Lecture 4 : The “ great divergence “ and encounters in east asia

population growth in UK

from 1751 to 1761 ( +7% ) from 1811 to 1821 ( +16%)

Jethro Tull invented the seed drill in

1701

Thomas Robert Malthus "An essay on the principle of population"

1789

expansion of British foreign trade

growth of 2.8% per annum from 1745 to 1775 and 4.9% per annum from 1779 to 1802

UK and the case of cotton

1700s : 16% of Britain's exports : 1800s : 42%

Calico Act - complete ban of calicoes

1721

repeal of Calico Act

1774

Steam engine carried coal from Darlington (mine) to Stockton (port)

1825

Railway mania - iron output x3

1830-1850

Amherst Embassy

1816

End of the East India Company's monopoly of trade with Asia

1834

Daoguang Emperor as special commissioner to end the opium trade, employed all the forces and values of the Confucian state to stamp out opium

By May 1839 = Over 1,600 Chinese arrested

35,000 pounds of opium confiscated

43,000 opium pipes confiscated

first opium war

1839-1842

Seizure and destruction of British supply of opium in Canton

March 1839

Signing of Treaty of Nanking marking Chinese defeat:

August 1842

letter sent to queen Victoria 

1839