1716 The Bhonsla king Raghoji establishes a Mahratta power of Nagpur.

1719 Farrakhsiyyar deposed and strangled; Muhammed Shah succeeds. Various French companies consolidated as Company of the Indies."

66

1720 Saadat Ali Khan appointed nawab of Oudh, which he makes an independent sovereignty.

1721 Commencement of the foundation of the Mahratta state of Baroda.

1724 The Mahratta dynasty of Sindhia establishes itself at Gwalior.

1733 Foundation of the Mahratta power of Indore, or Holkar's dominions.

1735 Kashmir incorporated with the kingdom of Kabul.

1736 Sindhia's forces invade Hindustan and advance to Delhi.

1739 Persians under Nadir Shah invade India and withdraw after sacking Delhi.

1746 Madras captured by the French under La Bourdonnais.

1748 The English besiege Pondicherry.

1751 French and English having taken sides in the quarrels of the Deccan princes, the English under Clive take Arcot and defend it against the French and their allies. 1753 The French acquire the Northern Circars from the sovereign of the Deccan.

1756 Clive becomes governor of Fort St. David. The fort at Calcutta taken by Siraj-udDaula (Surajah Dowlah) and the European prisoners confined in the Black Hole of Calcutta.

1757 Clive defeats Siraj-ud-Daula at Plassey, and establishes Mir Jafar in his place. The British relieve Trichinopoli, besieged by the French, who take the English factory at Vizagapatam. Madura surrendered to the British.

1758 French under Lally take Fort St. David from the British.

1759 Lally fails in the siege of Madras. The British take Masulipatam from the French and obtain eight districts from the ruler of the Deccan. Northern Circars transferred to British. Clive aids Mir Jafar to repel an invasion from Rohilkhand. 1760 The British defeat Lally at Wandewash and take Pondicherry. Bardwan, Midnapur, and Chittagong ceded to the British.

1761 The king of Kabul totally defeats the Mahrattas at Panipat and finally destroys the power of the king of Delhi.

1763 War between the British and the nawab of Bengal.

1764 The great Mughal with Sujah-ud-Daula, ruler of Oudh, aids the nawab of Bengal and is defeated at Baxar. The English make a treaty with the great Mughal who grants them the zemindari of Benares.

1765 Sujah-ud-Daula and the Mahrattas defeated by the British at Korah. The great Mughal empowers Clive to collect the revenues of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa.

1766 Hyder Ali makes himself rajah of Mysore.

1767 War between the peshwa and Hyder Ali. The British and the nizam of the Deccan aid the peshwa. The peshwa makes a separate peace with Hyder. The British retreat and defeat the Mysore troops at Trinomali and Ambur.

1768 Nepal conquered by the Gurkas.

1769 Hyder, joined by the French, makes successful attacks on the British. Treaty of Hyder Ali with the British.

1770 Great famine in Bengal.

1771 War between Hyder and the peshwa. Shah Alam becomes nominal sovereign of Delhi under the real domination of Sindhia.

1772 Marawar war. Impeachment of Clive. Warren Hastings governor of Bengal. 1773 "Regulating Act" for the East India Company passed.

1774 British troops aid Sujah-ud-Daula of Oudh in the Rohilla war. Hastings becomes governor-general.

1775 War with Mahrattas (first Mahratta war) and acquisition of Salsette by the Bombay presidency. The supreme council at Calcutta forces the Bombay government to break faith with the Mahratta chief Ragoba. 1778 War between France and England. Hastings seizes Chandarnagar. War with the Mahrattas renewed.

1780 Hyder Ali overruns the Coromandel Coast and defeats the British at Conjeveram. Independence of Baroda recognised by the British government.

1781 Hyder ravages Tanjore and is defeated at Porto Novo by Sir Eyre Coote, who relieves Vellore.

1782 Sea fights between the British and the French under Suffren. Tipu Sahib succeeds his father Hyder Ali.

1783 Bednor taken by the British and recovered by Tipu, who besieges Mangalore. Indecisive sea fight off Cuddalore between Suffren and Hastings.

1784 The British evacuate Mangalore. Peace with Tipu. Pitt's India Bill, regulating the management of the East India Company, passed.

