This is a non-exhaustive chronology ofcolonialism-related events, which may reflect political events, cultural events, and important global events that have influenced colonization anddecolonization.

This sectionneeds expansion with:Alexander the Great,Punic Wars,Roman Empire,Eastern Roman Empire,The Crusades, etc.. You can help byadding to it.(July 2018)

• 334 B.C Granicus River:Alexander the Great of Macedonia invades theAchaemenid Empire and defeats them at theBattle of Granicus River.
• 333 B.C Issus:Alexander the Great of Macedoniadefeats the army ofDarius III of Persia at the town ofIssus in southernAnatolia.
• 218 B.C: During theSecond Punic War,Hannibal, his men, and three dozenwar elephants crossed theAlps in 15 days.
• 202 B.C Zama: Roman generalScipiodefeats Hannibal.Carthage sues for peace.
• 146 B.CNorth Africa: The city ofCarthage fell into the hands of theRoman Republic after the final attack led byScipio the Younger. The city was destroyed and the remaining 50,000 Carthaginian citizens were sold into slavery. This battle ended thePunic Wars and practically ceded the remainder of Carthage's territory to the Roman Republic.
• 55 B.C Great Britain: The first Roman invasion of Britain took place whenJulius Caesar and his legions landed on the British coast but were soon pushed from the area. He would return the following year with a much larger force and made better progress. However, Caesar would ultimately make peace with the British people and the Roman Republic would commence trade with them.^[1] Later Roman invasions would prove more successful.
• 821 Ireland: The first recorded Viking raid in Irish history occurred in AD 795 when Vikings, possibly from Norway looted the island of Lambay. The Viking raids on Ireland resumed in 821, the Vikings began to establish fortified encampments, longports, along the Irish coast and overwintering in Ireland instead of retreating to Scandinavia or British bases. The first known longports were at Linn Dúachaill (Annagassan) and Duiblinn (on the River Liffey, at or near present Dublin).

• 865 Great Britain: The first known account of a Viking raid in Anglo-Saxon England comes from 789, when three ships from Hordaland (in modern Norway) landed in the Isle of Portland on the southern coast of Wessex. From 865 the Norse attitude towards Great Britain changed, as they began to see it as a place for potential colonisation rather than simply a place to raid. As a result of this, larger armies began arriving on Britain's shores, with the intention of conquering land and constructing settlements there. Norse armiescaptured York in 867.

• 1000:Norsemen are the firstEuropeans to discoverAmerica. The first American-born European child isSnorri Thorfinnsson. Norsemen are the first Europeans to have a hostile confrontation with theNative Americans.^{[citation needed]} These Viking explorers are likely to have used America as a source of vital goods, such as timber, to sustain the colonies ofIceland andGreenland for centuries. The colony atL'Anse aux Meadows inCanada and theMaine Penny in theUnited States are the most reliable proof of Norse presence in America.^{[citation needed]}
• 1095: PopeUrban II proclaims theFirst Crusade at theCouncil of Clermont.
• 1099 Jerusalem: Christian EuropeanCrusaders stormJerusalem and massacre its inhabitants.

