A List of Dates which may Prove Useful when Dating Globes.

Voyager Rare Books Maps & Prints

A List of Dates which may Prove Useful when Dating Globes.

1810 – 1819

1817 – New Holland becomes Australia
1819 – Florida ceded by Spain to US

1830 – 1839

1831-33 – discovery of Endrby’s Land in antarctic

1840 – 1849

1846 – Van Dieman’s Land becomes Tasmania

1850 – 1859

1856 – Burton and Speke discover Lake Tanganyika
1857 – John Speke discovers Lake Victoria

1860 – 1869

1867 – Alaska sold by Russia to US
1868 – Austro-Hungarian Empire established
1869 – Suez Canal complete

1870 – 1879

1878 – Serbia, Montenegro and Romania independent
1878 – Cyprus became British

1880 – 1889

1885 – Congo Free State (Congo State); Britain established Bechuanaland Protectorate in what is now Botswana. Southern part of Bechuanaland was called British Bechuanaland, a colony that later became part of the Cape Colony and later S. Africa.

1890 – 1899

1891 – North and South Dakota divided and Indian Territory in Oklahoma
1895 – “Rhodesia” name on Ndebele territory of Zimbabwe

1900 – 1909

1900 – Cook Islands annexed by New Zealand.
1902 – Boer War ends – Eng. acquires So. African states
1902 – Cuba independence
1903 – Panama independence
1905 – End of the Swedish-Norwegian Union (Norway independent); Sakhalin Island divided between Japan and Russia; Alberta and Saskatchewan become provinces in Canada
1907 – Eastern Oklahoma was called Indian Territory until 1907.
1908 – Bulgaria becomes independent kingdom; Belgium takes over Congo Free State
1909 – Canberra becomes capital of Australia.

1910 – 1919

1910 – Union of South Africa (Confirm this)
1910-1945 – Korea was called Chosun by Japan
1910 the four main republics in the region united as the Union of South Africa.
1911 Rhodesia was divided into Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Southern Rhodesia, the latter becoming a self-governing British colony in 1922.
1912 – Albania independent
1913 – Turkey loses most of European lands, Coup D’etat in Turkey
1914 – opening of the Panama Canal (another source said 1913). Egypt becomes British Protectorate.
1914-18 – World War I
pre1914 St. Petersburg, Russia
1914-24 St. Petersburg was renamed Petrograd (1914-1924), thereafter Leningrad, until its original name (St. Petersburg) was restored in 1991.
1917 – Finland independence. Russian revolution.
1918 – 1940 – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania were independent. Annexed by Soviet Union 1940.
1918 – Yugoslavia created. “Russia” and “Austro-Hungarian Empire” disappear.
1918 – Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia independence
1919 – Treaty of Versaille; League of Nations formed; flu epidemic.

1920 – 1929

1920 – Mahatma Gandhi becomes leader of Congress. British East Africa becomes Kenya. Palestine becomes British mandate.
1921-24 – Irish Civil War
1922 – Russia changes to Soviet Union. Egyptian independence.
1923 – Turkey independent
1924 – Christiana, Norway renamed Oslo
1924 – Leningrad appears
1928 – Peiping changed to Peking
1927 – Stalin comes to power. Lindbergh flies Atlantic.
1929 – Yugoslavia name change

1930 – 1939

1930 – Constantinople becomes Istanbul
1931 – Japan invades Manchuria and renames it Manchukuo
1931 South Africa became a fully sovereign and self-governing dominion under the British crown. In 1961 it became a republic.
1932 – Saudi Arabia independent. Iraq independent from Britian.
1932-45 – Japan seizes Manchuria; renamed Manchuokuo
1933 – Nazis come to power in Germany
1934 – Italian East Africa merged Somaliland, Eritrea and Ethiopia
1936-41 – Ethiopia occupied by Italy, renamed Italian East Africa
1935 – Persia becomes Iran
1937 – Burma separates from India
1937-45 Japan invasion of China
1938 – Germany annexes Austria
1938 – Bolivia loses Gran Chaco to Paraguay
1939-45 – World War II
1939 – Bohemia (currently Czech Republic) occupied by Germany; Slovakia independent
1939 – France returns Hatay to Turkey

1940 – 1949

1940 – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania are annexed by Soviet Union
1941 – Slovenia divided between Italy and Germany; Croatia independent
1942 – Ecuador loses Oriente to Peru
1944 – Lebanon independent
1946 – Philippines independent from United States
1947 – India independent; East and West Pakistan created
1948 – Israel created (before 1948, maps say “Palestine”); Republic of Ireland independent. Ceylon and Burma become independent.
1949 – Newfoundland and Labrador join Canada.

