Modern Era
Independence of Brazil (1822): Pedro I and the Cry of Ipiranga
Brazil broke away from Portugal as the Empire of Brazil, a constitutional monarchy under Pedro I, recognised by Portugal in 1825.
Era · c. 1800 – 1945
Modern Era
Industry, science and global conflict: the century and a half that built the modern world.
Modern Era
Monroe Doctrine (1823): America Warns Europe Off the Hemisphere
The United States declared the Americas closed to new European colonisation and intervention, a principle that became a cornerstone of US foreign policy.
Modern Era
Battle of Ayacucho (1824): End of Spanish Rule in South America
Decisive patriot victory; the viceroy of Peru was captured and the royalist army capitulated, ending Spanish power in mainland South America.
Modern Era
Decembrist Revolt (1825): Officers Against the Russian Tsar
The revolt was crushed by artillery on the same day; five leaders were hanged and more than a hundred exiled to Siberia.
Modern Era
Java War (1825-1830): Prince Diponegoro Against the Dutch
Dutch victory after Diponegoro was arrested during negotiations; Dutch control of Java was consolidated and the Cultivation System introduced.
Modern Era
Stockton and Darlington Railway (1825): Steam Goes Public
The line proved that a public railway using steam locomotives could carry goods profitably and became the model for the railway age.
Modern Era
Niépce's First Photograph (1826): View from the Window at Le Gras
Niépce produced the oldest surviving photograph taken with a camera, proving that a lasting image of nature could be fixed by light.
Modern Era
Second Cholera Pandemic (1826-1837): Cholera Reaches Europe
Cholera struck Europe and North America for the first time, killing hundreds of thousands and prompting the first national boards of health and sanitary reform.
Modern Era
Battle of Navarino (1827): Last Great Battle of Sailing Ships
Decisive allied victory; most of the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet was destroyed, ensuring the survival of an independent Greece.
Modern Era
Catholic Emancipation (1829): Daniel O'Connell's Victory
The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 allowed Catholics to sit in Parliament and hold most public offices, while the Irish county franchise was sharply restricted.
Modern Era
Rainhill Trials (1829): Stephenson's Rocket Wins the Race
Rocket was the only locomotive to complete the trials, won the £500 prize and persuaded the directors to run the Liverpool and Manchester Railway with steam locomotives.
Modern Era
Abolition of Sati (1829): Bentinck's Regulation and Ram Mohan Roy
Bengal Regulation XVII of 1829 declared sati illegal and punishable as culpable homicide; the ban was extended to Madras and Bombay in 1830.