(1842) Hong Kong Island ceded by China under Treaty of Nanking. 

(1843) Governor, Sir Henry Pottinger. 

(1844) Governor, Sir John Davis. 

(1848) Governor, Sir George Bonham; Voyage of Keying

(1842) Hong Kong ceded to Britain under Treaty of Nanking; Treaty ports opened to foreign trade.
 
 
 

(1842) Hong Kong island acquired under Treaty of Nanking; First Afghan War ends. 

(1843) Sind annexed; Natal annexed.

(1845-48) Sikh wars
 

(1854) Governor, Sir John Bowring. 

(1857) Poisoned-Bread Case. 

(1859)  Goevernor, Sir Hercules Robinson 

(1856-60) Second Anglo-Chinese war.
 
 
 

(1856-60) Second Anglo-Chinese War. 

(1856) Oudh annexed. 

(1857) Indian Mutiny. 

(1858) East India Company ended.

(1865) Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank founded. 

(1866) Governor, Sir Richard macDonnell. 

(1869) Visit of Prince Alfred.

(1861-72) Creation of arms industry.

(1867) Dominion of Canada founded; Malayan Straits Settlements annexed. 

(1872) Governor, Sir Arthur Kennedy. 
 
 

(1877) Governor, Sir John Pope-Hennessy. 

(1876) Korea declared independent. 

(1877) Ryukyu Islands ceded to Japan.

(1876) Queen Victoria proclaimed Empress of India. 

(1878-81) Second Afghan War. 

(1878) Cyprus occupied.

(1881) Visit of King Kalakaua of Hawaii. 

(1883) Governor, Sir 
George Bowen. 

(1887) Governor, Sir William Des Voeux. 

(1888) Peak tramline opened.

(1887) Macao formally ceded to Portuguese.

(1885) Gordon dies at Khartoum. 

(1886) Upper Burma annexed. 

(1887) Zululand annexed; Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

(1891) Governor, Sir William Robinson. 

(1894) Bubonic plague. 

(1898) Governor, Sir Henry Blake; New Territories leased from China under second Convention of Peking.
 
 
 
 
 

(1895) Taiwan and the Pescadores ceded to Japan. 

(1897-98) Jiaozhou Bay acquired by Germany, Lushun (Port Arthur) by Russia, Qinzhou Bay by France, Weihaiwei by Britain. 

(1898) New Territories leased to Britain under second Convention of Peking.
 
 

(1893-96) Ashanti Wars.

(1895) east African protectorate established; Jameson raid. 

(1896-98) Reconquest of the Sudan. 

(1897) Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. 

*(1898) Hong Kong New Territories leased from China under second Convention of Peking. 

(1899-1902) Second Boer War.

(1904) Governor, Sir Matthew Nathan. 

(1907) Governor, Sir Frederick Lugard.
 

(1904) Japanese besiege Port Arthur. 

(1905) Russians surrender Port Arthur to Japanese. 

(1908) Ci-xi dies. 

(1901) Ashanti annexed;Queen Victoria dies, is succeeded byEdward VII; Commonwalth of Austrailia founded. 

(1907) New Zealand becomes self-governing Dominion. 

(1912) Governor, Sir Henry May; University of Hong Kong opened; Kowloon-Guangzhou railway completed. 
 

(1919) Governor, Sir Reginald Stubbs.

(1912) Kuomintang Party founded. 

(1915) Japanese seize Jiaozhou Bay. 

(1917) War with Germany. 

(1919) New Culture Movement.

(1914-18) First World War. 

(1919) Amritsar massacre.
 
 

(1922) Seamen's strike. 
 

(1925) General strike; Governor, Sir Cecil Clementi.
 
 
 
 

(1925) Sun Yat-sen dies. 

(1926) Civil war begins against Communists. 

(1928) Chiang Kai-shek becomes president.

(1921) Gandhi's noncooperation movement begins. 

(1922) Washington Naval Treaty. 

(1926) General Strike in Britain. 

(1928) Indian strikes.

(1935) Governor, Sir Andrew Caldecott. 

(1937) Governor, Sir Geffry Northcote.
 
