Timeline / 1810 to 1850
Date Country Theme
1810 - 1830 Tunisia Economy And Trade
Situated at the confluence of the seas of the Mediterranean, Tunis is seen as a great commercial city that many of her neighbours fear. Food and luxury goods are in abundance and considerable fortunes are created through international trade and the trade-race at sea.
1810 - 1845 Tunisia Migrations
Taking advantage of treaties known as Capitulations an increasing number of Europeans arrive to seek their fortune in the commerce and industry of the regency, in particular the Leghorn Jews, Italians and Maltese.
1810 - 1850 Tunisia Migrations
Important increase in the arrival of black slaves. The slave market is supplied by seasonal caravans and the Fezzan from Ghadames and the sub-Saharan region in general.
1810 - 1850 Tunisia Rediscovering The Past
Travellers and explorers of modern times have scoured and described the Regency of Tunis. Their missions to the region provided occasions to discover the remains of antiquity and open up new fields of research to European scholars.
1810 - 1822 Morocco Political Context
In relation to trade policy, Mulay Sulayman opposes the liberalism of his father Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd Allah by passing an edict in 1814 imposing a 50 per cent duty on imports, and takes restrictive measures by banning the export of most Moroccan commodities to Europe, including grain, oil, wool, animal hides and livestock. The years of drought and swarms of locusts that devastated all crops between 1810 and 1816 caused a shortage of basic commodities, price increases and famine, on top of the plague epidemics that swept the country. All of these factors necessarily weakened the country financially and demographically. This could help to explain the inward-looking policies adopted by the sovereign Mulay Sulayman, who—according to some historical sources—claimed that he did not need Europe and hoped that Europe did not need him. A desperate and exhausted Mulay Sulayman resigned and chose his nephew Mulay ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Hisham as his successor.
1810 - 1830 Republic of Macedonia Fine And Applied Arts (FYROM)
A masterpiece of Byzantine sculpture, the iconostasis in the Monastery of St John at Bigor near Debar is created in this period by Petre Filipovski Garkata (d. 1854) and his group of craftsmen. Carved in walnut, the iconostasis depicts scenes from the Old and New Testaments and varied floral motifs. This Macedonian master of woodcarving and his associates also executed the iconostases in Lesnovo Monastery. Date Country Theme
1810 - 1862 Republic of Macedonia Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion (FYROM)
One of the most prominent Macedonian poets, folklorists and educators, Dimitar Miladinov(1810–62) is born in Struga. He spends most of his life teaching in the Ohrid region. His greatest achievement is the collection of folk songs between 1854 and 1860.
1811 Austria Reforms And Social Changes
A commission under the chairmanship of Franz von Zeiller drafts the General Civil Code.
1811 Egypt Political Context
On 1 March, Muhammad ‘Ali invites some 470 Mamluk beys to the Citadel for a feast to celebrate his son’s imminent departure for Mecca. When the feasting is over the Mamluks mount their lavishly decorated horses and are led in procession down the narrow, high-sided defile, below what is now the Police Museum. As they approach Bab al-Azab, the great gates swing closed and gunfire rains down on them from above. After the fusillades, Muhammad ‘Ali’s soldiers wade in with swords and axes to finish the job. Legend relates that only one Mamluk escaped alive, leaping over the wall on his horse.
1812 Romania Political Context
After the Russian–Ottoman war of 1806–12 Russia annexes the eastern part of Moldavia (Bessarabia).
1812 Spain Political Context
Spain's first Constitution of 1812, influenced by the French Revolution, is revolutionary because it declares the Spanish American colonies to be provinces and all their inhabitants citizens. The constitution reduces some of the powers and privileges of the monarchy, aristocracy and church and will influence future post- independence South American constitutions. Up to 1876 Spain will change its constitution four times (1837, 1845, 1869, 1876).
1812 - 1817 Germany Travelling
John Lewis Burckhardt from Switzerland journeyed to the “Orient”, especially to Aleppo in Syria, to study the Near East and Islam. While there, under the pseudonym Sheikh Ibrahim ibn ‘Abd-Allah and living as a Muslim businessman, he not only translated from English to Arabic Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, but also rediscovered the city of Petra (Jordan) in 1812.
1813 Romania Fine And Applied Arts
Gheorghe Asachi teaches a class of drawing and history of art at the School for Surveying Engineers (Moldavia).
1813 Spain Political Context Date Country Theme
The Valençay Treaty ends the war between Spain and France. Return of King Fernando VII and absolutist restoration.
1813 - 1815 Germany Political Context
The Liberation Wars (and the decisive Battle of Leipzig in 1913) were between Napoleon Bonaparte’s French troops and Central Europe; Napoleon is overthrown.
1814 Tunisia Cities And Urban Spaces
The reign of Hammuda Pasha Bey, known as the “Founder” of modern Tunisia, comes to an end.
1814 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Cities And Urban Spaces
Sharjah becomes the main seat of the ruling Sheikh, Sultan bin Saqr al-Qasimi I, and the centre of the government of the Sharjah Emirate.
1814 Greece Political Context
Foundation of the secret organisation Filiki Etaireia (Friendly Society) prepares the ground for the Greek Revolution.
1814 Republic of Macedonia Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion (FYROM)
The first book in Macedonian, History of the Frightening and Second Communion of Jesus, written by Joakim Krchovski (c.1750–1820) is published in Budim. Krchovski was a herald of the Macedonian cultural revival and went on to publish more books on religious matters. In the early 19th century in Macedonia only priests and other Christian dignitaries were educated enough to enlighten Macedonian people through literature in their mother tongue.
1814 France Political Context
Abdication of Napoleon I on 6 April sees the end of the First French Empire (1804– 14).
1814 - 1815 France Political Context
First Restoration: the return of the monarchy, referred to as the Bourbon Restoration. Louis XVIII (brother of Louis XVI) facilitated this by accepting a return to the monarchy by means of the Charter of 1814. This Charter combined the more moderate ideas of the Revolution with certain monarchist traditions.
1814 - 1815 Germany Political Context
The Wiener Kongress (Congress of Vienna) saw the restoration of the political state (the 1792 Ancien Régime), realignment of the borders, and creation of a loosely arranged German Bund (Federation).
1814 - 1815 Germany Reforms And Social Changes Date Country Theme
The Wiener Kongress (Congress of Vienna) decides on territorial realignment and the constitutional restoration of Europe.
1814 - 1815 Austria Political Context
The Great Peace Congress is held in Vienna from 18 September 1814 to 9 June 1815. Clemens Wenzel Duke of Metternich organises the Austrian predominance in Italy. Austria exchanges the Austrian Netherlands for the territory of the Venetian Republic and creates the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.
1815 - 1816 Tunisia Political Context
The English Admiral Edward Pellow, 1st Viscount Exmouth imposes on the regencies of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli new recommendations to slow the race at sea. He inaugurates the so-called Gunboat diplomacy, which involves the threat of military force.
1815 - 1816 Italy Rediscovering The Past
Antonio Canova, acting on behalf of Pope Pio VII, recovers from France several pieces of art belonging to the Papal States, which had been brought to Paris by Napoleon, including the Villa Borghese’s archaeological collection.
1815 Italy Political Context
The Congress of Vienna decides the restoration of pre-Napoleonic monarchies: Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont, Genoa, Sardinia); Kingdom of Two Sicilies (Southern Italy and Sicily), the Papal States (part of Central Italy), Grand Duchy of Tuscany and other smaller states. Much of northern Italy (Milan, Venice, Trieste etc.) is under the Austrian empire.
1815 Serbia Political Context
The Second Serbian Uprising – the Takovo Uprising – represents the second stage of the Serbian revolt against the Ottoman Empire, which breaks out soon after. The revolt leads to recognition of Serbian autonomy within the Ottoman Empire and establishment of the Kneževina (Principality) of Serbia, which obtained its own Assembly, Constitution and ruling dynasty.
1815 France Political Context
March–July, the Cent Jours (Hundred Days) between which Napoleon I returns to power and then finally abdicates after defeat at Waterloo.
1815 - 1830 France Political Context
Second Restoration: the reign of Louis XVIII and his brother Charles X. France experiences an economic boom (i.e. the development of the railways), but discontent grows over the king’s authoritarian policies.
1815 - 1848 France Economy And Trade Date Country Theme
The development of transport networks: the creation of railway lines from 1832, expansion of the road network and construction of a large number of canals.
1815 - 1848 France Economy And Trade
The pace of industrialisation picks up significantly: millions of tons of coal and iron are produced and production in the textile industry is enhanced by the Jacquard loom.
1815 - 1848 Germany Fine And Applied Arts
The painting by Carl Spitzweg, Der Sonntagsspaziergang (The Sunday Walk, 1841), exemplifies the Biedermeier era (an expression of the popular present reality) in art at this time. Incidentally, Spitzweg’s painting Der arme Poet (The Poor Poet) was the most popular painting in Germany in the 19th century.
