The First Opium War was fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China over trade, above all the British sale of opium grown in India. When the Chinese commissioner Lin Zexu took action against the trade in Canton in March 1839, demanding that foreign merchants hand over their opium, which was then destroyed, Britain responded by sending a naval force. British steamships and modern guns defeated Chinese forces along the coast and up the Yangtze. The war ended with the Treaty of Nanking in August 1842, in which China ceded Hong Kong Island, opened five ports to foreign trade and paid an indemnity. Chinese historians count it as the start of a century of humiliation by foreign powers, and a second Opium War followed in the 1850s.
Before and after
- 19 January 1839Birth of Paul Cézanne
- from March 1839 to October 1842First Anglo-Afghan War
- 9 March 1839Birth of Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
- 16 March 1839Birth of Sully Prudhomme
- from 18 March 1839 to 29 August 1842First Opium War
- 19 April 1839Treaty of London
- 8 July 1839Birth of John D. Rockefeller
- 7 August 1839Founding of Pulkovo Observatory
- 19 August 1839The daguerreotype is announced
More in Wars, politics & history
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- from 24 June 1812 to 14 December 1812French invasion of Russia
- from 24 April 1846 to 2 February 1848Mexican-American War
- from 18 August 1866 to 10 May 1871Unification of Germany
- from 1 August 1894 to 17 April 1895First Sino-Japanese War
- from 8 October 1912 to 30 May 1913First Balkan War
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.