• 1402:Kingdom of Castile begins with the invasion of theCanary Islands.
• 1415: ThePortuguese Empire begins with the capture ofCeuta (Morocco).
• 1419: The Portuguese discoverMadeira.
• 1427: The Portuguese discoverAzores.
• 1441: The first consignment ofslaves is brought toLisbon (Portugal).
• 1452:Papal BullDum diversas allows enslavement of pagans.
• 1455:Papal BullRomanus Pontifex grants a trade monopoly for newly discovered countries in Africa and Asia to the Portuguese.
• 1474:João Vaz Corte-Real, a Portuguese navigator, claims to have discovered theNew Land of the Codfish, an unidentified island of which there is some speculation that it might beNewfoundland, in present-day Canada.
• 1481:Papal BullAeterni regis.
• 1482: The Portuguese build theElmina Castle as the first trading point inGhana.
• 1488:Bartolomeu Dias rounded theCape of Good Hope for thePortuguese king.
• 1492: Discovery of theNew World and symbolic date of theEuropean Age of Exploration; beginning of thecolonization of the Americas and of theColumbian Exchange.
• 1493: Papal BullInter caetera on May 4.
• 1494:Treaty of Tordesillas dividing the world outside of Europe in an exclusive duopoly between theSpanish and thePortuguese empires along a north–south meridian 370 leagues west of theCape Verde islands (off the west coast of Africa), roughly 46° 36' W. (This boundary was known as theLine of Demarcation.) The lands to the east would belong to Portugal and the lands to the west to Spain.
• 1498:Vasco da Gama sets foot onKozhikode, starting the Portuguese presence inIndia.
• 1500:Pedro Álvares Cabral sails toBrazil for the Portuguese king.
• 1511: The Portuguese captureMalacca, in present-dayMalaysia.
• 1515: SpanishLeyes de Burgos on January 25.
• 1519: The Portuguese captureOrmus, in theStrait of Hormuz, in thePersian Gulf.
• 1529:Treaty of Zaragoza dividing Asia between the Spanish and Portuguese empires. With the Treaty of Tordesillas, this second demarcation line roughly splits the world in half: 191° of the earth circumference for Portugal and 169° for Spain.
• 1542: SpanishLeyes Nuevas ("New Laws").
• 1542: Creation of theViceroyalty of Peru.
• 1550–1552:Valladolid Controversy and publication ofA Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by Bishop ofChiapasBartolomé de las Casas.^[2]
• 1600: QueenElizabeth I of England grants aRoyal charter to theEnglish East India Company .
• 1602: Establishment of theDutch East India Company.
• 1607: Thefirst permanent English settlement in North America atJamestown, Virginia.
• 1612-1615: The Portuguese capturedGamru Port and a few other places (likeHormuz Island ) in southern coast ofPersia.
• 1615–1622:Abbas I, king of Persia, battled the Portuguese with the aid of theRoyal Navy and theEnglish East India Company and recaptured those lands.
• 1619: The firstAfrican slaves arrive in Jamestown, Virginia.
• 1624: TheEnglish set foot inSurat.
• 1625:Charles I of England receivesOldman, king of theMiskito Nation, who was taken to England by theEarl of Warwick.
• 1630:Puritans establishMassachusetts Bay Colony.
• 1651-1664:Couronian colonization of Africa.
• 1717: Creation of theViceroyalty of New Granada.
• 1775-1783:American War of Independence.
• 1776: Creation of theViceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.
• 1776: The originalThirteen Colonies of theUnited States, also known as theUnited Colonies,declare independence fromBritain.
• 1784: Britain passesPitt's India Act.
• 1787: Britain creates Sierra Leone.
• 1788: Britain claims and proceeds to settle the eastern half of the continent of Australia.
• 1791-1804:Haitian Revolution andabolition of slavery by theFrench First Republic (reestablished byNapoleon in 1804).
• 1795: Britain invades the Cape region of present-day South Africa.
• 1798:French Invasion of Egypt.