1786 Lord Cornwallis becomes governor-general of India. Supplementary bills passed. 1787 Impeachment of Warren Hastings,

1788 Tipu Sahib overruns and oppresses Calicut.

1789 Tipu attacks the rajah of Travancore, a British ally. The British make alliance with the peshwa against Tipu. Tipu defeats the rajah of Travancore.

1790 War with Tipu. The rajah of Travancore restored.

1791 Cornwallis takes Bangalore and defeats Tipu, but retreats.

1792 Cornwallis takes Seringapatam and forces Tipu to surrender half his territories, the British retaining his possessions on the Malabar coast.

1793 "Permanent Settlement" (of assessments on land in Bengal).

1795 Sindhia attacks and defeats the nizam of the Deccan. The British take the Dutch forts in Ceylon.

1796 French company of the Indies abolished by the French national assembly. 1798 Lord Mornington (Marquis Wellesley) becomes governor-general. Napoleon Bonaparte opens negotiations with Tipu Sahib; French from Mauritius organise a jacobin club in Seringapatam. Ranjit Singh becomes ruler of Lahore. 1799 British declare war on Tipu and defeat him at Malaveli; they capture Seringapatam, where Tipu is killed. The Kanara district becomes British territory. Maharajah Krishna, representative of the ancient dynasty of Mysore, made sovereign of Mysore. 1800 Sir John Malcolm is sent as ambassador to the king of Persia and concludes an alliance between him and the British government. The East India Company assumes the government of Surat. By treaty with the nizam the East India Company engages to defend Hyderabad against foreign aggression, receives territories in trust (Berar) to defray cost of British troops, and assumes direction of Hyderabad's foreign affairs.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

1801 The East India Company interferes in the disputes for the rule of the Carnatic and takes over the government in perpetuity.

crown.

1802 The peshwa, driven from Poona by Holkar, concludes the Treaty of Bassein with the Company. British possessions in Ceylon become a direct dependency of the British 1803 Second Mahratta War. General Wellesley (Duke of Wellington) restores the peshwa. Wellesley defeats the Mahrattas at Assaye. Lake takes Aligarh, wins the battle of Laswari and takes Delhi and Agra. Wellesley defeats the Mahrattas at Argam. Powell overruns Bundelkhand and takes Gwalior. Cuttack conquered by the British. Unsuccessful war in Ceylon. Treaty with Sindhia who surrenders his suzerain rights over the chiefs between the Jumna and Ganges and others. 1804 War with Holkar. Wellesley disperses the predatory bands formed from Sindhia's army. Holkar besieges Delhi which Lake relieves. Holkar's forces destroyed at Dig and Farrakhabad.

1805 Lake besieges Bhartpur, but fails to take it; the rajah of Bhartpur makes a treaty with the British. Treaty with Sindhia, who cedes Gwalior and part of Gohud to the British; treaty with Holkar secures Poona and Bundelkhand to the British.

1806 Sepoy mutiny at Vellore quelled by Colonel Gillespie.

1807 Lord Minto becomes governor-general.

1809 Treaty between the British and Shuja-ul-Mulk king of Kabul. Shuja-ul-Mulk defeated by his brother Mahmud. Treaty between the British and Ranjit Singh. Kashmir becomes an independent kingdom.

1810 Amboyna and the Banda Islands conquered by the Company. The British conquer Mauritius.

1811 The Company's troops conquer Java from the Dutch.

1813 An act of Parliament modifies the political organisation of the East India Company and extends the privilege of trading with India to other persons. A system introduced for the support of government-paid missionaries in India. Lord Moira (Hastings) governor-general. Ranjit Singh obtains possession of Attock.

1814 Disastrous war with Nepal. Amboyna, Banda Islands and Java restored to the Dutch. 1815 The British defeat the tyrant of Ceylon; the whole island becomes British; civil and religious liberty granted to the inhabitants.

1816 Second war with Nepal; the Gurkas defeated at Mukwanpur; a British residency established in Nepal.

1817-1818 Power of the robber Pindharis crushed by the British. Third Mahratta war; the Mahrattas of Poona (peshwa's capital), Nagpur and Indore (Holkar's dominions) rise against the British and are overthrown; Holkar defeated at Mehidpur. Ranjit Singh obtains possession of Multan.

