HIST-281 Lecture Notes - Lecture 28: Lin Zexu, Unequal Treaty, Cohong
14 Oct 2020
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Document Summary
In 1839, a new chinese commissioner, lin zexu, took a hardline approach to the foreign smugglers. He blockaded the pearl river and searched everywhere for opium, but the british under arrest, went on british ships and destroyed their chests of opium publicly. He wrote a letter to queen victoria, protesting the trade. The letter never arrived, but even if she did read it, she wouldn"t have been able to do much about it. Britain was increasingly dominated by its parliament at the time: this leads to the first opium war of 1839-42. The steel steam ship, nemesis, could win and move in all tides. Sepoys and the indian army also play a major role in this war. Chinese imperial government was stunned by their defeat. Britain seized and annexed the island of hong kong and used their firepower to show the. Chinese government the futility of resistant: treaty of nanking, 1842.