1815 - 1848 Germany Migrations
An estimated 60,000 German citizens leave the territory that later becomes the German Bund (Federation).
1815 - 1848 Germany Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
The Biedermeier era in literature (i.e. works by Mörike and von Droste-Hülshoff) is characterised by melancholia, a desire to escape to an idyll and to recapture religion and the homeland.
1815 Turkey Reforms And Social Changes
Mahmud II leaves Topkap# Palace to live in Be#ikta# Palace.
1816 Tunisia Travelling
Queen Caroline of Brunswick visits the Regency of Tunis as a guest of the Bey. She is hosted at the Palais de la Rose in Manouba.
1816 France Reforms And Social Changes
The stethoscope is invented by Dr René Laennec.
1816 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Gioachino Rossini (1795–1868), the young director of the San Carlo Theatre of Naples, the most important opera house at the time, puts on stage in Rome the Barber of Seville. The opera, thanks to its easy and passionate pacing, sets a new benchmark for the light operatic style, namely, the opera buffa (comic opera).
1816 Italy Rediscovering The Past
In Naples, inauguration of the Royal Bourbon Museum, whose holdings include the rich collection of archaeological items belonged to Elisabetta Farnese and the pieces excavated in Pompei during the 18th century. All such holdings are personal properties of the king. Date Country Theme
1816 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes
Modern education in Egypt starts with the School of Engineering, which is established by Muhammad ‘Ali in the Castle during 1816, to train and prepare specialists in that area.
1816 Egypt Political Context
Ibrahim Pasha leads Egypt’s expedition to Hijaz and crushes the Wahhabi Revolution.
1816 Republic of Macedonia Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion (FYROM)
The book titled Mirror by Kiril Pejchinovic (1771–1845) is published in Budim. This great Macedonian educator was born in Tearce near Tetovo. The first books in Macedonian published in the early 19th century were on religious subjects, which was understandable given that they were written by people of the Church.
1816 - 1830 France Economy And Trade
The rise of the Stock Exchange in Paris, the financial capital of Europe.
1816 - 1830 Germany Fine And Applied Arts
Architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel engraved a certain style on Berlin, starting with the Neue Wache (New Guardhouse, 1816–18) and followed by the Konzerthaus at Berlin’s Gandarmenmarkt (1818–21). Opposite the Lustgarten (Pleasure gardens) on what is now known as Museum Island in Berlin, Schinkel built the first royal museum, the Altes Museum (opened 1830), marking the beginning of the Island’s history.
1817 Romania Travelling
August–September: Habsburg Emperor Francis I and his wife Carolina visit the cities of Transylvania and are very well received by the population.
1817 Spain Reforms And Social Changes
Slave trade (trata de negros) abolished by the Spanish Parliament at Cádiz. Following the influence of the French Revolution the anti-slavery movement grew in Europe. In 1837 slavery was abolished in Spain but not in the colonies. The government later freed the slaves of Puerto Rico (1873) and Cuba (1878).
1817 - 1821 Portugal Political Context
The emergence of liberal ideas. In Porto a Provisional Ruling Council is created (1820) and pursues the rebellion against British rule that started in Lisbon. Liberal revolution breaks out in Porto (August 1820), spreads to Lisbon, beginning the radical cycle known as Vintismo. King João VI is forced to return to Portugal from Brazil in 1821.
1817 Germany Reforms And Social Changes Date Country Theme
Rise of the Wartburgfest, an assembly of radical students who want to implement the idea of a German National State.
1818 - 1819 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
Construction of the first steamboats. The first steamboat lines in the Mediterranean: Naples shipyards build the steamboat Ferdinando I (for the line Naples–Genoa–Marseille); Genoa shipyards build the steamboat Eridano (to be used in the Adriatic Sea).
1818 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
Arthur Schopenhauer publishes Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (The World as Will and Representation is the title of the latest, 2008, English translation; the first was published in 1883).The second, expanded German edition appeared in 1944.
1819 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Political Context
The British put a stop to Qawasim hegemony in the Lower Gulf region by destroying their ports, strongholds, and fleets on both shores of the Arab Gulf.
1819 Spain Fine And Applied Arts
Founding of the Museo Nacional del Prado with the Royal collection of paintings as one the first museums in Spain.
1819 France Fine And Applied Arts
The Raft of the Medusa, by the Romantic painter Théodore Géricault.
1819 Germany Political Context
The Karlsbader Beschlüsse (Carlsbad Decrees) was intended to suppress liberal and national movements through censorship of the press and political persecution.
1820 France Migrations
The first German immigrants enter France.
1820 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Cities And Urban Spaces
British Royal Navy surveyors visit Sharjah.
1820 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Political Context
The British impose a Peace Treaty on the Qawasim and other sheikhs of the Arab littoral of the Gulf. The signing is preceded by a preliminary agreement forcing the sheikhs to turn over all remaining vessels, fortifications and weapons in exchange for the restoration of their fishing and pearling vessels. The Treaty enjoins all signatories to fly a specific red-and-white flag.
After 1820 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Economy And Trade Date Country Theme
Pearling becomes the major industry of the Qawasim and other sheikhdoms of the Arab littoral of the Gulf; exports provide the most important revenues.
1820 Italy Rediscovering The Past
Edict by Cardinal Bartolomeo Pacca (1756–1844) dictating a comprehensive set of measures for the protection of cultural heritage in the Papal States: it is the first comprehensive law on the protection of cultural heritage issued in Italy and it will become a model for the other Italian states.
1820 - 1831 Italy Political Context
In 1820–21 and 1830–31, uprisings in different parts of Italy in favour of national unification and constitutional rule. They meet harsh repression.
1820s United Kingdom Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
British interest in classical Arabic culture including literature sometimes originates in India where the first printed Arabic version of One Thousand and One Nights is published.
1820 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes
Muhammad ‘Ali sends the first educational “mission” of Egyptian students to Europe.
1820 - 1823 Spain Political Context
In 1820, the army mutiny led by Rafael del Riego leads to King Fernando VII accepting the Constitution, in spite of his former opposition to constitutional monarchy, bringing in the Trienio Liberal period of popular rule. The Congress of Verona in 1822 gives France a mandate to restore Fernando as absolute monarch. In 1823 the French army invades Spain to restore absolutism, ending the Trienio Liberal.
1820 Portugal Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
14 October: The steamship Conde de Palmela arrives on the Tagus River. Built in Liverpool by Mottershead and Hays, it was commissioned by the Portuguese consul there. It is said to be the first ship to cross the Biscay, a journey of 1,000 miles, and the first steamship to be seen in Portugal.
1820 France Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Les Méditations Poétiques by the Romantic poet Alphonse de Lamartine.
1820 - 1825 Germany Rediscovering The Past
The German naturalists and explorers Wilhelm Friedrich Hemprich and Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg embark on a research tour in cooperation with Martin Lichtenstein (who published Reisen im südlichen Afrika (Tourism in Southern Africa) in 1810 and was appointed director of the Berlin Zoological Museum in Date Country Theme 1813) from Cairo to Derna in Libya, along the Nile, and through the Sinai Desert and Lebanon, collecting natural and historical specimens.
1821 - 1822 Romania Political Context
January 1821–July 1822: revolution in Moldavia and Wallachia against the Phanariotes (Greek rulers imposed by the Ottoman Empire since the beginning of the 18th century) and for social and economic measures to improve the lives of the people. After the suppression of the revolution the Empire appoints Romanian rulers in Moldavia (Ioni## Sandu Sturdza) and Walachia (Grigore Dimitrie Ghica).
1821 Austria Economy And Trade
In Trieste, Josef Ressel equips the steamship Civetta with a ship’s propeller for the first time.
1821 - 1822 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces
Giuseppe Valadier’s neoclassical project for the area next to the Rome northern gate is completed: it encompasses Piazza del Popolo and a new scenographic access to the Pincio hill.
1821 - 1822 Italy Fine And Applied Arts
Francesco Hayez paints I Vespri Siciliani, a historical painting expressing the new revolutionary and independence ideas that are taking root in Italy.
1821 Greece Political Context
The Greek Revolution against the Ottoman Empire begins.
1821 - 1825 Lebanon Political Context
Bashir Shihab II, who was elected as amir in 1788 under Ottoman suzerainty, is overthrown when he backs Acre, and flees to Egypt, later to return and form an army. Bashir Jumblatt, the Druze leader, gathers the Druze factions and declares a rebellion that leads to massacres and battles with the Maronites who support Bashir Shihab.
1822 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Cities And Urban Spaces
A survey of Sharjah records it as having fortified towers and walls, a large mosque, as well as single- and two-storey houses.
1822 Italy Rediscovering The Past
Inauguration of the Vatican Museums’ Braccio Nuovo (new wing), which completes the Chiaramonti Museum, whose construction had started in 1807, under the impulse of Pope Pius VII (Barnaba Chiaramonti). The Museum’s collection was set up by the sculptor Antonio Canova and included a large body of archaeological items.
