Following the defeat of France in the Napoleonic Wars, the British and Russian empires expanded considerably, becoming two of the world's leading powers. Russia expanded its territory to the Caucasus and Central Asia. The Ottoman Empire underwent a period of Westernization and reform known as the Tanzimat, vastly increasing its control over core territories in the Middle East. However, it remained in decline and became known as the sick man of Europe, losing territory in the Balkans and North Africa.
The remaining powers in the Indian subcontinent, such as the Maratha and Sikh empires, suffered a massive decline, and their dissatisfaction with the British East India Company's rule led to the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the company's dissolution. India was later ruled directly by the British Crown through the establishment of the British Raj. During the post-Napoleonic era (after 1815), Britain enforced what became known as the Pax Britannica, which ushered in unprecedented globalization on a massive scale. Britain's overseas possessions grew rapidly in the first half of the century, especially with the expansion of vast territories in Canada, Australia, India, and in the last two decades of the century in Africa. By the end of the 19th century, the British controlled a fifth of the world's land and a quarter of the world's population.
By the end of the century, Britain, France, Germany, and the United States had colonized almost all of Oceania. In East Asia, China under the Qing dynasty endured its century of humiliation by foreign powers that lasted until the first half of the 20th century. The last surviving man and woman, respectively, verified to have been born in the 19th century were Jiroemon Kimura (1897–2013) and Nabi Tajima (1900–2018), both Japanese.
The first electronics appeared in the 19th century, with the introduction of the electric relay in 1835, the telegraph and its Morse code protocol in 1837, the first telephone call in 1876,[2] and the first functional light bulb in 1878.[3]
The 19th century was an era of rapidly accelerating scientific discovery and invention, with significant developments in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, electricity, and metallurgy that laid the groundwork for the technological advances of the 20th century.[4] The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain and spread to continental Europe, North America, and Japan.[5] The Victorian era was notorious for the employment of young children in factories and mines, as well as strict social norms regarding modesty and gender roles.[6] Japan embarked on a program of rapid modernization following the Meiji Restoration, before defeating China, under the Qing dynasty, in the First Sino-Japanese War. Advances in medicine[broken anchor] and the understanding of human anatomy and disease prevention took place in the 19th century, and were partly responsible for rapidly accelerating population growth in the Western world. Europe's population doubled during the 19th century, from approximately 200 million to more than 400 million.[7] The introduction of railroads provided the first major advancement in land transportation for centuries, changing the way people lived and obtained goods, and fuelling major urbanization movements in countries across the globe. Numerous cities worldwide surpassed populations of a million or more during this century. London became the world's largest city and capital of the British Empire. Its population increased from 1 million in 1800 to 6.7 million a century later. The last remaining undiscovered landmasses of Earth, including vast expanses of interior Africa and Asia, were explored during this century, and with the exception of the extreme zones of the Arctic and Antarctic, accurate and detailed maps of the globe were available by the 1890s. Liberalism became the pre-eminent reform movement in Europe.[8]
Slavery was greatly reduced around the world. Following a successful slave revolt in Haiti, Britain and France stepped up the battle against the Barbary pirates and succeeded in stopping their enslavement of Europeans. The UK's Slavery Abolition Act charged the British Royal Navy with ending the global slave trade.[9] The first colonial empire in the century to abolish slavery was the British, who did so in 1834. America's Thirteenth Amendment following their Civil War abolished slavery there in 1865, and in Brazil slavery was abolished in 1888 (see abolitionism). Similarly, serfdom was abolished in Russia in 1861.
The 19th century was remarkable in the widespread formation of new settlement foundations which were particularly prevalent across North America and Australia, with a significant proportion of the two continents' largest cities being founded at some point in the century. Chicago in the United States and Melbourne in Australia were non-existent in the earliest decades but grew to become the 2nd largest cities in the United States and British Empire respectively by the end of the century. In the 19th century, approximately 70 million people left Europe, with most migrating to the United States.[10]
The 19th century also saw the rapid creation, development, and codification of many sports, particularly in Britain and the United States. Association football, rugby union, baseball, and many other sports were developed during the 19th century, while the British Empire facilitated the rapid spread of sports such as cricket to many different parts of the world. Also, women's fashion was a very sensitive topic during this time, as women showing their ankles was viewed to be scandalous.
After Napoleon's defeat, the Congress of Vienna was held to determine new national borders. The Concert of Europe attempted to preserve this settlement was established to preserve these borders, with limited impact.