 
 

(1932) Japanese occupy Manchuria. 

(1934) Communist Long March. 

(1937) Japanese take Beijing, move southward. 

(1938) Japanese take Guangzhou, set up puppet government at Nanking. 

(1939) Japanese occupy Hainan Island.

(1936) Kipling dies; George V dies, is succeeded by Edward VIII; Edward VIII abdicates, is succeeded by George VI. 
 
 

(1939) Second World War begins. 

(1941) Governor, Sir Mark Young;  Japanese seize Hong Kong.

(1945) Hong Kong liberated from Japanese; Population 610,000.

(1947) Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham.

(1949) Chinese border sealed by Communists.
 

(1943) Treaty port concessions renounced by Western powers.

(1945) Civil war resumed between Communists and Kuomintang.

(1949) Communist republic established under Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.  Chiang Kai-shek withdraws to Taiwan.

(1941) Japanese seize Hong Kong.

(1942) Battle of Alamein.

(1944) Normandy invasion.

(1945) Hong Kong liberated; End of Second World War.

(1947) India independent.

(1948) Ceylon independent; Britain withdraws from Palestine.

(1951) UN embargo on trade with China.

(1952) Riots in Kowloon.

(1953) Public housing program begun.

(1956) Wave of immigrants.

(1958) Governor, Sir Robert Black.

(1959) Kai Tak extension opened.

(1950-53) China fighting in Korean War.
 
 
 

(1958) Great Leap Forward. 

(1952) George VI dies, is succeeded by Elizabeth II.
 
 

(1956) Suez intervention; Sudan independent.

(1957) Ghana independent.

(1962) Influx of Chinese immigrants.

(1964) Governor, Sir David Trench.

(1965-75) Hong Kong a rest and recreation center for U.S. troops.

(1966) Lion Rock tunnel opened.

(1967) Pro-Communist riots.

(1966) Cultural Revolution.

(1967) British embassy sacked.

(1971) Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose.

(1972) Cross-harbor tunnels opens.

(1973) First New Town completed.

(1974) Anticorruption commission established; Godber sentenced.

(1978) Deng Xiaoping (10) announces an unprecedented policy of reform.

(1979) Mass transit railway opens; The US and China establish diplomatic relations and recognise the mainland as the sole legitimate China. Four special economic zones established on China South coast.

(1973) US recognizes China.

(1975) Gang of Four come to power; Chiang Kai-shek dies.

(1976) Zhou En-lai dies; Mao Zedong dies.

(1978) Deng Xiaoping comes to power; First foreign tourists admitted since 1966.

(1981) Official ruling on Mao's regime asseses that he was "70 per cent correct, 30 per cent incorrect".

(1982) Governor, Sir Edward Youde.

(1984) Anglo-Chinese agreement on Hong Kong; Sino-British agreement on the return of Hong Kong. Emergence of first "Rmb10,000 households".

(1985) The first bankruptcy of a state enterprise; First elected members to Legislative Council.

(1987) Governor, Sir David Wilson.

(1989) Students protest in Beijing demanding more democracy culminating in a bloody army crackdown. In the aftermath, Jiang Zemin moves to Beijing and is named as Deng's successor.

(1982) Shenzhen Special Economic Zone opened; Talks on Hong Kong open with Britain.

(1984) Agreement with Britain on future of Hong Kong.

(1984) Anglo-Chinese agreement on Hong Kong.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

(1991) The United Democrats of Hong Kong win a landslide victory in the partical elections of Legislative Council members in Hong Kong.  Pro-Beijing forces suffer a devastating defeat.

(1992) Deng Xiaoping, on a "Southern Tour", says China should be "a little more daring" in pursuing reform. GDP jumps 11 per cent;
Governor Christopher Patten (last British Governor).

(1997) Hong Kong returns to Chinese sovereignty; Deng Xiaoping dies.  At the 15th Communist Party Congress, President Jiang Zemin call for a faster pace of reform. The 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army Britain returns Hong Kong to China.

(1998) Zhu Rongji, the premier, takes office.

(1999) Falun Gong followers hold the biggest demonstration since Tiananmen Square. Nato bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. The 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic.