Timeline

Modern

1840 – present · 8 events

Industrialisation, empire, and catastrophe drove the mass migrations of the modern age. Steamships and railways enabled tens of millions of Europeans to emigrate to the Americas and Australasia; the partition of colonial territories in India and Palestine created refugee crises that remain unresolved; the Chinese and South Asian diasporas shaped the economies of Southeast Asia and the Gulf; and decolonisation generated a Caribbean and South Asian presence in Britain that permanently changed its culture.

Dates are approximate. Ranges reflect current scientific consensus and are subject to revision as new evidence emerges.