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Opium Wars begin
Britain largely exchanged opium from the East India Company in India for the tead in China, since tea was so common back home in Britain. Lin Zexu created the anti-opium revolution that eventually caused him to be blamed for the Opium Wars. -
Treaty of Nanjing
The signing of the treaty ended the Opium Wars. The Chinese had to pay 20 million silver dollars for all the costs and they had to give up Hong Kong as a colonial property for the British. -
Suez Canal built
Built by Ferdinand de Lesseps, the canal linked the Mediterranean and Red Sea. Costing $100 million at the time, the Suez Canal provided a main trade route to reduce travel time. -
David Livingstone found
Livingstone was known to be exploring the interior of the continent, but no one had heard from him in several years. Henry Morton Stanley found him in the town of Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, saying, ¨Dr. Livingstone, I presume?¨. -
Open Door Policy
The policy was created to open Chinese trade to all nations. This was likely due to the economic depression that occurred in the 1890s because it allowed to re-start the international trade -
Boxer Revolution begins
Over the course of a few months, Chinese peasants set siege on the European part of Beijing. The Chinese government allowed this to happen, and after significant fighting, the European soldiers rose victorious -
Revolution of 1911
A rebellion against the Qing dynasty to establish a modern, independent republic. The public won and eventually created a democracy
