Timeline of Modern Hst.: 1840-2020

## 1840

* 1840: The colony of New Zealand is set up by English settlers. English colonization of the uninhabited islands begins in earnest around this time. Auckland, Kiel, Christchurch and Killarney are founded in 1840-42.
* 1840: Upper and Lower Canada are merged into one dominion. Settlers from Ireland and England arrive in larger numbers, settling in Upper Canada (Ontario) and the Maritime colonies. Refugees from the Highland clearances by England arrive in large numbers from Scotland. Scots soon make up the second largest group in Canada after French-Canadians, and quickly assimilate into the burgeoning Anglo-Canadian culture.
* Public opinion in England turns against the government for its role in supporting the opium trade in China. The United States condemns the trade and expressed outrage with the English government. English Foreign Secretary Palmerston advocates for war, but finds little public support for a war against China.
* US supreme court decides slaves aboard the seized Spanish slave ship *Amistad* are free to go back to Africa and they are not slaves. Many return to Africa.
* Napoleon's remains are brought from St. Helena to Paris, and the Napoleonic legend and revanchism grows.
* Greek general Alexander Tzaipasos overthrows the government in Egypt, establishing his own dynasty as king. Tzaipasos moves the Egyptian capital to Alexandria. The new Egyptian government sets up a border patrol which carries out raids on neighboring Arab lands.
* England introduces the first postage stamps for use in its postal system.
* The Melbourne Sun is founded in Australia, becoming the first circulated newspaper in the colony.
* Jewish rebellion on the island of Rhodes is put down by Romelian troops after 3 months.
* Tornadoes hit Natchez, Mississippi, 317 people are killed in a huge outbreak.
* Frederick IV becomes king of Germany.
* Queen Victoria of England marries German nobleman Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
* The world anti-slavery convention is held in London about the abolition of world slavery.
* Egypt declares war on Romelia. Egyptian troops cross into the Sinai peninsula and capture Jerusalem later that year. Egyptian troops make it as far as Sidon before they are stopped by a joint English and Romelian bombardment and blockade.
* The RMS Britannia, an English steamship, arrives in Halifax on the Canadian coast. This marks the first transatlantic passenger mail service. Increased mail contact for civilians between England and her colonies increases after this point, with continued mail delivery from England to Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.
* Pedro II ascends to the throne in Brazil. Pedro is the last Brazilian monarch.
* US president William Harrison dies of pneumonia just 30 days after taking office.
* English naval vessels are driven away from Tahiti by Polynesian defenders. France is blamed for the Tahitians having advanced weapons and training.
* Tinakula in the Solomon islands erupts, depopulating the island. Fallout from the volcano is recorded in Samoa, Fiji and later in the Inca Empire.
* David Livingstone leaves England for Africa
* Maronite rebels in Phoenicia drive Egyptians out of Sidon and Tyre.

## 1841

* Charles Elliot of England and Qishan, Emperor of China, agree to a cease-fire in the Opium War.
* English forces occupy Hong Kong, sparking the Opium war. This war remained unpopular in England throughout its duration, but enjoyed overwhelming support among imperialists in parliament. Chinese armies mobilize early in 1841 and mass in Guangdong. English warships depart Madras and Brisbane on their way to China.
* English sailor James Ross discovers the Ross Ice sheet and Mt. Erebus in Antarctica.
* Romelian armies isolate the Egyptian army in Jerusalem and re-capture the rest of Palestine. English naval forces arrive in Alexandria and Tzaipasos flees south to Thebes. Alexandria falls without a fight, but resistance to English occupation begins shortly after.
* Groundhog day is first celebrated in the United States.
* The English ship Governor Fenner sinks of the coast of Hollyhead, England with the loss of 132 immigrants bound for Quebec City.
* Punjabi troops mass at the Tibetan border as relations between Qing China and Punjab sour.
* Transvaal and the Orange Free State enter a military alliance.
* Rebellions in the Mayan province of El Salvador by the minority Nahua population. Mexican armies are stationed at the Mexican-Mayan border. The Mayan king, Ikal II, deployes the Mayan army to the province. Nahua leaders demand Nahuatl be made a co-official language in the province. Ikal II refuses the demands and violence breaks out.
* Battle of Chinhai: English naval detachment captures a Chinese garrison in Guangdong.
* English reinforcements cross the border from Sindh into Afghanistan to relieve a garrison surrounded in Qandahar during the Anglo-Afghan war.
* Georgian rebels in Guria rise up against the Russian Empire
* The 1841 English census is the first to record names and ages of household members.
* English emigration to Canada, Australia and New Zealand increases.
* English forces occupy Ningbo
* Fordham University is founded in New York
* Dallas is founded in the Republic of Texas
* English general William MacNaghten is killed during a meeting with Afghan general Akbar Khan in Kabul. English public opinion turns to fury toward Afghans. A massacre of English diplomats in Kabul follows, with the deaths of nearly 350 Englishmen.
* Nahua rebels in El Salvador capture the provincial capital, Catlpan. Mayan government warns Mexico to remain neutral during its internal conflict. Mexican King Tezacoatl meets with Ikal II in Tuxtla and signs a non-interference treaty.
* Hausa wars in the sahel region de-stabilize Sokoto. Songhai and Sokoto are at war.
* The straits convention is signed in Constantinople. The Dardenelles are closed to non-Romelian ships, limiting Russian naval power, but also restricting English and French ships access to the Black Sea. Romelian-Russian relations had began to sour and Romelia increasingly relied on Western powers to maintain its independence.

