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The colonist were forced to buy british goods,and that’s how and why the colonist started smuggling goods. 1764 of the sugar act britian started lowering the prices of molasses and sugar from being six-pence to three pence.
In the 1500’s the world was run on an Independent world, which meant that all countries were depending on their selves. Throughout the early to late 1500’s countries were trading with each other for goods either with money or other goods that other countries were unable to produce themselves. There were trade circles all over the world that trade runners would travel to unload their cargo and stock up products they receive from trade. These countries were trading materials such as gold, sugar, tobacco, and metals, and other raw materials that were valuable. By the 1700 the world was turning more interdependent.
Struggling to maintain social order and strength, the Qing Dynasty placed restrictions on opium trade; however, this backfired, provoking retaliation from British traders and leading to a war that would create the Unequal Treaties. The detrimental socio economic effects opium had on China were beginning to surface during the late 1830’s, causing an influx of smokers and a decline in bullion. Although China’s economy suffered, this was the most viable foreign trade option for the British. There was low demand for the cotton the British offered to China, but the increased profits from opium would do more than compensate. Thus, British merchants took various measures to circumvent China’s policies to stop the illicit trade and managed to find
Britain’s forced introduction of opium in 1825 in China had devastating effects on its population and economy. The people of China express their just displeasure with the British people and its monarchy in documents 1, 2, and 9. In Document 1, a Chinese emperor is addressing the King George of England in 1793 in a letter.
Between 600 CE to 1750 CE, the process by which trade was conducted on the Indian Ocean changed dramatically. With the new maritime knowledge in the Indian Ocean, larger ships were able to connect Africa to the rest of the Indian Ocean network, leading to merchant Diaspora which continued throughout the era. From 1000 CE to 1400 CE, African city-states began to grow and led to an intensified trading network throughout the Indian Ocean. With this increase in cross-cultural interaction, new technology, ideas and diseases were exchanged.
Queen Elizabeth also advanced England’s economy, mostly by engaging in a wider world market. Under her rule, two of the most famous British trading monopolies developed: The Levant Company and the British East India Company. The Levant Company traded in the Ottoman Empire, and rivaled and surpassed the Dutch tea trade companies, boosting the English economy. The goal of the British East India Company was to control spice trade with the East Indies and eliminate any competition with the Spanish and Portuguese companies. British merchants sailed to the Far East and the Ottoman Empire to gather spices for tea and seasoning and quickly made successful trade businesses that contributed to the growing English economy.
In Africa, punishment was purposely done by mutilating the hands of slaves who were unable to extracted the desired amount of raw material (rubber) as seen in document 6 where Edmund Morel states, “... Congo State troops were in the habit of cutting off the hands of men, women, and children in connection with the rubber traffic…” Despite being European, Edmund Morel was clearly against imperialism in Africa which shows the extent of the atrocities committed there to the Africans. Asia, specifically the Chinese, on the other hand suffered unintentionally as a result of opium exported to China by Britain which was damaging the society by making many addicted leading to Lin Zexu taking action as seen in document 5 where he essentially begs Queen Vitoria to stop opium exports and questions her about European morals on trading harmful substances just to make a profit. Lin Zexu was a powerful scholar official who played a major role in the outbreak of the Opium Wars which China lost leading to the Treaty of Nanking.
Unfortunately, this thinking prevented the Chinese from learning from western technology and science. As a result the West was able to easily defeat the Qing in key battles such as the Opium War in 1839 to 1841. In contrast to the Ottomans, the Qing was unable to compromise with the West and Europe forced its way into China. However, both societies were influenced by Western methods, despite attempts to restore traditional ideology and campaigns by both Chinese
In this in-depth article, Joshua Fogel discusses the details and importance of opium in China. Published in 2006, “Opium and China Revisited: How Sophisticated Was Qing Thinking in Matters of Drug Control?” takes us back to the nineteenth century and China's relationship with the outside world during the Mao years. Fogel begins by highlighting the significance of the Chinese government and nationalism in China during the 19th and 20th centuries. This then leads to talk of the opium in China and other area of Eurasia including Britain and Japan. Finally, Fogel succeeds in analyzing the studies done by other scholars, but fails to bring any new evidence or arguments in his work.
The Opium Wars marked a crucial turning point in Chinese history and led to a deep sense of indignation and bitterness, as well as a search for a new sense of identity among the Chinese people. One of the key causes of the Opium War was the trade imbalance between China and Great Britain. The British merchants began importing large quantities of opium into China, leading to widespread addiction and social devastation among the Chinese population. The War itself was sparked by the Chinese government's attempts to curb the importation and use of opium. The war resulted in a decisive British victory, with China forced to sign the Treaty of Tianjin/NanKing, which opened up several Chinese ports to British trade and allowed British missionaries
The Chinese had already known about the existence of opium, but did not start smoking it until the habit of snaking tobacco in the Americas spread to China creating addictions that fueled the opium trade and infiltrated imperial troops (www.britannica.com). The current Chinese ruler at the time did try to restrained and limit the trade of the drug, but since the balance of trade for Europe, especially England, had shifted dramatically in their favor (since they became a great fan of silk, porcelain, and tea from China) they were not about to lose their valuable opium trade business (www.britannica.com ). England could not help, but engage in two opium wars with China (the former coming out as victor in both wars), the first led to a pause in prohibiting the drug and the second extinguished the idea of possibly banning it altogether because of that it took many years to pass before India and China came to an agreement to try to stop the sell of opium and even more for people's addictions to disappear (www.britannica.com ). Unfortunately, for China this caused a decline in the economy since the balance shifted from China exporting more than importing to the other way around, it also affected many of the Chinese inhabitants since many of them grew addicted to opium and like any other drug, it took its toll on the person and China's population. Europe, on the other
In 1839, the Chinese government tried to ban opium from a port city called Canton. Columbia University 's article, China and the West, says that, “the Chinese are defeated by superior British arms and which results in the imposition of the first of many “Unequal Treaties.” These treaties open other cities, “Treaty Ports” — first along the coast and then throughout China — to trade, foreign legal jurisdiction on Chinese territory in these ports, foreign control
The Opium Wars came from China 's attempts to suppress the trade and consumption f Opium. The first war took place from 1839 to 1842 and the second war was from 1856 to 1860. The Opium wars marked a new beginning in terms of China’s relationship with the west. Regular trade had been going on with the British since the arrival of the Portuguese in the 1600’s. As European economic power rose, Chines goods such as silk, porcelain and tea became highly sought after.
Although China did not become industrialized, pushing the limits of the old biological regime with old technology and their growing population size forced China to become a very labour-intensive agricultural giant in order to support themselves. Overall, although the world had left behind an old and insufficient biological regime, the Industrial Revolution brought with it its own challenges for mankind. Things like cotton, tea, silver, opium, iron, and steam were all items that dominated the Industrial Era. Tea and opium were mass produced by the Chinese, and England stripped silver from the New World to pay for these goods.
The government largely promoted trade because it was their main source of revenue. Trade was the main business in China at the time and it was the main source of the money flowing through the country. Another reason the government benefited financially, was the taxes they collected. They charged exorbitant taxes for land trade routes and still charged a substantial amount by way of the Grand Canal. They kept open borders, allowing for foreign trade.