Road to freedom : What a century.
Colonialism, war, independence, dictatorships, democracy - Asia has
experienced them all. The following is a selective list of colonial
episodes, liberations and watershed events of the past 100 years.
(Asiaweek, 12/6/98)
1890s
1892 The Katipunan, a secret pro-independence organization, is founded
by Philippine revolutionary leader Andres Bonifacio.
1893-1907 In a series of treaties, Siam hands over all its territories
east of the Mekong River to France.
1894-95 The Sino-Japanese War. Japan's victory results in the
acquisition of Taiwan.
1896 Start of the Philippine Revolution. The execution of nationalist
leader José Rizal gives further impetus to the rebellion.
1898 The New Territories to the north of Hong Kong are leased
to Britain for 99 years.
1898 Philippine leaders sign the Proclamation of Independence,
June 12. The Philippine Republic is inaugurated in January 1899.
1900s
1900 China's anti-foreign Boxer Rebellion is put down by Western
troops.
1904-5 The Russo-Japanese War. Japan's victory marks its rise
as a major world power.
1905 Korea becomes a Japanese protectorate.
1909 Siam's Malay vassal states - Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan and
Trengganu - are ceded to the British.
1910s
1910 Japan formally annexes Korea.
1912 Pu Yi, China's last emperor, abdicates.
1913 Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, above, receives the Nobel
Prize for Literature.
1919 Korea's March 1 Movement calls for independence but is
crushed by the Japanese.
1919 British troops fire on an unarmed crowd at Jallianwallah
Bagh in Amritsar. The atrocity galvanizes India's independence movement.
1919 Amid much intellectual and social ferment, Chinese students
launch the May 4 Movement to protest against the unfair terms of the Treaty
of Versailles.
1920s
1924 The Mongolian People's Republic is officially proclaimed.
1926 Vietnam's Cao Dai religious sect (church, below right),
an eclectic amalgamation of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Catholicism,
is founded.
1930s
1930 Mahatma Gandhi leads the Salt March to protest against the
British authorities' tax on salt.
1931 Japan occupies Manchuria and establishes the puppet state
of Manchukuo.
1932 A bloodless coup results in the abolition of absolute monarchy
in Siam.
1937 Japan invades China after skirmishes flare along the Marco
Polo Bridge near Beijing.
1939 Siam is renamed Thailand.
1940s
1940-45 Much of Southeast Asia falls to Japanese troops, including
Hong Kong (1941), Malaya, Indonesia and Singapore (1942).
1941 Vietnam's left-leaning pro-independence group, the Viet
Minh, is founded.
1942 The Quit India movement calls on Britain to leave and begins
a campaign of violence (e.g., blowing up bridges, burning buildings).
1945 The U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Japan's subsequent surrender marks the end of World War II.
1945 Korea is liberated from Japanese colonial rule, Aug. 15.
The country is divided into two to facilitate the surrender of Japanese
soldiers.
1945 Indonesian nationalist leaders Sukarno and Hatta proclaim
Independence, Aug. 17. The Dutch initially try to hang on to their colonial
possession but finally leave Indonesia in 1949.
1945 Vietnamese emperor Bao Dai abdicates. Revolutionary leader
Ho Chi Minh declares Independence in Hanoi, Sept. 2.
1946 The Philippines gains Independence from the U.S., July
4.
1947 The partition of India into separate Hindu and Muslim states
is announced in June. Pakistan becomes Independent on Aug. 14, followed
by India the next day.
1947 Burmese nationalist leader Aung San is assassinated by
political rivals.
1948 Burma is declared Independent, Jan. 4.
1948 Mahatma Gandhi is shot dead by a Hindu extremist, Jan.
30.
1948 Ceylon gains Independence from Britain, Feb. 4.
1948 The Federation of Malaya comes into being. A communist
insurgency leads to a 12-year state of emergency.
1948 The U.S.-backed Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the
Soviet-backed Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) are officially
established.
1949 China's civil war ends in the Communists' victory. The
Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek flee to Taiwan to form a rival government.
