1621 Dutch capture the w African island slave ports of Arguin and Goree from the Portuguese.

1626 French establish the colony of St Louis at the mouth of the River Senegal.

1626 French settlers and traders establish a colony on the island of Madagascar.

1637 Dutch capture the fortified port of EI Mina from the Portuguese.

1650 Ali Bey establishes himself as hereditary ruler ofTunis.

1652 Outch settlers found the colony of Capetown in South Africa.

1654 French occupy the island of Reunion.

1662 Portugal cedes the city of Tangier in Morocco to England.

1662 English build a fort atthe mouth of the River Gambia, w Africa.

1677 French expel the Dutch from Senegal in w Africe.

Armies In the 18th century armies consisted of longservice volunteers or conscripts. Harsh discipline, low pay and bad conditions attracted only the poor and criminals into the ranks. Officers, from the nobility, used influence to gain commissions. Distinctive uniforms were chosen because long-range weapons were inaccurate. Illustrated below are, from left to right. a British Grenadier, an Austnan Infantryman and a soldier of the Spanish Imperial Army

1683 Prussians build a fort on the coast of Guinea in w Africa.
1684 England gives Tangier back to Morocco.

1684 French mount naval expeditions to suppress the Islamic pirates at Algiers.

1686 French formally annex Madagascar.

1688 Huguenot refugees from France arrive in s Africa.

1697 French complete the conquest of Senegal.

1698 Portuguese ar.e expelled from most E African ports by Omanis from SE Arabia.

Leeuwenhoek`s microscope With the powerful, single-lens microscopes that he designed, such as the one shown right. Leeuwenhoek was able to study blood and spermatozoa as well as microscopic life forms. It was with one of these microscopes that he discovered bacteria in 1680.

1704 British capture Gibraltarfrom Spain.

1705 Husseinid dynasty takes control in Tunis and establishes independence from the Turks.
1708 Spanish are expelled from Gran in Algeria.

1709 Dutch cattle farmers in South Africa trek E across the Hottentot Holland Mountains.

1710 French take the island 01 Mauritius lrom the Dutch.

1714 Ahmed Bey establishes the Karamanlid dynasty as inde pendent rulers in Tripoli, Libya.

1717 Dutch begin importing slaves to Cape Colony, South Africa.

1723 British Alrica Company claims the Gambia region of w Africa.

1721-29 Portuguese brielly re-occupy the E African port of Mombasa.

1730 Dutch northward expansion ,in South Africa reaches the River Dlilants.

1732 Spanish recapture Dran in Algeria.

1760 Dutch farmers moving N cross the Orange River in South Africa.

1763 Kayambugu (d.1780) becomes king of Buganda in E Africa.

1763 Treaty of Paris confirms British control of Senegal.

1766 Ali Bey (1729--73) establishes himself as ruler of Egypt ahd declares independence from the Turks.

1774Abiodun (d.1789) becomes king of Oyo in present-day s Nigeria.

1775 Maritius Benyowski establishes thetown of Louisbourg on the coast of Madagascar for the French, who later refuse to support him.

1778 French recapture Senegal,

1778 Dutch settlersmoving E cross the Great Fish River in South Africa.

1779 First Suurveld War starts in South Africa when native Khoisan and Xhosa peoples try to stop the E expansion of Dutch Boers.(farmers).

1795 British capture Cape Colony in South Africa from the Dutch.

1797 US government agrees to pay bribes to Algiers and Tripoli to further safeguard US shipping from pirate attacks.

1798 Napoleon Bonaparte lands an army at Alexandria, invades Egypt, and defeats the Mamluks at the battle of the Pyramids.

1798 British admiral Horatio Nelson (1759-1805) destroys the French fleet althe naval battle of Aboukir.

1798 French settlers on the island of Mauritius overthrow the colonial government

1799 Bonaparte defeats a Turkish attemplto recapture Egypt atthe land battle of Aboukir.

slave trade The triangular route taken by slave ships from European ports such as Liverpool, Bristol and Bordeaux took them to Africa to collect slaves, across the Atlantic Ocean to sell them and back again with cargos bartered in exchange. By the end of the 18th century, the major share of the slave traffic was carried on by Great Britain. supplying slaves to plantations in the West Indies and the Americas.