British Empire/Timelines
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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 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 Suez Canal.
- 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.
- 1942 Australia becomes independent.
- 1947 New Zealand becomes independent.
- 1948 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.
- 1957 Malaya becomes independent.
- 1961 Sierra Leone, Tanganyika become independent.
- 1962 Jamaica, Uganda become independent.
- 1982 Canada becomes independent.
- 1965 Singapore independent.
- 1997 Hong Kong is returned to China.