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1761 CE

This year falls in the Early modern period (c. 1500–1800). European ships link the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia into one trading world, and the conquest of the Americas and the Atlantic slave trade follow. Large land empires, among them the Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal and Qing, rule much of Asia, while printing and the Scientific Revolution change how knowledge spreads in Europe.

Within fifteen years

Philosopher · Age of revolutions and empire · GermanyJohann Gottlieb Fichte1762–1814German thinker who turned Kant's philosophy into German idealism, making the absolute ego the source of all reality. His Addresses to the German Nation preached national resistance to Napoleon. He lived 1762 to 1814.

Country · NepalNepal1768–Nepal is a Himalayan country between India and China, home to Mount Everest. Prithvi Narayan Shah unified the petty kingdoms in 1768. It was a monarchy until 2008, when it became a federal republic.

Ruler · Age of revolutions · FranceNapoleon Bonaparte1769–1821First Consul after 18 Brumaire (1799), Emperor of the French from 1804, defeated at Waterloo in 1815. Preserved property and administrative reforms while centralizing power.

Philosopher · Age of revolutions and empire · GermanyGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel1770–1831German thinker whose system made history the unfolding of reason itself. The Phenomenology of Spirit of 1807 follows consciousness to absolute knowing. He lived 1770 to 1831 and died of cholera at the height of his Berlin fame.

Philosopher · Early modern period · EnglandJeremy Bentham1748–1832English reformer who founded utilitarianism on the greatest happiness principle: the right act is the one that makes the most happiness. He campaigned for legal reform, animal welfare, and the secret ballot. He lived 1748 to 1832.

Philosopher · Age of revolutions and empire · GermanyFriedrich Schelling1775–1854German thinker of nature and art who stood between Fichte and Hegel in German idealism. His philosophy of nature treated the natural world as visible spirit. He lived 1775 to 1854, outliving his fame.

Country · United StatesUnited States1776–The United States is a federal republic of fifty states, the world's largest economy and most powerful country. It declared independence from Britain in 1776. Its constitution, written in 1787, is the oldest still in use.