1950 – 1959

1953 – Korea divided into North and South; Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
In 1953 the two parts of Rhodesia were reunited, and combined with Nyasaland, modern day Malawi in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and after its dissolution in 1963 the whites demanded independence from Southern Rhodesia (Rhodesia from 1964).
1953-63 – Central African Federation
1954 – “French Indo-China” ceased to be. Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia independent; Sudan independent. Formally was “Anglo-Egyptian Sudan”
1956 – Morocco, Tunisia independent. “Anglo Egypt Sudan” becomes Sudan. Sudan independent of UK.
1957 – Gold Coast becomes Ghana. Malay states become independent.
1958-61 – Egypt and Syria united as United Arab Republic

1960 – 1969

1960 – French West Africa divides into independent countries and ceases to exist; Congo and Somalia independent. Major break-up of colonial Africa: French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, Belgian Congo, and other territories
end, creating over 15 independent countries, including Niger, Chad, Somalia, Congo, Nigeria. Zaire — independent in 1960. Formally Belgian Congo.
1961 – Sierra Leone, Tanzania (Tanganyika) independent. Kuwait independent.
1961 South Africa became a republic. British Somaliland became independent.
1962 – Uganda, Algeria, Jamaica independent. Also Trinidad and Tobago, and Western Samoa.
1963 – Kenya independent. Malaysia independence. Zanibar independence.
1963 the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland dissolves. The whites demanded independence from Southern Rhodesia (Rhodesia from 1964).
1964 – Malawi and Zambia independent from UK; Zambia was Northern Rhodesia. Rhodesia divided. Nyasaland becomes Malawi. Malta becomes independent.
Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form new country: Tanzania
1965 – Southern Rhodesia independent (later became Zimbabwe in 1979 or 1980). Singapore independence
1966 – Botswana, Gambia, and Lesotho independent. Guyana independent
1967 – French Somaliland changes to Afars & Issas (Fr.)
1968 – Equatorial Guinea independence. Mauritius and Swaziland (from UK) gain independence.

1970 – 1979

1970 – Muscat and Oman changes to Oman. Fiji and Tongan Independence.
1971 – Bahrain independent. Congo changes to Zaire. Bangladesh independence
1972 – Ceylon changes to Sri Lanka
1973 – Bahamas independence
1974 – Guinea-Bissau independence. Grenada independence.
1975 – Angola (formally Portuguese West Africa) and Mozambique independent. Suriname independence. Papua New Guinea gains independence.
1976 – Vietnam unifies. Indonesia annexes Portuguese Timor. Seychelles Independent.
1977 – Djibouti independence
1978 – Dominica independence
1979 – St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines independence. USSR invades Afganistan.
1979/1980 – Zimbabwe gains independence from United Kingdom. It was called Southern Rhodesia. Name changed to Zimbabwe in 1979.

1980 – 1989

1981 – Belize gains independence from United Kingdom/Guatemala. Antigua and Barbuda become independent state in British Common-Wealth of Nations
1984 – Upper Volta changes name to Burkina Faso
1986 – Ivory Coast changes name to Côte d’Ivoire
1989 – Burma changes name to Myanmar

1990 – 1999

1990 – West and East Germany merge into one country, Germany.
North and South Yemen merge into one country, Yemen
Namibia gains independence
1991 – Soviet Union dissolves into 15 new countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
1992 – Yugoslavia dissolves into 5 new countries: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Yugoslavia
1993 – Czechoslovakia divides into Czech Republic and Slovakia
1993 – Eritrea was part of Ethiopia but seceded and gained independence
1994 – Palau was part of the Trust Territory of Pacific Islands (administered by the United States) and gained independence as a former colony.
1994 – South Africa territory Walvis Bay becomes part of Namibia
1997 – Zaire changes name to Democratic Republic of the Congo
Hong Kong possession transfers from United Kingdom to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China
Western Samoa changes name to Samoa
1998 – Nunavut Territory created from part of Northwest Territories (Canada)
1999 – Macao transferred from Portugal to China

Voyager Rare Books Maps & Prints