Hong Kong, then a thinly populated area of fishing villages and farmland on the south coast of China, was occupied by British naval forces during the First Opium War, when they raised the flag at Possession Point on Hong Kong Island. The Qing government formally ceded the island to Britain in the Treaty of Nanking of 1842, and the Kowloon Peninsula was added in 1860. In 1898 Britain obtained a long lease on the New Territories, which gave the colony most of its land area. Its sheltered harbour made it a major trading port, and it developed into a global financial centre in the twentieth century. Sovereignty returned to China in 1997 under an arrangement that gave the territory a high degree of autonomy.
Before and after
- 12 November 1840Birth of Auguste Rodin
- 14 November 1840Birth of Claude Monet
- 1841Discovery of praseodymium
- 1841Publication of Swiss Psalm
- 26 January 1841Founding of Hong Kong
- from 30 January 1841 to 1 July 1962Belgian Empire
- 25 February 1841Birth of Pierre-Auguste Renoir
- 4 April 1841Death of William Henry Harrison
- 3 May 1841Founding of New Zealand
More in Civilizations & archaeology
- from 2 September 1793 to 28 July 1794Reign of Terror
- from 11 August 1804 to 8 June 1867Austrian Empire
- from 1858 to 1947British Raj
- October 1871Schliemann begins digging at Hisarlik
- 1879Altamira cave paintings are discovered
- 1899Oracle bones reveal early Chinese writing
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.