NAPARIMA COLLEGE
FOREVER
Dates - and Figs from Samarcand
...an eclectic chronology of the times that preceded and surrounded Trinidad in the 19th century...


1100End of the Dark Ages. Tribal migrations stabilize in Europe.
1200European military adventurers embark on the first of the Crusades
1260Marco Polo, a Venetian, accomplishes historic overland passages to the Far East.
1300Gunpowder is introduced from the Middle East. It is the only explosive used until 1628.
1400'sPrinting is introduced from the Far East.
1444Portugal begins the african slave trade, soon followed by Spain, and then other european countries.
1492The Americas are discovered by europeans
1588-1613Shakespeare writes all his plays in this period
1600'sAnd 1700's. Renaissance, Reformation, and european colonial expansion in full swing.
1625-71John Milton's literary career
1702The native Arawak population of Trinidad in decline; black slaves begin to be brought in.
1755Britain expels 4000 French settlers from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (Acadia). Many of these move to the American south, some to the Caribbean
1756-63The Seven Years War ends with Britain wresting control of India and America from the French
1769Felice Giardini writes the tune Italian Hymn in London
1776-83The American Revolutionary War
1784William Wilberforce embraces Evangelicalism, a neo-Reformation and Presbyterian movement.
1787Wilberforce formally founds the anti-slavery movement in England.
1789-97The French Revolution - for "liberty, equality, fraternity"
1792Denmark outlaws slave trading, though not slavery itself.
1797 British warships defeat Spanish defenders at Chaguaramus, to fold Trinidad (pop. 18,000) into the British empire.
1798Wordsworth and Coleridge publish Lyrical Ballads
1800There are 893,600 slaves in the 13 states of the U.S.. The purchase from France of vast territory west of the Mississippi a year later doubles the size of the U.S. and begins their westward expansion.
1807Britain outlaws slave trading, though not slavery as such.
1808The United States bans slave trading, though not slavery.
1812Jane Austen's Pride and Prejuduce published
1820John Keats' Poems, Shelley's Prometheus Unbound published
1832Tennyson publishes early Poems, including Lady of Shalott
1833William Wilberforce (b. 1759) dies, but the British Parliament passes his hard-fought legislation to free slaves in the British Empire.
1837Queen Victoria, age 18, ascends the throne of Great Britain
1838Emancipation legislation formally proclaimed in Trinidad
1839Kenneth J. Grant, one of 11 siblings, is born in Scotch Hill, Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Fellow-pioneer John Morton is also born in Pictou County in this same year.
1845Indian indentured labour begins in Trinidad. There were similar experiments in British Guiana and other Caribbean islands.
1846First Canadian Presbyterian overseas mission, to New Hebrides.
1848France outlaws slave trade
1850Wordsworth dies. Tennyson named Poet Laureate
1857-59The Indian Mutiny: brutal fighting between British and rebel troops in India, eventually quelled. The Sikhs, a significant fighting force, were among those Indian troops who remained loyal to the British.
1858The East India Company cedes its Indian administration and 24,000 troops to the British crown
1860There are 4 million slaves in the U.S.. Only about 35, 000 of these are in the "north", where the total population is 13 million. The total number of inhabitants in the "south" is 9 million.
1861Abraham Lincoln becomes president of the United States
1861Charles Dickens' Great Expectations published
1861-65Ravaging civil war between North and South in the US. 620,000 combatants slain. Slavery abolished.
1863The Dutch ban the slave trade
1864In November, John Morton's formative first visit to Trinidad, aboard the brigantine MicMac out of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia
1865Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland published.Through the Looking Glass follows in 1872
1867Canada established as a country
1867The author's great-grandfather, child witness to Indian Mutiny fighting, arrives in Trinidad from India
1868In December, Rev John Morton arrives in Trinidad
1870In November, Rev Kenneth Grant arrives in San Fernando, Trinidad
1872July 7. Susamachar Church (Hindi for "Church of Good Tidings") founded by Rev. Grant
1876Queen Victoria titled Empress of India
1884Mark Twain (1835-1910) publishes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Tom Sawyer had appeared in 1876.
1886The author's grandfather is born near Calcutta Settlement, Trinidad.
1888Brazil bans slave trade, one of the last countries in the world to do so.
1889Rev. Grant proposes Naparima College concept
1890Presbyterian Training College, later St Andrews Theological College founded by Rev. Grant in San Fernando
1892Tennyson (born 1809) dies.
1892Rev. Walls' birth-date
1892Naparima Teachers' Training College founded
1894Rev Grant's "Naparima classes" begin.
1900Naparima College formally established
1901Queen Victoria dies
1911The author's father is born in Couva, Trinidad; to graduate from Naparima in 1928
1911August 4, Rev. Morton dies
1912Naparima Girls' High School founded
1914-18 First World War
1932Rev Grant dies, at his home town in Nova Scotia
1939-45 Second World War
1944The author's birth-date
1945First atomic weapons used. The era of atomic weapons and advanced technology begins
1947The British Raj departs India
1953Queen Elizabeth ascends the throne of Great Britain
1955The author enters Naparima, to graduate in 1962
1959Iere and Siparia schools founded
1962Trinidad & Tobago become an independent country
1969July 20, men from earth walk upon the moon
1975Rev. Walls awarded Chaconia Medal of Trinidad, for educational work
1975Canadian Mission to Trinidad formally ends


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