Timeline / 1800 to 1920 / UNITED KINGDOM Date Country Theme 1800 United Kingdom Political Context The Kingdom of Great Britain comes into being under the Treaty of Union of the kingdoms of England (which then included Wales) and Scotland on 1 May 1707. It lasts, controlled under a single parliament and government based at Westminster, up until 31 December 1800. 1801 United Kingdom Political Context The Irish Rebellion of 1798, which was intended to put an end to what Irish nationalists perceived as the subordination and dependency of Ireland on the British crown, instead contributes to the Irish parliament’s vote to join the union between the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. On 1 January 1801, Britain, Scotland and Ireland sign the Act of Union and merge, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 1802 United Kingdom Rediscovering The Past The Treaty of Paris is signed. Following defeat by Anglo-Ottoman forces, France surrenders to Britain the Egyptian antiquities it has collected. The way is open for British exploration of Egyptian archaeology. 1808 United Kingdom Rediscovering The Past Claudius Rich is appointed East India Company Resident at Baghdad. His work at Babylon and Nineveh stimulates European interest in the archaeology of Iraq. East India Company men play a major role in the exploration and mapping of the Middle East. 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. 1822 United Kingdom Rediscovering The Past Champollion deciphers Egyptian hieroglyphs, giving voice to the wealth of ancient inscriptions. This heralds the beginning of Egyptology. 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 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 Date Country Theme 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 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. 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. 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. 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 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. 1838 - 1847 United Kingdom Great Inventions Of The 19th Century 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. 1839 United Kingdom Reforms And Social Changes Date Country Theme 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 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. 1840 - 1890 United Kingdom Cities And Urban Spaces This half century is a period of great rebuilding and redesign in London and other British cities – of churches, public buildings, and housing with slum clearance. The building boom extends to the cities of the British Empire and especially in India. British architects study Islamic architecture and its influence can be seen in many British buildings. British architects also practise in the major Levantine commercial cities, such as the Crimean Memorial Church in Constantinople (G. E. Street) and St Mark’s Church in Alexandria (J. W. Wild). 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. 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. 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 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 to apply the technique to archaeological objects, and photography is then used increasingly for recording objects and sites. 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 Date Country Theme bishopric establishes a British cultural and educational interest in the Levant. It also stimulates archaeological work. 1843 - 1870 United Kingdom Great Inventions Of The 19th Century Invention of and improvements to the rotary printing press allows for mass production of newspapers and books. The public are eager to read about the latest archaeological discoveries. 1845 - 1852 United Kingdom Migrations The Great Famine, or “Irish Potato Famine” as it is known, is a period of huge significance in Irish national history, not least because the country lost about a quarter of its population: a million people died from starvation and disease and another million emigrated. A number of factors – including absentee landlords, land acquisitions, the corn laws, anti-Catholic sentiment and crop failures due to “potato blight” – brought about the famine at a time when around two-fifths of the population were reliant solely on potatoes. 1850s United Kingdom Great Inventions Of The 19th Century Britain also holds a stake in the development of railways in the Near East. Egypt, as part of a global transport network and under British sponsorship, has a railway network before Norway does. 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. 1851 United Kingdom Rediscovering The Past When the Great Exhibition of All Nations opens in London, as well as showcasing technological progress, it also exposes the public to Egyptian, Mesopotamian and other ancient cultures, thus fostering an appetite for museums. 1851 United Kingdom International Exhibitions At the Great Exhibition of this year are some examples of Islamic design influenced by Owen Jones, who had “discovered” Al-Andalus (Andalusian) Islamic architecture. Jones was brother-in-law to the architect J. W. Wild who designed St Mark’s Church in Alexandria. 1854 United Kingdom Political Context Russia’s expansion to the Black Sea and the Caucasus encroach on, seize and annex Ottoman possessions. Britain and France support Ottoman resistance, targeting the Russian naval base in Crimea.