1822 Italy Travelling Date Country Theme
The Grand Duchy of Tuscany issues the first official ruling in Italy regarding “those who bathe in the sea in the open air”. Around that time, in Viareggio two wooden bathing establishments are built (one for men, the other for women). They are intended for seawater therapy.
1822 United Kingdom Rediscovering The Past
Champollion deciphers Egyptian hieroglyphs, giving voice to the wealth of ancient inscriptions. This heralds the beginning of Egyptology.
1822 Portugal Political Context
King João VI asks his heir Prince Pedro, Duke of Braganza (1798–1834) to remain in Brazil. Part of the court decides to stay there. Facing revolt against the anti- Brazilian policy of Portugal, Pedro proclaims the independence of Brazil on 7 September (Grito do Ipiranga). In October he is acclaimed as the first Brazilian Emperor, Pedro I.
1822 Portugal Political Context
1 October: Inspired by Cadiz Constitution members of Parliament authored the first liberal Constitution. King João VI (1767-1826) promulgated the document on 1 October 1822, in Lisbon. Royal prerogatives and the nobles and clergy privileges were limited, though with a weak impact.
1822 Portugal Reforms And Social Changes
1 October: Unavoidable recognition by King João VI of the first liberal Constitution approved by Parliament on 23 September. Inspired by the Spanish Constitution of 1812 and the French ones of 1791, 1793 and 1795, royal prerogatives and the privileges of nobles and clergy are to be limited, though this has only weak impact.
1822 France Rediscovering The Past
The scholar, philologist and Orientalist Jean-François Champollion (1790–1832) deciphers the Rosetta Stone hieroglyphs.
1822 - 1829 Germany Political Context
The War between Greece and the Ottoman Empire concludes with Greece attaining its independence with the help of Russia and the Western nations.
1823 - 1825 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Political Context
After the defeat of the Qawasim by the British, a British Residency is established at Bushire on the Persian littoral to represent Britain’s political, economic and military interests there. Shortly after, a “Native Agent” is based in Sharjah as his representative. Native agents were generally non-Arab but Arabic-speaking Muslims from the Indian subcontinent or the Persian littoral of the Gulf, chosen for their loyalty to Britain and their in-depth local and regional knowledge. Their task was to monitor activities on the Trucial Coast and liaise with local powers on Britain’s behalf. Date Country Theme
1823 Spain Reforms And Social Changes
The French army, known as “Los cien mil hijos de San Luis” (“the hundred thousand sons of St. Louis”), invades Spain to restore absolutism ending the Trienio Liberal (1820 –1823). In 1820 King Fernando VII had agreed to the Constitution, in spite of his opposition to a constitutional monarchy. The Congress of Verona in 1822 gave France a mandate to restore Fernando as absolute monarch.
1823 Turkey Political Context
28 July: Treaty of Erzurum, which ends the Ottoman–Iranian war and restores the previous border.
1824 Romania Cities And Urban Spaces
During the reign of Prince Grigore IV Ghica, the major streets in Bucharest, which used to be covered with wooden planks, are covered with cobblestones.
1824 Italy Rediscovering The Past
In Turin, inauguration of the Royal Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. The Museum holding includes 5,268 Egyptian items brought to Italy by Bernardino Drovetti and bought by the King of Sardinia, Charles Felix of Savoy.
1824 Republic of Macedonia Fine And Applied Arts (FYROM)
Petre Filipovski Garkata and fellow artisans, including the master carver Makarie Frchkovski, create the iconostasis in the Church of Holy Salvation, Skopje. Petre Filipovski developed his own recognisable style of wood carving depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments in which biblical figures were rendered wearing traditional costumes of Macedonia. The iconostasis also depicts the artists who created it as their “signature”.
1824 Portugal Rediscovering The Past
Publication of O Alfageme de Santarém, a drama by Almeida Garret (1799– 1854). The subject is the dynastic crisis of 1383–85 when the Portuguese kingdom was invaded by Juan I of Castille, married to the heir to the Portuguese throne, Princess Beatriz. In 1385, acclaimed King João I of Avis with Lady Philippa of Lancaster created the dynasty of Avis, responsible for the era of the Discoveries.
1824 France Fine And Applied Arts
The Massacre at Chios by the Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix.
1824 France Fine And Applied Arts
The Pardon of Bonchamps by David d'Angers.
1824 - 1829 Germany Cities And Urban Spaces Date Country Theme
Rosenstein Palace is built by Giovanni Salucci under Wilhelm I; it has been a public museum since 1954.
1825 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
The first proper British survey of the southern and western waters of the Gulf begins at Ras Musandam.
1825 - 1827 Austria Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
A railway line opens between Budweis (Bohemia) and Linz (Upper Austria). The rolling stock was not yet steam-operated.
1825 Austria Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Johann Strauss creates his Wiener Walzer Kapelle, an orchestra specialising in the Viennese Waltz.
1825 - 1827 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Alessandro Manzoni (1785–1873) publishes I promessi sposi (The Betrothed), one of the most widely read Italian novels. His use of the Italian language stands out as a model.
1825 Italy Travelling
More than half a million pilgrims visit Rome on the occasion of the Catholic “Holy Year”. In the Roman Catholic tradition, a Holy Year or Jubilee is a year of forgiveness of sins and reconciliation. Other Holy Years were celebrated in 1875 and in 1900. Rome always attracted Catholic pilgrims, especially during Holy Years.
1825 Greece Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
The poets Alexandros and Panayotis Soutsos compile their first works, and introduce European Romanticism to a newly liberated Greece.
1825 Lebanon Political Context
Bashir Shihab II, helped by the Ottomans and by Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar (governor of Acre), defeats his rival in the Battle of Simqanieh. Bashir Jumblatt dies in Acre at the order of al-Jazzar. Bashir II represses the Druze rebellion, particularly in and around Beirut. This makes Bashir II the only leader of Mount Lebanon.
1825 Portugal Rediscovering The Past
Almeida Garrett writes the poems Camões (1825) and Dona Branca (1826), considered the first romantic works in Portuguese. The hero, Camões, is presented as an outcast who, returning to the motherland, dies in the year when Portugal loses its independence (1580). The fantasy of medieval wizardry traditions is represented in Dona Branca. Date Country Theme
Circa 1825 France Fine And Applied Arts
The inventor Nicéphore Niépce is credited with the creation of the first “photograph”.
1825 - 1848 Germany Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
This era, one marked by the politician and statesman Klemens von Metternich, a supporter of restoration politics and conditions prior to the French Revolution, is satirised by the Junges Deutschland, a movement in literature (i.e. the works of Büchner, Heine and Grabbe) that is characterised by a rejection of these beliefs in support of a free press and freedom of expression.
1826 France Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
The invention of photography by Nicéphore Niépce.
1826 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Cities And Urban Spaces
Sharjah is recorded as having 175 stone buildings and 2,000 areesh (palm-frond) houses.
1826 - 1832 Portugal Political Context
With the death of his father, Emperor Pedro I of Brazil becomes Pedro IV of Portugal but gives up the throne to his daughter, future Queen Maria II. The proclamation of a moderate Constitutional Charter does not stop the absolutist movement led by his brother, Prince Miguel (1802–66), who disregards the rights of his niece Princess Maria and Pedro’s decision.
1826 Turkey Political Context
15–17 June: The abolition and extermination of the Janissary corps (the so-called Auspicious Incident) in #stanbul by troops loyal to Sultan Mahmud II. This act provides the conditions for institutional modernisation.
1827 Austria Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Franz Schubert composes his Winterreise.
1827 Greece Political Context
The London Treaty: England, Russia and France suggest to the Ottoman Sultan that he should recognise Greek independence. This is the first step towards foundation of the Greek State.
1827 Egypt Migrations
The French physician Antoine Barthelemy Clot, Clot Bey as he was known in Egypt, becomes the first director of the Medical School and Hospital in Egypt.
1827 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes Date Country Theme
A School of Medicine is established at Abu Za‘bal and annexed to the Military Hospital there due to the efforts of Clot Bek, a French physician. A fatwa is then issued by Sheikh Hasan al-Attar, which allowed anatomizing cadavers as long as it was done in order to prevent disease.
1827 - 1831 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes
A School of Veterinary Medicine emerges in Rashid in 1827, which then transfers to a building beside the School of Medicine at Abu Za‘bal in 1831. Here the veterinary hospital is able to accommodate up to 110 horses and includes a Pharmacy, a Hall of Anatomy and areas for student and staff subsistence.
1827 Egypt Political Context
When under the command of an Ottoman representative the entire Egyptian navy is sunk by the European Allied fleet, Muhammad ‘Ali asks for the territory of Syria in compensation.
1827 Turkey Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
First steamboat in the Ottoman Empire is launched.
