After the 1857 rebellion, the Government of India Act transfers rule from the East India Company to the British Crown; the Mughal Empire formally ends.
A Franco-Spanish force attacks Đà Nẵng, beginning the French conquest of Vietnam.
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.
The Edict of Gülhane opens the Tanzimat, a series of reforms modernising Ottoman administration, law and the army.
A series of armed conflicts between the colonial government and Māori iwi, chiefly over land and sovereignty, which led to large confiscations of Māori land.
Hong Xiuquan's movement founds the 'Taiping Heavenly Kingdom'; the ensuing civil war causes tens of millions of deaths.
Britain and France fight Qing China, occupy Beijing and burn the Old Summer Palace in 1860, forcing further unequal treaties.
Sepoys mutiny at Meerut, sparking a widespread uprising against East India Company rule across northern and central India.