<span>On June 20, 1900, the Boxers, now more than 100,000 strong and led by the court of Tzu’u Hzi, besieged the foreigners in Peking’s diplomatic quarter, burned Christian churches in the city, and destroyed the Peking-Tientsin railway line. As the Western powers and Japan organized a multinational force to crush the rebellion, the siege of the Peking legations stretched into weeks, and the diplomats, their families, and guards suffered through hunger and degrading conditions as they fought to keep the Boxers at bay. On August 14, the international force, featuring British, Russian, American, Japanese, French, and German troops, relieved Peking after fighting its way through much of northern China.</span>
The correct answer is <span>find a water route to the East
They believed that since the world is round that they could reach the east, places like China and India, if they went westwards. They didn't know that the Americas existed and many believed that the earth was either much smaller or that only a huge body of water was found in that area. This is why they believed that they had reached India when they reached the Americas.</span>