1827 Turkey Political Context
20 October: A joint British, French and Russian fleet destroys the Ottoman and Egyptian navy at Navarino as the Sublime Porte did not accept the declaration of the UK, France and Russia for an autonomous Greece (in the Protocol of London, 6 July 1827).
1828 - 1829 Italy Rediscovering The Past
The Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II and Charles X of France finance the archaeological expedition to Egypt headed by Ippolito Rossellini and Jean-Francois Champollion.
1828 Greece Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
The First Governor of the new Greek nation, Ioannis Kapodistrias, orders the foundation of the postal service.
1828 Greece Rediscovering The Past
Ioannis Kapodistrias oversees the establishment of Greece’s first museum, the Archaeological Museum of Aegina.
1828 Greece Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
The poem Hymn to Liberty by Dionysios Solomos becomes the Greek National Anthem with music composed by Nikolaos Mantzaros.
1828 - 1848 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces Date Country Theme
The Mosque of Muhammad ‘Ali is built between 1828 and 1848. Perched on the summit of the Citadel, the Ottoman mosque with its animated silhouette and twin minarets, the largest to be built in the first half of the 19th century, is the most visible mosque in Cairo.
1829 Romania Political Context
The peace Treaty of Edirne institutes the Russian protectorate over Moldavia and Wallachia, which lasts until 1856. The Romanian countries remain under Russian occupation until 1834. Under the supervision of the Russian authorities in 1830– 31 the Organic Regulations, considered to be the first Romanian constitutions, are drawn up and adopted.
1829 Romania Economy And Trade
14 September: the Treaty of Edirne annuls the Ottoman monopoly on Wallachia and Moldavia’s commerce.
1829 Austria Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
The Austrian Danube Steamboat Shipping Company is established.
1829 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Gioachino Rossini puts on stage in Paris his last opera, Guillaume Tell, featuring the fight of the Swiss people for freedom from Habsburg domination. He wrote 39 operas, characterised by a style aiming at pure musical beauty (bel canto). Great attention is paid to the sound of the voice and to technical virtuosity, with little emphasis on the different dramatic situations and to the personality of the different characters.
1829 United Kingdom Economy And Trade
The Treaty of Adrianople, following a Russian-Turkish war, opens up the Black Sea to international trade. Trebizond becomes a major port for Persia and India. Constantinople, Smyrna (Izmir) and Aleppo, which have been major international trading communities for many centuries now, flourish with the expansion of steam power.
1829 United Kingdom Political Context
The poet Lord Byron epitomises Romantic support for Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire. Over the next century, British opinion wavers between seeing the Ottoman Empire as a force for stability or one oppressing Christian populations – the Armenians and Balkan Christians.
1829 Egypt Migrations
Al-Waqa'i`a al-Masriya is established by order of Khedive Muhammad ‘Ali. It is the first indigenous Middle Eastern newspaper, initially written in both Ottoman Turkish and Arabic.
1829 Spain Economy And Trade Date Country Theme
The Banco Español de San Fernando absorbs the highly indebted Banco Nacional de San Carlos, founded in 1782, thus becoming in fact the first Spanish bank. The bank continues as such until 1856, when it becomes Banco de España, the central Bank of Spain.
1829 United Kingdom Political Context
Irish lawyer Daniel O’Connell leads the campaign for concession of Catholic Emancipation, which will allow Roman Catholics to sit in the UK Parliament. The campaign is successful, helped along by the death of George III, but O’Connell’s long-term goal is to repeal Ireland’s Act of Union with Great Britain.
1829 France Fine And Applied Arts
École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, Paris.
1829 Turkey Reforms And Social Changes
3 March: Clothing regulation: the Ottoman state mandates the fez as the common headgear for all Ottoman men.
1829 Turkey Political Context
14 September: Treaty of Adrianople (present-day Edirne). This treaty secures Greek independence and strengthens the autonomy of Wallachia, Moldavia (Romania), and Serbia.
1830 Tunisia Political Context
With the capture of Algiers, France ousts the Ottoman Empire and asserts its claim to the western Mediterranean. The beys and the regency’s elite then become aware of the dangers posed by the Europeans.
1830 Romania Migrations
The beginning of Greek immigration into Br#ila. Many Greeks emigrate to Wallachia and settle in the Romanian ports on the Danube after the liberalisation of commerce on the Danube and Black Sea (1828).
1830 France Migrations
Polish intellectuals arrive in Paris, which becomes the capital of exiled Poland.
1830 France Travelling
From 1830, among artists and intellectuals of the 19th century the journey to the ‘Orient’ to discover ancient civilisations becomes a kind of ritual.
1830 - 1840 Jordan Political Context
Bilad al-Sham (Greater Syria, including Jordan) is under Ibrahim Pasha who is ruling on behalf of his father, Muhammad 'Ali of Egypt. Ibrahim Pasha is forced Date Country Theme to retreat to Egypt through Transjordan where the Egyptian army suffers severe casualties on its way back to Egypt.
1830s Greece Cities And Urban Spaces
Eduard Schaubert and Stamatios Kleanthis pioneer the urban redevelopment of Athens, initially under Ioannis Kapodistrias. They produce topographical plans of Athens and, in doing so, lay the foundations for the new capital.
1830s United Kingdom Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
The development of steam power in the early 19th century also applies to marine transport. Steamships shorten distances, but they also require fuelling stations. In 1839, Britain acquires Aden as one fuelling station on the route to India. Before construction of the Suez Canal, travellers sailed to Alexandria and continued overland to Suez, picking up a steamer there.
1830s United Kingdom Migrations
With the new Kingdom of Greece, guaranteed by Britain, some Greeks migrate to Athens and the new state, while others migrate from Greece to Constantinople, which has a huge Greek community. Relations between Turks and Greeks suffer during the 19th century, leading to a slow cantonisation of the region, culminating with the exchange of populations (Greeks from Turkey to Greece and Turks from Greece to Turkey) after World War I. From the same period, expansion of the old Hellenic port of Alexandria witnesses a mass migration of Greeks, mostly from the Aegean islands to the city, making them, by the end of the century, the wealthiest and most influential community in Alexandria.
1830 - 1844 Morocco Political Context
The French expedition to Algeria arouses strong emotions in Morocco. It was understood to be a direct threat, in particular following incursions by French troops into eastern Morocco. Mulay ‘Abd al-Rahman accepted the call of the people of Tlemcen and gave his support to the religious and military leader ‘Abd al-Qadir.
1830 Spain Fine And Applied Arts
From the 1830s onwards the Moorish or Alhambresque style is popular in Europe, especially in Spain, but also in England, Austria, Russia, Germany and the USA. This style is found not only in applied arts but also in architecture and interior decoration including the well-known “Moorish” smoking or retiring rooms.
1830 Spain Migrations
From 1830 onwards many Spaniards emigrate to North Africa (Morocco and Algeria), coinciding with the French occupation of Algiers and as a consequence of the economic crises in Spain. The emigrants are mostly from the Mediterranean regions such as Alicante, Almería and the Balearic Islands.
1830 Spain Reforms And Social Changes
Fernando VII has no sons, only daughters, so abolishes under Pragmática Sanción, the Salic Law, introduced by the Spanish branch of the Bourbon dynasty, Date Country Theme which forbids women to reign. After the death of Fernando VII in 1833, his eldest daughter becomes Queen of Spain as Isabel II.
1830 France Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Battle of Hernani, a drama by Victor Hugo.
1830 France Political Context
June–July: the invasion of Algiers.
1830 France Political Context
27–29 July: the Second French Revolution of July 1830 results in the fall of Charles X, who is succeeded by his cousin Louis-Philippe.
1830 France Political Context
The July Monarchy: Louis-Philippe becomes “Citizen-King”, and economic growth is joined by increased poverty.
1830 - 1847 Germany Political Context
Stimulated by the French July Revolution, the Vormärz (pre-March) Revolution refers to the formation of political programmes and factional movements.
1830 - 1840 Germany Economy And Trade
Industrialisation and the Industrial Revolution.
1830 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
The French July Revolution strengthens the power of the Besitzbürgertum (the landed gentry). Revolutions in central and north Germany enforce constitutional state reforms.
1831 France Rediscovering The Past
The Chair in Egyptology at the Collège de France is created by a decree made by King Louis-Philippe of France on 12 March.
1831 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Cities And Urban Spaces
The population of Sharjah rises to 13,900 inhabitants, its urban features are now much more substantial in terms of its domestic, commercial and official architecture.
1831 - 1835 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Once Rossini has left the stage, his place is taken by Gaetano Donizetti (1797– 1848) and Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835). They introduce the new romantic spirit into melodrama and establish a tighter link between words and music. Their style is characterised by greater attention to the psychology of the different characters. Date Country Theme
1831 Italy Political Context
Giuseppe Mazzini founds the republican movement for national unification, Giovine Italia (Young Italy).