Due to the Napoleonic Wars, the royal family of Portugal relocated to Brazil from 1808 to 1821, leading to Brazil having a separate monarchy from Portugal.
In 1830, the post-colonial nation of Gran Colombia dissolved and the nations of Colombia (including modern-day Panama), Ecuador, and Venezuela took its place.
The first revolution began in January in Sicily.[clarification needed] Revolutions then spread across Europe after a separate revolution began in France in February. Over 50 countries were affected, but with no coordination or cooperation among their respective revolutionaries.
According to Evans and von Strandmann (2000), some of the major contributing factors were widespread dissatisfaction with political leadership, demands for more participation in government and democracy, demands for freedom of the press, other demands made by the working class, the upsurge of nationalism, and the regrouping of established government forces.[12]
The abolitionism movement achieved success in the 19th century. The Atlantic slave trade was abolished in the United States in 1808, and by the end of the century, almost every government had banned slavery. The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 banned slavery throughout the British Empire, and the Lei Áurea abolished slavery in Brazil in 1888.
The American Civil War took place from 1861 to 1865. Eleven southern states seceded from the United States, largely over concerns related to slavery. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln issued a preliminary[13] on September 22, 1862, warning that in all states still in rebellion (Confederacy) on January 1, 1863, he would declare their slaves "then, thenceforward, and forever free."[14] He did so.[15] The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution,[16] ratified in 1865, officially abolished slavery in the entire country.
In 1830, Greece became the first country to break away from the Ottoman Empire after the Greek War of Independence. In 1831, the Bosnian Uprising against Ottoman rule occurred. In 1817, the Principality of Serbia became suzerain from the Ottoman Empire, and in 1867, it passed a constitution that defined its independence from the Ottoman Empire. In 1831, The First Egyptian–Ottoman War (1831–1833) occurred, between the Ottoman Empire and Egypt brought about by Muhammad Ali Pasha's demand to the Sublime Porte for control of Greater Syria, as reward for aiding the Sultan during the Greek War of Independence. As a result, Egyptian forces temporarily gained control of Syria, advancing as far north as Kütahya.[18] In 1876, Bulgarians instigated the April Uprising against Ottoman rule. Following the Russo-Turkish War, the Treaty of Berlin recognized the formal independence of the Serbia, Montenegro, and Romania. Bulgaria became autonomous.
The Taiping Rebellion was the bloodiest conflict of the 19th century, leading to the deaths of around 20–30 million people. Its leader, Hong Xiuquan, declared himself the younger brother of Jesus Christ and developed a new Chinese religion known as the God Worshipping Society. After proclaiming the establishment of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in 1851, the Taiping army conquered a large part of China, capturing Nanjing in 1853. In 1864, after the death of Hong Xiuquan, Qing forces recaptured Nanjing and ended the rebellion.[19]
By 1872, the Japanese government under Emperor Meiji had eliminated the daimyō system and established a strong central government. Further reforms included the abolition of the samurai class, rapid industrialization and modernization of government, closely following European models.[20]
1803: United States more than doubles in size when it buys out France's territorial claims in North America via the Louisiana Purchase. This begins the U.S.'s westward expansion to the Pacific, referred to as its Manifest Destiny, which involves annexing and conquering land from Mexico, Britain, and Native Americans.
In Africa, European exploration and technology led to the colonization of almost the entire continent by 1898. New medicines such as quinine and more advanced firearms allowed European nations to conquer native populations.[21]
Motivations for the Scramble for Africa included national pride, desire for raw materials, and Christian missionary activity. Britain seized control of Egypt to ensure control of the Suez Canal, but Ethiopia defeated Italy in the First Italo–Ethiopian War at the Battle of Adwa. France, Belgium, Portugal, and Germany also had substantial colonies. The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 attempted to reach agreement on colonial borders in Africa, but disputes continued, both amongst European powers and in resistance by the native populations.[21]
In 1867, diamonds were discovered in the Kimberley region of South Africa. In 1886, gold was discovered in Transvaal. This led to colonization in Southern Africa by the British and business interests, led by Cecil Rhodes.[21]
1808–1809: Russia conquers Finland from Sweden in the Finnish War.1816: Shaka rises to power over the Zulu Kingdom. Zulu expansion was a major factor of the Mfecane ("Crushing") that depopulated large areas of southern Africa.
1830: End of the Java War. The whole area of Yogyakarta and Surakarta Manca nagara Dutch seized. 27 September, Klaten Agreement determines a fixed boundary between Surakarta and Yogyakarta and permanently divide the kingdom of Mataram was signed by Sasradiningrat, Pepatih Dalem Surakarta, and Danurejo, Pepatih Dalem Yogyakarta. Mataram is a de facto and de yure controlled by the Dutch East Indies.
