British Empire/Timelines

First empire

• 1562 John Hawkins makes the first British triangular trade voyage[1].
• 1583 Walter Raleigh is given a royal charter to plant a colony in North America.
• 1600 English East India Company gets a royal charter..,
• 1606 The Virginia Company[2] gets a royal charter.
• 1607 Jamestown Virginia is founded by the Virginia Company[3].
• 1620 Voyage of the Pilgrim Fathers[4].
• 1623 British settlements in the West Indies[5].
• 1660 Tenures Abolition Act[6]
• 1713 Treaty of Utrecht[7] - cedes Gibraltar to Britain.
• 1757 Clive wins the Battle of Plassey in India[8].
• 1759 Wolfe defeats French at Heights of Abraham in Canada[9].
• 1773 Boston Tea Party
• 1776 American Declaration of Independence
• 1783 The Treaty of Paris of 1783[10] establishes independence of the United States

Second empire

• 1787 Sierra Leone is established as a colony for freed slaves
• 1788 New South Wales founded as a penal colony[11].
• 1805 The Battle of Trafalgar establishes British naval supremacy.
• 1807 The Slave Trade Act ends British slave trade[12].
• 1814 Cape of South Africa ceded to Britain[13].
• 1819 The East India Company buys Singapore[14].
• 1824 The Anglo-Dutch Treaty[15] withdraws Dutch objections to British occupation of Singapore, and assigns Malacca and its dependencies to Britain.
• 1838 Invasion of Afghanistan
• 1840 Treaty of Waitangi formally establishes New Zealand as a British colony.
• 1842 Treaty of Nanking - China cedes Hong Kong to Britain.
• 1845-51 Irish Great Famine.
• 1857 Indian Mutiny[16][17].
• 1869 Opening of the Suez Canal.
• 1875 Britain buys about half of the shares in the Suez Canal company.
• 1878 The Congress of Berlin[18] resolves the disputes over navigation and commercial rights in the Congo River basin and sets the rules for further African acquisitions by European powers. Britain acquires Cyprus.
• 1879 Zulu War
• 1881: Defeat of Britain in first Boer War
• 1884: British Somaliland acquired.
• 1887: The first Colonial Conference beginning a series of consultations between Britain and its colonies.
• 1888: British South Africa Company is granted a Royal Charter
• 1889: Rhodesia is conquered.
• 1890: Uganda and British East Africa (now Kenya) acquired.
• 1894: Northern Rhodesia created.
• 1896 The Federated Malay States[19] the states of Perak, Selangor and Sungei Ujong are taken under British Protection under the terms of treaties with their rulers.
• 1898: Conquest of Sudan
• 1899-1902 British victory in Second Boer War[20][21][22].
• 1910: The Treaty of Vereeniging establishes South Africa as a British Colony.
• 1919 The Paris Peace Conference transfers the former German East Africa of Tanganyika (now Tanzania) to Britain

From Empire to Commonwealth

• 1926 The 6th Imperial Conference established the Dominions as equal communities within the British Empire, with a common allegiance to the Crown.
• 1930: First Commonwealth Games held in Hamilton, Canada.
• 1931 Statute of Westminster confirmed the equality of Britain and the Dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, and Newfoundland.
• 1934 South Africa becomes independent.
• 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty[23] conferred limited independence on Egypt.
• 1942 Australia becomes independent.
• 1947 New Zealand becomes independent.
• 1948 British Nationality Act 1948 conferred the status of British citizen on all Commonwealth subjects and recognised their right to work and settle in the UK.

Burma, Ceylon become independent.

• 1949 The London Declaration - agreement that India could remain a member of the Commonwealth after it became a republic.
• 1950 India becomes independent.
• 1954 Egypt becomes independent.
• 1956 Suez crisis[24] following Egypt's nationalisation of the Suez canal.
• 1957 Malaya becomes independent.
• 1961 Sierra Leone, Tanganyika become independent.
• 1962 Jamaica, Uganda become independent.
• 1982 Canada becomes independent.
• 1965 Singapore independent.
• 1981 British Nationality Act 1981
• 1997 Hong Kong is returned to China.
• 2002 British Overseas Territories Act 2002