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Toussaint L'Ouverture
The leader of the Haitian Revolution. His military genius and political acumen led to the establishment of the independent black state of Haiti, transforming an entire society of slaves into a free, self-governing people. The success of the Haitian Revolution shook the institution of slavery throughout the New World. -
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Industrial Revolution
A period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of the times. It began in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spread throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. -
Spinning Jenny
A multi-spool spinning frame. It was invented 1764 by James Hargreaves. The device reduced the amount of work needed to produce yarn, with a worker able to work eight or more spools at once. This grew to 120 as technology advanced. -
Watt's Steam Engine
The first type of steam engine to make use of steam at a pressure just above atmospheric to drive the piston helped by a partial vacuum. The new design replaced Newcomen engines in areas where coal was expensive, and then went on to be used in the place of most natural power sources such as wind and water. -
Water Frame
The name given to the spinning frame, when water power is used to drive it. Both are credited to Richard Arkwright who patented the technology in 1768. -
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End of Atlantic Slave Trade
The state of Virgina was the first to stop the importation of slaves anywhere. Brazil was the last. Everyone else just kinda fit in between. -
Cotton Gin
A machine that quickly and easily separates the cotton fibers from the seeds, a job formerly performed by hand. The fibers are processed into cotton goods, and the seeds may be used to grow more cotton, to produce cottonseed oil, or, if they are badly damaged, are disposed of. The gin uses a combination of a wire screen and small wire hooks to pull the cotton through, while brushes continuously remove the loose cotton lint to prevent jams. -
Britain outlaws Slave Trade
The Slave Trade Act was passed by the British Parliament on 25 March 1807, making the slave trade illegal throughout the British Empire. The Act imposed a fine of £100 for every slave found aboard a British ship. Such a law was bound to be eventually passed, given the increasingly powerful abolitionist movement. -
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Mexican Independence
The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities.It started as an idealistic peasants' rebellion against their colonial masters, but ended as an unlikely alliance between Mexican ex-royalists and Mexican guerrilla insurgents. -
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Brazilian Independence
A series of political events, most of which involved disputes between Brazil and Portugal regarding the call for independence presented by the Brazilian Kingdom. -
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Greek Independence
A successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries, with later assistance from several European powers, against the Ottoman Empire, who were assisted by their vassals, the Eyalet of Egypt and partly the Vilayet of Tunisia. -
Dissolution of the Janissaries
The sultan informed them, through a fatwa, that he was forming a new army, organised and trained along modern European lines. As predicted, they mutinied, advancing on the sultan's palace. In the ensuing fight, the Janissary barracks were set in flames by artillery fire resulting in 4,000 Janissary fatalities. The survivors were either exiled or executed, and their possessions were confiscated by the Sultan. This event is now called the Auspicious Incident. -
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Afrikaners' Great Trek
An eastward and north-eastward migration away from British control in the Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s by Boers. -
Telegraph
Developed and patented by Samuel Morse. America's first telegram was sent by Morse on 6 January 1838, across two miles of wire at Speedwell Ironworks near Morristown, New Jersey. The message read "A patient waiter is no loser." -
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Opium Wars
The Opium Wars, divided into the First Opium War from 1839 to 1842 and the Second Opium War from 1856 to 1860, were the climax of disputes over trade and diplomatic relations between China under the Qing Dynasty and the British Empire. -
Revolutions in Austria, Germany, Hungary, and Italy
A series of political upheavals throughout Europe. It was the first (and only) Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary forces had won out and the revolutions collapsed. This revolutionary wave began France in February, and immediately spread to most of Europe and parts of Latin America. -
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Taiping Rebellion
A widespread civil war in southern China led by heterodox Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, against the ruling Qing Dynasty. About 20 million people died, mainly civilians, in one of the deadliest military conflicts in history. -
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Commodore Matthew Perry in Japan
The Commodore of the U.S. Navy who compelled the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. -
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Crimean War
A conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire. Most of the conflict took place on the Crimean Peninsula, but there were smaller campaigns in western Anatolia, Caucasus, the Baltic Sea, the Pacific Ocean and the White Sea. -
Sepoy Rebellion
It began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to present-day Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, northern Madhya Pradesh, and the Delhi region. The rebellion posed a considerable threat to Company power in that region, and it was contained only with the fall of Gwalior on 20 June 1858. -
Emancipation of the Russian Serfs
The first and most important of liberal reforms effected during the reign of Alexander II of Russia. The reform, together with a related reform in 1861, amounted to the liquidation of serf dependence previously suffered by peasants of the Russian Empire. In some of its parts, the serfdom was abolished earlier. -
Meiji Restoration
A chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868. The Restoration led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure. -
Suez Canal
An artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. The canal opened to shipping on 17 November 1869. Although numerous technical, political, and financial problems had been overcome, the final cost was more than double the original estimate. -
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Imperialization of Africa
process of invasion, attack, occupation, and annexation of African territory by European powers during the New Imperialism period, between 1881 and World War I in 1914. -
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Boxer Rebellion
a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" in China between 1898 and 1901, opposing foreign imperialism and Christianity. -
Aswan Dam
A gravity masonry buttress dam on the Nile River in Aswan, Egypt. The dam was built at the former first cataract of the Nile, and is located about 1000 km up-river and 690 km (direct distance) south-southeast of Cairo. Constructed between 1899 and 1902, it was intended to reduce flooding and to support population growth in the lower Nile. -
Overthrow of Qing Dynasty
The collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1912 brought an end to over 2,000 years of imperial China and began an extended period of instability of warlord factionalism. The unorganized political and economic systems combined with a widespread criticism of Chinese culture led to questioning and doubt about the future. -
African National Congress
South Africa's governing left-wing political party since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a "disciplined force of the left". Members founded the organization as the South African Native National Congress on 8 January 1912. -
Panama Canal
A ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914. It has been named one of the seven modern wonders of the world by the American Society of Civil Engineers.