c. 15th century – c. 1860s★★★★★
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★★★★★
The shogunate expels the Portuguese and severely restricts foreign contact, allowing only Dutch and Chinese trade at Nagasaki.
PoliticsEconomy· Japan
1772 – 1795★★★★★
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★★★★★
Enslaved people in the French colony of Saint-Domingue rise up, beginning the only successful slave revolution in history.
RevolutionWar· Haiti, France