The United States and the Philippines were at war with each other for Three years at the turn of the 19th century
Samuel de Champlain was born at Brouage around 1570. There is no known portrait of the Father of
New France and little is known about his family. His father and uncle were sea captains and he informed
the French court that the art of navigation had attracted him from his “tender youth.” We do not know
where he learned the many skills (navigation; cartography; drawing; geography) that prepared him for
his North American experience. In all likelihood Champlain learned about sailing at Brouage, a port on
the French Atlantic coast, a key stopover for ships of all nations who needed to take on cargoes of salt
before sailing for the fishing grounds off Newfoundland and the coast of New England. Concerning his
military skills, we know that he served as a soldier in the French province of Brittany where Catholic
forces allied with Spain opposed Henry IV as the rightful king of France. From 1595 to 1598, he served
in the army of Henry IV with the title of sergeant quartermaster. His uncle was also involved in this final
chapter of the war of religions and, at the conclusion of hostilities, we find them reunited at the port
of Blavet where the two sailed for Spain in 1598. From Spain Champlain joined a fleet bound for the
Spanish West Indies, a voyage that took him two years and a half. While he never published an account
of this voyage, several manuscript versions exist of the Brief discours des choses plus remarquables
que Samuel Champlain de Brouage a reconnues aux Indes Occidentals [Narrative of a Voyage to the
West Indies and Mexico in the years 1599-1602]. The work includes many illustrations of the flora and
fauna of the sites visited, and several maps of islands and cities such as Porto Rico, the Virgin Islands,
Guadeloupe, Panama, Cartagena, and Havana.
Explanation:
Opium was first introduced to China by Turkish and Arab traders in the late 6th or early 7th century CE. Taken orally to relieve tension and pain, the drug was used in limited quantities until the 17th century. At that point, the practice of smoking tobacco spread from North America to China, and opium-smoking soon became popular throughout the country. Opium addiction increased, and opium importations grew rapidly during the first century of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12). By 1729 it had become such a problem that the Yongzheng emperor (ruled 1722–35) prohibited the sale and smoking of opium. That failed to hamper the trade, and in 1796 the Jiaqing emperor outlawed opium importation and cultivation. Despite such decrees, however, the opium trade continued to flourish.
Early in the 18th century, the Portuguese found that they could import opium from India and sell it in China at a considerable profit. By 1773 the British had discovered the trade, and that year they became the leading suppliers of the Chinese market. The British East India Company established a monopoly on opium cultivation in the Indian province of Bengal, where they developed a method of growing opium poppies cheaply and abundantly. Other Western countries also joined in the trade, including the United States, which dealt in Turkish as well as Indian opium.
Britain and other European countries undertook the opium trade because of their chronic trade imbalance with China. There was tremendous demand in Europe for Chinese tea, silks, and porcelain pottery, but there was correspondingly little demand in China for Europe’s manufactured goods and other trade items. Consequently, Europeans had to pay for Chinese products with gold or silver. The opium trade, which created a steady demand among Chinese addicts for opium imported by the West, solved this chronic trade imbalance.