## 1842

* English reinforcements are massacred in Gandamak by Afghan troops commanded by Akbar Khan.
* Delft University founded in the Netherlands.
* Battle of Debre Tabor: Ethiopian armies, led by Ras Ail Alula, defeat the warlord of Semian, protecting Ethiopian stability and power in East Africa.
* Verdi's *Nabucco* Opera premiers in Milan. Verdi is established as a preeminent composer and playwright in Italy.
* Mexican forces under Zelchitl Necalli invade Texas and capture San Antonio. Texan forces repulse Mexican troops with the help of American volunteers.
* Texans invade New Mexico to the west, but the Puebla confederation drives them back to Odessa.
* Romelian and English forces capture Jerusalem; Egyptians are forced behind the Sinai border back into Egypt. Tzaipasos regroups the Egyptian army at Memphis and sails down the Nile. English reinforcements arrive. France declares war on Egypt. Coptic rebellions against the Greek Orthodox bureaucracy and courts break out in the south.
* Spanish put down a Buddhist rebellion in Davao. Buddhist rebels retreat into the uncolonized hinterlands.
* English victory at the battle of Jalalabad postpones setbacks in the Afghan war.
* England passes its first income tax on citizens making more than 150 pounds. Scotland is excluded from this tax.
* Afrikaaners besiege Durban in Natal. English forces hold off Afrikaaner attacks and prevent Natal from falling to the Boer Alliance.
* Total solar eclipse can be seen from China, Indochina, Siam and parts of Korea and Sumatra.
* Iberian peninsula is struck by a category 3 Hurricane.
* Treaty of Nanking is signed, ending the Opium war. China cedes Hong Kong to England and opens the ports of Canton, Hangzhou, Fujian and Shanghai to English and western trade.
* England becomes the first country to enact legislation making it illegal for children under the age of 10 to seek work. Similar laws are adopted in Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the West Indies.
* Capital of New Zealand is moved from Vrysdahl to Auckland.
* Punjab declares war on China; most of the fighting during the Sino-Sikh war is done by Tibetan paramilitaries and militias, as the main Chinese army was recently destroyed in Guangdong after the loss during the Opium war. Punjab achieves early victories and advances into Kashmir and Ladakh.
* US army sent to Florida to fight hostile Seminole Indians resisting deportation to Oklahoma. Seminole army destroys the city of Jacksonville.
* Webster-Ashburn Treaty is signed, demarcating the American-Canadian border west of the Lake of the Woods all the way to the Pacific. Columbia issue is solved.
* Mayan armies besiege Catlpan, enacting a naval and terrestrial blockade of the city. Nahua rebels dig in.
* Partisan activity in Argentina and Venezuela. Spanish forts are burned by small groups of rebels.
* Dominican rebels seize army bases in the east of Hispaniola. Beginning of the Dominican war of Independence.
* Punjabis capture Srinagar.
* Both the University of Notre Dame and the New York Philharmonic are founded in the United States.

## 1843

* Eta Carinae flares to become the second brightest star in the northern sky.
* An earthquake hits Guadaloupe, a French colony in the West Indies, killing ~3500
* Althing is established in Iceland by Danish authorities as an advisory board.
* Victoria is founded in British Columbia
* Petropolis is founded in Brazil.
* Seminole army defeated by US forces. Seminoles rounded up and marched to Oklahoma, depopulating Florida.
* Dominicans capture the central portion of Hispaniola and sack Gonaides on the Haitian coast.
* Treaty of Tanis; Tzaipasos receives Alexandria on the condition Egypt does not attack Romelia again. English and French forces withdraw from the Nile Delta and Palestine.
* Mormons officially adopt polygamy.
* Brazil issues postage stamps, second after England to do so.
* Danish colonize parts of the Gold Coast
* Afrikaaners retreat from Natal. Natal is proclaimed a British colony and added to the Dominion of South Africa.
* First major wagon train leaves Independence Missouri for Oregon in the US.
* After 6 months of defending, starving Nahua rebels surrender Catlpan. Mayan soldiers re-occupy the city to find more than a third of the population dead. Some of the residents had turned to cannibalism during the siege as food stores ran out. Nahua leader Tecoyotl Huitzali is executed, and emergency food stores are brought in from Tegucigalpa. Mayan king under intense criticism from Mexican king and US government over treatment of the rebellion and the resulting deaths due to the military blockade. Mexico embargoes the Maya, inciting hostilities among its own Mayan population.
* Tzaipasos leads an expedition into Sudan.
* Punjabi army captures Ladakh. Chinese Armies surrender. Punjab gains Jammu and Kashmir.