The Portuguese establish a trading post on Macao, a small peninsula off the south coast of China

Soft-paste porcelain, in imitation of true porcelain from China, is successfully created for the Medici in Florence

The Jesuit Matteo Ricci arrives in China, and becomes the first western student of Chinese civilization

The writings of Matteo Ricci introduce Kung Fu Tzu to Europe under a Latin version of his name - Confucius

An edict is passed expelling Jesuit missionaries from Japan, and ordering their converts to revert to Buddhism

The last Ming emperor hangs himself, and China acquires a new and final dynasty - the Qing

The Qing emperor orders all Chinese men to shave their heads, leaving only a long pigtail

Chinoiserie becomes the new craze in Europe, after Jesuit reports of the Chinese civilization

The Dalai Lama in Lhasa accepts Chinese imperial protection, which lasts until 1911

George III sends Lord Macartney on an embassy to the Chinese emperor Qianlong

Chile begins four years of untroubled independence, ruled by a junta introducing liberal reforms

John Jacob Astor establishes Astoria, a settlement on the Pacific coast to develop his fur trade with China

Spanish forces at Rancagua defeat a Chilean army commanded by Bernardo O'Higgins, who escapes across the Andes into Argentina

San Martín and O'Higgins lead an army through the Andes into Chile and capture Santiago

O'Higgins is elected the 'supreme director' of independent Chile after San Martín declines the post

Bernardo O'Higgins introduces liberal reforms in Chile, reducing the privileges of aristocracy and church

Thomas Cochrane arrives in Valparaiso to take command of the Chilean navy

Bernardo O'Higgins, Chile's first liberal reformer, is so unpopular that he has to resign

Conservative 'bigwigs' and liberal 'novices' emerge as Chile's two main political parties

Diego Portales begins a 30-year spell as Chile's conservative dictator

British troops invade China after the Chinese authorities seize and destroy the opium stocks of British merchants in Canton

British forces capture Hong Kong, which is subsequently ceded to Britain by China at the end of the first Opium War in 1842

The First Opium War ends with the island of Hong Kong, and extensive new trading rights, ceded to Britain in the Treaty of Nanking

A rebellion against the Qing dynasty, led by Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, breaks out in southern China

The Taiping rebels capture the Chinese city of Nanjing and make it their capital