accuse in Dreyfus Affair, Russia leases Port Arthur, Death of Bismarck, USS Maine explodes in Havana Harbour, Spanish-American War leading to American victories in Cuba and PhilippinesBismarck's Reflections and Memoirs, Thomas Hardy's Wessex Poems, Knut Hamsun's Victoria, Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol, G.B. Shaw's Caesar and CleopatraCurie discovers Radium
1899Boer war (until 1902), Anglo-Egyptian Condominium over Sudan, British relinquish claims to Samoa but reaffirms claims to Tonga, Boxer Rebellion in ChinaLondon Borough Councils established, Kaiser Wilhelm II visits BritainBoxer Rebellion sees European, Japanese and US forces unite to stem and crush the revolt, First Peace Conference at the Hague, Germany secures Baghdad Railroad contract, Dreyfus freed, Philippines demand independence from US
British Empire in the Nineteenth Century
Boer War
Rutherford discovers alpha and beta rays in radioactive atoms, First magnetic recording of sound


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