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
Russia in the Opium Wars city), and the official right to trade opium. The Qing government rejected these demands, however this did not lead to an open conflict yet, since the main British military forces were focused on the battlefronts in Russia and Persia. After a victorious campaign in the Crimean War of 1856, Britain transferred its focus on Qing China to further expand its political influence on the empire. On October 8, 1856 they found one: Chinese authorities arrested "Arrow", a British commercial ship that was smuggling goods and selling opium. Britain demanded to free the sailors, as they believed the accusation was falsified,