New France a permanent benefit to the French. New France New France () was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spain in 1763 under the Treaty of Paris (1763). At its peak in 1712 (before the Treaty of Utrecht), the territory of "New France", also sometimes known as the "French North American Empire" or "Royal New France", consisted of five colonies, each with its own administration: Canada, the most developed
Global silver trade from the 16th to 18th centuries An upright official, Commissioner Lin Zexu led the campaign against opium as a kind of "drug czar." The British, offended by the seizure of their property in opium, sent a large naval expedition to China to end the restrictive conditions under which they had long traded with that country. Thus began the first Opium War, in which Britain's industrialized military might was proven in China's rout. The Treaty of Nanking, which ended the war in 1842 largely on British terms, imposed numerous restrictions on Chinese sovereignty and opened five ports to European traders. Global silver trade from the 16th to