History of colonialism colonies had acquired independence during the Latin American revolutions at the beginning of the 19th century. In Asia, The Great Game, which lasted from 1813 to 1907, opposed the British Empire against Imperial Russia for supremacy in central Asia. China was opened to Western influence starting with the First and Second Opium Wars (1839–1842; 1856–1860). After the visits of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1852–1854, Japan opened itself to the Western world during the Meiji Era (1868–1912). Imperialism also took place in Burma, Indonesia (Netherlands East Indies), Malaya and the Philippines. Burma had been under British rule for nearly a hundred
An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China commercial success of his illustrations of the Macartney Mission. With the increasing demand of tea in Britain the pressure on trade and economy grew, causing British accounts on China to be more critical and less appreciative. Fellow crewmembers of the Macartney Mission such as Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet published later reports on the Embassy describing the experience as overall negative. This can partly be explained as a reaction to the British frustration with the trading relation to China. The Serjeant-Major Samuel Holmes published his account on the Macartney Mission with the same publisher W. Bulmer & Co in 1798