June 3, 1839
In Humen, China, Lin Tse-hsü destroyed 20,000 chests (about 1.2 tons) of opium confiscated from British merchants, providing Britain with a casus belli to open hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War. In the 17th and 18th Century the Western demand for Chinese goods was high; the self-sufficient Chinese had no desire for Western goods. This created a trade imbalance, with much silver going into China and none coming out. To rectify this, the British East India Company started selling opium grown on its Indian plantations to China, actively encouraging drug addiction among the Chinese.
