In 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte (who would next year crown himself Emperor Napoleon I of France) sold the Louisiana territory, a vast tract of land extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, to the United States for 15 million dollars. The purchase effectively doubled the size of the fledgling country.

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/louisiana-purchase

1804 C.E.
Haitian independence

The French possession of Haiti, then known as San Domingue, was a rich colony with an agricultural economy based on slavery. In 1791, a slave revolt became a revolution; Toussaint L'Ouverture, a former slave, became its leader. By 1800, Toussaint had become governor-general of San Domingue. In 1801, he set forth a new constitution abolishing slavery, but professing loyalty to France. Angered that France's approval had not been sought, Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul, sent troops. By subterfuge, Toussaint was captured and sent into exile in France, where he died in 1803. Incensed, Haitians intensified their fight, and on January 1, 1804, Haiti declared its independence, becoming the second republic in the Americas.

http://library.brown.edu/haitihistory/11.html

http://www.blackpast.org/?q=gah/haitian-revolution-1791-1804

In March 1808 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain with more than 100,000 troops, with the aim of controlling all of the Iberian peninsula. After capturing Madrid, Bonaparte replaced the Spanish king, Charles IV, with his own brother, Joseph. This move was met with insurrection and a period of instability that led Spanish colonies overseas to seize their chance for independence. Simon Bolivar led Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia to independence. Benito Juarez helped make Mexico a constitutional democracy. Jose Marti became the head of the Cuban Revolutionary party.

https://www.thoughtco.com/the-liberators-of-south-america-2136425

United States president James Monroe delivered a message to Congress stating that the American continents should not be considered for future colonization by Europe, and that any such attempt would be seen as "dangerous to our peace and safety." The Monroe Doctrine dovetailed with British trade interests, so, with the backing of the British navy over the next 100 years, the policy was a success.

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/monroe

The Decembrist Uprising was a revolt led by younger Russian military officers who saw the death of Tsar Alexander I as an opportunity to introduce western liberal ideas, such as abolition of serfdom and a democratically elected legislative body. The rebellion was easily crushed by Tsar Nicholas I, and the Decembrists were exiled to Siberia. Their ideas, however, took root and inspired further calls for government reform.

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Decembrist_Revolt

1830-1914 C.E. Partition of Africa

European countries had been exploring and colonizing Africa for hundreds of years, but with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, these activities intensified. Most of the major western European countries (Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Holland, and Spain) met in Berlin in 1884 to discuss dividing the African continent into colonies or "spheres of influence" from which to harvest raw materials for industry. This resulted in tremendous wealth for Europe, but exploitation and misery for divided Africa.

http://blackpast.org/?q=gah/partition-africa

Following independence, many Latin American economies collapsed. The void left by the overthrow of colonial rule was filled by the caudillos, so-called "strong men" or military dictators, many of whom had been leaders in the independence movements in their nations. The caudillos often controlled local militias and consolidated their power by force.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caudillo

Hung Hsiu-ch'üan was a scholar who, in combining his personal interpretation of Christianity with traditional Chinese values, started a movement in southern China to create a new society based on equality and shared property. Famine and drought may have been factors driving followers to Hung's movement. The Taiping Rebellion, sparked when the Manchu government began a campaign of systematic harassment, lasted from the late 1840s to 1864, during which an estimated 20 million people died, including Hung himself.

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1750_taiping.htm

During the reign of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, wide-sweeping reforms aimed at modernizing Russia took place: emancipation of the serfs, an expanded educational system, introduction of trial juries into the legal system, and mandatory conscription for military service.

http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/AlexIIbio.html

The Indian Mutiny is also known as the Sepoy Revolt. In its conquest of India, the British East India Company employed native Muslim and Hindu soldiers (sepoys), who fought next to British troops. By 1849, the East India Company ruled nearly all of India. Eventually, there was widespread Indian objection to foreign control. The mutiny was touched off by a rumor that pork and beef fat were used to grease the cartridge papers of the sepoys' ammunition (this was offensive to both Hindus and Muslims on religious grounds). The revolt, though decisively crushed, ended the sway of the East India Company in India. In 1858 administration of the country passed to the British Crown.

http://www.victorianweb.org/history/
empire/1857/1857.html

Political and economic differences between the industrial North and the agrarian South eventually led to war between the two regions. Whether new states admitted to the union would permit slavery was one issue that brought the nation to war; whether government would grow more centralized or whether more power would be granted to the states was another. In 1861, delegates from southern states which had seceded formed the Confederate States of America. In April 1861, U.S. president Abraham Lincoln called for volunteers.

