Britain takes control of Hong Kong island
On this day · 20 January 1841
A barren island, a disavowed treaty, and a circular announcement that began more than 150 years of British rule.
On January 20, 1841, during the First Opium War, British Chief Superintendent Charles Elliot issued a circular announcing the “conclusion of preliminary arrangements” with Qing Imperial Commissioner Qishan. Under this deal, the Convention of Chuenpi, China would cede the island and harbor of Hong Kong to the British Crown, along with a payment of six million dollars.
Hong Kong was then a sparsely populated, rocky island, valued less for its land than for its deep, sheltered harbor. British forces took formal possession days later, raising the Union Jack at what became known as Possession Point.
Neither government accepted the bargain their own envoys had struck.
The convention was a diplomatic embarrassment. London’s foreign secretary, Lord Palmerston, thought Elliot had gained too little and dismissed him; the Daoguang Emperor thought Qishan had conceded too much. Both men were sacked. Yet the arrangement effectively stuck: its terms were folded into the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, and British rule over Hong Kong lasted until 1997.
Sources & references
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