Sunday, August 10, 2014

Opium War (1839)

There have been two Opium wars. The first took place in China 1839. Britain was trading with China when the first war happened. China was sending tea and porcelain to Britain and instead of wanting goods in return, China wanted money. At this time money was silver coins. Soon silver coins started becoming harder to get your hands on due to the vast amounts Britain was paying China. Britain then decided to payback China with Opium, it was cheap and easy to export. Soon as Opium became more popular in China, more and more people were beginning to become addicted to this drug. Due to the negative impact Opium had on China, the Chinese emperor decided to put an end to the Opium trade. He did this by taking away the Opium that made it's way to China and by banning Import. The British were furious and decided to go to war with China. This is important because it Britain would probably not be known for tea if it wasn't for China. Also this was start of the "Century of Humiliation" for China. This connects to the others because China was able to free themselves from the addictive Opium.


No comments:

Post a Comment