1821
Santo Domingo wins independence from Spain.
1822
The newly-formed Independent State of Spanish Haiti is annexed by the Republic of Haiti.
1823
Foreign Secretary, George Canning, introduces a series of provisions calling for the 'amelioration' of the condition of enslaved people.
1823
An uprising of more than 10,000 enslaved people takes place in Demerara-Essequibo, led by a man named Jack Gladstone and his father, Quamina.
1824
An Order in Council introduces provisions for improving the condition of enslaved people in Trinidad.
1824
Two free Black men, Louis Celeste Lecesne and John Escoffery, are deported from Jamaica, possibly due to their links with the abolitionist movement. Making it to England, their case is taken up by abolitionist Stephen Lushington.
1825
Anguilla is placed under the administrative control of St Christopher (St Kitts).
1825
France formally recognises Haitian independence.
1826 - 1837
The second worldwide cholera pandemic breaks out.
1830 - 1850
Anguilla suffers through droughts and famines; Britain attempts to move the entire population to Demerara in British Guiana, though most choose to remain.
1830
A group of enslaved people in Exuma island, led by a man named Pompey, steal a boat from their enslaver and attempt to sail to Nassau with the aim of petitioning the governor to prevent their transfer to Cat Island.
1831
Around 60,000 enslaved people in Jamaica, led by a man named Samuel Sharpe, rebel shortly after Christmas. The largest slave rebellion in the British Caribbean, fighting lasted several months as rebels used guerilla tactics in Jamaica's mountainous interior.
1831
The legislative assembly of Dominica passes the Brown Privilege Bill, conferring political and social rights on free non-whites.
1831
Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo are unified as British Guiana.
1832
Coffee takes over as the major export from Dominica.
1833
The Windward Islands Colony are established, which is the administrative grouping of Grenada, St Vincent, the Grenadines, Barbados, and Tobago, with the Governor of Barbados as governor-in-chief.
1833
Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts), Nevis, Anguilla, the Virgin Islands and Dominica are grouped together under one administrative group known as the Leeward Island Colony, with the Governor of Antigua as governor-in-chief.
1833
Parliament passes a bill to abolish slavery in the British Empire.
1834
The Emancipation Act comes into force, officially ending slavery in most of the British Empire. However, formerly enslaved people in the Caribbean are forced to continue working for their former enslavers under the system of 'apprenticeship'.
1834
Approximately 13,000 apprentices on St Kitts hold a strike against the new system of apprenticeship, under which they could be forced to work up to 45.5 hours per week with little or no pay.
1835
Spain signs the Equipment Clause. Under this clause, Britain declared any ship which carried items from a specified list of equipment would be considered a slaving ship even when no enslaved persons were aboard.
1837
James Williams, an eighteen-year-old apprentice from Jamaica, produces an autobiographical work, A Narrative of Events, since the First of August, 1834, in which he describes the harsh working conditions on plantations and the cruel punishments that he and other apprentices were subjected to.
1837
The Aborigines' Protection Society is founded. This organisation campaigned for equal rights for Indigenous people who were subjects under colonial rule, though this did not include protection of Indigenous cultures.
1837
A mutiny breaks out in Saint Joseph, Trinidad, at the barracks of the First West India Regiment, a unit formed from soldiers of African descent. Led by a man named Dâaga, a group of mutineers clashed with the local militia at the town of Arima. Dâaga was executed by firing squad, but his name remains a symbol of Black resistance in Trinidad
1837
The Slave Compensation Act 1837 is signed into British Law. It authorised the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt to compensate slaveholders throughout the British colonies for the loss of their 'property'. Over £20 million was paid to slaveholders as 'compensation'.
1838
St Lucia is incorporated into the British Windward Islands administration.
1838
The apprenticeship system is brought to an end, granting full freedom to all 'praedial' apprentices two years earlier than scheduled. The system, criticised by former slaveholders, antislavery activists and apprentices themselves, was largely considered a failure.
1839
British anti-slavery activists such as Joseph Sturge turn their attention to the wider world, forming the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.
1839
Portugal signs the Equipment Clause.
1840
The American slaving ship Hermosa is shipwrecked in the Abaco Islands in the northern Bahamas. Due to the Bahamas being under British rule and had abolished slavery across the empire, the enslaved people aboard are freed on arrival.
1840 - 1850
Venezuela disputes Britain's newly established boundary line in British Guiana, known as the Schomburgk Line, which extends west past the Essequibo River and includes the mouth of the Orinoco River. The confusion over where British territory ends originates from the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, which gave Demerara, Berbice and Essequibo to Britain but did not establish a western border. In 1850, both parties reach an agreement and it is decided that the disputed area will remain uncolonised.
1841
Britain, France, Russia, Prussia and Austria sign the 'Quintuple Treaty', an agreement to suppress the transatlantic slave trade.
1841
Enslaved people on board board the American slaving ship Creole mutiny, overwhelming the crew. Perhaps inspired by the Hermosa they land in the Bahamas, winning their freedom in the most successful uprising of enslaved people in US history.
1841
The West Indian Mail Service is established by the sailing of the first Royal Mail Steam Packet, PS Thames from Falmouth.
1843 - 1864
In the years 1843, 1853, 1856, and 1864, Bermuda is hit with Yellow Fever epidemics, believed to be brought to the islands via Mosquitoes and visiting ships.
1844
Juan Pablo Duarte leads the Dominican uprising against Haitian rule, resulting in the foundation of the Dominican Republic.
1845
Western Jamaica Connecting Railway is built, running from Kingston to Spanish Town. The railway was proposed by landholder and plantation owners William and David Smith.
1846
The Sugar Duties Act is passed. This act equalised import duties on sugar into Britain, leading to increased foreign competition for sugar plantations in British colonies.
1846 - 1860
Originating in India, the third cholera pandemic spreads throughout the world, including the West Indies. This outbreak is the deadliest.
1847 - 1915
The Caste War of Yucatán breaks out, a long war which begins with the revolt of the Maya people in the Yucatán Peninsula against the Hispanic populations, who are in control of the region. Its close proximity to British Honduras means the colony is affected. Initially, the United Kingdom recognise the rebelling Maya people's Chan Santa Cruz Maya as an independent nation, due to trading relations between the Maya and British Honduras. Between 1847-1855, refugees flee to the British Honduras.
1848
Due to insufficient means of communication with the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos breaks away from the colony and requests to be under the control of Jamaica instead. The British government grants this in 1848, and Turks and Caicos are governed by superintendents or council presidents appointed by the governor of Jamaica.
1848
On the instigation of abolitionist Victor Schoelcher, France abolishes slavery for the second time, having previously outlawed the practice between 1794 and 1802.
1849
Britain repeals the Navigation Laws as it moves towards a market of Free Trade throughout its colonies.