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1785 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

Ruler · Age of revolutions and empire · South AfricaShakac. 1787–1828Founder of the Zulu Kingdom, ruling from 1816 to 1828, born about 1787, who revolutionized warfare in southern Africa. He replaced the throwing spear with the short stabbing assegai and drilled his regiments in the buffalo horns formation. His conquests set off the Mfecane, the scattering of peoples across the region.

Ruler · Age of revolutions and empire · VenezuelaSimon Bolivar1783–1830Venezuelan general and statesman, 1783 to 1830, called the Liberator, who freed much of South America from Spain. His campaigns liberated Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, the last named for him. He dreamed of a united Spanish America but died disillusioned, his federations broken apart.

Philosopher · Age of revolutions and empire · GermanyArthur Schopenhauer1788–1860German pessimist whose World as Will and Representation of 1818 taught that a blind striving will drives all things and that release comes through art and denial. Ignored for decades, he became famous late. He lived 1788 to 1860.

Event · Age of revolutions · FranceFrench Revolution1789–1799From the Estates-General of 1789 through constitutional monarchy, republic, and the Terror under the Committee of Public Safety, to the Directory. Death sentences and civil war tolls are estimates with ranges.

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.

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.

Philosopher · Age of revolutions and empire · FranceAuguste Comte1798–1857French thinker who founded positivism and coined the word sociology. His law of three stages said thought moves from theology through metaphysics to positive science. He lived 1798 to 1857 and ended by founding a Religion of Humanity.

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.