Imperialism Timeline

  • Russians expand across Siberia to Pacific

    The Russian conquest of Siberia began in July 1580 when some 540 Cossacks under Yermak Timofeyevich invaded the territory of the Voguls, subjects to Küçüm, the Khan of Siberia.
  • Britain makes the international slave trade criminal

    The act abolished the slave trade in the British Empire, in particular the Atlantic slave trade, and also encouraged British action to press other European states to abolish their slave trades, but it did not abolish slavery itself.
  • Uprising in Serbia against the ruling Ottoman Empire

    The Serbs marched against the Ottomans and had major victories in 1805–06, and established a government and parliament that returned the land to the people, abolished forced labour and reduced taxes.
  • Serbian uprising leading to Serbian autonomy

    This was the second phase of the Serbian Revolution against the Ottoman Empire, which erupted shortly after the re-annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire, in 1813.
  • Spanish American wars of independence

    These were numerous wars against Spanish rule in Spanish America that took place during the early 19th century, after the French invasion of Spain during Europe's Napoleonic Wars.
  • Mexican War of Independence

    he war had its antecedent in the French invasion of Spain in 1808; it extended from the Grito de Dolores by Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla on September 16, 1810, to the entrance of the Army of the Three Guarantees led by Augustín de Iturbide to Mexico City on September 27, 1821. September 16 is celebrated as Mexican Independence Day.
  • Independence of Brazil

    The Independence of Brazil comprised a series of political events that occurred in 1821–1824, most of which involved disputes between Brazil and Portugal regarding the call for independence presented by the Brazilian Empire.
  • Greek War of Independence

    This was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between 1821 and 1832 against the Ottoman Empire. The Greeks were assisted by the Russian Empire, Great Britain, Bourbon France, and several other European powers, while the Ottomans were aided by their vassals, the Eyalets of Egypt, Algeria, Tripolitania, and the Beylik of Tunis.
  • United States issues Monroe Doctrine

    The Monroe Doctrine was a U.S. foreign policy regarding domination of the American continent in 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention.
  • Start of the French conquest of Algeria

    This asted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day.
  • Greece wins Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire

    The first of these revolts began on 6 March 1821 in the Danubian Principalities, but was soon put down by the Ottomans. The events in the north urged the Greeks in the Peloponnese into action and on 17 March 1821, the Maniots declared war on the Ottomans. This declaration was the start of a spring of revolutionary actions from other controlled states against the Ottoman Empire.
  • Slavery Abolition Act 1833 frees slaves in British Empire

    This was an 1833 Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire.
  • Britain wages First Opium War against China

    The first Opium war was fought between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Qing Empire over their conflicting viewpoints on diplomatic relations, trade, and the administration of justice for foreign nationals.
  • Britain forces China to sign the Treaty of Nanking

    The Treaty of Nanking was signed on the 29 August 1842 to mark the end of the First Opium War.
  • Oregon boundary dispute threatens war between Great Britain and the United States.

    The Oregon boundary dispute was a controversy over the political division of the Pacific Northwest of North America between several nations that had competing territorial and commercial aspirations over the region.
  • Republic of Texas voluntarily joins the United States.

    The Republic of Texas was an independent sovereign country in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. It was bordered by the nation of Mexico to the southwest, the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast, the two U.S. states of Louisiana and Arkansas to the east and northeast, and the United States territories encompassing the current U.S. states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico to the north and west.
  • The Corn Laws are repealed

    The Corn Laws were measures enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846, which imposed restrictions and tariffs on imported grain. They were designed to keep grain prices high to favour domestic producers. The laws did indeed raise food prices and became the focus of opposition from urban groups who had far less political power than rural Britain.
  • United States victorious in Mexican–American War

    A war between the U.S. and Mexico spanned the period from spring 1846 to fall 1847. The war was initiated by the United States and resulted in Mexico's defeat and the loss of approximately half of its national territory in the north.
  • Indian Mutiny suppressed

    The Indian Rebellion of 1857 refers to a rebellion in India against the rule of the British East India Company, that ran from May 1857 to June 1858. The rebellion began as a mutiny of sepoys of the East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the cantonment of the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions.
  • Treaty of Saigon

    The Treaty of Saigon was signed on June 5, 1862, between representatives of the French Empire and the last precolonial emperor of the House of Nguyen.
  • French intervention in Mexico

    The French intervention in Mexico was an invasion of Mexico in late 1861 by the Second French Empire, supported in the beginning by the United Kingdom and Spain. It followed President Benito Juárez's suspension of interest payments to foreign countries on 17 July 1861, which angered these three major creditors of Mexico.
  • British North America Act, 1867 creates Dominion of Canada

    The British North America Act is a major part of Canada's Constitution. The Act created a federal dominion and defines much of the operation of the Government of Canada, including its federal structure, the House of Commons, the Senate, the justice system, and the taxation system.
  • Second Treaty of Saigon

    The Second Treaty of Saigon, signed on March 15, 1874, was negotiated by Paul-Louis-Félix Philastre in 1874 and reiterated the stipulations of the previous agreement. Vietnam recognized the full sovereignty of France over the three provinces captured by admiral La Grandière in 1867.
  • Korea signs unequal treaty with Japan

    An unequal treaty is any of a series of treaties signed with Western powers during the 19th and early 20th centuries by Qing dynasty China and late Tokugawa Japan.
  • Treaty of Berlin recognising the independence of Romania

    The Treaty of Berlin was the final act of the Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878), by which the United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Abdul Hamid II revised the Treaty of San Stefano signed on 3 March the same year.
  • France makes Vietnam a colony.

    French–Vietnamese relations started as early as the 17th century with the mission of the Jesuit father Alexandre de Rhodes. Various traders would visit Vietnam during the 18th century
  • King Leopold of Belgium establishes the Congo Free State

    was a large area in Central Africa that was privately controlled by Leopold II of Belgium. Leopold was able to procure the region by convincing the European community that he was involved in humanitarian and philanthropic work; through the use of several smokescreen organizations he was able to lay claim to most of the Congo Basin.
  • Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii

    The overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii began with the coup d'état of January 17, 1893 on the island of Oahu, leading to the end of the indigenous, hereditary monarchs, largely at the hands of United States citizens within the kingdom government under Queen Lili'uokalani and backed by an invasion of U.S. Marines under John L. Stevens.
  • Creation of French West Africa

    French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Dahomey (now Benin) and Niger. The capital of the federation was Dakar. The federation existed from 1895 until 1960.
  • US wins short Spanish–American War

    The Spanish American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, the result of U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. U.S. attacks on Spain's Pacific possessions led to involvement in the Philippine Revolution and ultimately to the Philippine–American War
  • King Leopold is denounced worldwide for his maltreatment of rubber workers in Congo.

    Leopold's reign in the Congo eventually earned infamy due to the increasing mistreatment of the indigenous peoples. Leopold extracted ivory, rubber, and minerals in the upper Congo basin for sale on the world market, even though his nominal purpose in the region was to uplift the local people and develop the area.