Opioid selling Indian opium which was smuggled into China in defiance of Chinese government bans. This led to the First (1839–1842) and Second Opium Wars (1856–1860) between China and Britain. In the 19th century, two major scientific advances were made that had far-reaching effects. Around 1804, German pharmacist Friedrich Sertürner isolated morphine from opium. He described its crystallization, structure, and pharmacological properties in a well-received paper in 1817. Morphine was the first alkaloid to be isolated from any medicinal plant, the beginning of modern scientific drug discovery. The second advance, nearly fifty years later, was the refinement of the hypodermic needle
Global silver trade from the 16th to 18th centuries the Cape of Good Hope into the east, and sometimes it came over land. Major outposts for the silver trade were located in Southeast Asian countries, such as the Philippines. The city of Manilla served as a primary outpost of the exchange of goods between the Americas, Japan, and China. However, there is a large amount of silver that crossed across the Pacific Ocean directly from the Americas as well. There are not many records of the amount of silver which crossed the Pacific due to it being discouraged by the Spanish monarchy, so estimates highly vary. Silver also found