1819 An English factory established at Singapore. Ranjit Singh annexes Kashmir. 1823 Lord Amherst becomes governor-general.

1824 First Burmese war.

1825 Dispute over the succession to Bhartpur. Burmese War ended by Treaty of Yandabu; Assam, Arakan, and Tenasserim ceded to the British.

1826 Bhartpur besieged and taken by Lord Combermere. 1828 Lord William Bentinck becomes governor-general. 1829 Bentinck decrees the abolition of suttee (sati).

1831 Misgovernment in Mysore compels the British to assume the direct administration. 1833 The charter of the East India Company renewed; it is compelled to abandon its trade; a commission, under Macaulay's presidency, appointed to codify the law of India. 1835 Lord Auckland governor-general.

1838 First Afghan war; the British in alliance with Ranjit Singh undertake to restore Shah Shuja.

1839 Ghazni and Kabul taken and Shah Shuja reinstated. Death of Ranjit Singh. 1840 The amirs of Sind arise against the British.

1841 Revolt in Kabul; the British envoys murdered; disastrous retreat of the British garrison, only one man reaching Jalalabad alive. The Afghans besiege the British garrisons in Kandahar and Jalalabad.

1842 Lord Ellenborough succeeds Auckland. Afghans defeated at Jalalabad and Kandahar. The British occupy Kabul; they evacuate Afghanistan.

1843 War in Sind; Sir Charles Napier wins the battles of Miani and Hyderabad. Sind annexed.

1845 The English acquire the Danish settlements at Tranquebar and Serampur by purchase. First Sikh War; the Sikhs invade British territory and are defeated at Mudki and Ferozshaw. 1846 Sikhs defeated at Aliwal and Sobraon; Lahore surrenders to the British, Dhuleep (Dhalip) Singh is recognised as rajah of Lahore, and a British garrison is stationed there; the Jalandhar Doab annexed by the British; Kashmir recognised as independent.

1848 Lord Dalhousie becomes governor-general. Murder of British officers at Multan begins the second Sikh War.

1849 Multan taken by the British. Battle of Chilianwala and heavy British losses. Gough destroys the Sikh army at Gujrat. The Punjab annexed to the British dominions. Satara annexed.

1852-1853 Second Burmese War resulting in the annexation of Pegu.

1853 Nagpur and Jhansi escheat to the central government. Change in the charter of the East India Company decreasing the company's influence on the government and throwing the Indian civil service open to competition.

1854 Ganges canal opened. Treaty with Baluchistan.

1856 The king of Oudh dethroned for misgovernment and a British commissioner appointed. Lord Canning becomes governor-general. Successful war with Persia.

1857 Religious fears of the sepoys roused by the issue of greased cartridges. First attempt at mutiny suppressed. Formidable mutiny at Meerut and murder of many Europeans; the mutineers escape to Delhi, are joined by the garrison there, and proclaim the king of Delhi sovereign of India; the British destroy the Delhi powder magazine. Mutinies and massacres at Neemuch, Allahabad, Jhansi, Mhow, and other places in the Bengal Presidency. Massacre in Delhi. Nana Sahib besieges Cawnpore. Sir John Lawrence aided by Sikh troops prevents mutiny in the Punjab. The British besiege Delhi. Neill recovers Allahabad. Cawnpore garrison massacred. Mutineers besiege the residency at Lucknow. Massacre of the women and children at Cawnpore. Delhi taken by storm; Hodson shoots down the king's sons. Mutinies in the Bombay Presidency. Outram and Havelock relieve Lucknow. Sir Colin Campbell brings reinforcements from England and finally rescues the Lucknow garrison. 1858 Sir Colin Campbell recovers Lucknow. The revolted city of Jhansi taken by Sir Hugh Rose. Campbell subdues Rohilkhand. Kalpi and Gwalior taken by Rose. Behar reduced. End of the East India Company; its territories and powers transferred to the crown; Canning receives the title of viceroy.

1862 Lord Elgin viceroy. Death of the ex-king of Delhi, Bahadur Shah, the last of the great Mughals.

1863 Sir John Lawrence viceroy.

1865 War with Bhutan ended by the cession by the. Bhutias of the eighteen Dwars of Bengal and Assam in return for a subsidy.