With the war underway, both sides suffered heavy losses. At Gettysburg, in July 1863, Union troops turned back the CSA advance. Also in 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all slaves in seceded states were free, and delivered the Gettysburg Address, restating the national principle that all men are created equal. In 1864, Union General William T. Sherman led troops in a destructive march across Georgia and South Carolina to hasten the end of the war, causing much bitterness in the South. In January 1865, Congress passed the 13th amendment, ending slavery; in April, CSA General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, and Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

https://www.britannica.com/event/American-Civil-War

1867 C.E.
Dominion of Canada

As England's other colonial possessions moved toward independence, Canada took a major step toward self-rule with the British North American Act of 1867. Canada became a Dominion with four provinces (other provinces joined later). Each province was to have a seat of government, a law-making body, and a representative to the British Crown. The act also established a bicameral federal government, with a governor-general representing the Crown. Canada's example was later followed by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and Pakistan.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/canadian-independence-day

During the Meiji Restoration era, Japan grappled with an unequal balance of power with the West. Sweeping changes were enacted to address this imbalance. The government underwent democratic reforms, strictures on religion were lifted, the educational system was realigned, and compulsory education was enacted. In an effort to transform an agrarian economy to an industrial one, some Japanese went west to study science, and foreign experts were invited to teach in Japan. Japan's military was redesigned on western models, and compulsory conscription was introduced.

http://albumen.stanford.edu/gallery/gadd

This treaty, forced by Russia on the Ottoman Turks, concluded the last of the Russo-Turkish Wars by redrawing the political map of the Balkan peninsula: the borders of Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro were enlarged, and the Ottomans ceded part of Armenia and other territories to Russia. At the international Congress of Berlin called in 1878 to discuss the terms of the treaty, England and Austria-Hungary insisted upon its revision, a demand Russia complied with only after Great Britain threatened to declare war.

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Treaty_of_San_Stefano

Facing financial problems, the khedive of Egypt, Ismail, sold his 44 percent share of stock in the Suez Canal to Great Britain, putting the Canal under British control. As Egypt's economy fell increasingly into foreign hands, the "Egypt for the Egyptians!" movement gained support. After riots broke out in Alexandria, the British bombarded the city. In response, the leader of the movement, Ahmad Urahbi, declared war on Great Britain, but was crushingly defeated at the Battle of Tel al-Kabir. Decades of indirect British rule followed, along with a growing Egyptian nationalist movement.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/battles/egypt/

Against the background of a Cuban independence movement and pressure to protect American interests in Cuba, Congress passed a resolution proclaiming Cuba "free and independent" of Spanish rule. Shortly thereafter, on April 25, war was formally declared between Spain and the United States. In the war's first engagement, in the Phillippines, the Spanish squadron was defeated within six hours. During the course of the war, the U.S. annexed Hawaii. By July the Spanish had surrendered. At the December 12 signing of the peace treaty, Spain renounced possession of Cuba, granting its independence, and ceded Guam and Puerto Rico and sold the Phillipines to the U.S.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/chronology.html

With the Phillippines as a base, American business interests looked to China. When U.S. Secretary of State John Hays proposed an "open door" policy giving all nations equal trading and development rights in China, the Chinese empress Hsu Tsi wished to shut this door. She encouraged a secret society nicknamed the "Boxers" in their attacks on Christian missionaries and other Westerners. When the Boxers marched on the foreign diplomatic compound at Beijing, U.S. troops joined an international force and quashed the uprising. Hay's renewed call for an open door policy was successful.

http://www.smplanet.com/imperialism/fists.html

Seeking to increase its empire, Russia invaded Manchuria and Korea. Japan, considering these areas under its sphere of influence, retaliated by attacking Russian fleets and ports along the Pacific and winning the war's decisive engagement, a naval battle at Tsushima. Russia, defeated and wracked by political unrest, signed the Treaty of Portsmouth, restoring Manchuria to China and recognizing Japan's control of Korea.

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/portsmouth-treaty

Shortly after the Russo-Japanese War, Tsarist troops killed or injured more than 1,000 protestors in St. Petersburg. As unrest continued, Tsar Nicholas II unwillingly signed the October Manifesto, which in theory granted basic civil rights, expanding the right to vote and allowing formation of political parties. It also established the Duma, previously a consultative body, as the central legislative body. However, in 1906, the Tsar dissolved the first Duma, and social conditions remained the same until World War I and the 1917 Revolution.

https://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/october-manifesto/

Under the repressive President Porfirio Diaz, Mexico's wealth and land holdings were concentrated at the top. A supporter of democracy, Francisco Madero, began an opposition political party. When Diaz was re-elected, Madero fled to the United States, declared the election a fraud, and proclaimed himself president pro-tem, promising universal voting rights and term limits, and to return confiscated land to the peasants. His call for an uprising marked the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. "Maderista" troops led by Emiliano Zapata defeated Diaz's army. Upon Diaz's resignation and exile to France, national elections were held, and Madero was elected president.

http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/
feature/mexican-revolution/

After the Boxer Rebellion's failure, China drew closer to revolution. Sun Yat-Sen, a republican leader in exile, founded the United League, dedicated to ending both Manchu and foreign rule. Revolution broke out on October 10, 1911, and by late November, 15 of 24 Chinese provinces had proclaimed their independence. In 1912, the child emperor Puyi abdicated. To avoid conflict, Sun agreed to the demands of Yuan Shikai, the commander of the imperial army, to unite China under Yuan's leadership; Yuan was sworn in as the first provisional president of the Republic of China.      

http://countrystudies.us/china/19.htm