O primeiro dia de janeiro também pode ser lembrado em virtude de fato ocorrido nesta data em 1877: a aclamação da Rainha Victoria como Imperatriz da Índia! Era o apogeu da expansão britânica pelo mundo, quando sob a coroa da Rainha Victoria estavam 1/4 da população mundial sobre cerca de um 1/4 do território do planeta! A Pax Britanica fora estabelecida e Victoria era a soberana do Império onde o Sol nunca se põe!

Acho tremendamente interessante a expansão colonial européia no século XIX, particularmente a promovida pelos britânicos. Sem dúvida, a aclamação de Victoria soberana da Índia é um marco importante do período! Mais uma boa lembrança de 1 de janeiro!

Segue um texto interessante sobre a visita à Índia do Príncipe de Gales, futuro Eduardo VII, naquela ocasião.

Indian History Sourcebook: 
Field Marshal Lord Roberts: 
When Queen Victoria Became Empress of India, 1877

 [Tappan Introduction] THE PRINCE OF WALES, afterwards King Edward VII, paid a visit to India as a mark of honor to the native princes who had aided the English in their efforts to govern the land. This visit was followed by Queen Victoria’s assumption of the title of Empress of India.

IN the autumn of 1876 preparations were commenced for the “Imperial Assemblage,” which it was announced by the Viceroy would be held at Delhi on the first day of January, 1877, for the purpose of proclaiming to the Queen’s subjects throughout India the assumption by Her Majesty of the title of “Empress of India.” To this assemblage Lord Lytton further announced that he proposed “to invite the governors, lieutenant-governors, and heads of administration from all parts of the Queen’s Indian dominions, as well as the princes, chiefs, and nobles in whose persons the antiquity of the past is associated with the prosperity of the present, and who so worthily contribute to the splendor and stability of this great empire.” Continuar lendo →