This is a non-exhaustive chronology of colonialism-related events, which may reflect political events, cultural events, and important global events that have influenced colonization and decolonization.
146 B.C North Africa: The city of Carthage fell into the hands of the Roman Republic after the final attack led by Scipio the Younger. The city was destroyed and the remaining 50,000 Carthaginian citizens were sold into slavery. This battle ended the Punic Wars and practically ceded the remainder of Carthage's territory to the Roman Republic.
55 B.C Great Britain: The first Roman invasion of Britain took place when Julius Caesar and his legions landed on the British coast but were soon pushed from the area. He would return the following year with a much larger force and made better progress. However, Caesar would ultimately make peace with the British people and the Roman Republic would commence trade with them.[1] Later Roman invasions would prove more successful.
821 Ireland: The first recorded Viking raid in Irish history occurred in AD 795 when Vikings, possibly from Norway looted the island of Lambay. The Viking raids on Ireland resumed in 821, the Vikings began to establish fortified encampments, longports, along the Irish coast and overwintering in Ireland instead of retreating to Scandinavia or British bases. The first known longports were at Linn Dúachaill (Annagassan) and Duiblinn (on the River Liffey, at or near present Dublin).
865 Great Britain: The first known account of a Viking raid in Anglo-Saxon England comes from 789, when three ships from Hordaland (in modern Norway) landed in the Isle of Portland on the southern coast of Wessex. From 865 the Norse attitude towards Great Britain changed, as they began to see it as a place for potential colonisation rather than simply a place to raid. As a result of this, larger armies began arriving on Britain's shores, with the intention of conquering land and constructing settlements there. Norse armies captured York in 867.
1455: Papal BullRomanus Pontifex grants a trade monopoly for newly discovered countries in Africa and Asia to the Portuguese.
1474: João Vaz Corte-Real, a Portuguese navigator, claims to have discovered the New Land of the Codfish, an unidentified island of which there is some speculation that it might be Newfoundland, in present-day Canada.
1494: Treaty of Tordesillas dividing the world outside of Europe in an exclusive duopoly between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires along a north–south meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands (off the west coast of Africa), roughly 46° 36' W. (This boundary was known as the Line of Demarcation.) The lands to the east would belong to Portugal and the lands to the west to Spain.
1529: Treaty of Zaragoza dividing Asia between the Spanish and Portuguese empires. With the Treaty of Tordesillas, this second demarcation line roughly splits the world in half: 191° of the earth circumference for Portugal and 169° for Spain.
1949: France grants independence to Vietnam within the framework of the French Union and returns Cochinchina to Vietnam, leading to the establishment of the State of Vietnam led by former Emperor Bảo Đại.[7]
1950: People's Republic of China and the USSR recognize the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in January, the US and the UK recognize the State of Vietnam on February 7.[8][9][10] The US starts to support the French and China starts to support the Viet Minh in the First Indochina War.
1951: US begins providing direct economic aid to the State of Vietnam on September 7.[11]
1954: France recognizes complete independence of the State of Vietnam with bilateral agreements initialed on June 4 and taking effect on the date of signing, the State of Vietnam becomes an equal member of the French Union.[12][13][14][15][16][17]:1
1954: By the Geneva Accords on July 20, the First Indochina War ends with the French defeat, Vietnam is divided at the 17th parallel with the State of Vietnam in the South and the communist-led Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the North.[a][19]
1955: United States begins providing direct military aid to South Vietnam, bypassing France, on January 1st. The same day, the National Bank of South Vietnam officially begins operations in Saigon, the French Indochinese piastre is replaced by the South Vietnamese đồng.[20]:69
1963: Assassination of Sylvanus Olympio on January 13, first president of Togo; he is replaced by Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who ruled over Togo until his death in 2005.
↑The State of Vietnam becomes the Republic of Vietnam in October 1955. The Republic of Vietnam later withdraws from the French Union and cancels economic agreements with France in December. On 28 April 1956, French forces withdraw from South Vietnam. Due to the Vietnam War, Vietnam is unified on 30 April 1975 when South Vietnam falls to the communist North.[18]
↑Jacobs, Seth (2006). Cold War Mandarin: Ngô Đình Diệm and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam, 1950–1963. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN0-7425-4447-8.
Benjamin, Thomas. Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism Since 1450 (3 vol. 2006)
Hodge, Carl Cavanagh. Encyclopedia of the Age of Imperialism, 1800-1914 (2 vol. 2007)
Lehning, James. European Colonialism since 1700 (2013)
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
Page, Melvin E. et al. eds. Colonialism: An International Social, Cultural, and Political Encyclopedia (3 vol. 2003)
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