1866 Terrible famine and flood in Orissa.

1869 Lord Mayo viceroy; interview at Ambala with Sher Ali, amir of Afghanistan.

1872 Lord Mayo assassinated at the Andaman Islands. Lord Northbrook viceroy.

1874 Famine in Lower Bengal. Gaikwar of Baroda deposed for incapacity and a new gaikwar established.

1876 Lord Northbrook resigns and is succeeded by Lord Lytton. Treaty with the khan of Kalat; the British Government undertakes to uphold the khan's authority. 1877 Queen Victoria proclaimed empress of India. Severe famine in India.

1878 Acts restraining the liberty of the press passed. Sher Ali receives a Russian mission and declines to admit a British one. Second Afghan War; the British invade Afghanistan. 1879 By the Treaty of Gandamak the British frontier is advanced towards Afghanistan and a British resident admitted at Kabul. Murder of the British resident and his escort. A punitive expedition under General Roberts takes Kabul. The amir deposed. 1880 Lord Lytton resigns and is succeeded by Lord Ripon. Abdurrahman Khan proclaimed amir of Kabul. Disaster at Maiwand; a British force is defeated by a son of the deposed amir and the remnant besieged in Kandahar. March of General Roberts to relieve Kandahar; he routs the enemy before the walls. The British withdraw from Afghanistan.

1881 Government of Mysore restored to the Hindu dynasty.

1882 Abolition of cotton duties; salt duties reduced; increased administrative powers conferred on provincial governments.

1883 Controversy over the Ilbert Bill concerning the extension of the powers of covenanted civil servants.

1884 The Ilbert Bill passed with a reservation granting European British subjects the right of trial by jury. Lord Dufferin viceroy. The Indian national congress, designed to oppose the exclusive conduct of Indian affairs by the ruling race, holds its first annual session.

1885 Collision between Afghans and Russians at Panjdeh leads to preparations for war in India; the affair arranged diplomatically. Burmese War; Ava and Mandalay occupied and the king Thibaw taken.

1886 Upper Burma formally annexed.

1887 Civil service reform. British Baluchistan incorporated with India.

1888 Hazara expedition. A British expedition expels the Tibetans from Sikkim. Lord Lansdowne viceroy.

1889 Burmese War ends.

1890 China acknowledges the British protectorate over Sikkim.

1891 Manipur expedition.

1892 Indian Councils Act passed.

1893 Frontier between India and Afghanistan defined.

1895 Opium inquiries; the report declares against repressive measures. Chitral expedition. Lord Elgin viceroy.

1896 Famine and plague in India.

1897 Burma made a lieutenant-governorship.

The Waziris, Swatis, Mohmands, and

Afridis rise against the British; the Tirah campaign undertaken in consequence. 1899 Lord Curzon of Kedleston viceroy. Nushki district and Niabat in Baluchistan transferred to British management.

1900 Severe famine.

OWING to its position at the antipodes of the civilised world, Australia has been longer a terra incognita than any other region of the same extent. Its first discovery is involved in considerable doubt, from confusion of the names which were applied by the earlier navigators and geographers to the Australasian coasts.

The ancients were somehow impressed with the idea of a Terra Australis which was one day to be revealed. The Phoenician mariners had pushed through the outlet of the Red Sea to eastern Africa, the Persian Gulf, and the coasts of India and Sumatra. But the geographer Ptolemy, in the 2nd century, still conceived the Indian Ocean to be an inland sea, bounded on the south by an unknown land, which connected the Chersonesus Aurea (Malay Peninsula) with the promontory of Prasum in eastern Africa. This erroneous notion prevailed in medieval Europe, although some travellers like Marco Polo heard rumours in China of large insular countries to the southeast.

h

The investigations of Mr. R. H. Major make it appear probable that the Australian mainland was known as "Great Java" to the Portuguese early in the sixteenth century; and the following passage in the Descriptionis Ptolemaica Augmentum of Cornelius Wytfliet, printed at Louvain in 1598, is perhaps the first distinct account that occurs of the country: -"The Australis Terra is the most southern of all lands, and is separated from New Guinea by a narrow strait. Its shores are hitherto but little known, since, after one