First Opium War
British-Qing war over trade and sovereignty that opened treaty ports and ceded Hong Kong to Britain.
Historical overview
Overview adapted from a Wikipedia summary and stored locally on May 11, 2026.
The First Opium War, also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of their ban on the opium trade by seizing private opium stocks from mainly British merchants at Guangzhou and threatening to impose the death penalty for future offenders. Despite the opium ban, the British government supported the merchants' demand for compensation for seized goods, and insisted on the principles of free trade and equal diplomatic recognition with China.
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Border context
Vienna settlement and independence waves
The post-Napoleonic European settlement coexists with new states in Latin America and the eastern Mediterranean.
Latin American republics emerge from Spanish imperial collapse. Greek independence changes the Ottoman frontier.