istoryworld
Events relating to the british empire
British troops invade China after the Chinese authorities seize and destroy the opium stocks of British merchants in Canton
Britain sends four naval ships up the river Niger to make anti-slavery treaties with local kings
The British abandon Kabul, losing most of the garrison force in the withdrawal to India and bringing to an end the first Anglo-Afghan war
The British take control of the existing Boer republic and proclaim Natal a British protectorate
The first Anglo-Sikh war breaks out between Sikh forces in the Punjab and encroaching forces of Britain's East India Company
The first Anglo-Sikh war ends with the Treaty of Lahore, by which Jammu and Kashmir are ceded to the British
Harry Smith annexes for Britain the land between the Orange and Vaal rivers, calling it the Orange River Sovereignty
The second Anglo-Sikh war begins when a British army invades the Punjab to suppress a local uprising
A British victory at the Battle of Gujarat effectively ends the second Anglo-Sikh war, and is followed by annexation of the Punjab
Vancouver Island is given the status of a British crown colony, to be followed by British Columbia in 1858
The British government buys the Danish fortresses on the Gold Coast, including Christiansborg castle in Accra
The Australian gold rush begins with the discovery of gold fields at Ballarat and a few months later at Bendigo
David Livingstone makes a heroic six-month journey from the Zambezi river to the west coast of Africa
The Boers establish the Orange Free State as an independent republic, with its own custom-built constitution
David Livingstone, moving down the Zambezi, comes upon the Victoria Falls
David Livingstone urges upon a Cambridge audience the high ideal of taking 'commerce and Christianity' into Africa
Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke set off from Bagamoyo in their search for the source of the Nile
The Boers of the southern Transvaal declare independence as the South African Republic
Burton and Speke reach Lake Tanganyika at Ujiji, a place later famous for the meeting between Livingstone and Stanley
The India Act places India under the direct control of the British government, ending the rule of the East India Company
Speke reaches Lake Victoria and guesses that it is probably the source of the Nile
Lagos, on the coast of Nigeria, is annexed as a British colony when the royal family prove unable or unwilling to end the slave trade
Speke and Grant find the Ripon Falls, over which the headwater of the Nile flows from Lake Tanganyika
John McDouall Stuart reaches the north coast of Australia at Van Diemen's Gulf seven months after setting off from Adelaide
The bones of Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills are brought back to Melbourne after the heroic failure of their attempt to cross Australia