The 19th century saw the birth of science as a profession; the term scientist was coined in 1833 by William Whewell,[25] which soon replaced the older term of natural philosopher. Among the most influential ideas of the 19th century were those of Charles Darwin (alongside the independent researches of Alfred Russel Wallace), who in 1859 published the book The Origin of Species, which introduced the idea of evolution by natural selection. Another important landmark in medicine and biology were the successful efforts to prove the germ theory of disease. Following this, Louis Pasteur made the first vaccine against rabies, and also made many discoveries in the field of chemistry, including the asymmetry of crystals. In chemistry, Dmitri Mendeleev, following the atomic theory of John Dalton, created the first periodic table of elements. In physics, the experiments, theories and discoveries of Michael Faraday, André-Marie Ampère, James Clerk Maxwell, and their contemporaries led to the creation of electromagnetism as a new branch of science. Thermodynamics led to an understanding of heat and the notion of energy was defined. Other highlights include the discoveries unveiling the nature of atomic structure and matter, simultaneously with chemistry – and of new kinds of radiation. In astronomy, the planet Neptune was discovered. In mathematics, the notion of complex numbers finally matured and led to a subsequent analytical theory; they also began the use of hypercomplex numbers. Karl Weierstrass and others carried out the arithmetization of analysis for functions of real and complex variables. It also saw rise to new progress in geometry beyond those classical theories of Euclid, after a period of nearly two thousand years. The mathematical science of logic likewise had revolutionary breakthroughs after a similarly long period of stagnation. But the most important step in science at this time were the ideas formulated by the creators of electrical science. Their work changed the face of physics and made possible for new technology to come about including a rapid spread in the use of electric illumination and power in the last two decades of the century and radio wave communication at the end of the 1890s.
Thomas Edison was an American inventor, scientist, and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the motion picture camera, phonograph and long-lasting, practical electric light bulb.Built for the Netphener bus company in 1895, the Benz Omnibus was the first motor bus in history.
1844: First publicly funded telegraph line in the world—between Baltimore and Washington—sends demonstration message on 24 May, ushering in the age of the telegraph. This message read "What hath God wrought?" (Bible, Numbers 23:23)
c. 1875/1880: Introduction of the widespread use of electric lighting. These included early crude systems in France and the UK and the introduction of large scale outdoor arc lighting systems by 1880.[27]
On the literary front the new century opens with romanticism, a movement that spread throughout Europe in reaction to 18th-century rationalism, and it develops more or less along the lines of the Industrial Revolution, with a design to react against the dramatic changes wrought on nature by the steam engine and the railway. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge are considered the initiators of the new school in England, while in the continent the German Sturm und Drang spreads its influence as far as Italy and Spain. French arts had been hampered by the Napoleonic Wars but subsequently developed rapidly. Modernism began.[30]
The Realism and Romanticism of the early 19th century gave way to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in the later half of the century, with Paris being the dominant art capital of the world. In the United States the Hudson River School was prominent. 19th-century painters included:
1805: The Battle of Trafalgar eliminates the French and Spanish naval fleets and allows for British dominance of the seas, a major factor for the success of the British Empire later in the century.
1819: 29 January, Stamford Raffles arrives in Singapore with William Farquhar to establish a trading post for the British East India Company; 8February, the treaty is signed between Sultan Hussein of Johor, Temenggong Abdul Rahman and Stamford Raffles. Farquhar is installed as the first Resident of the settlement.
1816: Year Without a Summer: Unusually cold conditions wreak havoc throughout the Northern Hemisphere, likely influenced by the 1815 explosion of Mount Tambora.
1836: Samuel Colt popularizes the revolver and sets up a firearms company to manufacture his invention of the Colt Paterson revolver, a six bullets firearm shot one by one without reloading manually.
A barricade in the Paris Commune, 18 March 1871. Around 30,000 Parisians were killed, and thousands more were later executed.Black Friday, 9 May 1873, Vienna Stock Exchange. The Panic of 1873 and Long Depression followed.
1874: The Société Anonyme Coopérative des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, and Graveurs, better known as the Impressionists, organize and present their first public group exhibition at the Paris studio of the photographer Nadar.
1874: The Home Rule Movement is established in Ireland.