• 1804–1813:Uprising in Serbia against the presence of theOttoman Empire.
• 1810–1820s:Spanish American wars of independence.
• 1810–1821:Mexican War of Independence.
• 1815–1817:Serbian uprising leading toSerbianautonomy.
• 1820: TheAmerican Colonization Society (private citizens in the United States) createdLiberia.
• 1821–1823:Greek War of Independence.
• 1822: Independence ofBrazil proclaimed byDom Pedro I.
• 1830: Start of theFrench conquest of Algeria.
• 1833: Britishabolish slavery in theWest Indies; The owners are reimbursed.
• 1834: Beginning of the Boers'Great Trek.
• 1839: Papal Encyclical InSupremo Apostolatus, condemning the slave trade.
• 1839–1842:First Opium War andFirst Anglo-Afghan War.
• 1846–1848:Mexican–American War, which results in theMexican Cession.
• 1848:Decree-lawVictor Schœlcher which abolish slavery (permanently) in theFrench colonial empire.
• 1856–1860:Second Opium War.
• 1857:Uprising in India against British occupation, which leads to the creation of theBritish Raj.
• 1861–1867:French intervention in Mexico ordered byNapoleon III.
• 1870:Franco-Prussian War.
• 1870–1880s:Conquest of the Desert inArgentina, led byJulio Argentino Roca.
• 1877–1878:War between Russia and the Ottoman Empire and March 3, 1878Treaty of San Stefano.
• 1878:Treaty of Berlin recognising the independence ofRomania,Serbia andMontenegro and the autonomy ofBulgaria.
• 1878–1881:Second Anglo-Afghan War.
• 1879:Anglo-Zulu War.
• 1880–81:First Boer War
• 1881: Indigenous Code inAlgeria.
• 1883: Publication ofThe Story of an African Farm byOlive Schreiner .
• 1884–85:Berlin Conference (UK, France, Germany) which sets theright of conquest for thescramble for Africa.
• 1885: Foundation of theIndian National Congress.
• 1885:Treaty of Simulambuco (between Portugal and theN'Goyo Kingdom).
• 1887: France creates theIndochinese Union.
• 1888:Lei Áurea ("Golden Law") on May 13 inBrazil which abolish slavery.
• 1889:Foundation of the Republic of Brazil.
• 1889:British South Africa Company ofCecil Rhodes chartered by the British government to seek treaties and administer territory between theLimpopo River andAfrican Great Lakes.
• 1890:Cecil Rhodes sends thePioneer Column intoMashonaland, starting the process of annexing the territory which becameSouthern Rhodesia.
• 1891: TheStairs Expedition to Katanga kills its king,Msiri and obtains treaties from his successors for the territory to become the possession ofLeopold II of Belgium.
• 1895:Treaty of Shimonoseki betweenJapan andChina andTriple Intervention.
• 1895: Creation ofFrench West Africa (AOF).
• 1895–1896:First Italo-Ethiopian War .
• 1896:Anglo-Zanzibar War (on August 27).
• 1897:Punitive Expedition led by British AdmiralHarry Rawson againstBenin, which brings to an end the highly sophisticatedWest AfricanKingdom of Benin.
• 1898:Fashoda Incident.
• 1898:Spanish–American War. United States defeated Spain and seizes Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.
• 1899: Publication ofRudyard Kipling'sThe White Man's Burden, as well asJoseph Conrad'sHeart of Darkness.^[3]
• 1899--1901: TheBoxer Rebellion begins inQing dynastyChina, but is defeated by theEight Nation Alliance.
• 1899–1902:Second Boer War.
• 1899–1913:Philippine–American War.
• 1902:Anglo-Japanese Alliance: end of Britain'sSplendid isolation.
• 1904–05:Russo-Japanese War won by Japan.
• 1904–07:Herero Genocide .
• 1905:Partition of Bengal.
• 1905:First Moroccan Crisis after the March 31, 1905 visit ofKaiser Wilhelm toTangiers.
• 1906:Algeciras Conference to mediate theTangier Crisis between France and Germany.
• 1910: Creation ofFrench Equatorial Africa (AEF).
• 1911:Agadir Crisis .
• 1911:Chinese Revolution.
• 1912: France establish a fullprotectorate overMorocco.
• 1912–1913:Italo-Turkish War (Tripolitania andCyrenaica are transferred from the Ottoman Empire to Italy).
• 1914–1918:World War I.
• 1916: May 16Sykes-Picot Agreement.
• 1916–1918:Arab Revolt initiated byHussein bin Ali andEmirFaisal.
• 1918:Woodrow Wilson's January 9 speech on theFourteen Points.