1950s
1950-53 The Korean War. The conflict devastates the peninsula
and ends in a stalemate.
1952 America's post-war occupation of Japan comes to an end.
1953 Cambodia and Laos gain Independence from France.
1954 French forces are defeated by the Viet Minh at Dien Bien
Phu, signifying the end of France's involvement in Vietnam.
1955 The Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) is proclaimed an
independent nation with U.S. support.
1957 Malaya is formally declared Independent, Aug. 31.
1959 In Tibet, an uprising against Chinese rule is suppressed;
the Dalai Lama flees to India.
1960s
1962 Gen. Ne Win seizes power in Burma and institutes a xenophobic
brand of socialism.
1963 Malaya joins with Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore to form
the Federation of Malaysia. Indonesia seeks to break the union through
its belligerent konfrontasi policy.
1964 Tokyo hosts Asia's first Olympics.
1964 China detonates its first atomic bomb.
1965 Singapore leaves the Malaysian federation and becomes an
independent state, Aug. 9.
1965 Suharto grabs power in Indonesia following an abortive
coup, allegedly hatched by Communists. The nation descends into anarchy
as mobs massacre suspected leftists.
1967 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded
in Bangkok.
1970s
1971 Backed by India, East Pakistan secedes to become Bangladesh.
The subsequent Third Indo-Pakistan War results in India's victory.
1972 Ceylon is renamed Sri Lanka.
1975 The Khmer Rouge capture Phnom Penh and embark on a genocidal
social experiment to create an agrarian utopia.
1975 Saigon falls to the North Vietnamese. Vietnam is unified
under the Communists.
1975 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's independence hero and
first president, is assassinated by army officers.
1975 The communist Pathet Lao come to power in Laos. The Lao
People's Democratic Republic is officially established.
1976 Chinese leader Mao Zedong dies and the radical Gang of
Four falls from grace. Deng Xiaoping is eventually rehabilitated and sets
China on the road to free-market reform.
1979 The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan.
1980s
1980 Pro-democracy demonstrations escalate into violence in Kwangju,
South Korea, culminating in a brutal crackdown.
1983 Philippine opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino is
murdered in Manila.
1984 Indian government troops storm the Golden Temple in Amritsar,
Sikhism's holiest shrine. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is subsequently
assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.
1984 Beijing and London sign the Joint Declaration, under which
Hong Kong is to be returned to China in 1997.
1986 "People Power" in the Philippines topples the Marcos regime
and restores democracy.
1986 Vietnam launches its landmark doi moi (renovation) economic-reform
program.
1987 Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang lifts martial law after 38 years.
1987 Military rule ends in South Korea after nationwide demonstrations
force strongman Chun Doo Hwan to hold presidential elections.
1988 Pakistan's military dictator Zia ul-Haq is killed in an
air crash. Elections follow.
1988 The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) takes
charge in Burma. The name of the country is changed to the Union of Myanmar
in 1989.
1989 Beijing's Tiananmen Square becomes the venue for large-scale
student demonstrations, symbolized by the Goddess of Democracy, below.Troops
crush the movement, June 4.
1989 After a decade of battling mujahideen rebels, the Soviet
Union completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
1990s
1990 In the face of widespread demonstrations, Mongolia's communist
rulers abandon their monopoly on power and hold elections.
1990 In Nepal, massive pro-democracy rallies lead to the lifting
of the ban on political parties.
1990 National elections in Myanmar are won by oppositionist
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, but SLORC refuses to
honor the results. Suu Kyi is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the following
year.
1990 Nationwide protests and general strikes in Bangladesh force
military strongman Hussain Muhammad Ershad to step down.
1992 A bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Bangkok
results in the ousting of unelected prime minister Gen. Suchinda Kraprayoon.
1996 Lee Teng-hui becomes Taiwan's first directly elected president.
1997 British colonial rule ends in Hong Kong, which becomes
a Special Administrative Region of China.
1999 Macau is scheduled to return to China. |
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