1793★★★★★
Macartney Embassy to China
A British embassy led by Lord Macartney meets the Qianlong Emperor but fails to secure expanded trade.
PoliticsEconomy· China, United Kingdom
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Events this year
1793 – 1794★★★★★
Reign of Terror
The revolutionary government dominated by the Committee of Public Safety carries out mass repression, with tens of thousands executed; it ends with the fall of Robespierre.
RevolutionPolitics· France
January 21, 1793★★★★★
Execution of Louis XVI
Condemned by the National Convention, the former king Louis XVI is guillotined at the Place de la Révolution in Paris.
RevolutionDeathPolitics· France
Ongoing
c. 15th century – c. 1860s★★★★★
The transatlantic slave trade
From the 16th to the 19th century, an estimated 12.5 million enslaved Africans were shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas, with profound consequences for both continents.
Economy· Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, Angola, Brazil, United States, Portugal, United Kingdom
1639 – 1853★★★★★
Japan's sakoku isolation policy
The shogunate expels the Portuguese and severely restricts foreign contact, allowing only Dutch and Chinese trade at Nagasaki.
PoliticsEconomy· Japan
1772 – 1795★★★★★
Partitions of Poland
Russia, Prussia and Austria carve up the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in three partitions, erasing it from the map of Europe by 1795.
PoliticsTreaty· Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Germany, Austria
August 22, 1791 – January 1, 1804★★★★★
Haitian Revolution begins
Enslaved people in the French colony of Saint-Domingue rise up, beginning the only successful slave revolution in history.
RevolutionWar· Haiti, France