1860

The year 1860 was marked by political upheaval and territorial changes across several continents. In the United States, a presidential election and growing sectional tensions foreshadowed a national crisis. In Europe, movements toward national unification continued to reshape the continent. In Asia, a recent conflict with Western powers concluded and began reshaping foreign relations with China.

In the United States, the presidential election held on November 6 resulted in the victory of Republican Abraham Lincoln, whose platform opposed the expansion of slavery into new territories. Lincoln’s election intensified the sectional conflict between free and enslaved states. On December 20, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union, with several other southern states following in the next months, setting the stage for the American Civil War. The 1860 census recorded approximately 31.4 million people in the United States, including about four million enslaved individuals in the South.

In Europe, the process of Italian unification advanced significantly. Giuseppe Garibaldi’s Expedition of the Thousand began in May 1860 in Sicily, quickly defeating Bourbon forces on the island and then crossing to the mainland. By the end of 1860, large portions of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies had been brought under the rule of the Kingdom of Sardinia, moving the Risorgimento toward its culmination and paving the way for the formal proclamation of a unified Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

In East Asia, the Second Opium War concluded in 1860 with the Convention of Beijing, which affirmed terms expanding foreign access to Chinese ports and territories, including the cession of the Kowloon Peninsula to Britain. The agreements underscored ongoing Western influence in the region and reshaped China’s external relations.