So, what are the significant historical events which have shaped Rizal?

At this time, 19th century (1801-1900), the ideals of freedom and nationalism have spread across Europe
and the Americas.

1. American Revolution which freed America from the British rule/colony and established it as a
republic. The British colonization of the Americas (including colonization by both the English and
the Scots) began in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia. (182 years)

Right after the American Independence, the French Revolution broke out.

1. The French Revolution which toppled down the monarchial rule/the rule of kings, crushed the
feudal system and the birth of European democracy.

By the time of Rizal’s year of birth 1861, the Ideology of French Revolution: liberty, fraternity, and
equality continued to influence people’s and nations.

1. The Russian Tsar Alexander II proclaimed the freedom of millions of Russian serfs/slaves in 1861
(Rizal’s Year of Birth).

2. In 1861, the American civil war started and ended in 1865 even if President Lincoln proclaimed
the freedom of Negro slaves in 1862.

Industrialization is a transition from farm to factory and is an offshoot of Industrial Revolution which
began sometime in the 18th century which led to the shift from manual work to machine work,
domestic production to factory production, industrialization gained its momentum. Then the invention
of internal combustion engines heralded the coming of railways and steamships.

1. The birth of the factory system which employed thousands of workers led to the emergence of
a new economic system, capitalism, a new economic system which uses financial capital to run
factories for production, which created new classes, the capitalists, the owners of the means of
production and the laborers, those who sell their labor also as capital for production.