/year

Commonwealth of Nations

political association of mostly former British Empire territories

18 dated entries naming Commonwealth of Nations, drawn from 13 separate years between 1921 CE and 2018 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as British Commonwealth in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

JSONWikipedia articleWikidata Q7785

20th century

  • 1921March 17 – Marie Stopes opens the first birth control clinic in the British Empire in London, UK.source
  • 1926November 15 – The Balfour Declaration is approved by the 1926 Imperial Conference, making the Commonwealth dominions equal and independent.source
  • 194714 August: The Dominion of Pakistan is declared an independent member state of the British Commonwealth.source
  • 1948February 4 – Ceylon (later known as Sri Lanka) becomes an independent country, within the British Commonwealth adopting King George VI as the King of Ceylon.source
  • 194917 April – At midnight 26 counties officially leave the British Commonwealth under terms of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushers in the Republic of Ireland.source
  • 1949April 20 – Royal Navy frigate HMS Amethyst goes up the Yangtze River, to evacuate British Commonwealth refugees escaping the advance of Mao's Communist forces. Under heavy fire, she grounds off Rose Island. After an abortive rescue attempt on April 26, she anchors 10 mi upstream. Negotiations with the Communists to let the ship leave drag on for weeks, during which time the ship's cat Simon raises the crew's morale.source
  • 1949April 28 – The 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference issues the London Declaration, enabling India (and, thereafter, any other nation) to remain in the Commonwealth despite becoming a republic, creating the position of 'Head of the Commonwealth' (held by the ruling British monarch), and renaming the organization, from the 'British Commonwealth' to the 'Commonwealth of Nations'.source
  • 1949June 29 – Apartheid: The South African Citizenship Act suspends the granting of citizenship to Commonwealth of Nations immigrants after 5 years, and imposes a ban on mixed marriages.source
  • 195122 September – Singapore is proclaimed a City of the British Commonwealth by a royal charter issued by King George VI.source
  • 1962April 18 – The Commonwealth Immigrants Act in the United Kingdom removes free immigration from the citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, requiring proof of employment in the U.K. This comes into effect on 1 July.source
  • 1962December 9 – Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania) becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Julius Nyerere as president.source
  • 1965October 4 – Prime minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia and Arthur Bottomley of the Commonwealth of Nations begin negotiations in London.source
  • 1968March 1 – Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 further reduces right of entry for citizens from the British Commonwealth to the United Kingdom.source
  • 1968South Africa withdraw from the British Commonwealth of Nations cutting full ties with Britain.source
  • 1973July 10 – The Bahamas gains full independence within the Commonwealth of Nations.source
  • 1989October 21 – The Commonwealth Heads of Government issue the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment, making environmental sustainability one of the Commonwealth of Nations's main priorities.source

21st century

  • 2016October 13 – The Maldives announces its decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Nations.source
  • 20188 February - The Gambia rejoins the Commonwealth of Nations, after former President Yahya Jammeh withdrew from it five years ago calling it a "neocolonial institution", to rebuild the Gambia's image.source

Named in the same entries