1831 Greece Political Context
The First Governor of Greece, Conte Ioannis Kapodistrias, is assassinated.
1831 Spain Economy And Trade
Foundation of the Madrid stock exchange (Bolsa de Madrid), driven by the state's need to raise funds to cover, among other things, debts arising from the Carlist wars.
1831 Lebanon Political Context
Bashir II breaks away from the Ottoman Empire, allies with Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha of Egypt and assists his son Ibrahim Pasha in a siege of Acre. This siege lasts seven months before the fall of the city on 27 May 1832. They also conquer Damascus on 14 June 1832.
1831 France Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
George Sand (Amantine Aurore Dupin) writes Indiana, a novel about a woman’s emotional journey.
1831 Turkey Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
11 November: The first newspaper in Ottoman Turkish, Takvim-I Vekayi, published by the state.
1832 Romania Fine And Applied Arts
Gheorghe Asachi founds in Ia#i a lithographic printing press called Institutul Albinei (The Bee Institute).
1832 France Travelling
Like many artists, the painter Eugène Delacroix travelled to North Africa, Morocco and Algeria, returning with many paintings and sources for inspiration.
1832 Spain Economy And Trade
Mechanisation of the textile industry in Catalonia with the introduction of steam- powered machines. Progress in the textile industry continues in Catalonia until the 1920 crisis.
1832 Spain Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Publication of Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra, a collection of essays, verbal sketches and stories that Irving began to write while he was staying in Date Country Theme the Alhambra in Granada. The book is influenced by Romanticism and includes Spanish legends and traditions.
1832 - 1834 Portugal Political Context
Civil war. Pedro returns to Portugal as Regent to defend his daughter’s rights. He launches military operations from Azores and Porto against the absolutist faction of Prince Miguel favored by the Quadruple Alliance. After the Miguelists’ defeat, peace terms depend on the Évora-Monte Convention and Prince Miguel’s exile.
1832 Portugal Economy And Trade
Statesman and jurist José Mouzinho da Silveira (1780–1851) abolishes old taxes over real estate income, privileges and immunities detrimental to the kingdom’s economy. He creates the Tribunal do Tesouro Público for tax collection and Treasury administration. He defines the powers of the Minister of Finance and regulates Customs administration, among other reforms.
1832 France Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
La Sylphide is a Romantic ballet by Fillippo Taglioni in which his daughter, Marie, danced en pointe in the title role.
1832 Germany Political Context
From 27 to 30 May an apparently non-political country fair, the “Hambacher Fest”, was held by a German national democratic assembly, demanding freedom, national entity and popular sovereignty.
1832 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
The “Hambacher Fest” demonstrates the liberal, democratic and national opposition in Germany.
1833 Romania Cities And Urban Spaces
Copou, one of the first public gardens in Romania, is laid out in Ia#i, Moldavia, at the initiative of Prince Mihail Sturdza.
1833 Spain Political Context
Isabel II becomes Queen of Spain. The Salic Law forbidding women to reign had been abolished in 1830 because Fernando VII's only heirs were female. His brother, Carlos de Borbón, asserts his claim to the throne against his niece (first Carlist War, 1836–39); two further Carlist wars will follow (1846–49, 1872–76).
1833 - 1835 Portugal Economy And Trade
18 September: The first Commercial Code by jurist José Ferreira Borges grants free trade and distribution of goods, abolishing monopolies, privileges and real estate transfer taxes. Article 2 defines a commercial act and the nature of intervening actors. Date Country Theme
1833 Portugal Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
The death of Luísa Todi (b. 1753), the most celebrated mezzo-soprano opera singer in Portugal. Luísa began her musical career when she was 14 years old. She performed in major European cities and was invited to perform in the courts of Catherine of Russia and Frederick William of Prussia.
1833 Germany Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
First communication by telegram.
1833 Turkey Political Context
8 April: Treaty of Kütahya with Egypt. The Ottomans recognise Syria, Palestine and Lebanon as within the sphere of the Egyptian control.
1833 Turkey Political Context
8 July: Defensive Treaty of Hünkar #skelesi with Russia establishes Russian naval superiority in the Black Sea.
1834 Greece Cities And Urban Spaces
Athens becomes the capital of the newly established state.
1834 Greece Cities And Urban Spaces
In October, King Otto issues a decree for reconstruction of the city of Sparta. Over the ancient city Bavarian city-planners, headed by Fr. Staufert, design a city for 100,000 inhabitants based on the Ippodamia system, with wide roads and many squares.
1834 Greece Rediscovering The Past
The Numismatic Museum is established. In 1843, it is amalgamated with the National Library and housed in a room at the University of Athens.
1834 United Kingdom Travelling
A. W. Kinglake’s Eothen is the best known of the many travel books to the East. William M. Thackeray, Benjamin Disraeli and Anthony Trollope all travel to the Near East, others wander around Asia Minor and the Levant recording their impressions, often in search of classical inscriptions.
1834 United Kingdom Political Context
The development of steam power brings increased trade and travel to the eastern Mediterranean. This leads to the publication of travel literature and an interest in the archaeology of the Bible. A. W. Kinglake’s Eothen is the most widely read of the travel books.
1834 Serbia Political Context Date Country Theme
In Vienna in 1813 Dimitrije Davidovi#, politician, diplomat, author of the Candlemas Constitution and one of the founders of journalism in Serbia, launches Novine Serbske, Serbia’s first daily newspaper. The newspapers are printed in Serbia for the first time in 1834.
1834 Egypt Economy And Trade
A Khedival Decree promulgates the issue of an Egyptian currency consisting of a bi-metallic base of gold and silver. The Egyptian pound, known as the geneih is introduced, which replaces the Egyptian piastre (ersh) as the main unit of currency.
1834 Spain Fine And Applied Arts
During his Grand Tour, after visiting Italy, Greece and Egypt, Owen Jones visits Granada and the Alhambra. His six month stay in the Alhambra is very important in the development of his ideas about polychromy and design.
1834 Spain Political Context
Estatuto Real signed by the Queen Regent, María Cristina de Borbón, as a royal charter similar to the one under the French King Louis XVIII. There is no constitution, but it has two chambers (similar to the British House of Lords and House of Commons) and a government, with a president and ministers.
1834 Republic of Macedonia Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion (FYROM)
The birth in Ohrid of Kuzman Shapkarev (1834–1909), eminent Macedonian folklorist, ethnographer, educator and author of textbooks. Owing to his collecting activities a great deal of Macedonian intangible heritage was spared from oblivion. He was a teacher in Ohrid, Bitola, Prilep and Kukush. Later he worked and lived in Sofia. Although his collections of oral folk literature were published as Bulgarian, most of his works originated from Macedonia.
1834 - 1836 Portugal Political Context
Queen Maria II (1819–53) regains the crown after her father’s death and the liberals’ victory. The Queen has to cope with the transition from absolutism to constitutionalism and disputes between opposing factions, conservatives on one side (Cartismo supporters of the 1826 Charter) and radicals on the other (Vintismo defenders of the Constitution of 1822).
1834 Portugal Reforms And Social Changes
May: Religious orders are abolished and expropriated by decree; some of the assets of the crown, the Queen’s household and the absolutist aristocracy are nationalised. Monasteries are closed immediately and their buildings adapted, but women's convents remain open until the departure or death of the last nun.
1834 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
Standardisation of the Abitur (equivalent to the A-Level system used elsewhere) which allows students to enter German universities. Date Country Theme
1834 Germany Travelling
The Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam is connected to Berlin by rail, one of the first electrified railway sections in Old Germany. Since 1911, the Palace has been used as a film location (i.e. The Blue Angel, 1930).
1835 United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) Political Context
The British impose a Treaty to prohibit maritime warfare among the Arab littoral sheikhdoms during the pearling season from May to November with Britain as enforcer of the peace. The British now term the lands of the signatory sheikhdoms as “The Trucial Coast” or “Trucial Oman”. The Treaty is renewed regularly until 1853, when a Perpetual Treaty is put into place.
1835 - 1837 Italy Reforms And Social Changes
For the first time, a cholera epidemic hits Italy, killing more than 140,000 (26,000 in Palermo and 19,600 in Naples). Its causes remain unknown until the 1880s. Its spread is favoured by poor sanitation in urban centres. Cholera epidemics hit poor people especially and often occasion social unrest.
1835 Serbia Political Context
The First Constitution of the Principality of Serbia (the Candlemas Constitution) is prompted by the autocratic rule of Miloš Obrenovi#, founder of the Obrenovi# Dynasty and Serbian Prince (1815–39; 1858–60). It is signed in 1835 in the city of Kragujevac, with the intention to limit the absolute power of Miloš, but under pressure from the Porte (Turkish Government), Austria and Russia the Constitution is abolished as early as the following year.
1835 Egypt Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
Opening of shipping routes between Alexandria and Marseille.