Born on 19 April 1897, Japanese Jiroemon Kimura died on 12 June 2013, marking the death of the last man verified to have been born in the century.[35][36][37] Kimura remains to date the oldest verified man in history.[38] Subsequently, on 21 April 2018, Japanese Nabi Tajima (born 4 August 1900) died as the last person to verifiably have been born in the century.[39]
Cleveland, William L.; Bunton, Martin (2016). A History of the Modern Middle East. doi:10.4324/9780429495502. ISBN9780429495502. S2CID153025861. The 19th century is frequently characterized as a period of tension between forces of continuity and change. The reformers who advocated the adoption of European institutions and technology, have often been portrayed as the progressive elements of society courageously charting the course toward an inevitably Westernized twentieth century. Conversely, the adherents of continuity, who viewed with alarm the dismantling of the Islamic order and sought to preserve tradition and retain the values and ideals that had served Ottoman and Islamic society so well for so long, are sometimes portrayed as nothing but archaic reactionaries. But we should avoid these simplistic characterizations if we are to appreciate the agonizing and dangerous process of transforming an established religious, social and political worldview.
McPherson, J. M. (2014). "Emancipation Proclamation and Thirteenth Amendment", in E. Foner and J. A. Garraty (eds.), The Reader's Companion to American History. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Retrieved from Archived 2018-11-06 at the Wayback Machine
Reilly, Thomas H. (2004). The Taiping heavenly kingdom rebellion and the blasphemy of empire (1ed.). Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN978-0295801926.
Kerr, Gordon (2012). A Short History of Africa: From the Origins of the Human Race to the Arab Spring. Harpenden, Herts [UK]: Pocket Essentials. pp.85–101. ISBN9781842434420.
Oppenheimer, Clive (2003). "Climatic, environmental and human consequences of the largest known historic eruption: Tambora volcano (Indonesia) 1815". Progress in Physical Geography. 27 (2): 230–259. Bibcode:2003PrPG...27..230O. doi:10.1191/0309133303pp379ra. S2CID131663534.
Wahyu Ernawati: "Chapter 8: The Lombok Treasure", in Colonial collections Revisited: Pieter ter Keurs (editor) Vol. 152, CNWS publications. Issue 36 of Mededelingen van het Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden. CNWS Publications, 2007. ISBN978-90-5789-152-6. 296 pages. pp. 186–203
Langer, William. An Encyclopedia of World History (5th ed. 1973); highly detailed outline of events online free
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 frr
New Cambridge Modern History (13 vol 1957–79), old but thorough coverage, mostly of Europe; strong on diplomacy
Bury, J. P. T. ed. The New Cambridge Modern History: Vol. 10: the Zenith of European Power, 1830–70 (1964) online
Crawley, C. W., ed. The New Cambridge Modern History Volume IX War and Peace In An Age of Upheaval 1793–1830 (1965) online
Darby, H. C. and H. Fullard The New Cambridge Modern History, Vol. 14: Atlas (1972)
Hinsley, F.H., ed. The New Cambridge Modern History, vol. 11, Material Progress and World-Wide Problems 1870–1898 (1979) online
Taylor, A. J. P. "International Relations" in F.H. Hinsley, ed., The New Cambridge Modern History: XI: Material Progress and World-Wide Problems, 1870–98 (1962): 542–66. online
Anderson, M. S. The Ascendancy of Europe: 1815–1914 (3rd ed. 2003)
Blanning, T. C. W. ed. The Nineteenth Century: Europe 1789–1914 (Short Oxford History of Europe) (2000) 320 pp
Bruun, Geoffrey. Europe and the French Imperium, 1799–1814 (1938) online.
Cameron, Rondo. France and the Economic Development of Europe, 1800–1914: Conquests of Peace and Seeds of War (1961), awide-ranging economic and business history.
Evans, Richard J. The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815–1914 (2016), 934 pp
Gildea, Robert. Barricades and Borders: Europe 1800–1914 (3rd ed. 2003) 544 pp, online 2nd ed, 1996
Mason, David S. A Concise History of Modern Europe: Liberty, Equality, Solidarity (2011), since 1700
Merriman, John, and J. M. Winter, eds. Europe 1789 to 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire (5 vol. 2006)
Steinberg, Jonathan. Bismarck: A Life (2011)
Salmi, Hannu. 19th Century Europe: A Cultural History (2008).
Africa and Asia
Ajayi, J. F. Ade, ed. UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. VI, Abridged Edition: Africa in the Nineteenth Century until the 1880s (1998)
Akyeampong, Emmanuel; Bates, Robert H; Nunn, Nathan; Robinson, James A, eds. (2014). Africa's Development in Historical Perspective. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139644594. ISBN9781139644594.