• 1919: Foundation of theLeague of Nations at theParis Peace Conference and creation of theLeague of Nations Mandates (Iraq andPalestine — includingTransjordan — are passed to Great Britain's control,Lebanon andSyria to France; theCameroons andTogoland are split between the UK and France;Ruanda-Urundi goes toBelgium andTanganyika to the UK;Nauru andNew Guinea toAustralia; the remainder ofGerman New Guinea to Japan as theSouth Seas Mandate;Samoa toNew Zealand andSouth West Africa toSouth Africa).
• 1919:Third Anglo-Afghan War.
• 1919: Anti-imperialistNon-Cooperation Movement led byMahatma Gandhi.
• 1920:San Remo conference in April.
• 1920:Treaty of Sèvres on August 10 between theTriple Entente (UK, France and Russia) and theOttoman Empire;Mustafa Kemal leads theTurkish War of Independence leading to the 1923Treaty of Lausanne.
• 1922: Creation of theSoviet Union.
• 1923: Proclamation of theRepublic of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal on October 29.
• 1924:British Empire Exhibition.
• 1925: Foundation of the AlgerianStar of North Africa byMessali Hadj .
• 1921–1926:Rif War in Morocco, led byAbd el-Krim.
• 1927: May 19Treaty of Jeddah accords independence toSaudi Arabia led by KingAbdul Aziz.
• 1927–1928: Publication ofAndré Gide'sVoyage au Congo (Travels inthe Congo).^[4]
• 1931:Paris Colonial Exposition.
• 1931: Dominions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa gain independence from Britain.
• 1932: Independence ofIraq.
• 1930:Portuguese Colonial Act.
• 1933: Publication ofGilberto Freyre'sCasa-Grande & Senzala ("The Great House and the Slave Quarters" - 1933^[5]).
• 1935:Aimé Césaire coins the wordNégritude.
• 1936:Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence (never ratified by France).
• 1936–1939:Great Arab Revolt in theBritish Mandate of Palestine.
• 1935–36:Second Italo-Abyssinian War.

• World War II (1939-1945).
• 1941:Atlantic charter Endorsed by all theAllies of World War II; Calls for self-determination.
• 1941: Foundation of theViet Minh byHo Chi Minh.
• 1941:Syria proclaims its independence fromVichy France, which is recognized in 1944.
• 1942:Quit India Movement called for by Gandhi on August 9.
• 1943: Independence ofLebanon.
• 1944: Nelson Mandela joins theAfrican National Congress.
• 1945:Allies of World War II form theUnited Nations in San Francisco.
• 1945:Sétif massacre in Algeria on May 8.
• 1945:Proclamation of the independence of Indonesia bySukarno &Mohammad Hatta.
• 1945:Proclamation of the independence of Vietnam byHo Chi Minh.
• 1945: Foundation of theArab League on March 22 (Egypt,Iraq,Jordan,Lebanon,Saudi Arabia,Syria andYemen).
• 1945: Fifty states sign theCharter of the United Nations on June 26.
• 1945–1950:Chinese Civil War between the nationalistKuomintang and theCommunist Party led byMao Zedong.
• 1946–1954:First Indochina War.
• 1947: Official start of theCold War (seeCold War (1947-1953) andCold War (1953-1962)).
• 1947:Independence of India and of Pakistan (Pakistan came into being on August 14, and India on August 15).^[6]
• 1947:UN Resolution 181 on the partition of Palestine in favor of aTwo-state solution.
• 1947:French repression of the Malagasy uprising. 90 to 100 000 killed.
• 1948:Declaration of the independence of the State of Israel on May 14 and firstArab-Israeli War.
• 1948: Colonial exhibition in Belgium.
• 1949: Proclamation of thePeople's Republic of China byMao Zedong.
• 1951: Publication ofHannah Arendt'sThe Origins of Totalitarianism (second section dedicated to imperialism).
• 1952:Alfred Sauvy coins the term "Third World".
• 1954:French establishments in India cease to exist afterde facto transfer to theRepublic of India (de jure union accomplished in 1962).
• 1954:Battle of Dien Bien Phu &1954 Geneva Accords marks the end ofFrench Indochina.
• 1955:Bandung Conference.
• 1956:Suez Crisis between Israel, the UK and France against Egypt, afterNasser'snationalisation of theSuez Canal Company.
• 1957:Algerian independence militantLarbi Ben M'Hidi murdered in prison, early March.
• 1957: First country sub-Saharan Africa (Ghana) regains independence.
• 1958: Foundation of theUnited Arab Republic as a first step toward aPan-Arab nation; it is formed by Egypt and Syria (until 1961). Creation also of the short-termArab Federation of Iraq and Jordan.
• 1959: Independence ofMorocco andTunisia.
• 1960: Independence of French colonies in Africa; the UN reach 99 members states.
• 1961: Assassination ofPatrice Lumumba, first prime minister of theDemocratic Republic of the Congo, on January 17.
• 1961: Formation of theConferência das Organizações Nacionalistas das Colónias Portuguesas on April 18 inCasablanca,Morocco (PAIGC,MPLA,FRELIMO andMLSTP).
• 1961: Creation of theNon-Aligned Movement.
• 1961:Soviet premierKhrushchev declares that the Soviet Union would support all "national liberation movements".
• 1961: Publication ofFrantz Fanon'The Wretched of the Earth.
• 1961:October 17 Paris massacre.
• 1961:Indian annexation of Goa endsPortuguese India (Goa,Dadra, Nagar Haveli,Daman and Diu).
• 1961–1974:Portuguese Colonial War; See alsoAngolan War of Independence (1961-1989).
• 1962:Évian Accords halts theAlgerian War and puts end toFrench rule in North-Africa.