1835 Spain Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
The premiere of Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino by the Duke of Rivas marks the beginnings of Spanish Romanticism in the theatre, especially tragedy, further developed in Don Juan Tenorio by José Zorrilla. All the Romantic plays have elements from poetry and novels and some have a historical background.
1835 Portugal Reforms And Social Changes
The buildings and portable heritage collected from the confiscations are sold in public auction to an emergent new aristocracy and a newly empowered upper middle class and the proceeds used to fund part of the state deficit.
1835 France Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Le Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac tells the tragic story of a father’s love for his two daughters.
1835 Turkey Political Context Date Country Theme
Reorganisation of the bureaucracy and introduction of a new system of rank.
1835 France Fine And Applied Arts
The daguerreotype process.
1835 - 1838 Germany Cities And Urban Spaces
The first section of railway is established between Nürnberg and Fürth (6 km); the building of the long-haul between Leipzig and Dresden is finished in 1838.
1835 Turkey Reforms And Social Changes
1 July: The War Academy is founded.
1835 Turkey Reforms And Social Changes
Bureaucracy is reorganised and a new rank system is introduced.
1836 Lebanon Travelling
The discovery of the Jeita Grotto, credited to Reverend William Thomson. Further expeditions reveal the depth and the importance of the cave.
1836 Austria Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
Austrian Lloyd, the main steamship company on the Mediterranean, with headquarters in Trieste, is established.
1836 Austria Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
A stretch of the Northern Railway between Floridsdorf and Deutsch-Wagram comes into operation using steam-powered locomotives.
1836 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes
Rifa’a al-Rafi’ al-Tahtawi founds the School of Languages to educate and train professional interpreters and translators.
1836 - 1845 Spain Fine And Applied Arts
Publication of Owen Jones's Plan, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Alhambra (with an essay by Pascual de Gayangos on the history of the Nasrid Dynasty) in 12 volumes, using the new technique of chromolithography.
1836 Spain Political Context
The Queen Regent, María Cristina, is forced to reinstate the 1812 Constitution after a military coup (pronunciamiento) in order to get support from the liberals in the First Carlist War. Under the Desamortización de Mendizábal Church properties are disentailed to fund the war. General Espartero takes over the Regency from the Queen in 1841. Date Country Theme
1836 - 1842 Portugal Political Context
Period of Setembrismo: lower-middle-class rebellion against corruption and upper- middle-class privileges. An industrialisation process takes off to counteract foreign dominance. To overcome the loss of Brazilian revenues the colonisation of African possessions is boosted. The slave trade is prohibited in 1836 by abolitionist Marquis of Sá da Bandeira.
1836 - 1842 Portugal Economy And Trade
Under the framework of liberal Setembrismo, which seeks to fight against corruption and the privileges of the elite, an industrialisation process is promoted and protectionist customs taxes are adopted. One of the main reasons is to reduce the import of English products. The colonisation of African possessions is also developed.
1836 - 1842 Portugal Reforms And Social Changes
Under Septembrismo the educational system is reformed by Passos Manuel (1801–62). To improve public education, the Plano Nacional dos Lyceus Nacionais equips each district capital with a lyceu (based on the French republican idea of lycée). The curriculum includes humanities and sciences and proposes an inductive and experimental learning process.
1836 Portugal Reforms And Social Changes
The slave trade is prohibited in possessions south of the Equator by a law introduced by Marquis of Sá da Bandeira (1795–1876) for philanthropic and economic reasons. The loss of Brazil, and British pressure, persuades the rulers to endorse abolition to retain in Africa the African labour needed to develop the colonies there. In 1869, King Louis I (1838–89) decrees abolition.
1837 - 1840 Tunisia Reforms And Social Changes
Foundation of the Polytechnic or military school of Bardo, responsible for the education of executives of the army and public administration. The School provides education in the art of military strategy, scientific disciplines, foreign languages, literature and religion.
1837 Romania Rediscovering The Past
Two peasants find a Gothic hoard (4th–5th centuries AD) – the Pietroasa Treasure – near a village from Buz#u county (Wallachia). Unfortunately, only 12 of the 22 golden pieces – jewellery and vases – were preserved.
1837 Romania Reforms And Social Changes
Based on the Organic Regulations adopted in 1831, the National Assembly of Wallachia includes for the first time, apart from its traditional categories (the clergy and the aristocracy), representatives of the middle classes.
1837 France Great Inventions Of The 19th Century Date Country Theme
Inauguration of the first passenger railway line in France to and from Paris and Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
1837 Lebanon Travelling
The Galilee earthquake. In the 17th century, Fakhr-al-Din II took over Beaufort castle, but was defeated by the Ottomans who destroyed the upper portion. The earthquake causes further damage to the structure and the ruins become a quarry and a shelter for sheep.
1837 - 1840 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
Naples and Turin are the first Italian towns to have gas street lightning.
1837 Greece Fine And Applied Arts
Athens School of the Fine Arts is established with three departments: the School of Crafts, School of Industrial Crafts and the School of Fine Arts.
1837 Greece Rediscovering The Past
The Archaeological Society of Athens is established. Its aim is to encourage archaeological-excavation management of antiquities in Greece.
1837 Greece Reforms And Social Changes
The University of Athens opens. It is the first university to be established in the eastern Mediterranean.
1837 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes
The year sees the founding of Egypt’s oldest commercial science study centre, when the School of Account is established during Muhammad ‘Ali’s Era.
1837 Spain Economy And Trade
The feudal system had been abolished under the Cádiz Constitution of 1812 but not completely enacted until 1837.
1837 - 1844 Spain Economy And Trade
First state confiscation and sale of Church properties known, after the minister who developed the law, as Desamortización de Mendizábal (Mendizábal's Disentailment) to fund the Carlist war.
1837 Turkey Cities And Urban Spaces
The first blueprints for a new Istanbul are prepared by Helmuth von Moltke, a general in the Ottoman army working for its modernisation, under direct orders from Mustafa Re#id Pa#a.
1838 - 1847 United Kingdom Great Inventions Of The 19th Century Date Country Theme
The financial success of the Stockton and Darlington Railway encourages large- scale investment in railways, leading to massive growth in the network. The many passengers are entertained on their journeys with inexpensive books, such as John Murray’s “Reading for the Rail” series.
1838 Serbia Political Context
Founding of Belgrade University.
1838 Portugal Rediscovering The Past
Auto de Gil Vicente written by Almeida Garrett (1799–1854). The plot revives the 16th-century court of King Manuel I where a play by Gil Vicente (founder of Portuguese modern theatre) is performed during the celebrations for the marriage of his daughter Princess Beatriz.
1838 Portugal Travelling
Building of Pena Palace in Sintra, close to Lisbon, begins. This eclectic summer residence, commissioned by King Fernando II, combines Neo-Manueline, Neo- Islamic and Neo-Renaissance styles. The use of the Islamic decorative influences in a royal palace contributes to the Portuguese society’s acknowledgement of its Islamic past.
1838 Turkey Political Context
Founding of the Ministry of Finance and formation of Sublime Council for Judicial Ordinances. The title “grand vizier” becomes “prime minister".
1838 Turkey Rediscovering The Past
Sultan Mahmud II gave some parts of the bas reliefs of the temple of Assos to France and he also authorises French archaeologist Charles Texier (1802– 71) to take away parts of the frieze from the temple of Artemis in Magnesia ad Meandrum.
1839 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
First Italian railway line (Napoli–Portici, 8 km). In the following years, other railway lines are inaugurated in other Italian states, e.g. Milano–Monza (1840), Pisa- Livorno (1844), Padova–Venezia (1846), Torino–Moncalieri (1848). Political fragmentation is an obstacle to the construction of long railway lines.
1839 United Kingdom Reforms And Social Changes
The British Ambassador in Constantinople, Stratford Canning, has been credited with influencing the reforms in Turkey during the 19th century, in particular the decree of 1839, initiating a programme of liberal reform in the Ottoman Empire. Some of the changes are superficial, but nonetheless highly visible, such as the adoption of Western dress and titles. Other changes are seen in the culmination of social transformations within the Empire.
1839 United Kingdom Political Context Date Country Theme
British control of India is driven by trade. Steamships require fuelling stations. To this purpose Aden is occupied and controlled imperially from India for a century. Most British control of the Middle East is indirect and informal. Aden becomes a Crown Colony, with partial control of the Hinterland.
1839 Portugal Travelling
Silva Porto, born in poverty in Portugal, trader, farmer and explorer, settles in Bié, Angola, from where he, with his pombeiros (long-distance trade agents), tours Central Africa between 1839 and 1890. The descriptions of his travels that he sent to Lisbon became legendary and a precious source of data.
1839 Lebanon Cities And Urban Spaces
The Jesuits come to Beirut and build a modest school.
1839 Turkey Reforms And Social Changes
February: A plan for the modernisation of general education is approved.
