They also establish territorial control in Indonesia. Later, British extend their control over India, acquiring a vast empire for the East Indian trading company. British navigator James Cook's third voyage to the Pacific ends. His meticulous exploration brings this part of the world into the political theaters of Europe. The British end the international African slave trade.
Atlantic traders go to India and China to get laborers for the plantations in the New World.
The British Empire defeats China, in the first Opium War. China is forced to pay indemnities of 21 million silver dollars, cede Hong Kong and Kowloon, and open five ports to foreign commerce. As a result peasant farmers are heavily taxed. A series of floods and crop failures in southern China leads to poverty and famine among peasant farmers. British are given the power to preside over the immigration of Chinese people.