• 1963: Assassination ofSylvanus Olympio on January 13, first president ofTogo; he is replaced byGnassingbé Eyadéma, who ruled over Togo until his death in 2005.
• 1965–1975:Vietnam War.
• 1965: Assassination ofMehdi Ben Barka, leader of theUNPF and of theTricontinental Conference.
• 1965:Joseph Mobutu becomes the dictator of theDemocratic Republic of Congo until his overthrow in 1997 byLaurent-Désiré Kabila.
• 1969: Assassination ofEduardo Mondlane, leader of theFRELIMO.
• 1970s: Independence of the former Portuguese colonies, following the April 25, 1974Carnation Revolution and thePortuguese Colonial War .
• 1971: Independence ofBangladesh following thewar with Pakistan.
• 1971: Publication ofEduardo Galeano'sOpen Veins of Latin America.^[7]
• 1971: Publication ofGustavo Gutiérrez'sATheology of Liberation: History, Politics, Salvation.^[8]
• 1973: Assassination ofAmilcar Cabral, leader of theAfrican Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) on January 20.
• 1973: The PAIGC proclaims the independence ofGuinea-Bissau on September 24.
• 1975:Portugal recognizesMozambique's independence on June 25 andAngola on November 11.
• November 1975:Green March during which Morocco annexesWestern Sahara, formerly part ofSpanish Morocco.
• 1979:Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and start of the"Second Cold War".
• 1980: The UN reaches 154 member states.
• 1980: Assassination ofÓscar Romero,prelatearchbishop ofSan Salvador and proponent of theLiberation theology, on March 24.
• 1982:Latin American debt crisis (in particular inMexico,Brazil andArgentina).
• 1988: Assassination ofDulcie September, member of theAfrican National Congress.
• 1989:Operation Just Cause againstManuel Noriega.
• 1990: Independence ofNamibia, the UN reaches 159 states.

• 1994:Nelson Mandela becomes president ofSouth Africa in the nation's first all race election, ending colonialapartheid in the country.
• 2001:French law recognizing slavery and the Atlantic slave trade as crimes against humanity (Taubira Law).
• 2005:February 23 French law on the "positive aspects" of "French presence abroad, in particular in North Africa."
• 2006: Repeal of the February 23, 2005 French law, following criticisms ofhistorical revisionism.
• 2010:Dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles.
• 2021: Barbados becomes the firstCommonwealth realm in the 21st century and second in the formerBritish West Indies to transition to a republic.
• 2025: Britain agrees to hand over all constituent islands of theChagos Archipelago toMauritius except forDiego Garcia, which is to remain a British territory stationing a military base for 99 years.^[9]

• Timeline of European imperialism
• Colonialism
• International relations (1814–1919)
• Wars of national liberation
• Decolonization
• British colonization of the Americas
• Former colonies and territories in Canada
• French colonization of the Americas
• Spanish colonization of the Americas
• List of French possessions and colonies

• Benjamin, Thomas.Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism Since 1450 (3 vol. 2006)
• Hodge, Carl Cavanagh.Encyclopedia of the Age of Imperialism, 1800-1914 (2 vol. 2007)
• Lehning, James.European Colonialism since 1700 (2013)
• Morris, Richard B. and Graham W. Irwin, eds.Harper Encyclopedia of the Modern World: A Concise Reference History from 1760 to the Present (1970)online

• Page, Melvin E. et al. eds.Colonialism: An International Social, Cultural, and Political Encyclopedia (3 vol. 2003)
• Stuchtey, Benedikt, ed.Colonialism and Imperialism, 1450-1950,European History Online, Mainz:Institute of European History, 2011

• History of European colonialism
• Western culture

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