1839 Turkey Political Context
3 November: Mustafa Re#id Pa#a declares the Imperial Rescript of Gülhane (the beginning of the Tanzimat reforms), granting basic rights to Ottoman subjects and declaring a policy of state reform. These reforms included the "fair and public trial[s] of all accused regardless of religion”, the creation of a system of "separate competences, religious and civil”, and the validity of non-Muslim testimony.
1840 Romania Economy And Trade
Austrian engineers Karol and Rafael Hoffmann and Carol Maderspach initiate the extraction of coal in the Jiu Valley (south Transylvania), which was and still is the main coal-mining region of Romania.
1840 Romania Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Top hats begin to be worn in the United Principalities, where they were called joben, from the name of Jobin, the French merchant who first sold them in Bucharest.
1840 - 1841 Austria Political Context
Austria cooperates in a settlement to the Turkish–Egyptian crisis of 1840, sending intervention forces to conquer the Ottoman fortresses of Saida (Sidon) and St Jean d’Acre, and concluding with the Dardanelles Treaty signed at the London Straits Convention of 1841.
1840s United Kingdom Migrations
Aden becomes a British Crown Colony in 1839 administered (until 1937) not from London but from India. Indians migrating to practise trade and the professions help to duplicate what is happening in India, albeit in a smaller way, in the Gulf and Iraq. Date Country Theme
1840s United Kingdom Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Western classical music penetrates the courtly circles of the Ottoman Empire. The imperial Ottoman family includes composers, such as Sultan ‘Abd al-‘Aziz who composes dance music. On a visit to London in 1867, the band of the Grenadier Guards plays one of the Sultan’s own compositions at a reception for him.
1840 Lebanon Political Context
Conflicts between the Druze and the Maronite Christians explode. A Maronite revolt against the feudal class erupts, lasting till 1858.
1840 Turkey Political Context
After his term as governor in Samos, Kostaki Musurus Pa#a, a Phanariot Greek becomes the first Ottoman envoy to independent Athens (1840–47) followed by Vienna (1848) and London (1851–55).
1840 Turkey Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
23 October: The Ottoman Ministry of Post is established in Istanbul.
1840 Turkey Reforms And Social Changes
7 February: The tax system is reorganised.
1840 Turkey Reforms And Social Changes
12 October: The Ministry of Post is established.
1840 Turkey Reforms And Social Changes
Official recognition of the Mâli Takvim (Rumi calendar) as the second calendar system alongside the Hijra calendar.
1840 Turkey Reforms And Social Changes
The first mixed courts are introduced to hear civil and criminal cases involving Muslims and non-Muslims.
1840 Turkey Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
3 July: The first newspaper in Ottoman Turkish published by a private individual, Cerîde-I Havâdis (Journal of News), begins to appear in #stanbul as a weekly, published by an English journalist, William Churchill.
1841 United Kingdom Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
William Henry Fox Talbot announces his calotype photography, which, using a developing agent, drastically reduces exposure time. A negative image is created, from which it is possible to produce countless positive images. Talbot is keen Date Country Theme to apply the technique to archaeological objects, and photography is then used increasingly for recording objects and sites.
1841 France Reforms And Social Changes
Law of 22 March 1841, inspired by the work of Louis-René Villermé: the Act prohibits the employment of children younger than eight years. It limits the working day to eight hours for ages 8–12 and twelve hours for ages 12–16. Night work (9 p.m.–5 a.m.) is prohibited for anyone under 13 years; and for those who are older two hours is to be paid as three.
1841 Lebanon Economy And Trade
Teams of spinners are brought from France to train young women. This was a real social revolution in this rural and traditional part of the country. According to G. Ducousso’s book The Silk Industry in Syria and Lebanon (1912), the French Consul in Beirut counted no fewer than 183 spinning mills in Lebanon.
1841 Greece Economy And Trade
The National Bank of Greece is founded.
1841 United Kingdom Economy And Trade
The Ottoman Bank is founded in this year, registered in London, to channel overseas investment in the Ottoman Empire.
1841 France Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
The leading roles in Giselle, a ballet by Adolphe Adam are played by Carlotta Grisi and Lucien Petipa.
1841 - 1844 Germany Travelling
The Berlin Zoological Gardens was established in 1841 and opened to the public in 1844. The oldest zoo in Germany, today, it hosts more visitors than any zoo in Europe (around 3 million visitors per year).
1841 Turkey Political Context
13 July: The Straits Convention, signed by the Ottoman Empire and the great powers, prohibits foreign warships from entering the Bosphorus or the Dardanelles.
1842 Tunisia Reforms And Social Changes
Educational reform and restructuring of the Zaytuna Mosque through the introduction of new disciplines and incentives for teachers in Tunisia.
1842 Austria Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
The Wiener Philharmoniker is founded. It becomes one of the most famous orchestras in the world. Date Country Theme
1842 Austria Reforms And Social Changes
Child labour under 12 years of age is outlawed in Austria.
1842 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Triumph of Nabuccodonosor by Giuseppe Verdi (1831–1901) at La Scala Theatre (Milan): it marks the appearance of a new operatic style, in which both voice and music show an entirely new heroic passion and strength.
1842 Italy Travelling
A seaside hostel is opened in Viareggio (Tuscany) for the treatment of children affected by tuberculosis (the first of its kind in Italy). In Tuscany, experiments of “marine therapy” for children started in the 1820s. By 1882, 21 seaside hostels for medical purposes are active in Italy.
1842 United Kingdom Political Context
Evangelists in Britain and Germany found the Jerusalem Protestant bishopric. There is an idea of converting Jews – the first bishop is a converted Jew – and the bishopric establishes a British cultural and educational interest in the Levant. It also stimulates archaeological work.
1842 Republic of Macedonia Fine And Applied Arts (FYROM)
The portrait of Gjurchin Kokale, founder of the Church of St George in Lazaropole, is painted inside the church by Dicho Krstevic Zograph. It is one of the earliest known portraits in Macedonia. In 1854 this prolific artist painted the icon of Archpriest Samoil from the Treskavec Monastery near Prilep.
1842 Portugal Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
Daguerreotype starts to be used in Portugal two years after its invention in France and is mostly used in commercial portrait lithographs. The oldest ones still existing in Portugal reproduce the Palace (Paços) of Coimbra University in 1842. The University is at the time the major centre for the dissemination of scientific knowledge.
1842 - 1846 Germany Rediscovering The Past
The Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius is appointed director of an expedition to Egypt by Friedrich Wilhelm IV.
1843 Romania Fine And Applied Arts
Carol Popp de Szathmari, the most important Romanian photographer of the 19th century (born in Cluj, Transylvania), moves to Bucharest, where he opens a photo studio.
1843 Austria Reforms And Social Changes Date Country Theme
Gas lighting is installed on the streets of Vienna.
1843 Italy Travelling
First bathing establishment created in Rimini.
1843 Greece Fine And Applied Arts
The School of the Fine Arts becomes a five-year higher education institution under its director, the architect Lissandros Kautantzoglou.
1843 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces
Muhammad Sharif Pasha builds the Sharif Pasha Palace situated on Kirdassi Street, off Hasan al-Akbar Street, in Cairo. The Pasha held a number of important posts during the reigns of Muhammad ‘Ali and his successors.
1843 Germany Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
Friedrich Gottlob commodifies paper production (the mass production of cheap paper).
1843 Turkey Economy And Trade
The first successful attempt to open a modern bank in the Empire. Smyrna Bank is established by foreign merchants (English, French, Austrian, Dutch, Russian, American, Italian, Danish, Spanish and Greek) under the Swedish Consulate in Izmir in order to diminish their dependence on other merchants and bankers. It is closed in the same year for operating without permission.
1844 Morocco Political Context
The Battle of Isly is fought on 14 August 1844 between the Moroccan army employing an archaic strategy against professional soldiers trained in the Napoleonic campaigns and armed with batteries of light guns. The battle ended with the defeat of the Moroccans. The consequences of this defeat were grave for Morocco. It was the first time the country had lost a battle in more than two centuries, and it showed Mulay ‘Abd al-Rahman just how weak his army was.
1844 Serbia Political Context
Serbia’s oldest museum, Museum Serbski, now the National Museum in Belgrade, is founded by the Minister of Education Jovan Sterija Popovi#.
1844 - 1846 Spain Economy And Trade
British interests in raw material – iron and coal – lead to the foundation of the iron and steel industry in Bilbao and Santander and industrial exploitation of the coal mines in Asturias.
1844 Portugal Rediscovering The Past Date Country Theme
Publication of the novel Eurico,O Presbítero by Alexandre Herculano (1810–77). The story takes place during the period of the Arab invasion of Visigoth Hispania, led by Tarik in 711.
1844 Portugal Rediscovering The Past
Frei Luís de Sousa, by Almeida Garrett. A romantic drama on the myth of King Sebastian, killed in the Battle of Alcacer Quibir, Morocco, in 1578. The myth of a disappeared king who will return to regain freedom and independence for his people underlies the plot together with the extreme love of Brother Luís de Sousa for his country.
1844 Portugal Economy And Trade
Foundation of the National Tobacco Company in Xabregas, Lisbon. Following the 18th-century tendency, the profits of tobacco manufacturing and trade became the major source of revenue for oligarchic businessmen (known as the Caixas) seeking its control. The monopoly was rented out by the state, usually on a triennial base.
1844 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
The first Proletariat uprising, the Weber Rebellion, witnesses 3,000 weavers in Silesia protesting against inhumane working conditions and exploitation. The uprising is quashed by the Prussian military – which murders them all.
1844 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
First proletarian uprising: 3000 weavers in Silesia are protesting against the inhumane working conditions and their exploitation. They are all being killed by the Prussian military.
1844 Turkey Economy And Trade
Monetary reform. Ottomans accept bimetallism. Lira, mecidiye and kuru# become official units. 100 kuru# are equal to one Ottoman lira. Silver mecidiyes equal to 20 kuru# are issued.
1844 Turkey Travelling
June–July: Sultan Abdülmecid visits #zmit, Bursa, Gallipoli and the Aegean Islands.
1845 France Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
The First electric telegraph in France between Paris and Rouen.
1846 Tunisia Reforms And Social Changes
Ahmad Pasha Bey promulgates a decree freeing all black slaves in the country. Everyone born in Tunisia is declared free regardless of their parents’ origins.
1846 Tunisia Travelling Date Country Theme
Ahmad Pasha Bey is received by King Louis Philippe at the Tuileries Palace. He stays at the Élysée Palace. He visits the parliament, the Hôtel des invalids, Napoleon’s tomb and the Palace of Versailles.
1846 Romania Economy And Trade
The rulers of Moldavia and Wallachia, Mihail Sturdza and Gheorghe Bibescu, sign a convention that stipulates the abolishment of the customs between the two countries. The convention becomes effective in January 1847.
1846 Egypt Travelling
Ibrahim Pasha is received with respect and curiosity when he visits western Europe.
1846 Portugal Economy And Trade
Merger of Banco de Lisboa and the investment company Companhia Confiança Nacional (1844–46) creating Banco de Portugal, which by 1887 shares the right to issue banknotes with other institutions. By 1891, Banco de Portugal becomes the sole issuer of bank notes for the mainland, the Azores and Madeira.
1846 France Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Premiere of the opera La damnation de Faust by Hector Berlioz.
1846 Turkey Reforms And Social Changes
A gendarme organisation is formed.
1846 Turkey Travelling
May: Sultan Abdülmecid visits Varna.
1847 - 1848 Tunisia Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
Following creation of, in the Regency of Tunis, the first mail-distribution system, the first aerial telegraph system is inaugurated connecting the Bardo, official headquarters of the Bey’s government, with Tunis and La Goulette.
1847 Romania Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
The construction of a road to link Wallachia and Transylvania, crossing through the Predeal Pass in the Southern Carpathians, is begun during the reign of Prince Gheorghe Bibescu.
1847 Austria Reforms And Social Changes
Foundation of the Academy of Science in Vienna.
1847 - 1848 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century Date Country Theme
First Italian telegraph line (Florence–Pisa–Livorno).
1847 Turkey Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
American John Lawrence Smith, an agricultural chemist and mineralogist in Ottoman employ, demonstrates the electric telegraph invented by Samuel Morse in an elaborate presentation to Sultan Abdülmecid and his officials. The sultan bestows on Morse the prestigious Nishan-# #ftihar (Order of Glory of the Empire), Morse’s first official honour.
1847 Turkey Reforms And Social Changes
September: First government secondary schools (rü#diyye mektebi) are established.
1847 Turkey Reforms And Social Changes
Publication of the first government yearbook (salnâme).
1848 - 1849 Romania Political Context
Revolution in the Romanian countries: in Wallachia and Moldavia revolutionaries demand their countries’ right to self-determination, while in Transylvania Romanians want equal rights to those of the Hungarians and Germans.
1848 Romania Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
The premiere at the National Theatre in Ia#i of the first Romanian operetta, Baba Hârca, with a script by poet Matei Millo and music composed by Alexandru Flechtenmacher.
1848 Lebanon Travelling
Established by Congregational and Presbyterian American missionaries, the National Evangelical Church of Beirut is the oldest and largest of nine congregations situated outside Beirut.
1848 Austria Reforms And Social Changes
Silesian Deputy Hans Kudlich introduces legislation to abolish the enforced servitude of peasants in the Reichstag.
1848 - 1849 Austria Political Context
Revolution in Austria-Hungary and northern Italy.
1848 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Donizetti dies and Verdi remains the only heir to the Italian melodrama, which is increasingly identified with the Risorgimento movement, becoming a “sound track” of the Italian fight for independence and unification. Date Country Theme
1848 - 1849 Italy Political Context
Uprisings in different parts of Italy demand constitutional rule and national unification. In Rome and Venice, short-lived republics are proclaimed. King Carlo Alberto (Kingdom of Sardinia) grants a constitution and wages war against the Austrian Empire, but he is defeated.
1848 Serbia Political Context
The Serbian uprising against the Austrian monarchy sees the formation of Srpsko Vojvodstvo (the Serbian Duchy). Stevan Kni#anin-Vojvoda (military commander) commands Serbian volunteers during the Hungarian Revolution (1848–49).
1848 Spain Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
The first railway in Spain is built between Barcelona and Mataró for the transport of goods and passengers. The first railway built by the Spaniards had been built in Cuba in 1837 linking Havana with Güines.
1848 France Fine And Applied Arts
The "special national school for design, mathematics, architecture and ornamental sculpture applied to the industrial arts", which succeeds the Royal school of design founded in the 18th century, becomes the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in 1877.
1848 France Political Context
Revolution of February 1848: Louis-Philippe abdicates and the Republic is proclaimed.
1848 Germany Political Context
The German National Assembly meets in Frankfurt.
1848 Germany Political Context
Establishment of the first parliament in German history (at the Paulskirche, Frankfurt am Main), and elaboration of the German Imperial Constitution.
1848 - 1849 Germany Political Context
The Pre-March Revolution involves a series of protests, gatherings and disturbances, but by July 1849 the Bundes troops are victorious and the revolution fails.
1848 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto.
1848 Germany Reforms And Social Changes Date Country Theme
Liberal regimes, now with seats in government, herald a series of liberal reforms in all German states. After riots in Berlin, Prussian King Frederick William IV promises liberal and national reforms.
1848 Turkey Cities And Urban Spaces
Ebniye Nizamnamesi (Regulation for Buildings) issued.
1848 Turkey Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
The earliest Turkish textbook on chemistry, Usul-i Kimya (Elements of chemistry), is written by Mehmed Emin Dervi# Pa#a, a graduate of the Military Engineering School in Istanbul, based on the chemistry books he used during his studies in the École des Mines in Paris.
1849 - 1850 Austria Migrations
The revolutionary General Józef Zachariasz Bem flees Austria for the Ottoman Empire along with 6,000 Hungarian soldiers. He becomes a Turkish General and in 1850 suppresses a Muslim pogrom against the Christian minority in Aleppo.
1849 Portugal Economy And Trade
The Tribunal de Contas (Supreme Audit Institution), the independent financial control department, is separated from the financial administration. The public accounts are verified by the Tribunal de Contas and approved by Parliament.
1849 Germany Political Context
The German National Assembly approves the Constitution of the German Empire.
1849 Germany Political Context
The Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV refuses the German Imperial Crown.
1849 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
Popular movements in Saxony, Baden and the Pfalz attempt to put into effect the Constitution of the Empire, but they are defeated by Prussian troops.
1849 Turkey Reforms And Social Changes
The Teachers’ Seminary is founded in #stanbul.
1849 Turkey Rediscovering The Past
English archaeologist and politician Austen Henry Layard (1817–94) publishes Nineveh and its Remains.
1850 Romania Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion Date Country Theme
January: the birth of Mihai Eminescu, who is considered to be the most important Romanian poet of the 19th century.
1850 France Migrations
First wave of Italian immigrants to France.
1850 Austria Travelling
Archduke Maximilian visits Asia Minor and Egypt.
1850s United Kingdom Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
The Crimean War brings thousands of British soldiers to Constantinople. After the war, certain innovations can be traced back to it – such as beards! There is a craze for things all things Turkish; the Turkish commander even becomes something of a folk hero in Britain.
1850 Spain Fine And Applied Arts
First photography of Arab monuments such as the Alhambra and the Great Mosque of Córdoba. The development of photography sheds new light on these monuments and these first photographs are important documents on Arab remains in Spain.
1850 Spain Rediscovering The Past
First photography of the Islamic monuments and remains in Spain such as the Great Mosque of Córdoba and the Alhambra palace.
1850 France Fine And Applied Arts
A Burial At Ornans by the Realist painter Gustave Courbet.